Tudor Grange Leisure Centre

Up at 5:30am to drop my oldest son off at Birmingham International train station for his long morning commute to London. Taxi duty done, just enough time for a swim before work. A short hop down the M42 - still knee deep in HS2 roadworks - brought me to Solihull for a dip at Tudor Grange Leisure Centre.

I arrived, parked up, and checked the timetable. You’d think that’s something to do before driving, but I assumed like most UK pools there’d be a 6:30am weekday lane swim. Not here - first session starts at 7am. No big deal, just a short wait. The Everyone Active app came in handy, and I booked my slot ready to barcode scan straight through the barriers.

Glad I re-read the parking sign. Parking is free but you still need to punch your car reg into the machine for a ticket - makes sense with the shopping centre nearby.

First impressions of the pool from reception, positive! You can see right into the pool hall and it’s clear this isn’t just your standard council pool. It’s a bright, spacious 25m, 8-lane pool with separate learner and diving pools.

Through the changing rooms, I finally got to use my new padlock (though I should’ve bought the next size up as this one barely fits). Out on poolside, the lanes were still being set up and a small crowd gathered, ready for the 7am start.

The good news: proper wave-breaker ropes. The bad news: the eight lanes were split into four double-width lanes. Oh well. I jumped into the fast lane where most swimmers seemed to be kitted out with fins and/or paddles.

Today’s plan was a standard 3.2km session, starting with 1600m then cascading sets. But with wide lanes and heavy traffic, things got chaotic. Within the first 400m I’d sprinted past several people, only to slow down immediately behind others. Not much “stop and let pass” culture here, and with people starting their wide lane tapered turns mid-lane, overtaking was tricky.

At 1200m I got flagged to stop and told off for “getting too close when passing”. I couldn’t quite figure out what the complaint was, but promised to give the lady in white fins more space. Two lengths later she pushed off right in front of me anyway - and did it again soon after! I'm not sure which one of us it actually was getting too close!

I finished my 3.2km, a bit off pace and feeling out of breath, but happily my shoulder felt much better.

Quick photo of the pool (ironically right under the big “no cameras” sign) and then it was back up the M42 for work.