Let me first say that I had a blast in Atlanta and enjoyed every minute of it (even the last minute of the 1000), so this list is somewhat tongue in cheek:
10. No Starbucks within walking distance of the Hampton Inn.
9. The taste of an Italian soda called "Beverly" at the Coca Cola Museum; it reminded me of viscous lidocaine--what is with that?
8. The stairway access to the pool deck from the stands.
7. Missing out on a medal in the 200 free relay because eight of the teams finishing ahead of us were from "regional" clubs representing entire states.
6. Two swimmers from TXLA trying to recruit my 87 year old father to join their team instead of swimming for Nitro.
5. No Starbucks within walkiing distance of the pool.
4. Turning at the bulkhead, although I nailed all of mine.
3. That one starter who shall remain nameless.
2. Not getting to meet Rich Abrahams, among others.
1. It ended.
Maybe a suggestion would be to have designated entry points for each warm up lane so that you couldn't enter at both ends and along various points on the wall. You could have a monitor stand between the lanes at the entry point enforcing it, would only require 4 or 5 volunteers.
I did see one joker dive enter the warm up pool. That was pretty brazen.
In agreement with Chris, those seats in the upper deck were sweet. We sat up there and heckled each other.
I probably should have tried spectating from the stands some. But my buddies were hiding down in a corner on the main deck.
The diving well pool was crowded and wild as expected. It didn't bother me much, and I just tried to be careful. I was swum over several times while SDK-ing underwater, but not injured in any way. As Kirk notes, I never warmed up in the competition pool, I stuck to the diving well except for that 30 minutes on Thursday night. I suspect it is easier for sprinters to warm up in those conditions. I just need time to loosen up and then I do some fast 25s or bursts, which I carefully time to avoid running over someone. Doing actual pace work seems problematic. And practicing turns and finishes in the diving well in a non starter. I also think it would help if people could not even jump into the diving well. Sliding in from the side is much safer.
Maybe a suggestion would be to have designated entry points for each warm up lane so that you couldn't enter at both ends and along various points on the wall. You could have a monitor stand between the lanes at the entry point enforcing it, would only require 4 or 5 volunteers.
I did see one joker dive enter the warm up pool. That was pretty brazen.
In agreement with Chris, those seats in the upper deck were sweet. We sat up there and heckled each other.
I probably should have tried spectating from the stands some. But my buddies were hiding down in a corner on the main deck.
The diving well pool was crowded and wild as expected. It didn't bother me much, and I just tried to be careful. I was swum over several times while SDK-ing underwater, but not injured in any way. As Kirk notes, I never warmed up in the competition pool, I stuck to the diving well except for that 30 minutes on Thursday night. I suspect it is easier for sprinters to warm up in those conditions. I just need time to loosen up and then I do some fast 25s or bursts, which I carefully time to avoid running over someone. Doing actual pace work seems problematic. And practicing turns and finishes in the diving well in a non starter. I also think it would help if people could not even jump into the diving well. Sliding in from the side is much safer.
