First Meet Questions

RE: First Meet Questions

Nichollsvi — Tue, 20 Dec 2016 05:03:14 GMT

Thanks everyone! I am slow, but we're working on it. As for canes, I already have one and I'm younger than you Elaine. :) hee hee Vic

RE: First Meet Questions

Elaine Krugman — Tue, 20 Dec 2016 03:15:46 GMT

Wanted to jump in on this. I had done meets before but never a 500 free, and signed up with a time. The problem was that I signed up (early) thinking I was slow, had other races that day and wouldn't improve much. I practiced like a banshee and did it almost 4 minutes faster. I would have been perfect for the 2nd heat. I felt stupid. I apologized. Before you assume someone might be sandbagging, please ask the person because they may not have known, learned to swim as an adult, and could probably benefit from your experience next time. LOL. ROFL. No need to apologize; this has happened to a lot of swimmers, including me. :agree: There are so many factors that go into the time you end up swimming in a race. The longer the race, the more of a time swing there can be. For a 500 race, if you had been sick or injured the week leading up to the meet, or if you had a bad night sleep, your time could have swung four minutes the other way. Who knows? When you enter your seed time, you know if it was the best estimate of what you think you will swim that day. I mostly enter meets with killer event line-ups (200 fly, 200 ***, 400 IM, distance free, etc.); so, anything can happen. If I am feeling tired that day, my times will suffer as the day wears on. If I rested and strong, though, I get stronger as the meet progresses. On days like that, I'm likely to get one of my better times in a 200 fly or 400 IM at the end of the meet. I'll be signing up for the March meet with whatever time I am currently swimming when I train those races. Who knows how I will be feeling the day of the meet? I'll be 55 by then! :cane:

RE: First Meet Questions

Elaine Krugman — Tue, 20 Dec 2016 03:02:08 GMT

It's the Sewanee Invitational in March 2017. I am doing the build a mile challenge (1000, 500, 100, 50). Hey, I'll probably see you there. I looked into that meet, and I want to do the 800 IM challenge. I've done an Ironman Pentathlon (adding the 400 IM) the last two years at the Southside Pentathlon in Georgia, so this is right up my alley (swim lane?). I hope to meet you at the pool! :agree:

RE: First Meet Questions

Nichollsvi — Mon, 19 Dec 2016 10:05:15 GMT

RE: First Meet Questions

orca1946 — Sat, 10 Dec 2016 12:39:39 GMT

1000 & 500 in a local meet usually will not happen. Is this a national meet? If so then it still will be only once.

RE: First Meet Questions

jamie1966 — Sat, 10 Dec 2016 06:53:30 GMT

It's the Sewanee Invitational in March 2017. I am doing the build a mile challenge (1000, 500, 100, 50).

RE: First Meet Questions

jamie1966 — Thu, 08 Dec 2016 12:31:25 GMT

Not that I would do it, but is there some advantage to sandbagging by providing slow times? You would think fast swimmers would want to swim against other fast swimmers to push them to a better time.

RE: First Meet Questions

smontanaro — Thu, 08 Dec 2016 02:49:46 GMT

In addition to what Mark wrote, people sometimes sandbag to get "clean water" to swim in. The general topic of sandbagging comes up from time-to-time. I've never been fast enough that it might have mattered (go from heat 3 of 17 to heat 2, whoop-dee-doo), but some people, yes.

RE: First Meet Questions

Mark Usher — Thu, 08 Dec 2016 02:34:06 GMT

Not that I would do it, but is there some advantage to sandbagging by providing slow times? You would think fast swimmers would want to swim against other fast swimmers to push them to a better time. I know swimmers who have sandbagged their times to get into an earlier heat in order to get a longer rest between events.

RE: First Meet Questions

jamie1966 — Wed, 07 Dec 2016 11:07:13 GMT

:bliss:Elaine, Thanks for the info.

RE: First Meet Questions

rxleakem — Wed, 07 Dec 2016 08:29:41 GMT

The first few meets as a master are always a guess as to seeding, but you will soon find it easier. Time drops (big and small) will come, as will a desire to sign up for the next meet! Let us know how the experience goes for you

RE: First Meet Questions

Sojerz — Wed, 07 Dec 2016 07:12:13 GMT

Given the events you've chosen, you will have to swim the 500 three times. :D In the future, even if you do have times for a specific event, I think it is ok to adjust your seed time and provide your best estimate of the time you think you will swim at the date of the meet. It's a kind of honor system, but I think the meet director has the right to change it if you are sandbagging. The seeding rules for national meet entries may be stricter.

RE: First Meet Questions

Elaine Krugman — Tue, 06 Dec 2016 04:31:09 GMT

:dunno: I recently registered for my first swim meet and I have a few questions: 1. I signed up for the 1000yd and 500yd free events. I am wondering how many times will I have to swim those distances in the meet? Once or twice? 2. As this is my first meet, I do not have any prior race times. I filled out the event sheet with my estimated times for each event. Was that correct or should I have left the times blank? Thanks in advance. Congratulations, Jamie for taking the plunge and signing up for your first swim meet! 1. USMS meets do not have prelims and finals, so you will only have to swim each race once. 2. Providing an estimated time was fine. This will help the meet organizers place you in a heat with swimmers of similar speed. You could have also put "NT" (no time) down, since you have never raced in a meet, but it's no big deal either way. Don't think another thing about it, and just go to the meet and have a blast! Good luck! :cheerleader: P.S. Welcome to U.S.M.S., and welcome to the Forums! :welcome: