I'm guilty of it. I imagine we're all guilty of it: seeing a meet announcement and seeing our favorite two events back to back, or four events we want to swim on one day and then only 1 then next day. We get irritated and wonder why the meet director couldn't have designed this to better suit our needs? We moan at workout, whine on the forums, ***** on our blogs, etc. I'd like to encourage my fellow forumites to join me in taking a pledge:
I hereby pledge to:
just be grateful that there are volunteers, teams and facilities willing to host Masters meets,
recognize that no matter how hard these dedicated volunteers try, they'll never be able to create the order of events that satisfies all Masters swimmer,
recognize that, even if I can't swim those two favorite events in this meet because they are back to back (or whatever my complaint is), I've got a multi-decade Masters career ahead of me in which to swim them at different meets,
to, therefore, stop whining/moaning about the order of events, and
look at a different order of events as an opportunity to branch out and try new events!
Signed,
Patrick "Indebted to Masters Meet Directors/Officials/Volunteers" Brundage
I can't figure out why anyone would ever whine about order of events. Most meets cram every single event available into 2 days. Some put the distance events the day before or the week before. Given that, it is basically inevitable there will be back to back events or back to back to back events that you want to swim. That's the way it is so there's really no point in getting agitated about it. If you are a one trick pony you make the situation worse for yourself, which brings us full circle to the beauty of the 200 back.
Most masters meets I've ever been to, besides the LMSC Champs meets, cram everything into one day. I actually prefer that as well, 'cause it's cheaper on the $$$$ for one travel day over and back vs. multiple days with hotels/food/etc. Plus, the multiple day meets don't really take up the whole day, and there is a lot of wasted time in the day...what do you do? Go sit in the hotel? I'd rather be back at home after a day of competing.
Just pick events that will be spaced evenly enough, and if it doesn't work out, it doesn't work out. I always swim the maximum allowed at a meet, even if it means I'll be tired going into races. It's not that bad. :)
Particularly when there is a strange rule in the rulebook that prohibits the 400/500 free being the day after the distance day. That is why the 400 IM is almost always on Friday (assuming the meet starts on Thursday). Seems that the distance freestyle swimmers are so tough they want to swim both distance events on the same day, however, they are not able to swim the 400/500 the next day..
I never really understood the rationale behind this. Yes the 1650 or 1000 can be a taxing event on a person's body, but after a good night of sleep I wouldn't see any problem with doing a 500 on the next day at all. Even the 500 Free and 400 IM on the same day isn't an issue, unless for the length of the timeline. That way there could be more sprints on another day to entice more whining!! :D
The 50 back will never be the last event at Nationals.
I should have said close to the last event. In my own idiosyncratic meet experience, it often seems like it's jammed at the end of champs meets. This could reflect the TT survey you conducted, I guess. Greensboro is no different. I can't recall ever swimming the 50 back on day one of a big meet. (Though one year at NE Champs I swam it as a split request on day one to avoid it being my last event of the meet.)
James Adams is insane. :)
The 50 back is the 2nd event at the Sunbelt this Saturday at the afternoon session, which starts at about 1 pm. Here in the Dixie Zone we aim to please.
A simple rule of thumb is to ask:
What percentage of the swimmers might want to double various events
I'm sure this information could be gleaned from past Nationals entries. You could come up with a matrix with all the events along each axis and then a number in each cell indicating what percentage of swimmers who swam X event also swam Y event. To do this correctly you'd need the results from several meets, because the order of events will influence event selection for a single meet.
It's easier for you mid-D types to go down to sprints, and it's probably good for you to do some speed work. There is nothing remotely beneficial about a sprinter training for or competing in 200 buststrokes.
Except for the feeling of pure joy, knowing that you have conquered the ultimate event :)
The 50 back is the 2nd event at the Sunbelt this Saturday at the afternoon session, which starts at about 1 pm. Here in the Dixie Zone we aim to please.
Nothing would make me happier than for 1 day meets to start at 1:00 pm!
Alas, high school district champs are this weekend.
I'm sure this information could be gleaned from past Nationals entries. You could come up with a matrix with all the events along each axis and then a number in each cell indicating what percentage of swimmers who swam X event also swam Y event. To do this correctly you'd need the results from several meets, because the order of events will influence event selection for a single meet.
Two for the price of one, a commie nerd.
I'm sure this information could be gleaned from past Nationals entries. You could come up with a matrix with all the events along each axis and then a number in each cell indicating what percentage of swimmers who swam X event also swam Y event. To do this correctly you'd need the results from several meets, because the order of events will influence event selection for a single meet.
Nationals is a bit different, they tend to be huge, and there's usually enough heats to get plenty of rest on back to back races.
It would be nice if we could enter more than 6 individual races at Nats
why not 8 or 9
