Thursday, December 29, 2011

USMS - the Willy Wonka of adult swimming

My initial disgust has phased out, so I'm removing the contents of this venting post.

As for today's swim:  It sucked.

I was in the pool at 5:00am, but about 800 yards into my swim, my left elbow started to bug me which was a first.  I was feeling a little stiff still and these thoughts about today's subject were weighing down my mind.  Hopefully tomorrow I can start with a renewed purpose and really get back to it!

1000 free total in 15:10



6 comments:

Anonymous said...

I agree substituting a coupon for a gift certificate is LAME! They did that for the $5 one too.

I realize the contest is free and just for fun, but there's no reason to set false expectations like that. Especially for the grand prize.

Gords said...

Huh, I don't remember the $5 GC. I wonder what the two guys who did 1500 miles think. "Buy $750 of Nike products on AAS, and then get your $250." That's nuts.

Josh said...

The $100 gift card thing does seem pretty misleading. At least you are set with jammers for the next couple of years!

I'm pretty satisfied with USMS as a whole. They have a great website with a lot of resources and information available, discussion boards, workouts, etc. I really like reading SWIMMER magazine and look forward to getting it in the mail. I generally workout on my own and not with one of the local Masters groups, but still renew my membership so that I can take advantage of some of the benefits and participate in meets, open water events, etc.

I am not very familiar with the organization of the Utah LMSC or the behind-the-scenes workings. I think there is room for improvement, as there is with every organization. I would like to see the Utah LMSC get more involved with coaching and swimmer development (training, certification, clinics, etc.) I wish they were more involved in our open water events. It seems like we just pay the sanctioning fee and then send them a check for the one-day registrations when the race is over. It would be nice if they could help promote the swims and provide volunteers to help out.

Maybe it's the swimmers fault for not letting the leadership know what we want them to do. There ought to be an easy way to submit comments and suggestions to the board. Are meetings open to the general membership? If so, we should probably take a more active role and attend the meetings and offer our opinions and suggestions.

Gords said...

Definitely, I love the swimmer magazine, and the electronic newletters from USMS. Definitely worth the yearly membership fee. My gripe is with the lack of obvious benefits from the LMSC.

I've attended almost every meeting I've been invited to, but never a board meeting. Not sure if they're even being held or not. I nominate YOU Josh, to be on the board. It needs some new blood that has some great ideas, and can get things done!

Evan said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Evan said...

Nobody likes a bait-and-switch. Swimming 1000 miles is its own reward, but USMS shouldn't be in the business of offering "awards" that aren't actually awards. I'm sure many folks would happily participate in GTD without these misleading "awards." I am grateful for the Nike jammer I got, though.