I know this is a very newbie question, and there is ample info in swim books/sites about this, but I'd love to hear from REAL SWIMMERS like you, thank you very much.
What works for you?
Lately I've been doing a series of 200m to 25m swims, usually totalling 800m, as a warmup.
Example: 2x200m + 2x100m + 2x50m + 4x25m, starting very easy, ending at "fast" pace.
In the future I hope to incorporate drills into the warmup, but I don't have a clue yet. :)
most meets won't let you use fins, paddles, snorkels, etc.
It can also depend upon when you get in the pool. If you are an early bird like me, you can often times get away with using equipment before the warm-up pool(s) become over crowded. Only equipment bans I have seen though have been for fins and paddles (which I totally understand). If you asked me which pieces I would most like to have at my disposal during a warm-up, it would be snorkel, kickboard, buoy in that order (mainly because I could always use the kickboard as a buoy in a pinch).
It can also depend upon when you get in the pool. If you are an early bird like me, you can often times get away with using equipment before the warm-up pool(s) become over crowded. Only equipment bans I have seen though have been for fins and paddles (which I totally understand). If you asked me which pieces I would most like to have at my disposal during a warm-up, it would be snorkel, kickboard, buoy in that order (mainly because I could always use the kickboard as a buoy in a pinch).
There was some team at Sectionals that insisted on getting in the packed diving well pool (they were running split men's/women's pools for prelims which meant the diving well was the only warmup/down area) with fins, paddles, and snorkels. That was pretty annoying.
There was some team at Sectionals that insisted on getting in the packed diving well pool (they were running split men's/women's pools for prelims which meant the diving well was the only warmup/down area) with fins, paddles, and snorkels. That was pretty annoying.
Yeah that one is on the coach. Have to show respect to the rest of the competitors. At my last Sectionals (out at Jenks, OK), I warmed up each morning and afternoon and used all my equipment. Meet director came over and said "hey man, I am cool with you using your equipment right now because no one is really in the pool, but as soon as it gets crowded, can you pack up your gear?" It worked out fine each time because I was either done with the equipment portion of my warm-up or out of the water completely before things even got remotely crowded!
Regarding equipment at meets during warm-up:
To JP's experience, as the 2016 Oregon USMS Nationals Head Safety Marshall, I pretty much banned equipment from warm-ups for safety and clutter reasons. There are too many people in the pool and getting in/out. All that stuff creates tripping & slipping obstacles. And, if some gets wacked by a paddle during an arm recovery, it could be bad. I had a few jerks give me a hard time, but they all followed the rules and everyone was safe.
And, beyond that, paddles and fins can damage the touch pads if they are in place. At $1,000/pad, I would ban them if it was my pool.
Yeah that one is on the coach. Have to show respect to the rest of the competitors. At my last Sectionals (out at Jenks, OK), I warmed up each morning and afternoon and used all my equipment. Meet director came over and said "hey man, I am cool with you using your equipment right now because no one is really in the pool, but as soon as it gets crowded, can you pack up your gear?" It worked out fine each time because I was either done with the equipment portion of my warm-up or out of the water completely before things even got remotely crowded!
Jenks seems like it's an awesome pool. I swam at their old pool in high school that they had built originally in SCM and "converted" to SCY by building a wooden bulkhead/dock thing. So weird. Oklahoma used to have one championship meet quality pool in the aging OCCC Olympic Festival complex, now they have that Jenks pool and another very nice pool in Edmond. I'm hoping there's an SCY Sectionals there again before my aging curve starts going the wrong way :P
Regarding equipment at meets during warm-up:
To JP's experience, as the 2016 Oregon USMS Nationals Head Safety Marshall, I pretty much banned equipment from warm-ups for safety and clutter reasons. There are too many people in the pool and getting in/out. All that stuff creates tripping & slipping obstacles. And, if some gets wacked by a paddle during an arm recovery, it could be bad. I had a few jerks give me a hard time, but they all followed the rules and everyone was safe.
And, beyond that, paddles and fins can damage the touch pads if they are in place. At $1,000/pad, I would ban them if it was my pool.
Masters has the added degree of difficultly in a shared warmup/down pool of having such a vast variance in speeds. You go from Matt Grevers to 4 minute per hundred 90-year-olds. At least at Sectionals (and other large national-level USA-S meets) everyone is at a minimum standard. I would not want to make that more difficult to navigate with paddles and fins flying around.
Jenks seems like it's an awesome pool. I swam at their old pool in high school that they had built originally in SCM and "converted" to SCY by building a wooden bulkhead/dock thing. So weird. Oklahoma used to have one championship meet quality pool in the aging OCCC Olympic Festival complex, now they have that Jenks pool and another very nice pool in Edmond. I'm hoping there's an SCY Sectionals there again before my aging curve starts going the wrong way :P
Yeah the SCM pool is the "warm-up" pool now. Word to the wise: stay the f:censor:k away from that pool if you go to a meet there (unless its LCM, in which case you are stuck using it for warm-up/warm-down). The amazing air filtration system does NOT extend to the old pool, so that place becomes like a gas chamber. By day 3, you can't breathe. Also just checked and looks like Sectionals IS at Jenks for this summer, LCM!
It is a damn shame they tore down the OCCC facility. That place was showing its age, its just so sad no one wanted to invest the money to bring it up to snuff again.
I tried an 800m (16:55) + 8x25m on 1min (start with 27sec, gradually get to 21sec) tonight, and I loved it. I'd previously thought that 800m was excessive, but I need 15min+ of easy swimming to really feel right. It takes me a looooong time to warmup. I love the 25m. I adjust the pace to whatever it is I am trying to do post warmup. (Tonight it was a 41sec 50m.)
I tried an 800m (16:55) + 8x25m on 1min (start with 27sec, gradually get to 21sec) tonight, and I loved it. I'd previously thought that 800m was excessive, but I need 15min+ of easy swimming to really feel right. It takes me a looooong time to warmup. I love the 25m. I adjust the pace to whatever it is I am trying to do post warmup. (Tonight it was a 41sec 50m.)
***Replies to self***
I gravitated away from, then came back to what I said in this quote. It might sound too simple, but an easy 800m, followed by a bunch of 25m, makes a lot of sense to me.
Also, as mentioned in this thread, I have been very surprised to find that some walls are grippy, and some are slippery.
Additionally, it has surprised me that the T is not universally located. Every damn pool seems to be different with the distance from the T to the wall. It makes me laugh when many flip-turn videos talk about "the T", as if it is universally located the same way.
