This past weekend I went to my first LCM meet as a master’s swimmer. I trained consistently up to it (with a mini-taper), knew my times in practice, and figured what I might expect to go swimming LCM. Well, the results were baffling! All my times converted to SCY as a time slower than I have ever gone in a Master’s meet, EVER! Even the one I went to 3 weeks after coming back to swimming to see what I could do! And not by a little, these were 10 second to over one minute additions AFTER being converted to SCY! I will often hit or beat most of these times in a practice coming off the wall. I had a coach watching and my form looked good. On Saturday I was very hungry (I thought being a very large mixed USA/USMS meet there would be concessions & I thought I would treat myself rather than pack a bag. But there were no concessions & It was a good distance to go and find food.), which could account for a lot that day, but on Sunday I felt really good & was well rested. My splits also showed consistency, there was no indication of me dying. In the water (except the 100 ***), I felt right on. I’m in my mid 20’s: far too young for it to be an age thing.
Do others experience these unusually large time drains at their first LCM meet? I’m trying to figure out what went wrong, or if it was just a fluke.
Sorry for the long post but I hope maybe others have experienced this as well and provide advice about what they did to get through it. I’ll post my results below.
Thanks!
Saturday: 100 LCM Breastroke:
Usual time over the past 4 months 1:26 to 1:28. My practice times have shown improvement indicating I might be getting faster.
Result: 1:46.64 LCM Conversion to SCY 1:33
Difference: Same as a fast practice time off the wall. 6-8 seconds slower than usual when converted to SCY.
Saturday: 400 LCM Free:
I finish a 500 free from the wall in practice at about 6:40. This winter I comfortably did a 400 SCM in about 6:05. I’ve swam this event a few times with good results and had a plan. I haven’t swam it in a meet in a while but I have been practicing this event.
Result: 7:06 LCM Conversion to 500 SCY: 7:56.81
Difference: 1:16 SLOWER THAN PRACTICE!!!! 54 seconds slower than my most recent 400 SCM!
Sunday: 200 LCM IM: Result: 3:45 Conversion: 3:17 SCY. Last meet this spring 2:58 SCY.
I do about 3:20 in practice.
Difference: 19 seconds
Sunday: 200 LCM ***:
This was really hard for me to swallow since it was the event I practiced for.
Typical Time in practice: 3:25-3:30 SCM
Average time in meets over past 4 months. 3:09-3:13
Result: 3:55 LCM Conversion: 3:27 SCY. Same as a practice time from wall. 18-24 seconds slower than normal SCY meet times.
Michelle, your experience with LC sounds like my first one, too. I was flabbergasted at how utterly trashed I got racing LCM. And that was at a time I only did the 50,100, and 200 back, no free at all. I agree with others here, LC and SC are apples and oranges, and I found that I really missed not having those turns. And I found I got extremely winded really fast.
But when I was able to train LCM, even once or twice a week, things improved and now LC is my favorite because I am swimming and not turning. I now only do open water because of where I lived, but training LC when I had the chance, allowed me the opportunity to add the 800m free to my backstroke. I fell in love with more LD free and have been doing it ever since.
You're right, get into that pond if you don't have a LC pool, it'll help. It's a different training ground swimming LC.
Stud Muffin,
Are you coming down for Zones?
Swimmy :)
ROAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAADTRIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIP!!
I figure you can all have a laugh on me for the 50 Fly....
I will have to get my pom poms out of storage. I will be there to cheer you on! Party!
Awwwwww!
It is an incredible feeling to have your teammates cheering you on, even before you dive from the blocks. Can't help but smile. :groovy:
:cheerleader:
Actually Stud Muffin is not on my team, so I may have to actually cheer for him quietly. Muppet may not like if I cheer for the opposing team....
Swimmy
:cheerleader:
He'll get over it. :)
Thanks everyone, it makes me feel more confident that I was probably about right; I just didn't give myself time to make the LCM adjustment.
And as someone else mentioned, everything felt right, I was appropriately dead and unable to move after the 400 Free and 200 ***. The last lengths were like moving lead weights. They felt the same as other good SCY swims.
What I did do is decide to go jump in a pond yesterday for the first time (since like I said, this had me worried about my first open water race in a couple weeks). I cruised the half mile across Walden Pond in 14 minutes (on the way back), which for taking it easy as a practice just to get used to it I thought was awesome compared with my other lack of turn times. And I was going against the wind in that direction. Too bad I couldn't reswim that 400 LCM this weekend. I think I would be sure to go happily under 7 minutes. On the way out, I did some breastroke and it felt wonderful - but I think it did have a slightly different grove to it than I do in the pool.
Next time, I'll do some pond training twice a week in prep for doing LCM. (since that is what I have access to) Thank goodness long course is in the summer!
I'm just looking to forward to Swimmy getting her pom-poms out just for me!
:applaud:
And now I feel guilty for sidetracking m2's thread!
:cheerleader:
Just for you, Luv!
Swimmy
:cheerleader:
Yes - the switch from SCY to LCM is muuuuuch more than just a time conversion. The events are completely different. The conversion will be completely different for different people.
I'm lucky to have access to LCM training. When we start doing LCM workouts in late spring, it is an absolute bear to get used to it. It takes about 3-4 weeks before I feel like I'm remotely comfy with LCM swimming.
As a personal example... when swimming freestyle, I get around 7-8 yards of underwater/breakout on every turn. In a SCY pool, that means I'm underwater 30% of the time and on the surface 70% of the time. In a LCM pool, that means I'm underwater 15% of the time and on the surface 85% of the time. That's a huge difference. It changes oxygen consumption, use of legs on the walls, stress on your shoulders and arms, etc.
-Rick
So what does it say about me and my weakness and strengths that according to the conversion calculator my times were pretty much dead on. Mind you I swim 50s and 100s but my LCM meet times converted were almost exactly what I did inseason SCY.
