You must have a warped sense of fear to have put the top two greatest events in this list and one that easily makes the top 10 list. Alas, I could not participate in your poll.
I think if you want an accurate poll, you should include all events.
My top 3 most feared events would be:
200 free - ain't nobody know how to swim this godforsaken mess that can't decide if it's a sprint or a mid-distance race. SCY, SCM or LCM -- no matter which way you cut it, this race is hard, unfathomable and unbeatable.
50 free - screw up the start, turn, breakout, or, heck, even breathe one too many times and your race is shot. But, hey, even if you remove the turn in long course, this event also sucks as, after about the 30 meter mark, when you've taken your allotted one breath, your vision starts to fade into the tunnel and, in the midst of your hypoxic haze, you swear you start talking with ghosts of swimmers past.
200 long course *** stroke - If I can't swim at least 60% of my breaststroke via underwater pullouts, there's gonna be ugliness.
Thank you all for making me laugh so hard I almost cried. My non-swimming husband couldn't figure out why these posts are so funny. As a sprint freestyler all these events sound like living hell to me, which is why I generally avoid them altogether. Hats off to all of you who are braver than me. But I agree with the 200 free. It's got a serious identity problem and no matter how you approach it it causes substantial pain. During the 50, the pain doesn't start until the race is 95% done, during the 100, the pain starts at the 75 - all expected and planned for. The 200 is a different animal. It's so hard to avoid taking it out too hard and then spending 100 to 150 yards thrashing about in utter panic and exhaustion or taking it out too slowly and feeling reasonably good until you see the lousy time on the score board.
You must have a warped sense of fear to have put the top two greatest events in this list and one that easily makes the top 10 list. Alas, I could not participate in your poll.
I think if you want an accurate poll, you should include all events.
My top 3 most feared events would be:
200 free - ain't nobody know how to swim this godforsaken mess that can't decide if it's a sprint or a mid-distance race. SCY, SCM or LCM -- no matter which way you cut it, this race is hard, unfathomable and unbeatable.
50 free - screw up the start, turn, breakout, or, heck, even breathe one too many times and your race is shot. But, hey, even if you remove the turn in long course, this event also sucks as, after about the 30 meter mark, when you've taken your allotted one breath, your vision starts to fade into the tunnel and, in the midst of your hypoxic haze, you swear you start talking with ghosts of swimmers past.
200 long course *** stroke - If I can't swim at least 60% of my breaststroke via underwater pullouts, there's gonna be ugliness.
Thank you all for making me laugh so hard I almost cried. My non-swimming husband couldn't figure out why these posts are so funny. As a sprint freestyler all these events sound like living hell to me, which is why I generally avoid them altogether. Hats off to all of you who are braver than me. But I agree with the 200 free. It's got a serious identity problem and no matter how you approach it it causes substantial pain. During the 50, the pain doesn't start until the race is 95% done, during the 100, the pain starts at the 75 - all expected and planned for. The 200 is a different animal. It's so hard to avoid taking it out too hard and then spending 100 to 150 yards thrashing about in utter panic and exhaustion or taking it out too slowly and feeling reasonably good until you see the lousy time on the score board.
