Are there masters swimmers "cheating" at practice?
Like:
Leaving early?
One handed touches on ***/fly?
Using pull buoys?
Kicking whatever they want despite what the workout says?
Swimming free on designated "stroke" sets?
Just wondering. I'm heard some grumbling about the leaving early stuff.
I almost never cheat. I've done a u turn like Donna to get around someone slower, I do this in meet warm-ups more than in practice since I generally swim with people around my speed.
I don't pull on the lane lines, I don't one hand touch, and I almost never modify a set. Ever so often I'll do *** pull fly kick on the *** leg of an IM set or I swim free ... :D but that's usually to catch up to my lanemates ... breaststroke serves no purpose in my life ... :dunno:
I'm a purist for the most part, I don't modify intervals or sets unless I ask the coach and they've either underestimated me or overestimated me ... Last week a coach gave me an interval for a set of 100s back that was better than my PR so I had to change that ...
I do one arm fly past teammates on fly sets and hate every second of it ...
I try not to cheat, but sometimes it just happens. I never do a one-hand touch for fly or ***. I'm trying to get in the habit of doing flip turns in practice, but I still sometimes get too tired or just forget. I never purposely pull on the lane lines - don't want to start bad habits that would get me DQed. If I'm swimming with my team, I usually only modify sets if I start missing the interval (I'm the slow one in my lane, especially for distance free). If I'm alone, I'll modify every set to what I feel like doing that day. I do have a tendency to leave a little too early on non-free sets and sprinting sets - even with a 5-second gap, I'm usually catching up by the end.
After all that, I feel like we should all be saying, "Hi, my name is ________, and I'm a cheater in practice."
I can't speak for USMS workouts but I have seen cheaters in our age group senior team cause a lot of grief for other swimmers. Just recently, a swimmer was not performing a set as assigned and the coach picked up on that. That already tough sprint set has now turned into an impossible sprint set.
Somehow I doubt many USMS swimmers would buy into that though. You are adults, if you want to modify a workout that is fine. Remember, the coach is not paying you but rather you are paying the coach.
It drives me NUTS when teammates just skip out on a part of a set. Especially when they are okay. Cramps or other non-tired pain is acceptable if it is severe enough. I had a teammate stop me during a set the other day because she didn't want to do it and thought that since she wasn't doing the set I shouldn't ... I almost punched her ... :dedhorse: :dedhorse: :dedhorse:
Note to self...never do any drop in swims with FlyQueen. :D
Now, this I totally agree with. No USS swimmer should ever cheat. Age groupers are totally different. They may change events over the course of their career and the best advice is to listen to their coaches, try different events, follow the practice and do what your coach tells you. Whether you're young or in the "senior" group, which seems to have a flexible meaning. (Although I guess if age groupers are injured, then they may need modification too. They might be "sentenced" to the kicking lane for instance or denied paddles. Although I frankly think pre-hab is undertaught in USS swimming.)
But that's not masters.
Matt: You finally changed your avatar. I like that one a lot! Yay!
I have never seen any of our senior team using paddles, fins, or pull buoys. Come to think of it, I don't recall them using kick boards very often either...rarely I suppose.
As for the avatar, that was the younger of the two kiddos trying to mimic me at a swim meet this summer. She's a real card that kid.
