Do we have to swim in a lot of meets to go fast? Of people that compete, it seems like there is a wide variance among forum members on meet attendance. Some go to many meets and some go to only a few a year. It seems like some people only attend the big meets or nationals. It obviously helps to get experience at meets, but how many do you need to compete in ideally to (1) swim fast and improve, and/or (2) do well at major competitions such as zones or nationals?
This is the first year in quite a while where I haven't swum in any meets. There's a regional association of Ys up here in the pittsburgh area, and there are meets every other week from Setember through February, then a regional championship in April.
The years when I did a lot of these meets were good for my times, I think, not so much because I learned how to pace myself, but because the meets themselves served as very high intensity sprint workouts. You can swim 4 events plus two relays, for a total of 6 swims, all over the course of 3-4 hours.
Anyhow, this year, I may try coming down to the Colony Zones meet without having competed since last April. I'll let you know then how the lack of meets affects me.
ideally, i would like to get 3 within the 5 weeks prior to be sharp on my racing strategy. my problem is taper.....how does one taper for the 1650 and the 100 fly? (decisions, decisions)
3 in 5 weeks? I would love to do that, but it ain't in the cards. I can't swim at a meet again until late March because all the local masters meets conflict with my kids' meets/games. I think I can only do one meet between now and zones. Not ideal. I think it probably makes one more mistake prone. I only swam in 3 meets in the 6 months before zones last year as well (one was a goggle disaster meeet). Late spring seems to be a better time for me ... I'm thinking maybe I should do more of what Poolraat does and swim in USS meets that my kid is at? It just doesn't sound very appealing to me. I will only have two meets before Nationals, if I go.
Are you actually going to taper? I thought you didn't like to taper? I picture you crying when you have to shorten your workouts. Plus, the 1650 and 100 fly are kinda different events .... Aren't you swimming the 200 fly as well?
Some folks had mentioned race strategery - I think that is important for stuff like the 200s and up. I swam the 500 6 times last season - I think that may have been too many - but was experimenting with a new "lets try to lose a few people on the first 100 and see what happens from there" strategery.
For the 50s and 100s, feeling that get-up-and-go you get from putting on a good suit and cap, going off the blocks trying to beat your neighbors - you can really only get that from a meet. I think it is good to get that race feeling and work on swimming at that speed frequently.
Personally, I pretty much will go to any meet that is available on a weekend that I am not doing something else. Last year, I got a boatload (I think ~10)of SCY meets in before SCY nats. This year, there are 6 meets + one SCM, and after tomorrow, there are only 3 of those left, one that is intercollegiate club, so doesn't count for anything.
... I'm thinking maybe I should do more of what Poolraat does and swim in USS meets that my kid is at? It just doesn't sound very appealing to me.
Getting my butt kicked by 16 year olds isn't much fun. But for me, masters meets within traveling distance are few and far between. Even the closest one in Salt Lake City is a 3-1/2 hour drive. I'm going to try something different this spring since the only meet between now and nationals is the Salt Lake one in April. Since my wife is the coach of the AG team I'm going to have her arrange some time trials in April where I can race some of the kids on the team and hopefully that will help me be more prepared for Seattle.
I'm probably atypical because I don't like SCY so I'll typically swim 1 maybe 2SCY meets per year. I'll swim 1-3 LCM meets depending on how many there are close plus LCM Nationals. I'll swim 2 SCM meets because thats usually all I can find close.
This is kind of connected to the "interesting article" thread that I just responded to. Again I'm going to draw on my past experience as a runner. We had at least one meet each week and usually had two. Dual meet midweek and invitational on the weekend. My high school coach's philosophy was that one needed to race as often as possible in order to learn how to race. Pace and tactics were best learned in racing situations. He must have known what he was talking about. That year my track team won the first state title in a run of 11 in a row. The string was broken when he retired. I think training philosophies can be applied to both sports though many swimming coaches would disagree.
Do we have to swim in a lot of meets to go fast? Of people that compete, it seems like there is a wide variance among forum members on meet attendance. Some go to many meets and some go to only a few a year. It seems like some people only attend the big meets or nationals. It obviously helps to get experience at meets, but how many do you need to compete in ideally to (1) swim fast and improve, and/or (2) do well at major competitions such as zones or nationals?
i think it is important to get some meet experience prior to the "big one" (zones for me this year) ideally, i would like to get 3 within the 5 weeks prior to be sharp on my racing strategy.
my problem is taper.....how does one taper for the 1650 and the 100 fly? (decisions, decisions) also OW season kicks in 4 weeks after zones.
3 in 5 weeks? I would love to do that, but it ain't in the cards. I can't swim at a meet again until late March because all the local masters meets conflict with my kids' meets/games. I think I can only do one meet between now and zones. Not ideal. I think it probably makes one more mistake prone.
Are you actually going to taper? I thought you didn't like to taper? I picture you crying when you have to shorten your workouts. Plus, the 1650 and 100 fly are kinda different events .... Aren't you swimming the 200 fly as well?
for zones, i will probably sign up for the 50, 100, 200 fly, 1650, 400 im, (the 500 free falls in a bad place in the line-up...swam it as a warm up last year)
get in some time trial/races (even better if you have rival to swim with) i wouldn't find swimming at uss meets very appealing, though i have attended a few dual sanctioned meets that were ok.
i could probably take it easy for 2-3 days and have a good 1650, but for the fly stuff, a couple of weeks would be more like it.
i only cry when i miss practice all together.
Interesting isn't it that meets are a bit of a contradiction. We want to do them, but life gets in the way in terms of either geography or family commitments. Sorry to harp on the old themes. :dedhorse:
The biggest challenge for me in getting back to swimming meets is that for many years I never tried to swim FAST. My first meet in 27 years was a lot of fun but humbling physically.
I've been following Ande's advice and trying to swim fast in practice more often. Getting speedwork in on a more regular basis I think is helping me drop times for the meets that I get to. To that end, my coach has advised a Tempo Trainer to help my turnover- seems as though 27 years of fitness swimming left me a bit slow on the uptake.
Fortress, I know I'm not answering your question, and it is a good one. We probably all have our own answers. I am going to do at least 3 meets over 5 months before nationals, and hopefully can work in at least 1 more.
