I enjoyed the day set aside for relays alone at Nationals. It contributed greatly to our team spirit. However, after swimming on 4 relays on Saturday, I was exhausted for my individual events on Sunday. I suggest that, if USMS decides to use this format again, the "Relays only" day be the last day of the meet for several reasons: (1) It will not affect a swimmer's performance in any individual event, and (2) if a swimmer is not participating in relays, he/she can enjoy the host city or depart early for home.
There are is no question that relays are an important team builder, ice breaker, etc. Perhaps those who swim a full slate of individual events should be limited to, say, two relay splashes (or something like that) . I must say though, when I return to competition, I welcome Allen getting all tuckered out with the mighty Oregon relay machine while I blow my taper as only a sprinter dare do...
Relay day seems popular if you go solely on the basis of this poll (tho I have to note it is biased towards the relay day) and the comments.
I do hope that if they have relay days in the future, they are either the first or last day so I can opt out. The expense is a small reason, but far more important is time away from family. I feel guilty enough asking my wife to hold down the fort so I can go to a meet; adding an extra day is pretty tough.
While I would miss the relays, I know which side my bread is buttered and would rather keep She Who Must Be Obeyed happy.
Put it this way: when relay day is in the middle of the meet swimmers from small teams don't have a choice and are stuck with the day off in the middle. If the relay day is the beginning or end of the meet, then everybody has a choice as to whether or not they would like to participate in the relay day.
I loved relay day. I got to swim a relay with my mom, my little sister, and my mom's best friend from elementary school. It was a blast! I also was on a relay with my husband, sister and the Wolfman. Our team really came together on relay day and made the whole trip sooo much more fun.
Personal caveats...
1. Yes, I was a little more tired on Sunday, but was it due to the relays? Hauling the 8 month old baby around the meet? The lack of sleep due to said baby and evil hotel pillows? Or (MOST LIKELY) the fact that I hadn't swam 4 days in a row all season and my body was like WTF? I'm a big believer in 'racing yourself into your taper' so the extra sprinting on relay day isn't necessarily a bad thing.
2. I only had a cut in 1 event going into the meet so relays offered me the opportunity to swim some more things. (I left the meet with 3 cuts, and narrowly missed my 4th, woohoo!)
3. I was on a team big enough that we were able to swim lots of relays. I could see how it would be no fun if you just had to take a day off in the middle of your meet.
4. I am not a distance swimmer and did like having distance day the last day. It gave me a chance to swim my first ever 800 free and not trash my body for the rest of the meet.
5. I am not, nor ever will be, in the running for a world record so am not so worried about relay day adding that killer hundredth to my time.
Maybe if they did this in the middle of the meet again and offered a meet and great relay for those who don't have alot on their team, similar to what they did at the Water Spider meet in Panama City one year. The times didn't count for anything but it was fun.
Does anyone know the schedule of events for SCY Nationals in Atlanta?
I did enjoy watching the relays in Indy and wished I had a couple more teammates in order to participate.
My perspective as an individual swimmer though - I would rather swim my events in the usual three consecutive days (no distance for me) and no off day. It adds cost and an extra day away from my family. I know days are longer though with only one course to swim, but still would rather see the relays spread out Friday through Sunday.
I have to say that although I loved my chance to swim on some great relays, there were simply too many events offered. Even the biggest regional teams couldn't contest all of them. I was happy to luck into a winning combination, but the victory was a bit hollow because there was not a lot of competition in our event.
The age groups are fine, and I think 800 Free relays belong. What about leaving out the 200 relays at LCM championships? they make sense at Short Course Nationals, but maybe not here.
I thought relay placement was great. I got to plan ahead and lead off 4 relays which will count as individual times (50/100 back and 50/100 free). I ended up swimming a total of 9 events at the meet. These events were pretty much spread evenly across the 5 days so I am not sure if placement made any difference for me personally. By having the relays in the middle of the meet team participation was also maximized and I think performances too. I felt that having a "no pressure" day in the middle of the meet helped me mentally.
