What we’re about
Are you based in the Washington D.C. area and interested in swimming laps at an indoor pool? Interested in encouraging neighbors with exercise? We are looking to meet neighbors to swim laps together at our condo complex’s indoor swimming pool in Alexandria, Virginia to encourage each other with regular exercise. You are welcome to join us. There is no additional cost to you for using the pool. You will not be charged for pool use or parking. We are just looking to meet to motivate each other to swim and get regular exercise. All swimming levels are welcome.
The pool’s location is in the Landmark area of Alexandria, Virginia, near the intersection of I-395 and Duke St. If you would like to join us, please contact me ahead of time with your desired meeting day(s) and time(s). The pool hours are:
- Monday, Wednesday, and Friday (M, W, F): 6am-9pm
- Tuesdays and Thursdays (T, Th): 12pm-9pm
- Saturday, Sunday, and Holidays (Sa, Su, ho): 10am-10pm
Security at the front gate of the condo complex requires your contact information to let you through. You will enter the complex as my guest. For security reasons, before you enter the first time, you will be asked to provide formal identification information (driver’s license, passport main page, etc.).
I am a good swimmer, swam regularly from age 5 to 17 on local Washington D.C.-area swim teams, and swam in graduate school at the University of Oxford. I have been certified as a lifeguard, a scientific scuba diver (at Stanford University), and as a rescue scuba diver (i.e. a lifeguard for scuba divers). Just looking for friendly neighbors to swim with and motivate each other. If you are new to swimming, I am happy to teach you stuff (flip turns, stroke form, etc.).
At the indoor pool, the lap pool length is 50 feet and has four (4) lap lanes that are frequently open. This lap pool is about 3.5 to 4 feet deep. No diving is permitted. There is an additional side pool and hot tub. The pool is open year-round, including a lot of holidays, and it is never crowded.
The remarks below are intended to provide additional clarity:
This posting is made with the best intentions, to encourage exercise via swimming and camaraderie among fellow WW members and neighbors.
What is being offered is the opportunity to encourage fellow lap swimmers to support each other in each other's lap swimming goals by meeting regularly at an indoor pool.
Lap lanes tend to be open. For example, typically, between 6am and 9am on weekdays, at the indoor pool, there are no more than three (3) to five (5) people at the entire pool at any one time. There are a total of four (4) lap lanes. Some pool users may be using the small pool for exercise or the hot tub. Consequently, it is common for lap lanes to be open. Typically, there is plenty of space for people to swim laps.
This lap-swimming initiative has been shared with current condo complex residents via internal message boards and other approaches.
The condo complex rules regarding guests etc. are being followed. Each resident is allowed two (2) guests at any one time with their amenities passes; that rule is adhered to. Additional guests beyond two (2) guests per resident can also come to the pool but management may collect an additional fee from the resident for these guests. As my guest, you will not be charged. Each individual condo owner has the right to decide how they use their amenities passes and who they invite as guests, so long as condo complex rules are being followed. For security reasons, each guest must provide formal identification documents (driver’s license, passport main page, etc.) ahead of time.
According to condo complex budget documents, the cost of running the condo complex indoor pool is a small fraction (i.e. less than two percent < 2%) of the total condo fee. The marginal cost of having an additional lap swimmer as a guest is minimal because the pool’s management, lifeguarding, and maintenance costs tend to be fixed costs. Also, because the pool is not crowded, there is plenty of access for swimming.
The quality of a swimming workout depends a lot on how the swimmer chooses to swim. One can get in a productive workout at the 50-foot indoor pool. I have trained at both larger and smaller pools effectively. In a typical lap-swimming session at this indoor pool, I swim between 0.75 and 1.5 kilometers (km).
Next to the pool area are large, full bathrooms with changing rooms. The bathrooms include toilets, showers, lockers where a padlock can be used, hair dryers, a sauna, and small changing rooms.
The pool area also has many kickboards and flotation devices available.
This group is LGBTQIA+ friendly.
If interested, please get in touch. (Please no social-bullying, verbal abuse, defamation, sexting, or seeking contact to facilitate marital / relationship infidelity.)
We recommend getting in touch with the organizer a few days in advance of joining an event to make sure there is enough time for coordination.
Hopefully, this information is helpful.
Thank you,
Whitney
