Wales National Pool

Whilst on holiday on the Gower peninsula I made an effort to do a pool swim a few times a week. I'd hoped to do a few sea swims but for various reasons I didn't manage to. However, I'd highly recommend the indoor Wales National Pool which is adjacent to Singleton Park between Swansea and Mumbles. The main pool is 50m and can be split into 23m and 25m sections. I visited in both configurations. There's an online timetable of pool availability and it's surprisingly generally open for public use. On the days I visited it wasn't too busy, it's large, so was pleasant even when a university team were training. There's also a separate training pool where children's lessons take place.

My performance could perhaps be best described as lack lustre. I'm used to a 25 yard pool so lengths automatically take 10% longer! As well as 100m and 200m sets I did some 'sprint' single lengths to try to build up pace. Only once did I manage to drop below 30s, although a few were 31s. My stroke count in the pool averaged around 14 strokes (per  two arm cycle) per length which is probably about right for my height, but stroke rate is low as I am trying to focus on good, unrushed technique. 

If you're over 60 years of age, and take photo id, there are free swim sessions. I didn't have any identification with me so had to pay. Perhaps the free sessions are busier though?