Just admit it. Almost everyone sandbags from time to time. Look at Ande, entering at 28.9 in the 50 back to have clear water. Bunch of his times look pretty suspect. Peg completely sandbagged the 1000 free at Zones. I entered a coach-approved NT on the 100 IM at Zones and then scratched. Paul Smith is passing on a 100 free duel with evil Smith to save up for his world-record-shattering performance to be in the 200 medley relay. Julie Oplinger sandbagged her 100 fly at Zones. The list could go on forever, so you might as well join the Club.
As for Nats, because of my lack of expertise with sandbagging, I'm over my 25% statistical probability per race of landing in an outside lane.
(Sorry Osterber! :thhbbb:)
At last convention, USA Swimming amended USA-S 102.5.1 and 102.5.4 to delete the requirement that " best competitive times must be submitted" (R-6A) (they did however amend USA-S 207.10.4 to require the best competitive times for their national championship meets).
I mention this, even though it doesn't apply to USMS rules (the USA Swimming amendment didn't affect USMS rules because there was no "best competitive time" requirement) because the rationale of the proposal is interesting: according to the news item, it allows coaches "to use strategy based on the performance level of each swimmer at the point of competition." Obviously a local host can mandate the best competitive time as the entry time.
The roundabout point is that in some situations, there are good reasons for not using your best competitive time:
*Situations where the the best competitive time within 1 year is not an appropriate estimate of ability (for example, you are injured, you are out of shape/, you have posted significant performance gains outside of competition).
*To prevent an NT entry (generally NT entries should be reserved for situations where you have no idea of what your entry time should be)
*Some other compelling reason (for example, you need to swim in the first heat because you must leave the meet as soon as possible!).
*And perhaps some others I haven't identified
In general though, sandbagging isn't a good idea:
*It disrupts the seeding process, makes the timeline inaccurate and the meet run longer (there would be hell to pay in a USA Swimming LSC where the meet host gets fined for exceeding the four hour rule!)
*It prevents fair and equitable competition, because now competitors are swimming against competitors who they are not peers with (for whatever reason, either more rest or clear water).
Sorry, I find the idea of changing your entry time because you want more rest or because you want better pool conditions (or want to show off) among the most odious of actions. You are taking the process of seeding--intended to provide fair and equitable competition--and perverting it for your own purposes by overtly trying to gain a competitive advantage. Take the order of events you get and then put down a performance that will have people singing songs about your glorious destruction of the field when you trash 5 straight events.
All of this being said, even I will not plainly report my best competition time. Take for instance the meet I was at today:
Event Best Comp Time Best Comp Time Entry Time Rest Before Official Time
(within 1 year) (recent years) (estimated)
1-1650 Free* NT 26:21.00 28:00.00 n/a 24:27.91
6-50 Free 29.79 28.31 29.79 n/a 28.34
14-100 Fly NT NT 1:20.00 23.25 min 1:15.79
20-200 Free 2:37.86 2:29.46 2:37.86 40.46 min 2:28.54
22-50 Back NT NT 35.00 7.75 min 36.57
*seeded fastest to slowest in seperate session
It's clear that I didn't always enter my best competitive times. Did I break my own guidelines here? Or should I have adjusted my tmes further to better approximate the time I thought I would go?
Patrick King
At last convention, USA Swimming amended USA-S 102.5.1 and 102.5.4 to delete the requirement that " best competitive times must be submitted" (R-6A) (they did however amend USA-S 207.10.4 to require the best competitive times for their national championship meets).
I mention this, even though it doesn't apply to USMS rules (the USA Swimming amendment didn't affect USMS rules because there was no "best competitive time" requirement) because the rationale of the proposal is interesting: according to the news item, it allows coaches "to use strategy based on the performance level of each swimmer at the point of competition." Obviously a local host can mandate the best competitive time as the entry time.
The roundabout point is that in some situations, there are good reasons for not using your best competitive time:
*Situations where the the best competitive time within 1 year is not an appropriate estimate of ability (for example, you are injured, you are out of shape/, you have posted significant performance gains outside of competition).
*To prevent an NT entry (generally NT entries should be reserved for situations where you have no idea of what your entry time should be)
*Some other compelling reason (for example, you need to swim in the first heat because you must leave the meet as soon as possible!).
*And perhaps some others I haven't identified
In general though, sandbagging isn't a good idea:
*It disrupts the seeding process, makes the timeline inaccurate and the meet run longer (there would be hell to pay in a USA Swimming LSC where the meet host gets fined for exceeding the four hour rule!)
*It prevents fair and equitable competition, because now competitors are swimming against competitors who they are not peers with (for whatever reason, either more rest or clear water).
Sorry, I find the idea of changing your entry time because you want more rest or because you want better pool conditions (or want to show off) among the most odious of actions. You are taking the process of seeding--intended to provide fair and equitable competition--and perverting it for your own purposes by overtly trying to gain a competitive advantage. Take the order of events you get and then put down a performance that will have people singing songs about your glorious destruction of the field when you trash 5 straight events.
All of this being said, even I will not plainly report my best competition time. Take for instance the meet I was at today:
Event Best Comp Time Best Comp Time Entry Time Rest Before Official Time
(within 1 year) (recent years) (estimated)
1-1650 Free* NT 26:21.00 28:00.00 n/a 24:27.91
6-50 Free 29.79 28.31 29.79 n/a 28.34
14-100 Fly NT NT 1:20.00 23.25 min 1:15.79
20-200 Free 2:37.86 2:29.46 2:37.86 40.46 min 2:28.54
22-50 Back NT NT 35.00 7.75 min 36.57
*seeded fastest to slowest in seperate session
It's clear that I didn't always enter my best competitive times. Did I break my own guidelines here? Or should I have adjusted my tmes further to better approximate the time I thought I would go?
Patrick King
