Testing my Heart & Health (#745)

7 August 2025

An old friend was in London on a business trip, so we made plans to meet up for dinner at his hotel, the Leonardo Royal Hotel Tower Bridge. From previous times of having looked around Places2Swim, I knew this hotel had a publicly accessible (for a rather hefty fee), three-lane, 25 meter pool onsite. The website made it look attractive enough ...

Pool as shown on the website

... and I wanted to do my Pulse Plot / Heart Rate Test Set, so I organized my workday to get here in the late afternoon, do an easy 1,000-meter warmup, followed by the 8 x 100 test set and a cool-down. I was figuring that, with the nice weather, any hotel guests would be out and about, either working or touring London sites.

I was wrong about two things - the crowds and the cleanliness. Though my photo below doesn't quite do either of those points justice, it was jam packed when I arrived. I managed to get the one last empty lounger chair, but there were 5 people in the pool, three of them attempting to do laps, and two of them apparently attempting to thwart those people doing laps.

And ... the pool was nearly opaque with cloudy water ...

... but I had to get my workout in! So, once the "Fast Lane" (the one roped off closest to my feet) cleared out, I managed to get through the set. I didn't feel all that chipper, and I think my times were a bit slow because the walls were almost impossible to see until I got right up close to them.

I managed to log 2,250 meters so this pool is on the #1001Pools list as #745.

Then, I took a long shower and drained their soap dispensers ensuring I got myself deeply cleaned!

But, let me close with a stern warning to avoid this place at all costs.