How many events per day at a meet?

Cripes no, Leslie: we don't allow that sort of thing here!

I usually do the alloted 5 individual events and relays ... I don't swim more than a 200 ever though. (Except the occassional gut check 400IM) I've had meets where I swim 9 events in one day ... and yes by the end it sucks ... I think of inseason meets as a way to sprint train. I try to spread out my events but if they end up back to back and attendance is low I suck it up and see what I can pull out. I had a meet when I was first getting back in shape where I was somehow seated in that fastest heat for the 200 free and heat 1 or 2 in the 200 IM which were back to back ... it was painful but all of that racing gets you into better shape. I also swim 5 events + relays both days at state ... Oh, I am also a non-practice swimmer ... I swim way faster at meets even when I am not tapered than I ever come close to in practice ...

I try not to sandbag. I agree with Lindsay -- no one needs to be crushed by wake. But sometimes, I'm not sure how fast I'll swim so I use the "good faith guess" rule. (My entry times are sometimes effected by whether my shoulder is cranky too.) I must confess I did once enter myself somewhat slowly in one event and in the fastest heat in the next event to give myself more recovery time. But some one else must have done the same because they beat me...

One of the things I dislike about sandbagging is that you end up getting a lot of really unbalanced heats instead of well-matched ones where people can push each other. If each heat of the 500 has someone going 5:15, someone going 6:00, and someone going 7:30, they aren't going to be able to push each other the way people going 5:55, 6:00, and 6:05 can. At least that's my opinion in addition to the it's-no-fun-getting-blown-out-of-the-water thing. :-)

I saw this happen in a couple of the 50 free championship heats at the Worlds this August. I am not sure what these guys were thinking, but they looked extra slow swimming next to the World's best. A couple came in 4-5 seconds slower than the field. I wonder if they simply entered their SCY times by mistake or if it was deliberate? Perhaps they thought they could ride the draft and swim a faster time? Maybe it's fun to enter in the 30-34 or 45-49 age group, enter a 23 or 24. and swim directly against a celebrity like Rowdy Gaines or Gary Hall Jr. Some clever video angles and editing may make it look like you were hanging in there in the cut you show your buds. Personally, I got my ass handed to me enough by Rob Peel to know that when swimming next to one of these guys, unless you ARE one of these guys, you look very slow, you get no draft, you swim slow, your confidence goes out the window, and you lose in a big way- every time. No thanks.

Chlorini: Agreed. Sandbagging is evil, not conducive to optimal performance and dispiriting. Personally, I could have done without swimming next to the 23 year old who swam a 24 in the 50 free in the adjacent lane in my second meet ever. Peter: 26 meets in a year?!?! You must have been on the road all the time. I think I swam in 6-7 meets in the last 15 months, and it was a bit much. But I can see where you got great racing experience, which is invaluable. I have definitely gotten better at racing and more confident in general as the meets have gone on. My first meet I took a look at the starting block and freaked out. And my first backstroke start was positively shameful. Right now, though, my kids' races clog up my calendar. So I'm tentatively planning only 4 meets between now and Nationals. And I'm not sure I want to fly out to Seattle ... so far. But it's tempting as I'm now 45. We'll see.

The only time I sandbag a time is when I am knowingly doing 2 events back to back and then I only pad by alittle because I am getting used to doing alot of sprints in a short period of time atleast once a week during sprint night. Plus having been a distance swimmer for the past 3 years once I hit pace I can turn in some decent times even when tired. I also like to support our sport and USMS by swimming alot of events at the local and regional meets I can make. I have seen a number of meets get cancelled due to lack of participation by swimmers in the area. If we want to have more local meets we must show our support by swimming more than a few events. :agree: After all we are only competing against our last best time who cares which event it is. I am the sorriest 200 flier but I have done it in a meet atleast once and will probably do it again in the near future. Donna

Donna: You got me there. I'm not doing the 200 fly no matter how much it helps USMS. I still think I'm sticking with my 3-4 events too. I just don't like feeling unreasonably and utterly exhausted when I step on the blocks. (This is to be distinguished from my usual fatigue from not getting enough sleep, which I have learned to ignore.) Besides, I'm a year older then you. That's my excuse. Or maybe it's the fact that you have a great coach. Leslie

Leslie- hornet's nest or not, you may enter any time you want, but if you 'sandbag' too glaringly be prepared to have the occasional slower swimmer be a little miffed that you blew her doors off. I prefer submitting a target time that seems reasonable at the time of entry.

Leslie- I guess the other factor in choosing how many events is: what is my objective at this meet? If the goal is to do a personal best, set a record etc., then perhaps the smaller number of entries is the best. There was one year in Master's when I swam in 26 meets in the 86-87 swim calendar (yes, I was a bachelor then) everything in BC, Wash, quite a few Oregon, Can Nats, both US Nats. I did it 'cause I was nuts, yes, but as well, I wanted to get as much race experience as I could, as quickly as I could. I entered the maximum number of events allowed in the local meets, frequently racing fatigued but garnering a great deal of confidence to approach my focus meets where I entered only optimal events (I guess I thought of the local meets as super-race pace workouts) & this paid off really well. I don't know if I've swum in that many meets in the last 20 years (total) though...(real life intrudes!)