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.
The early morning warm ups in the main pool weren't bad. But obviously if your swim isn't until the middle of the afternoon it wouldn't do you any good to get a good warm up at 7am. And unless you are in the first event after the distance event, I assume most people in the main pool for the 30 minute warm up session are simply there to get a feel for the competition pool walls, water temp, flags, blocks, etc. (as opposed to getting a true warm up). Is that assumption valid that most of you used the 30 minute warm up period just to check out the competition pool?
Here is one idea: give exclusive use of the pool to men for 15 minutes and then to women for 15 minutes (Swimstud can choose either or both since he is the Stud). That way every man and every woman can actually swim laps in the pool. What we saw this past weekend during the 30 minute warm ups looked like a dog paddle exercise. Would that be a better compromise: 15 minutes to actually swim vs 30 minutes of gridlock?
I'm sure Mark Gill would do a stellar job clearing the pool at the 15 minute mark but it would definitely be a challenge to keep the total break to 30 minutes if you have to include the buffer times to clear the pool twice.
Jeff
The early morning warm ups in the main pool weren't bad. But obviously if your swim isn't until the middle of the afternoon it wouldn't do you any good to get a good warm up at 7am. And unless you are in the first event after the distance event, I assume most people in the main pool for the 30 minute warm up session are simply there to get a feel for the competition pool walls, water temp, flags, blocks, etc. (as opposed to getting a true warm up). Is that assumption valid that most of you used the 30 minute warm up period just to check out the competition pool?
Here is one idea: give exclusive use of the pool to men for 15 minutes and then to women for 15 minutes (Swimstud can choose either or both since he is the Stud). That way every man and every woman can actually swim laps in the pool. What we saw this past weekend during the 30 minute warm ups looked like a dog paddle exercise. Would that be a better compromise: 15 minutes to actually swim vs 30 minutes of gridlock?
I'm sure Mark Gill would do a stellar job clearing the pool at the 15 minute mark but it would definitely be a challenge to keep the total break to 30 minutes if you have to include the buffer times to clear the pool twice.
Jeff
