Warmup/warmdown pool etiquette at meets

We need to post a meet etiquette list here I suppose... I'll see if I can find one. But at every single meet I am reminded of one of my real pet peeves. Crowded warm-up conditions with swimmers hanging on the wall just talking. As it is, the turns are difficult to practice with all the different speeds intermingled. But trying to be safe, not hitting someone who is simply hanging out on the wall and not paying attention to the traffic coming and going - is enough to make me a bit nuts! I'm pretty sure the worst experience I had with this was at NATIONALS involving some of the most elite of our masters swimmers! In a way I had to smile because it was really due to old friends catching up and happy to see each other. But on the other hand, it was inconsiderate and even a bit dangerous. Some championship meets have lanes designated for Seniors, Medium speed, sprinting, and different strokes but it isn't the normal scenario. If the pool is crowded in warmups, do your catching up on the deck!

Etiquette dictates that you do not impede any other swimmers on purpose. If you were standing in front of the cross at the wall, you were in the wrong. If he aimed for you, he was wrong also. Gabbing in warmup lanes is usually OK, but by the description you gave, it would have been just thoughtless. There was not enough warmup space to begin with for a meet that size and swimmers sitting idly in the lanes or at the walls compunds an already impossible situation. I was that guy in a meet about a year ago, and Ahelee was the recipient of a terse, "please don't block the wall" from me as I tried to turn. This shows that, in certain cases, we all can be what we preach against if we are not aware of where we are and why. Me, for being rude, and her for blocking the wall without realizing it. We all need to remember where we are and why, realizing what it means to everyone. And that really means that everyone has different reasons and motives to be there, none of which, I presume, is to get in the face of other people. Ahelee, sorry for growling at you. I wanted to turn more than I wanted to be polite and that was wrong of me.

I generally try and warm up with team members (assuming you are more than one person) so that I am primarily in a lane with people familiar with my warm up speed and pace. They also tend to be less offended if you flip turn over or next to them, or at least are comfortable approaching and talking to you if they are unhappy. Generally we try and get 5 or so people and "take over" a lane. If I am not swimming the first or first few events, I also try and wait to warm up as to not further crowd the pool for people who are up very soon.

I was at the meet and have some idea about the "incident" described. In a meet where hundreds are competing, often we don't compete until early afternoon and the official warm up time is in the morning. So, to get a warm up (rather than down) swimmers will get in the only pool available and try to get the heart rate up and get loose. There will always be space problems and we simply need to be as respectful as we can. My own pet peeve is when people do not leave space on the wall to do a flip turn or when someone swimming very slowly does not pay attention to a faster swimmmer coming up. Typically when I feel someone on my toes I move way over or even sink to let them pass. I feel the slower swimmer ought to defer to the faster. I don't work out with a group so the only time I have this experience is at meets. On the other hand sometimes people resent someone blowing past them, esp. if their body brushes them, but with that many people it seems virtually unavoidable. Sometimes a swimmer will get a little aggressive and pushy (I have been guilty) but not usually. That even happens in the morning when there is much more room and I think it helps to remember that everyone has a different sense of respectful space and that they are not intentionally trying to piss me off (they don't even know me). This is one of those unavoidable irritations and we really ought not to take it personally. The problem really is space. Ideally we would have warm down lanes separated from warm up but that is not always possible.

I don't know of any set of rules specific to warmup/warmdown, but respect and common courtesy would be two phrases to use when talking about pool etiquite in general. As applied to warmup/warmdown: If you're resting, get in the corner of the lane, or if that spot is already occupied, hang on to the rope away from the wall; get out of the pool to talk (stretch while yapping to maximize your time); pick a lane with people of similar speeds; if you're kicking, doing a slow drill or in a lane with faster people, let people go ahead of you; sprint in sprint lanes, or save your sprints for a point where there are few people in your lane It does bug me when people are camped out at the walls 3,4 and 5 wide. One meet this year, there were a few swimmers in a lane yapping at a wall, and all were blocking the t/cross at the end. I did a turn a few yards away from the wall, being sure to kick up a storm to propel myself in the other direction (since there was to be no wall pushoff). When they were still there a 50 later, I did a slow flipturn, and carefully placed my feet through bodies to push off, effectively straddling some poor woman. There were clear walls the rest of warmup. Recently, an older, slower woman jumped in a lane with myself, the blue muppet and the other half of Jollie Groplinger, and then tried to pick a fight with the blue one. Apparently, she became miffed when I passed her while doing backstroke, and had tiraded about the particular lane, next to a wall, being reserved for old and slow people (there was no sign - something I have only seen at Nationals meets). A great example of a sense of entitlement some people feel about their warmup lanes. In general, as a faster person, I do try to stay in the middle of the pool, but when those lanes are crowded (and in this case, they had people of vastly varying speeds), I moved outward to a lane with the two young ladies mentioned above (I mean, who can blame me!). There was no mention of particular lanes for particular speeds, so all four of us were not in the wrong about where we were - just the older lady could have showed less attitude and been a little more respectful of her lanemates.

I agree that space was definitely an issue. I, too, was trying to warm up, not cool down, but gave up because the pool was so crowded. Still, going full force in such a crowded pool with so many swimmers of varying speeds seems dangerous. It wasn't just a 100 or so, it was a good long time. And flipping onto people coming off of walls is a good way to break someone's arm/smash their head/any number of things. Maybe meet organizers for these big meets should think about having specific lanes designated for fast warmup people, medium/other warmup people, and then the third lane for warming-down people. I felt it was disrespectful and irresponsible, and it gave me a bad feeling for swimming, just for that moment. Masters swimming is for all levels; thus elite swimmers, though wanting to do their best, need to try not to kill less elite swimmers somehow, and should be aware that they are swimming in a way that could hurt someone pretty badly, including themselves.

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. The time to do intensive warming up like that, alas, is at the start of the day, when all the competition pool lanes are open, and lanes are designated for faster/slower speeds. But this swimmer was intent on continuous full-out sprinting with turns in this crowded 3-lane pool. I should clarify "grab": as he barrelled past me in the middle, again with me on one side and another swimmer on the other, all of us swimming, and not at noodle pace, I touched him firmly, which got him to stop briefly, and told him I thought what he was doing was dangerous. I should also say that I've been to a lot of meets, and this is the first time I've ever seen a swimmer do this in the warmup/warmdown pool. Usually swimmers are quite courteous.

I swam all my events despite only 3 weeks back in the water, including the 400 IM, which I decided to consider performance art. That swim and the "performance art" comment merit at least two bananas. :banana::banana: (My Christmas wish: emoticons that interact with each other, or with posters.)

Yes, I really shoud change the direction of this thread and say I AM SO PROUD THAT I SWAM ALL MY EVENTS (though I slept through the 100 free; bummer; I would have done a good time), and thinking of the 400 IM as performance art is going to be my new attitude for that swim. I very nearly got dq'd as I flipturned for the backstroke. That was the most performance-art part of my swim. First there was the silent dialogue: Oh dear God, puuleeeeze let my continuous slow-motion turn keep moving toward the wall. (I don't think that's Samuel Beckett-worthy but still, that was the dialogue.) Then there was the turn and the hope that my little toes would at least brush the wall. And my little toes just brushed the wall, like a very small watercolor paintbrush. It was a work of art. The whole swim. ha ha ha ha. Remember, I had just gotten my cast off 3 weeks before! Again, the performance art angle: my time wasn't much worse than when I train a lot. Again, the performance art angle: for some reason I LOVE the 400 IM, perhaps because it is art, the way I do it. Really, very slow swimming can be very graceful. :)

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.