In our winter YMCA league, there are about a dozen meets from September to April. Some of the swimmers come to these meets and more or less go through the motions--i.e., they swim almost as if the meet were a leisurely Sunday workout. For one friend of mine, it's almost as if he doesn't want to try too hard because if his time isn't as good as he thinks it should be, he's disappointed and de-inspired.
Other swimmers try their hardest in every event they enter, regardless if this nets them a personal record or not.
It's a difference of philosophy, I guess, but I am curious to see where others out there come down on this duality.
Someone mentioned on another thread somewhere that Popov planned to race the 50 a hundred times a season, and that these races were part of his conditioning strategy. This makes a lot of sense to me--it's hard to do a truly maximal sprint in practice, and even if you can do this, you don't have the same adrenalizing, etc. that meet conditions can induce. By attending lots of meets and sprinting all out there everytime, you get a form of practice that's virtually impossible to get anywhere else. Partly for this reason I guess I am a believer in trying your hardest in meets throughout the season. I also don't see the point in coming and swimming with less effort than you are capable of summoning.
But maybe I'm missing something. What do others out there think?
Parents
Former Member
I would love to go to lots of meets and 'give it my all.' At the very least I would learn some pacing strategy (I swim a lot different in meets than I do in practice) and I agree, it is good sprint practice. It certainly feels like a workout after it is all over, and I am not too concerned about untapered times. There are lots of meets around where I live.
But going to a meet involves extensive negotiations with the family and makes things very difficult for my wife. So last year I managed to go to five meets - one or two in each course. I expect to continue that pace in the future, with about one national meet every other year.
All of my team mates seem to try hard at meets, also. They are always trying for pb's and quite willing to discuss and compare their times. Going to a meet is such a bother that it makes no sense to treat it casually. Unlike Tom, I can't really see the sense in doing that. If I wanted the socialization so much, I'd work the deck as an official, or time, rather than swim.
I would love to go to lots of meets and 'give it my all.' At the very least I would learn some pacing strategy (I swim a lot different in meets than I do in practice) and I agree, it is good sprint practice. It certainly feels like a workout after it is all over, and I am not too concerned about untapered times. There are lots of meets around where I live.
But going to a meet involves extensive negotiations with the family and makes things very difficult for my wife. So last year I managed to go to five meets - one or two in each course. I expect to continue that pace in the future, with about one national meet every other year.
All of my team mates seem to try hard at meets, also. They are always trying for pb's and quite willing to discuss and compare their times. Going to a meet is such a bother that it makes no sense to treat it casually. Unlike Tom, I can't really see the sense in doing that. If I wanted the socialization so much, I'd work the deck as an official, or time, rather than swim.
