Women's Locker Room

I typically sandbag with an NT to protest the discrimination against fly-backers that exists. Never any rest between our events, and it sucks. I don't mind swimming with tall fast men in LCM. Sometimes not in SCM either. But this is my heat of the 100 back this weekend, and I am less than thrilled with it: 1 Stevenson, Chris M45 VMST 59.08 2 Britt, Clay M48 ANCM 1:02.00 3 Elshafei, Emad M43 TERR 1:04.84 4 Edson, Edward M28 TERR 1:07.00 5 Elliott, John M39 GERM 1:08.00 6 Jones, Andrew M45 NBAC 1:08.00 7 Kress, Jay M46 FXCM 1:13.00 8 Livingston, Leslie W48 GMUP 1:14.00 Hey, Jay gets teh wave pool, not you. At least you have the diving well to dissipate the waves. I don't know if Mr Jones is a big guy or not but I pity my teammate in lane 2.

Heather, I too hope you feel better. I need some good 40s stories!! If you are having bad experiences in your 40s, I hate to see what I'm going to encounter. :toohurt: Aww, it doesn't have to be so awful! I think that being a swimmer, you're already likely to have a better time of it than most people--or at least better than you'd have if you had the activity-level of the average woman. I really dreaded turning 40 myself. But it's been grand so far. I've had 2/5 of my babies after 40, and I've enjoyed the whole process and the babies themselves in a way that I couldn't when I was younger. Thanks to all the years of good fitness habits, my figure is as good as ever, maybe even better, and yet I spend far less energy worrying about it. I have more patience, more confidence, more common sense (wisdom?), and I know how to use my time better. Perhaps I have just a little less physical energy than when I was younger, but these other things more than make up for it. I still feel like a kid when I'm riding my bike down a steep hill, or listening to a new album. And s-e-x is the best it has ever been. Now that I'm halfway through the 40's I admit that I'm getting nervous about turning 50.

Great tips on flip turns & yes core work will aid in better turns

Allen, I thought that was only for nationals and championships in the event age groups get combined due to light entries. Should the rule be in effect for all meets? At a quick glance, looks to me like it's in effect for all competition because of: (1) the neutral title, covering "competition" in general; (2) the fact that all courses are listed in Part A; (3) the fact that it is not explicitly limited to "nationals" or "championship" meets; and (4) the language bolded above applies to events "not seeded by age group" -- since Nationals is the only meet I know of seeded by age group, this would appear to apply to meets other than Nationals.

Talk to the meet director.The USMS guideline(not rule) is that the fastest seed in any gender-age group should not be seeded in the outside lanes(although I have never been aware of this actually being done,and as I age I find myself in the outside lanes more often.) Allen, I thought that was only for nationals and championships in the event age groups get combined due to light entries. Should the rule be in effect for all meets?

Chris, Sandbagging is very prevalent in every meet, from WR holders on down. Sorry not to get to meet you at Warrenton. I never thought about the clear water thing, though I can see why some might do that. My (naive) impression was that people signed up for the 200 free as a warm-up and then couldn't control themselves and took it out fast. Because who really wants to swim the 200 anyway. right? If I had entered the 200 free it would have been as a warmup, or because my coach made me. I have been called a sandbagger many times by my coach when I switched to sprint gear near the end of practice. So, I can empathize with the sandbagger's mentality. At races for me it is the opposite - my goal is to find that one person who is exactly the same speed as me, battle it out, and then win at the end. So far that has only happened once in a swim meet and never in a triathlon :( Fort maybe we'll meet at another meet. :chug:

No, you're not. But the NT heat is typically very slow except when sandbaggers NT. If you have an idea of the approximate time you might go, based on practice or other factors, you should probably use that approximate time. Most meet directors discourage the use of NTs, especially at big meets where they want the heats to run quickly. Oh, like the gentleman who NTed the 50 free and then laid down a 22.9 last weekend? Or the gentleman who entered 29 for 50 Fly and went 23 high? Not the same gentleman.

Got my FSii recordbreaker today--and found that they live up to their reputation for not being very kind to the female physique that is less than model-thin. I decided to go with a more traditional suit because (1) I couldn't shell out the $$ for the full body suit (2) I don't think that I am fast enough yet after only 3 months of training for the full body suit and (3) I don't think that I would be able to get those suits over my hips. Let's just say that I have some "junk in my trunk". :blush: It is by far the smallest suit that I have ever worn. I am so thankful that I am only going to wear it for the 50 and the 100 free at zones--no one will see me in it for to much time. I even had my husband make sure that the parts that hung out from the suit weren't too bad. Thank goodness masters swimmers are for the most part non-judgemental about how we look when we're on the blocks!!!!

Allen, I thought that was only for nationals and championships in the event age groups get combined due to light entries. Should the rule be in effect for all meets? Yes,ALL meets,but the key word is "recommended" not required.

Oh, like the gentleman who NTed the 50 free and then laid down a 22.9 last weekend? Or the gentleman who entered 29 for 50 Fly and went 23 high? Not the same gentleman. Uh, I was referring to Katie not being a sandbagger if she enters an NT when she has never swum the event. Then I said the NT heats were very slow except for the sandbaggers. So I'm not sure what you are trying to say in response to my post ... As Ahelee mentioned, and I just saw at my last meet, men are the worst sandbaggers ever.