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Fri Oct 05, 2007 2:55 pm

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Master Masters Athlete
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Joined: Sun Aug 19, 2007 10:07 am
Posts: 40
Location: Youngstown, Ohio

I plan on competing in the national championships in the upcoming year and upon doing some early tentative planning my wife and I ran into some questions. I thought some of you might be able to help me out with them.

1.) Traveling (flying) with implements. Ship them ahead of time? Carry-on? Or checked baggage? If I do check them at the desk how do you guys suggest packaging them for travel?

2.) Any recommendations for hotels in Boston and Spokane?

3.) If you want to practice prior to the competition are there usually areas you can throw at? Are there time restrictions to use these facilities? Do they tell you this information when you register for the meet or when you check-in at the headquarters at the championship city?

4.) Should I plan on coming in early from Ohio and staying until the end of the whole meet? Is there an opening ceremony? Closing ceremony?


Any thoughts, comments, or answers would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks in advance for your help I'm sure I'll be happy with the advice I get from everyone here. Thanks!!!

_________________
The Hammer
"Throw like you are in first. Train like you are in second."



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Sat Oct 06, 2007 8:11 am

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Master Masters Athlete
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Joined: Thu Sep 07, 2006 1:36 pm
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Location: Folsom, CA

I don't know everything being a relative newbie myself, but here are a couple of answers. For Boston, hotels can be very expensive however we've been fortunate to have a beautiful host hotel available to us at a greatly reduced rate. It also has been very convenient to walk to the "T" (subway system) and the T will take you directly to the Reggie Lewis Center which is the site of the meet. A shuttle is also available. But you need to book quickly because the hotel will sell out. More information will be available on this site as the time grows closer. Check the blog frequently.

There generally wasn't an opening or closing ceremony so it's not a problem to leave as soon as your events are over. But it's so much fun to watch other competitors in their events and the relays on the final day are always exciting. So if you can stay an extra day to soak in the atmosphere I don't think you'll regret it. Competition is Friday through Sunday for indoors, Thursday through Sunday for outdoors.

For the indoor meet, runners generally get warmup time on the track plus there was a gym next to the track for additional warmups. However I'm not a thrower so I can't answer your question about warming up for your events. I'm sure others more knowledgeable than me will chime in soon.

Hope that you can make it.



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Sat Oct 06, 2007 1:45 pm

 
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Journeyman Masters Athlete
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Joined: Thu Sep 07, 2006 4:17 pm
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Most of the information will be posted on meet websites. It varies as to how soon that is posted. Some info is already up.
Here is the indoor web page.
and here is the outdoor page.
These are USATF web pages. Each meet usually sets up their own also.

This postdiscusses taking implements on airplanes.

- master



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Sat Oct 06, 2007 5:11 pm

 
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Master Masters Athlete
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Joined: Sat Sep 09, 2006 3:25 am
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Location: Columbia, MD

I'll try to answer some of your questions:

1. Traveling with implements -- this isn't really necessary for the Indoor Meet. There are usually ample "house" implements available.

For the outdoor meet I usually take my own. I tend to carry on my discuses, but put the others in a suitcase or two -- they almost always get a secondary inspection, but I've never had trouble getting them through. Just need to be a bit careful about the weight limits per suitcase.

2. Practice/warm up time -- at the indoor meet the circles are in use constantly from the beginning of the day til the end all three days. As a result there is no place to warm up other than during the alloted warmup time for your group in the competition circle.

At the outdoor meet it varies from location to location. In general at championship meets however, the rule is that you are not supposed to do any throwing other than from the circles during the alloted warm up time (usually 15 minutes per flight). At some venues in some events (discus in particular) you can sometimes find an adjacent field to at least get in some standing throws to begin your warm up so that the time alloted in the circle is sufficient if you need a lot of warm ups. At elite meets, I am told, it is not unusual to have only one or two turns through the circle before the competition begins -- they train to get ready very fast and do a lot of non-throwing warm up exercises before getting into the circle.

I hope this is helpful.

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Jerry Bookin-Weiner



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