Only a month to go until Indy... it'll be my first big meet since college.
Who here's going? What should I expect in terms of meet flow - does it move quickly or slowly? Are the warmup/cooldown pools going to be jam-packed? And most importantly... do people shave down for this meet? I have a lot more hair than I did in college...
Only a month to go until Indy... it'll be my first big meet since college.
Who here's going? What should I expect in terms of meet flow - does it move quickly or slowly? Are the warmup/cooldown pools going to be jam-packed? And most importantly... do people shave down for this meet? I have a lot more hair than I did in college...
Although I have gone to several Nationals in the past, I won't be going to this one. I can answer your questions, though. Regarding the flow of the meet, fast/slow is relative; that's hard to answer, because I don't know what you think is fast or slow! Compared to the meets I do here in Georgia where I am swimming five events in one day (often including distance free, 400 IM, 200 ***, and 200 fly in (sometimes) less than a few hour, Nationals are SLOW. There will be a published timeline, though, so you can use it as a guide. It is NOT written in stone, though!
Regarding the warm-up/cool-down pool(s), YES, they are jam-packed! That is always the most difficult thing for me at Nationals, because I train on my own and ALWAYS have my own lane. Often, I have the ENTIRE pool to myself!
As for shaving, YES, the guys shave down for this meet. I rarely see much body hair at the meet!
Good luck at the meet, JP! Let us know how it goes!
:cheerleader:
I was really looking forward to this meet, but hurt my shoulder and will have to miss it. Indy always runs a great meet. There is a good amount of warm up/cool down space, but with a lot of swimmers expect crowded conditions. There will be a meet timeline posted as soon as they get it figured out. The meet will likely run very close to the timeline. I always shave for taper meets. Shave,it is part of the ritual for going fast, and, of course it does work.
I haven't completely given up on going to Indy, but at this point I'm 90% sure I'm going to skip it this year. Just not worth doling out the money and taking time off from work considering where I'm at right now in the pool.
To answer JPEnge's question about meet flow it's a huge meet and usually we're talking about sessions going from 8:00 in the morning to 5:00 in the evening at the larger Nationals. Things are kept moving, but with close to 2,000 swimmers it's long. And, yes, plenty of people shave down. You'll see the occasionally hairy guy, but lots of swimmers are shaved and wearing expensive tech suits.
Don't let large ### put you off. Each event has swimmers that peak for those events.
Remember you can only do 6 events max.
go enjoy what you have worked towards all season wether you Q time or not.
I'm now officially out for Indy Nationals. Realistically I'm not at the point I'd like to be to justify plunking down the kind of money required to attend. Good luck to everyone who is going, though!
From OZ ----- ready or not here I come. This being in the middle of my age bracket is a depressing thing as Q times were made faster in each of my events!
Almost 2400 people signed up... wow. This is going to be a full meet. My club has 34 people signed up, including a big enough contingent of 18-35 to make what should be very competitive 18+ and 25+ relays. At the very least we should take a good chunk out of the LMSC records.
I am psyched - though a little intimidated with how many fast names I recognize on the meet roster!
I am psyched - though a little intimidated with how many fast names I recognize on the meet roster!Nationals will be a blast. Don't be intimidated. Turnout is incredible, but the Indy facility has plenty of space. I am so stoked to be there. I'm not sure my times will be anything to write home about (or, blog about), but it's always fun.
Yes, the warmup pools will be crowded, but we had about 2000 people in Santa Clara in 2014 with far less warmup space and it was fine. Besides, when you're all rested and ready to go, you don't want to waste too much precious energy in warmups anyways!
And, to your question on shaving down, yes!
You coming to Canadian Nationals afterwards May 19-21 Calgary? Deadline is April 28 or 29 I think.Can't make it this year, but I would have loved to. I would appreciate if you can post here when you learn about 2019 dates and location for Canadian Nationals.
