The national qualifying times for the 2019 U.S. Masters Swimming Spring National Championship have been released. The meet will be held April 25-28 in Mesa, Ariz. More info about the meet, such as hotels, can be found on our meet info page. (Please read this info about the national qualifying times.)
...the pain of that last 50 is getting bigger by the day in my imagination.
Jim has given you very good advice!
Also, remember that everyone else in that 200 heat will also be feeling the "pain" of the last 50 as well. Think how good you will feel when you finish!
Are there any scratches on the day of? feeling super nervous about one of my events...
Hi Jordan. No, there isn't for your particular slate of events. 50's, 100's and 200's are all pre-seeded.
If you're still feeling apprehensive before the event, just don't swim it. We'd rather you have an overall positive meet experience than have you feel that you have to do something you're not comfortable with doing.
I'm imagining though, that by the time the event arrives, you'll have gotten over your concerns and will just hop up on that block and take off.
Jim Clemmons
Championship Committee Chair
Are there any scratches on the day of? feeling super nervous about one of my events...
Anyone can no-show for any events. I've only swum and volunteered at one national meet, a long time ago, and I remember empty lanes.
That was my first thought when I saw myself in an end lane, in a heat with guys ~30+ seconds faster. I'd much rather be a faster person in a slower heat than a slower person in a faster heat. Oh well, it isn't the end of the world if I don't swim it.
I have been doing USRPT exclusively, 5 days a week since 2014. Most people have the mistaken idea that USRPT is only for sprints, because it says "ultra short" in the title. Nothing can be further from the truth. I believe it is actually better for distances of 200 and above. I started training for the 400 freestyle in September of 2014 and in March of 2015 I broke the 400 free SCM record in the 65 - 69 age group. I had never, ever broken a record before.
When people tell me that they do USRPT, I assume that they are doing it like I do it which is each set to failure at my target pace time. Turns out that people have many different interpretations about what USRPT is. If you have not already done so go to www.coachsci.sdsu.edu This is Dr. Rushall's Swimming Science Bulletin. Everything written about USRPT can be found there.
Trust your training and go to the meet with the idea of enjoying each and every race. After 40 years of competing in USMS I still get nervous before a race...but once I hit the water, regardless of the outcome, I feel at home in the water and it feels good.
Jim has given you very good advice!
Also, remember that everyone else in that 200 heat will also be feeling the "pain" of the last 50 as well. Think how good you will feel when you finish! Thanks! I'll be curious, I do USRPT as I believe you do but took 11 days off about a week ago for a trip to italy and that time away is what has me debating things. I do mostly sets for 100's and occasionally for 200's. I don't totally have the confidence that this training will support a 200FR that doesn't involve total technical and physical fall-apart. On the other hand- it is a good time to find out!
Yeah, you often get to Sunday afternoon and see heats with more no-shows than swimmers. If you want to optimize your event placement swimming the last few events of the meet is probably a good strategy! Just trying to optimize getting out of the pool! Just kidding... kind of... it totally makes sense to just DO the event, enjoy it and learn from it.
Yeah, you often get to Sunday afternoon and see heats with more no-shows than swimmers. If you want to optimize your event placement swimming the last few events of the meet is probably a good strategy!
Even though it's tempting to stick around the pool for the whole day, my advice is to return to your hotel whenever possible. It's a big meet so you'll often have hours between events and with the live stream it's easy to see how the meet is progressing.
