23 June 2026 I had written over nine years ago about the four Olympic pools in which I'd had the pleasure of swimming, but that post was a couple of years after I had swum in that fourth Olympic pool, the Peter Daland pool at the Uytengsu Aquatics Center on the University of Southern California campus in 2015 ... and that was pool #206 on my #1001pools list! It's taken me over a decade and 600 new pools tallied before I got to add my fifth Olympic pool, but the Olympia Schwim

14-15 June 2026 There are times when you just need a swim, no matter how short, no matter how "un-special" the pool is. Monday morning, June 15th, the last day of my 28-day adventure between Canada and the USA was such a day. I was scheduled to fly back to London that evening from Toronto, but had work calls to do in the morning before flying from EWR Liberty up to YYZ Pearson in the early afternoon. I didn't have time for much - just 1,650 yards - but I wanted a swim to s

12 June 2026 Some pools are iconic for their beauty, for their unique architecture, for the history of competitions held there. But there are also pools in the world that, while possibly having something to offer in & of their inherent pool-ness, are special because of who trained there, because of the excellence produced there. The Meadowbrook Swim Club on the outskirts of Baltimore is rightly famous as the childhood and young adult training ground of Michael Phelps ... Bab

9 June 2026 This is a facility that I've wanted to visit for years ... really for decades, probably going back to my freshman year at the University of Texas when I first met Spencer Martin: J. Spencer Martin circa 1987/1988 Spencer was a year ahead of me and he took many of us first-year members of the men's swimming team under his wing. Though he and I never actually trained together - he was a breaststroker and sprint IMer, me stuck over in the distance lanes - he taught

7 June 2026 I first swam at Burlington's renovated Mountainside Pool (#607) just about three weeks after the multi-million dollar revamp was finished (ribbon cutting was June 30th, 2023) and absolutely loved the three long course lanes, but it was more fun and special to go there this June with Monica, about a week after her wedding and the last full day I had in Ontario this year: My wife and I had started considering Burlington as a future long-term hometown back during the

29 May 2026 Canadian Masters (SCM) Nationals are behind me so I'm turning my training attention to the European Aquatics LCM Masters Championships being held mid-August near Bratislava, Slovakia. With my second daughter's wedding outside of Toronto tomorrow, my training time has been limited this week, but I did manage to squeeze in 3,400-meters in the excellent training pool at the Toronto Pan Am Sports Centre this morning: Assuming my wonky right knee* holds up, I will t

23 May 2026 Win-some-ish because I only won one race (100 fly) ... but I was actually most delighted with the race I got second place in (200 free) and the two (of three relays) I swam with my Canadian Masters team, the Burlington Masters Swim Club, at the very good Windsor International Aquatic & Training Centre (now pool #797): But, I was most relieved that, after being too aggressive on my takeoff on the 200 mixed free relay at the end of the Friday session which resulted

10 May 2026 I’ve been too busy with work and life while trying to squeeze swimming into the former to writeup my racing and the great 2022 Birmingham Commonwealth Games pool, the Sandwell Aquatics Centre, which became pool #794 on my #1001Pools list. I was up there on Sunday, May 10th, for their first ever Masters meet and, other than a brief episode after my 200 freestyle, had a great day. I always love swimming in a “games legacy” pool, having enjoyed swimming in: Multip

4 May 2026 I asked ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini to describe Luton in three words. I got: Gritty. Transient. Unvarnished Industrial. Diverse. Connected. Gritty, underrated, unpretentious. I’ll take Underrated and Unpretentious (props to Anthropic) but, based upon only visiting the 2012-era, 8-lane, 50-meter, all deep competition pool at the Inspire: Luton Sports Village, I would add LOVELY. I have had this pool on my “London Pool Bucket List” for awhile, but it’s just far enough

25 April 2026 When I was mapping out my ambitious return to racing during my "dry days" in January and February, I found a perfect pair of bookend competitions to an "events as high quality workouts" period, with lineups as mirror-images: March 21st's Derbyshire Open Masters Championships April 25th's Bracknell-Wokingham Swim Club's National Qualifier meet Five weeks apart, both in a long course pool without a separate warmup/cool-down pool (for maximum lactate-joy), and both