I would like some input from people who have actually swum the 1000 & 1650 on the same day in a meet. It looks like there are people out there who do it seemingly successfully (by looking at their times) but I wonder if they regretted this decision a bit. Or trained specifically with that intent. The only thing I could think of to prep for this might be doubles in the pool once or twice a week. Or were they able to successfully nap between the events. See, I'd like to swim the 1000 at Nats but I'm basically shot to high heaven after that event anyways. I just barely meet the Qualifying time in both for my age group, so that's not a deterrent. So, I'm considering potentially "stupid" things. And I can't decide whether I should be talked into or out of doing both. What do you have for me? Advice? Warnings to heed? Help me fully inform my decision.
Because I only qualified in the two distance events, it's either swim it or not. Nothing else to trade with. Now that psych sheets are out, I see I got lucky age group-wise that if I swim them, I'm going to come away with some bling for my effort. I like bling. :D
My rough math and guess at scratches tells me I should get about 3-1/2 hours between events. Depending on how easy the in/out/parking is, this means I should have time to go back to the hotel for a nap. Either way, I definitely have time for an on-deck nap, so I'll plan on that for sure. And knowing the ballpark time frame, I have enough days until the meet to practice my recovery plan. Yay, naps! I can get behind that kind of race prep! Haha!
Actually, 4 out of the 6 swimming the 1650 in my age group are all registered for the 1000 that morning. Misery loves company. The 1650 will be the battle of who fades the least. Bring it on!
(Ok, maybe I do have enough of a screw loose to be a distance woman!)
Of course I can swim the distance...but can I swim it at a 1000 pace & a 1650 pace instead of a 1000 pace and an "oh, dear, is she ok?" pace. That is the question! :). The more doubles I do, the more convinced I am I'll swim better in the afternoon even if it doesn't feel great.
If they do combine men & women and they number the heats regardless of course (like, odds course A) then I don't know. That sounds like fuzzy math to me. Looks like 25 total heats. Heat 12 maybe? Somewhere smack in the middle.
I love cheer-ers. No one else from my team is coming. I plan on bumming with some people I kind-of know from local meets. Although, if you're in the 2nd wave and I'm in the 6th wave, that might put me either end-of-snooze or on a total adrenaline high when your heat comes up. If it's the latter, I'll be cheering for you! :)
I'm an idiot! :doh: Obviously, I have NO idea what heat I will be in! My brain was :bed: when I wrote the heat number in my post above, (so I edited that out just now). I had written down my EVENT numbers on a scrap of paper, and must have been thinking it was heat numbers when I wrote my post above. Since the heats haven't even been determined yet, my brain was obviously somewhere else. :rolleyes:
When the heats do get posted, let me know where you end up! :agree:
A few times, I've hit open water events and swum the 2 mile, the 1 mile, the quarter mile, and the half mile back-to-back-to-back-back (10 mins after the 2 mile, 20 mins after the mile, 10 mins after the quarter mile). I've always figured I'd put my real effort into the mile, but a couple of times I've surprised myself and swum all four hard getting at least three of them decently (and with bling) and against different fields.
Of course I was just playing in puddles in rural Ohio and not competing in a national meet, but one never knows what a little rest and devil may care attitude can do. I'll cheer from a distance.
Go for it. Make sure you warm down adequately between each event and hydrate, hydrate, hydrate. A yogurt or some fruit also helps between each event. I would focus on the 1650 and work on holding a 100 pace that is consistent with your goal time. For the 1000 I would adjust my 1650 100 pace and try to hold a faster pace per hundred to achieve your goal time.
