2 Events vs. 4 and 5 Events @ Meets?

This was the first year I focused on just a few events for my "dual meets" but at YMCA Nationals I swam 7 events and at our state meet I swam 7 events + 4 relays. Even though I swam so many events I had at least 1 lifetime best and 2 mastsers bests each weekend. And, all 7 of my times were faster the second weekend of competition. Congrats are in order here! That is super tough to do!! You give some of us out there hope. :bow:

My team does! It's fun! We still have blank spaces though. I think if you want to do really, really well, you should only swim 2-3 events with a sufficient recovery period inbetween. I hate swimming back to back events. Depends on the difficulty of the event too, I guess. But you're in such good shape, I'm sure you could do 3 without suffering. I think I usually swim 3-4 events per day at a meet. I don't go to many meets, so I usually like to get some times. You can still get top ten time swimming this many events. But I have also showed up to do just one event before (shoulder issue) and that was fabulous too. I know people that swear you should only swim 1-2 per day if you are going for records. Having sad that, I think Muppet is right that you can surprise yourself with a good swim even though you are exhausted. My best swim this current year (50 free) was at the very end of a two day zones meet where I also swam 4 relays. I was utterly blasted, but still did OK. Since you are the (S)he-Man, I think you could do the same thing. Here's another thread I started a long time ago on this topic: ttp://forums.usms.org/showthread.php?t=6789 Thank you for the link Fortress. I think I remember reading that thread! With my upcoming meet, I just had to test out the *pole* option. Too cool. :groovy: You give me way too much credit. I think that based on your most current swims you have officially left me in the dust. I agree that 3 is a very nice event number. 4 and 5 per day start to hurt. But, it's true in that we can surprise ourselves at times. Muppet had a great idea - there are not team records where I swim - although we do have Dixie Zone top 10 and such and Dixie Zone records which are awesome to look at.

Sometimes I like to go for High Point and will swim the "garbage" events such as 200 fly, 400 IM and 1650 free which I did for the first time in Colorado. Much easier to swim these events in Georgia! If the pool is very fast, then I limit myself to 3 events. I like my distance events to be at the beginning of a meet. At my next meet I will limit my events since I will be trying to get some times in my new age group, swimming the long stuff, and preparing for LC Nationals. S(He)man, I will be in Atlanta May 6-13. Hope I can swim with you either at Dynamo or SwimAtlanta (Lawrenceville).

At our Pac Champs I ended up swimming 12 events over 3 days. I dropped the 1650 hoping to do better in the 400 IM on Friday (also a relay). On Saturday I swam 2 indiv and 2 relays. Sunday was a killer- 4 individual and 2 relays! And my meet lasted 4 hours that day. Owies abounded :( I also swapped the 1000 for the 50 ***. Knocking off 950 yards last thing on Sunday was a wise choice. If 5 events are offered at a meet during the season I'll swim 5, even if it's an off event (that would be any sprint!). I agree with Jeff, you might as well swim as much as you can. If you do a great time and you know you're tired, think of how great it will be when you're rested. Ah, rest, shave and taper...I like to visit that happy place. :agree:

I have pretty much always swam the max # events per day. I tend to avoid the longer events (400+) ‘cause I’m worried about blowing out my shoulder (again). I only swim against myself since I very rarely get anything but last place. I started out wanting to get a time for every event, but that was before I learned about all the different courses (SCY, LCM, SCM) and realized it would take too long to repeat going through the list. Eventually the game for me became trying to score the most points. That way I felt like I was contributing the most to my team. Even if you always come in last you can easily outscore swimmers who only do a few events per meet. The trick became doing the least popular events, which was a BIG motivator for me to learn butterfly. Last place in a field of 3 (50 fly) gets way more points than last place in a field of 10 (50 free) (and I can always get a 50 free time off a relay split). So I have a lot of times for things like the 200 back and ***, the last ones I fill out my list with are sort of a lottery. I have 5 SMS Championship meets where I scored 60 points or higher. Fond memories. Twice I got the highpoint award for my age bracket (I NEVER thought THAT would happen EVER!) My last meet happened to also be the Dixie Zone Championships at the DSU Aquatics Center (a deluxe facility in the middle of nowhere), right after Katrina hit. I ended up being the only guy in my age bracket (which was really kind of a bummer, but) Woo-hoo! 90 points! Plus a really nice highpoint award embroidered towel with my name on it. :-D I was so bummed that I did not enter “the mile” on Friday night. I don’t ever see myself having the opportunity to score 99 points again! :-o My lowest scoring meet (19 points for 10 events) on the other hand was the ’05 AMS SCY Invitational (super deluxe facility by the way). A very humbling experience. But I did set some personal bests. I’d already sent in my money and committed to (expensive) travel plans when I noticed the meet details said, “all events seeded by time irregardless of gender”. HUH? Holy S**t! It’s bad enough to repeatedly have to swim (and frequently get beaten) by guys that are 20+ years older than me, but now I gotta get seen beaten by the girls too?!? Gimmie a break! Actually that turned out to be the funnest and most exciting meet I’ve ever done. I’ve never had so many events were I was in a lane next to someone so close to me in speed. (A true testament for submitting accurate seed times.) I’m positive it was the reason I got so many PB’s (and not just because it has a reputation for being a fast pool). I’ll race with the girls anytime, bring ‘em on! All the meets I’ve been to have a flat fee (rather than pay by event), so you may as well load up. You can always scratch, or use it as a warm-up or cool-down (as one of my more enthusiastic team members used to always say). But I fully understand the strategy of those gunning for a USMS top 10 time (or even a PB). ...

If it is a 1 day meet then I am all about the breaststroke events. At South Central zones this year I went a little crazy and maxed out somewhere around 10 events...was rather annoyed at myself because at the mile (my last event) I ended up getting touched out by someone that did only the mile... this turns out to be rather a good strategy for me because a lot of the time both distance events are on the same day...so by getting used to being tired and swimming hard at the smaller meets, once I have tapered I usually do ok when I am swimming only 2 events a day...most of the time my line up includes the 3 *** events/ the 3 distance events and the 200/400 IM.. yep I am a glutton for punishment.

from you (S)he Man that is a compliment:wiggle: When I said that I do the IM's it is usually the FLY that takes me down:frustrated: I :notworthy: to ANYONE that can do that stroke!!! then the back is a little more interesting because I am now able to swim it without stopping....the ONLY reason that I attempt the IM's at all is due to the fact that when you look at the list of events I take out the back/fly events and eliminate the sprints and the only thing left is the IM...I picked the 200/400 because that was the only thng left.. If I had to rank them I would do the distance free and then ***...usually the IM's are the 1st to go if I am going for a serious meet. I am training for LC nationals right now and looking at the *** events and either the 1500 OR the 800...after that it will be a toss up for the 400..either free or IM. I got the T shirt that lists all the events..check off challenge..and the only event left is the 200 FLY....Perhaps I might have you do it for me;)

I'm still improving fairly quickly and I usually only get to swim in a few meets per year, so I like to swim as many events as I'm allowed to at each meet. Sometimes it's rough at really small meets swimming 3 or 4 individual events plus 1 or 2 relays in an afternoon, but it's fun.

Sometimes I like to go for High Point and will swim the "garbage" events such as 200 fly, 400 IM and 1650 free which I did for the first time in Colorado. Much easier to swim these events in Georgia! If the pool is very fast, then I limit myself to 3 events. I like my distance events to be at the beginning of a meet. At my next meet I will limit my events since I will be trying to get some times in my new age group, swimming the long stuff, and preparing for LC Nationals. S(He)man, I will be in Atlanta May 6-13. Hope I can swim with you either at Dynamo or SwimAtlanta (Lawrenceville). Hey Winnie! We all miss you down here! I am so used to seeing you every meet. I too like to go for high point, but dang, you gotta swim the full 10 events to usually earn it (I have in the past at least). How much harder is it in CO - can you give me an idea? Makes sense due to the altitude. Do you just feel the piano drop suddenly? Or is it hard from the first lap? I hope to be allowed to swim beginning the second week in May - so hope to see you there. I'll hopefully be at SwimAtlanta trying to get back into shape after the week off from my surgery. K

I think I am kind of the opposite of most people so far in that when it's Zones or a meet where I know my coach wants our team to do well, I try to swim the max number of events allowed so I can contribute a lot of points to the team. There is something strangely satisfying about gutting out the 800 free relay at the end after swimming 7 or 8 individual events and 2 or 3 relays over 3 days when you're whole relay team is all dead together. But at small meets where we aren't trying to win anything, I sometimes swim just 2 events a day so I can have them be my very best effort. I have only been to one Nationals and Worlds, but there I did only my three best things because our relatively small team wasn't trying to get a super high placing. Today at our meet we were all sorta tired, but it was great fun to do the 200 Medley and the 400 Free relays - we got 2nd and 1st respectively. One of the gals on my relay ran a 5K competition and then went to the swim meet!! Amazing. :bow: Interestingly, I felt sort of ill after my first three events, but then swam the two relays and felt way better and more energized. So true what you said about relays! 800 relay - that would be a no for us. Actually, our meet didn't even have that option. Thank goodness!