The Pool Deck

[ande]

Michelle Chow sent me a PM:

Hi Ande, Love the lane threads! Will you start one more - not sure what to call it - but for ideas of what people do "on the deck before getting in" or "in lieu of being in any lane!" I'd love to hear pre-water warmups!

Which inspired "The Pool Deck" It isn't a lane, It's where folks wait for practice, sitting or standing, doing something, doing nothing, stretching, telling stories, getting ready to get in, Conversation, Procrastination, communication, Coaches, guests, swimmers,

There's those who dive in early, on time, or late.
Those who arrive early, on time or late.

It's where teams meet & friends greet.
Wecome to the pool deck. Please share your stories.
What happened today on the Pool Deck?


[ame="http://www.usms.org/forums/showthread.php?t=16584"]the breastroke lane[/ame]


[ame="http://www.usms.org/forums/showthread.php?t=16601"]The Middle Distance Lane[/ame]


[ame="http://www.usms.org/forums/showthread.php?t=16587"]The Backstroke Lane[/ame]


[ame="http://www.usms.org/forums/showthread.php?t=16588"]The Butterfly Lane[/ame]


[ame="http://www.usms.org/forums/showthread.php?t=16618"]The SDK Lane[/ame]


[ame="http://www.usms.org/forums/showthread.php?t=16591"]The Taper Lane[/ame]


[ame="http://www.usms.org/forums/showthread.php?t=16586"]The Distance Lane[/ame]


[ame="http://www.usms.org/forums/showthread.php?t=16589"]The IM Lane[/ame]


[ame="http://www.usms.org/forums/showthread.php?t=16585"]The Sprint Free Lane[/ame]


[ame="http://www.usms.org/forums/showthread.php?t=16619"]The Pool Deck[/ame]

[Ahelee Sue Osborn]

I coach, so the pool deck is my office.

This morning I watched the full moon set while my swimmers cranked a long course set in the pool.

Yesterday at noon workout, I stood in my office and described to the swimmers a scene that totally inspired me earlier in the day in Fullerton.
As Olympic coaches arrived to their office at the Janet Evans Pool, Jon Urbanchek used his hands and unique discriptive voice to illustrate to the present USMS crew, "a great swimmer is one with the water".

I prefer an office surrounded with flowers, trees, and grassy knolls...

[swimshark]

Ahlee an outdoor pool sounds wonderful. I would love that as a setting. Watching the moon set sounds so cool. Please take pictures and share.

[gull]

Hey where is the thread called "The Starbucks"? It's where we go after practice to refuel, trash talk, and gossip.

[aquageek]

Hey where is the thread called "The Starbucks"? It's where we go after practice to refuel, trash talk, and gossip.

Why wait til after practice to talk trash?

[gull]

Why wait til after practice to talk trash?

Good point. Actually our team talks trash throughout the day via email.

[smontanaro]

Which inspired "The Pool Deck"...

Is there an injury lane or doctor's office?

[knelson]

Is there an injury lane or doctor's office?

I don't know, has Paul Wolf shown up yet?

Sorry, Paul, I couldn't resist.

[chowmi]

When I am on time, which is about half the time, I like to do "active" warm up movements, similar to whatever I would do behind the block at a meet. These includes stretches, torso twirls (aka my wonder woman arms), jumping jacks, and swimming in front of the mirrored glass to watch my arms.

With limited time, I now do my other stretching in the evening. I'd like to do a nice relaxed stretching session right afterwards (some people do; they grab a mat and do situps, stretching, you name it), but I simply don't have the time with pickup in 1 1/2 hours and I budget that time for grocery shopping and housekeeping.

I'll talk to whoever shows up on deck, which is usually the coach or other swimmers in my lane. Usually about swimming but just as often about our kids. I do not like to talk about work.

The Pool Deck is a mixed bag of everything - it's often my social time, relaxing yet preparation time, and one of the few moments of the day which are all about me!

[That Guy]

Hey wow I'm hanging out on the pool deck. Great stuff!

THE WARM-UP POOL IS NOW OPEN. FEET FIRST ENTRY ONLY PLEASE.

bye!

[knelson]

That's Guy's post made me think of a good topic. What kind of meet warmupper are you? Do you always show up 15 minutes before warmup starts and stand behind the blocks, just waiting for the announcement that it's OK to get in? Do you get in near the end of warmup, just in time to do a few sprints from the blocks? Do you show up right before your event and just get in a couple hundred yards in the dive tank?

I'll admit, I'm usually there early. I'm not the first person in the water, but I like to try to get in before the pool gets too crowded.

[Nichole]

This morning the pool deck was 42 degrees, so it was where we all scrambled to get our clothes off, caps/goggles on and into the warmer water as quickly as possible.

At meets, I'll usually get in the water about halfway thru the warm-up. I like to get a feel for the pool and do some good block starts/sprints/turns before warm-up ends and I move to the other pool to cool down.

[swimshark]

That's Guy's post made me think of a good topic. What kind of meet warmupper are you? Do you always show up 15 minutes before warmup starts and stand behind the blocks, just waiting for the announcement that it's OK to get in? Do you get in near the end of warmup, just in time to do a few sprints from the blocks? Do you show up right before your event and just get in a couple hundred yards in the dive tank?

I'll admit, I'm usually there early. I'm not the first person in the water, but I like to try to get in before the pool gets too crowded.

I like to get in early when the lanes aren't as full. Then I can get in a good 400-500 until the others start to get in. After that I do some kicking so I have to time that right so I don't hold others up.

[That Guy]

I'm not the first person in the water

Not only am I the first one in the water, I also move to the warmdown area (even if it's the therapy pool or diving well) once the competition pool gets crowded. Competition pools that have a shallow end get really crowded because so many people just stand around down there. After about 25 minutes I'm fully warmed up so I stand around waiting for sprint lanes to open. Hey I'm hanging out on the pool deck again!

[Michael Heather]

Stretching gently while waiting for the rats and other debris to be removed from my lane. Sometimes I get in early just to count the hairballs on the bottom. Some of them have been there so long they receive mail.

[SolarEnergy]

I like to show up quite early into the warm up, confident that no matter what everything will go well anyway. I swim and adapt to how busy the lane is. I show up with no solid expectations. Worst case I just book some no board fly kicking only, slow and fast, swimming a sprint here and there when I have the opportunity.

Then prior the race, arm circles and other dryland movements, focusing into the zone and that's it. For me, the most important is the wake up swim the day before the meet. If I skip this, I usually under perform.

[Ahelee Sue Osborn]

Stretching gently while waiting for the rats and other debris to be removed from my lane. Sometimes I get in early just to count the hairballs on the bottom. Some of them have been there so long they receive mail.

This does not sound like the beautiful Rose Blow we all know and love!

[That Guy]

This does not sound like the beautiful Rose Blow we all know and love!

oh dear

[debaru]

Stretching gently while waiting for the rats and other debris to be removed from my lane. Sometimes I get in early just to count the hairballs on the bottom. Some of them have been there so long they receive mail.

Boy, can I relate to that. The pool where I swim gets its fair share of debris in the form of plant matter, hair, band-aids, and items that are unrecognizable, but during Thursday morning's swim workout, I swear I saw a dead scorpion on the bottom of the pool.

It was really windy the night before and it wouldn't surpise me if one got blown off of a palm tree and drowned. While swimming we stir up the water pretty good and I couldn't find it later, so I'm hoping it ended up in the skimmer. I'll gladly let the poor soul who cleans out the trap deal with it.

[swimshark]

My team swims in the deepest end - 6.5-13 feet end. The pool claims that they can't get the vacuum down to the deepest part so you can imagine the stuff we see on the bottom of the pool at the deepest part! I only see them vacuuming maybe twice a month and yet we are there before the pool opens so it is the ideal time for them to do so. Once it opens to the public, the lanes are too full to vacuum. There has literally been crap in the pool overnight with out anyone noticing.