I was at a huge meet recently (more than 600 swimmers) and thus the warmup/warmdown pool (3 lanes, 25 yards) was very crowded.
There were about 5 people in the lane I was warming up in, including one guy who kept barreling into the wall when there were two of us already there, who did flip turns at full force and nearly killed me with one, and then kept swimming down the middle of the lane between the two-way circling traffic.
I felt this was dangerous. I stopped him by pulling on his suit and told him so. He said something back that wasn't "Oh, sorry!" and continued to barrel around people.
I got out.
What is the etiquette for warmup/warmdown pools at such large meets? I know people need to sprint some, but this guy really could have hurt me or any of the other swimmers in the lane.
I tried to search to see if this has been discussed before but didn't find anything. I know that most accidents/injuries at meets occur in the warmup/warmdown pool.
What is the etiquette? Should I have gotten a more official person to tell this guy to respect the other swimmers?
P.S. I swam all my events despite only 3 weeks back in the water, including the 400 IM, which I decided to consider performance art.
No one was hanging out at the wall. All the lanes were equally crowded. Everyone is this lane was swimming and not slowly. This guy nearly killed me as two of us were approaching/leaving the wall and he came in the middle/almost on me and nearly flipped full-body weight on top of me.
He was big, powerful, and not holding back, and that's how he continued to "warm up." Thus I got out.
I am really big too. I warm up at about 35 sec/50 yards and take 10-11 strokes. That is about as slow as I can go when I warm up or I just sink.
Trying to stop or yell at "us" will do very little. The best thing to do is find a slower lane. I slow down near the wall and passing is done with the utmost care, but sometimes may be percieved as inconsiderate. I'll do an open turn if too many are at the wall, but flip turns are a part of warm-up, too.
What about us big guys that get 4-5 strokes in a lap before they are tailgating the next slow person..... get past that one to get 2 strokes.... then run onto the next one. Very difficult to get any kind of warm-up and no "good" solution for everyone.
Either we need to have a "fast", "faster", and "fastest" lanes defined, or live with it. I move to a faster lane if too many are slow in my lane.... if the lane is too fast for you, then move to a slower lane. Yelling, poking and grabbing aggravates the situation cuz the issue goes both ways.
No one was hanging out at the wall. All the lanes were equally crowded. Everyone is this lane was swimming and not slowly. This guy nearly killed me as two of us were approaching/leaving the wall and he came in the middle/almost on me and nearly flipped full-body weight on top of me.
He was big, powerful, and not holding back, and that's how he continued to "warm up." Thus I got out.
I am really big too. I warm up at about 35 sec/50 yards and take 10-11 strokes. That is about as slow as I can go when I warm up or I just sink.
Trying to stop or yell at "us" will do very little. The best thing to do is find a slower lane. I slow down near the wall and passing is done with the utmost care, but sometimes may be percieved as inconsiderate. I'll do an open turn if too many are at the wall, but flip turns are a part of warm-up, too.
What about us big guys that get 4-5 strokes in a lap before they are tailgating the next slow person..... get past that one to get 2 strokes.... then run onto the next one. Very difficult to get any kind of warm-up and no "good" solution for everyone.
Either we need to have a "fast", "faster", and "fastest" lanes defined, or live with it. I move to a faster lane if too many are slow in my lane.... if the lane is too fast for you, then move to a slower lane. Yelling, poking and grabbing aggravates the situation cuz the issue goes both ways.
