It was the Christmas holidays, but Kent was coming up, so I had to stay sharp. I booked in a session at Hengrove Leisure Centre in Bristol on the 28th of December. From the outside, it looked great - a huge place with impressive facilities. When I stepped inside, the seating was excellent, the lighting was spot-on, and everything looked professional.
The Long Course Problem
But there was one major issue: the actual "long course" was split into three 25-metre pools. I couldn't practice my long course swimming, and the depth was only 2 metres.
Why does depth matter? When I do my underwater breakouts, I need to know how far the bottom of the pool looks from me. At the LAC (London Aquatic Centre, where Kent will be held), the pool is 3 metres deep - it's going to look further away when I need to break out. Without being able to practice in the right depth, I couldn't get that feel dialled in.
The Session Itself
I did my session anyway, just without the long course specific parts. It was a solid session overall - I kept my times where they needed to be.
The pool had its quirks though. It was saltier than the sea - honestly made me want to throw up. The water temperature was way too hot as well. On the plus side, the changing rooms were fine, and they had diving pools at each end which was a nice touch.