Silver Sneakers...

Many of you are aware that one of the things I do for exercise is swim. For the past few years I have done most of my swimming at a well known fitness club located near my home. I’ve not been totally satisfied with this arrangement primarily because of the condition of that particular pool. To be blunt the pool area has been rather dark, the water has a green tint to it and there has been “mustard algae” growing on the pool wall all this time. Now I understand the darkness was caused by the lack of lighting and the green tint is caused by the presence of manganese in the water, but having worked around pools I know the algae is the result of neglect on the part of the club‘s staff.
Recently because I have a medicare health advantage plan called “Highmark Freedom Blue” I was invited to participate in a program called “silver sneakers”. The program is essentially a free health club membership for people who have this particular insurance. Since I already have a paid up lifetime membership at this other club this membership is a bonus for me.
About 30 different clubs in Western Pennsylvania have “silver sneaker” arrangements in one form or another. My own club participates but on a limited basis. The silver sneaker membership there is restricted to certain hours on certain days (e.g. Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday between 9 am and 4 pm).
The only other facility reasonably near to me with a pool is the JCC of the South Hills located in Scott Township. I had heard it had a really nice pool so I went there with my silver sneaker’s invitation. What they offered me was a full membership with no restrictions as long as I use the facility at least 3 times a month!
The pool is beautiful, about twice as wide as the one at my club, well lit, clean and the water is blue. There are four lanes set aside for lap swimming at all times and these are each about 30 % wider than you would normally find in an indoor short course pool so two people can comfortably swim parallel in each at the same time.
When I started swimming there I increased my workout from 40 lengths (1000 yards) to 44 lengths ( 1000 meters). 44 lengths actually works out to 1100 yards which is about 7 yards further than 1000 meters or a little less than the distance I go when I “push off the wall”.
So now I’m measuring my swimming distance in meters… thus far I’ve swam 9000 meters since I joined at the end of last month.
Since I joined the JCC my regular club improved its pool area lighting about 300% (not because of my complaints).
One other advantage I’ve yet to attempt is to combine the swim with a bike ride. This facility is on the way to one of my favorite bike rides, the seven mile panhandle trail from Walkers Mills to MacDonald in Washington County. I’ll probably try that next week when it’s a little warmer