There are a few things that are quite unique to swimmers staying in a hotel… Stock photo via Jack Spitser/Spitser Photography
Read up on various swimming stories from around the web in this edition of ‘Beyond the Lane Lines’, featuring Australian Olympian Kyle Chalmers.
Readers believe that the breaststroke is the 200 event that changes the most from short course yards to long course meters.
Part 2 of a series documenting a former swimmer’s journey back to the pool.
This pasta salad recipe is super convenient, quick, easy, and perfect for meal prepping and making in batches.
Another reality television personality has claimed to be a former elite-level swimmer. This time, the claims hold a little more water.
The 19-year-old posted a lengthy statement on Instagram detailing her battles with mental health over the past number of years.
Paying attention to the little things, like electrolytes, can make all the difference in training plateaus or personal bests.
Our Summer Preview magazine ships soon. This issue is fat, detailing who and why to watch at World Champs, Commonwealth Games and European Champs.
At some point in every young swimmer’s career, you start to go to meets that are out of town. Usually, these meets are multiple days long, and with that, you’re gonna have to stay at a hotel. If there is one constant from the start of your swim career all the way to the end, it’s that you will be staying at a hotel for quite a few weekends each year. There are a few things that are quite unique to swimmers staying in a hotel…
Towels: You ever had to stay in a room with 4 swimmers, including yourself, during a 4-day championship meet? The kind of meet that is prelims/finals? Well, if you have, then you know that after the first session there are going to be no fewer than 4 towels hanging up on every available surface to dry for the next 4 days. Towels slung over the shower rod? Check. Towels thrown over the back of the desk chair? You betcha. A towel draped over the TV? Wouldn’t recommend it, but I’ve seen it. The unfortunate truth though… is that there is a good chance your towels will never quite get all the way dry this way. And, you’ll get smacked in the face with the sweet sweet smell of chlorine every time you walk into the room. Oh well, you’re used to it anyways by now.
Shaving: If you’re at the aforementioned championship meet, then there will definitely be the need to rid yourself of every bit of hair neck down for said meet. Guy or girl, there’s probably a pretty good chance it’s been a few months since you’ve shaved, and you’re gonna have to take care of it at the hotel. To make this experience a bit more entertaining, you and your closest friends may all don a suit and perch on the side of the tub to get this done. You’ll hear lots of “Hey! Pass me the shaving cream”, and maybe even a “can you shave my back?”. This may even be the first time you decide to try out shaving your arms because your friend swears it made them swim faster the last time they did it. Grab the big pack of razors at the store, you all will go through a few, and make it a shaving party. Just, uh, make sure to rinse out the tub afterwards.
Ice Baths: After you’ve got the tub all cleaned out from the shaving party, you realize that you’re a little bit sore from two days of prelims/finals, and you still have a few more ahead of you. You decide that now is a great time for an ice bath. A hotel ice bath is not the same as a training room ice bath. If you want an ice bath at a hotel, you’re going to have to be willing to put in the work. Grab the ice bucket, empty out the trash can (sounds gross, but you need as many containers as possible), and start making your trips to the ice machine. If you’re lucky, there will be one on your floor. It’s going to take quite a few trips to the ice machine to make sure you have enough ice for this to be an actual ice bath. And, remember, hotel ice melts fast, so you’re gonna have to be quick. Once you’ve managed to fill the tub up a reasonable amount with ice and fill it the rest of the way with cold water, it’s time to hop in. Wrap a towel around your neck like a scarf and set the timer. Somewhere between 5-10 minutes later, you’re done. You vow never to put yourself through that kind of pain again… but for some reason you find yourself doing it again at the very next meet.
Team Shenanigans: Staying with your team during a meet essentially means you get to have a slumber party with your best friends for a few days. When you aren’t napping, you’ll probably take this time to squish as many people in a room at once just so that you can all watch whatever show you find on TV. There’s a good chance it’s going to be something on HGTV. The people that don’t particularly care if the TV family loves it or lists it, will go down to the lobby, or another room, to play some games. Card games, board games, someone might have even brought an entire gaming system to hook up to the TV. Regardless, there’s a good chance you stay up just a little bit longer than you should have to finish the game. Maybe Catan wasn’t exactly the best choice to bring to a meet, but you gotta see it out to the end. Regardless of what sorts of shenanigans you get up to, staying at a hotel with your team can make a swim meet weekend even more fun. Just, uh, make sure you set an alarm and make it down to breakfast on time… nobody wants an angry coach knocking on your door 5 minutes before the bus is set to leave.
My 2021HS grad missed out on this. Ugh.
I always wonder whether „normal“ people know that swimmers – especially when a team-shave happens – use the hotel’s ice-buckets as shaving buckets 🤔…
I felt soooo bad last time I did it. Tried to use a red solo cup instead out of pity for the next people to use the hotel room but gave up halfway through. I feel real sorry for whoever came after me in that room!
Ah, the shaving. It was utterly life changing for me when I discovered that I could trim very short with an electric razor before using a regular razor to finish up. Shaving went from a multi hour endeavor to less than an hour, including shaving my head. Blew my mind when I found that out! 😀
I blew every single taper by not using an electric razor first
Thoughts to every 13 / 14 year old got a giant razor hash because of this.
Some serious coaching malpractice if you weren’t instructed on this!
This was the 90s and my coaches were quite old school then. I’m not entirely sure they even knew about the electric razor thing!
My coach didn’t think anyone didn’t know. Went 5 years before discovering you can trim your hair first
I also made that mistake once. Razor would clog after a quarter of an inch, just horrible.
If memory serves, my first shave took nearly 5 hours and I went through an entire Sam’s Club pack of safety razor blades in the process, along with blowing through all our hot water within the first hour, which made the next 3+ hours even more miserable! It was a local meet, so I was shaving at home and didn’t have the endless hotel hot water to assist.
Mary is a former 6-time All-American swimmer at Carson-Newman University. She technically was a 50-freestyler, but her favorite events were relays. She wrapped up her swimming career at the 2020 Division II National Championships in March. Since then, she has recently started her first year of Physical Therapy school at …
More from Mary Northcutt See All
Subscribe to our newsletter and receive our latest updates!
© 2022 Swim Swam Partners, LLC. All rights reserved.
FTC Disclaimer | Terms of Use & Privacy Policy | Privacy SettingsDo Not Sell My Personal Information