Don't want to start a screamfest, but the controversial issue of "getting enough rest" between events led me to wonder --- how do you get an order of events that is somewhat uniformly fair?
Since I'm apparently challenging John Smith for most annoying masters swimmer, I'll just say that I have been aggravated by the order of events in most of my recent meets. As a fly-backer-er, somewhat odd, it seems that those events are always close together. I guess the fly-*** or fly-free or all free combos are much more common. I have basically given up swimming the 100 IM and haven't swum the 100 back in SCY in 2 years. My last meet, the 100 fly and 100 back were within minutes of each other, and unlike Chris Stevenson and Jeff Roddin, I admittedly didn't have the chops to do both. At my Dec. taper meet, all my best events were on Saturday. At anther meet, all the 200s were in the first half of the meet and all the sprints in the second half, annoying almost everyone and causing a lot of scratches. I have also noticed the inequity between rest for freestylers and strokers. Folks entering the 5 pack freestyle (50, 100, 200, 500, 1000 or 1650), very common set of entries, always have adequate rest because these events are always spaced out pretty well. So it's pretty easy for freestylers to think others are whiney, since they never experience the rest problem.
So how do you fix these inequities and get a fair lineup of events? At a minimum, can't meet directors change the order of events each year to attempt to provide some equity? Or have a 15 minute break scheduled somewhere? This would probably reduce whining and the apparently repugnant practice of sandbagging to get more rest. Since I only swim 5 meets a year or so, it'd be nice to attempt to swim reasonably well. Swimming more meets is just not an option. There's obviously no way to make everyone happy all the time, but it seems like the system could be improved.
Former Member
Yeah, that high school dual meet format is great. Of course there's usually diving in there, too, and that's usually about the only break you get. I remember those meets not taking much more than an hour. We didn't have the 200 free relay when I swam, though. Are you now allowed to swim two events and two relays?
In Texas - it is a max of 4 events - and a max of 2 individual events. A few kids will swim all 3 relays. The dual meets run very fast. District/regional/state has A and B finals.
The 50 back and 100 fly are back to back Sunday at Nats. Not enough time to dry off your suit or change suits.
My lineup would not always favor pure freestylers either. If you only swim free, which is a LOT of people, you always have plenty of rest and never have to worry about juggling events, skipping an event you want to swim, attempting to plan adequate rest, or knowing you'll swim on inadequate rest. This is just not the case for strokers.
The timeline linked on the front page estimates that the 100 fly will start at 12:25 and 50 back will start at 1:20.
The 50 back and 100 fly are back to back Sunday at Nats. Not enough time to dry off your suit or change suits.
I don't buy the whole the wet/dry superstition -- isn't the FS Pro supposed to be hydrophobic? -- but even so, is it important in this case when backstroke is the second event?
(My own advice is to save yourself the energy and hassle: just keep the suit on and towel yourself -- and it -- as best you can after your warm-down. I bet it will be pretty close to dry by the time you swim, if that is important to you.)
I swam with a woman in college who's best events were back to back and she swam them in dual meets all the time. 1000 free right into the 200 free. And she'd smoke them both. Our coach usually put someone in the 1000 to swim a little slow so as to give her at least a couple of minutes rest before the 200. She was VERY tough mentally and physically!:weightlifter:
I swam with a woman in college who's best events were back to back and she swam them in dual meets all the time. 1000 free right into the 200 free. And she'd smoke them both. Our coach usually put someone in the 1000 to swim a little slow so as to give her at least a couple of minutes rest before the 200. She was VERY tough mentally and physically!:weightlifter:
College is one thing, masters is quite another. College swimmers are much more fit and log a lot more yards than masters. Plus, they're young and recover quickly. At least that's what I recall. So their ability to swim back-to-back events is irrelevant to me as a 40 something.
Look, I'm only saying out loud what others may not want to. Unless everyone posting here is just tough as nails. Based on my own experience, the topic of rest is discussed constantly before and during meets. It's of major concern to most swimmers who want to do well, get TTs, NQTs, PBs, etc. It is also of more importance in championship meets than in season meets. I've done my fair share of swimming on little rest and/or dashing from the warm down pool to hop in and swim another event. I did this twice at the NE Champs, and nearly missed my heat of the 100 back. I don't find it nearly as fun to race this way as when I have adequate rest so I can warm down, regroup, rehydrate, etc. But not everyone is the same ...
As for the dry suit issue, I just prefer it. Pros dry off faster than FSs. The FSs feel soggy and heavy when wet
to me. I won't change suits with back-to-back events. Definitely not worth the time and hassle factor.
Kristina: Anyone even contemplating swimming a 25K is a distance swimmer.
I've tried to slog through this thread, with little success. Bottom line is that distance should always be the morning of every meet. Most sprint people have ADD, ADHD and Turrets and can't manage to get out of bed, get their gear together and make it to the meet for events before 9 am. Distance people, most of whom aren't self limiting to just sprinting, can manage this feat and then stick around for sprint events in the afternoon.
It's a shame to only have one bullet in your gun but, if you do, we should make it easier on those who don't have the training discipline to expand their swimming horizons.
It's a shame to only have one bullet in your gun but, if you do, we should make it easier on those who don't have the training discipline to expand their swimming horizons.
From a pure freestyler to a stroker .... lol (Now that you've given up the 50 fly, and narrowed your racing horizons, I feel I can call you that. :P)
That'd be great! I'm all for expansion.
I don't lack any training discipline whatsoever, but I will cop to occasional Turret-like outbursts and seeming ADHD. :lolup:
College is one thing, masters is quite another. College swimmers are much more fit and log a lot more yards than masters. Plus, they're young and recover quickly. At least that's what I recall. So their ability to swim back-to-back events is irrelevant to me as a 40 something.
I wasn't arguing otherwise. This thread just got me thinking about this swimmer and how tough she was! I was a fit college swimmer and don't know that I would have wanted to do what she did! Fortunately, I never had to.:whiteflag:
I have only officially retired from the 50 *** but am considering a comeback if I can beat the noodlers in it soon. The thought of acutally losing to Stud in any event is enough to make me want to drop it. I have taken up the 5K,1650/1500, 200 IM and 1000 in the past year to offset the loss of the froggy stroke.
I swam with a woman in college who's best events were back to back and she swam them in dual meets all the time. 1000 free right into the 200 free. And she'd smoke them both. Our coach usually put someone in the 1000 to swim a little slow so as to give her at least a couple of minutes rest before the 200. She was VERY tough mentally and physically!:weightlifter:
I swam a 1000 free in college where for most of the race, I was all alone in 2nd place. At around the 900 mark, my teammates started going nuts on the pooldeck. The guy who was beating me by around 30-40 yards had slowed down dramatically. Maybe he cramped up or something? Maybe we can pick up an unexpected win in this event! He went just fast enough to finish a couple body lengths ahead of me. His slowdown was a warmdown for the next event - he got out, got back on the starting block, and swam the 200 free. I don't remember how he did in the 200. Later in that meet I swam the 200 fly and the 500 free. Doing those 3 events in a dual meet was normal for me; I never did the 1000 free-200 free thing though.
