I realize this question is niave, please go easy on me! :)
I don't have a background in competitive swimming and one of the things that confuses me is the contradiction between racing your own optimal pace and racing against the other swimmers in the pool. It seems like swimming with your own optimal pacing should always be your best option. The only exception I can think of is for a slower swimmer to use tactics which attempt to get a faster swimmer to blow their race. This doesn't seem to fit in with the general principles of masters swimming, so why do the higher level competitions seem to cater to it by seeding by other than time?
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It seems that any reasonable pacing strategy would involve swimming as fast as you can at the end as there is no benefit to holding back at that point. Deciding when to start your final sprint is of course the complicated bit. ;)
But, if early on someone goes out at a faster pace than your optimal pacing, why not stick to your own pace, which by definition will get you to the finish in the least amount of time? Either the other swimmer is faster than you or they will fade later on.
All the race tactics in Swimming Fastest seemed to be based on getting the competition to swim slower, either by preventing their getting energized or by demoralizing them. Seems like a violation of the golden rule to me! :D
If having someone right there to race against is the best way to improve times, what is the motivation for seeding races by gender and age group instead of by time?
Actually, I guess the interesting question is why people swim faster in a race than in a time trial? Is it competitive motivation in the race or poor pacing skills in the time trial?
It seems that any reasonable pacing strategy would involve swimming as fast as you can at the end as there is no benefit to holding back at that point. Deciding when to start your final sprint is of course the complicated bit. ;)
But, if early on someone goes out at a faster pace than your optimal pacing, why not stick to your own pace, which by definition will get you to the finish in the least amount of time? Either the other swimmer is faster than you or they will fade later on.
All the race tactics in Swimming Fastest seemed to be based on getting the competition to swim slower, either by preventing their getting energized or by demoralizing them. Seems like a violation of the golden rule to me! :D
If having someone right there to race against is the best way to improve times, what is the motivation for seeding races by gender and age group instead of by time?
Actually, I guess the interesting question is why people swim faster in a race than in a time trial? Is it competitive motivation in the race or poor pacing skills in the time trial?
