LCM is the Olympic distance and my favorite venue,but even though it is "long course" it gets short shrift. With SCY Nationals completed,my thoughts turn to LCM,but here in Oregon,and I suppose many other LMSCs, most swimmers either think about open water or about vacations. Many areas don't have easy access to 50M pools,but I find I can train SCY to swim LCM with a few modifications.It can be hard to find meets though.In Oregon,I have been told by coaches, that it is hard to schedule LCM meets since almost every weekend has an open water swim scheduled.Open water is fine for the people who like it,but come on,LCM is the Olympic distance. LCM Nationals tends to attract about half the entries that SCY Nationals does,for a variety of reasons,but I would hope that more of you would accept the challenge.Try it,you'll like it.
Allen,
If you want to race LCM this summer, you have to just bite the bullet and move to SoCal - www.spmasterswim.org/.../ - or spend a lot of time on planes.
While we will have some good LCM meets here in AZ, as Tim noted, our turnout for LCM vs SCY is 50% at best. Factors include heat and vacations (which go hand-in-hand as many Arizonans like to escape here in the summer) and pool access (while we have a lot of LCM pools, they are slammed in the summer with kids' meets), but the over-riding factor dampening turnout across the country, I believe, is that LCM is just much, much harder to race. You can "fake it" through just about any SCY/SCM event regardless of your training, but if you haven't put in the LCM work, LCM racing is brutal. I think that turns people off.
Allen,
If you want to race LCM this summer, you have to just bite the bullet and move to SoCal - www.spmasterswim.org/.../ - or spend a lot of time on planes.
While we will have some good LCM meets here in AZ, as Tim noted, our turnout for LCM vs SCY is 50% at best. Factors include heat and vacations (which go hand-in-hand as many Arizonans like to escape here in the summer) and pool access (while we have a lot of LCM pools, they are slammed in the summer with kids' meets), but the over-riding factor dampening turnout across the country, I believe, is that LCM is just much, much harder to race. You can "fake it" through just about any SCY/SCM event regardless of your training, but if you haven't put in the LCM work, LCM racing is brutal. I think that turns people off.
