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?
It seems for some of us the problem starts with an inability to decide which events we're going to attempt to "go for glory" in.
Exactly. I don't always want to swim the same events all the time. Yet, if you don't do a lot of meets, you want to get good times in your "best" events. But sometimes figuring out which events are best is hard. And of course Ande suggests we should have a focus event or two in training ...
Then, as Tom alluded to, there is the usual problem with the order of events at meets. At my next meet, my "best" events, probably the 50 fly/back/free & 100 IM, are literally all clumped together (events 10-15). I realize no one is ever happy with the order of events at meets, but this seems particularly weird. All the 200s are clumped together too, so if you'd rather do those, it's not so hot either ... When that happens, there's even less opportunity to get times before the big show.
Tom: I didn't know you were doing back and IM too. That means you're a fly/back/IMer like me. :wave: Only you appear to insist on doing those loooonger distances.
It seems for some of us the problem starts with an inability to decide which events we're going to attempt to "go for glory" in.
Exactly. I don't always want to swim the same events all the time. Yet, if you don't do a lot of meets, you want to get good times in your "best" events. But sometimes figuring out which events are best is hard. And of course Ande suggests we should have a focus event or two in training ...
Then, as Tom alluded to, there is the usual problem with the order of events at meets. At my next meet, my "best" events, probably the 50 fly/back/free & 100 IM, are literally all clumped together (events 10-15). I realize no one is ever happy with the order of events at meets, but this seems particularly weird. All the 200s are clumped together too, so if you'd rather do those, it's not so hot either ... When that happens, there's even less opportunity to get times before the big show.
Tom: I didn't know you were doing back and IM too. That means you're a fly/back/IMer like me. :wave: Only you appear to insist on doing those loooonger distances.
