Early morning swim in new £7m local pool.
Early morning swim in new £7m local pool.
I spent many of my early teens Friday evenings at Erdington swimming pool, swim training with my club, SSS (Triple ‘S’), (un)fortunately, the Victorian ‘public baths’ closed a few years ago, the building is still there but now used for other services (Photo below). Thankfully, as the old pool closed, Birmingham City Council opened a brand new £7m facility right around the corner. It’s been open a couple of years and a 15-minute drive from home so thought I’d best add it to the list!
I’d heard from friends that the pool gets very busy mid-morning with a flood of local ‘shower savers’ descending after 9 am. Arrive early and find my local pool swim pass gets me through the turnstile! Initial, impressions, the building looks fantastic for a small local community pool. Great design and layout with various sports facilities provided under one roof.
Find a locker and cubicle in the communal changing rooms, quickly notice, the floor tiles are heated - this may be the most welcome early morning swim feature I’ve encountered to date!
The pool deck is clean and tidy, there are two edgeless pools, the main 25 metre 6-lane lap pool and a smaller training pool. Currently, two lanes are available with club training and open swim on either side. Fortunately, the lanes are quiet, with only one other swimmer.
Rattle through what I thought was a reasonable speed first 1,000, as I hit the wall on the last lap and hit the interval button on the Garmin, a bit disappointed to see 15 minutes, 55 seconds. After last nights 3km session with those 5x400m’s, my arms are tiring quickly and feel hollow!
Finish up the last 1km with 50’s (and lone rest breaks!) to round out the swim at 3km - my usual regular home swim distance when I’m not travelling. I Note the full facility name is ErdingtonPool & Turkish Suite, It is a workday so didn’t get a chance to explore the spa services, maybe next time.
Today marks the two-year anniversary of the 1,000 pool challenge, I’m (a long way!) behind on my original plan, was hoping to be closer to 200 by now to complete the challenge within 10-years, but at this pace, it’s going to take me 30! Best get swimming!
Swim Stats
- 3000 meters total swim
- 1:30 pace / 100m
- Garmin Swim Watch
Review
(60/100)
Impressed with the new facility. This may become a more frequent pool for my regular sessions. Tempted to give the fourth star just for the heated changing room floor, but let's not get carried away! It's an above-average community facility, closer to 3.5 stars! and great if you're local.
Pool Details
- Length 25 meters
- 6-lane pool
- Indoor
Erdington Leisure Centre
Orphanage Road, Birmingham, B24 9HU, UK
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