I was honestly on the fence about whether I wanted to swim the breaststroke 3 pack or do freestyle at my next meet in a couple of weeks. So I ended up signing up for 5 events today and mailing it in, knowing that I will scratch at least one, maybe 2, events depending on how I feel at the meet.
Are scratchers evil like sandbaggers? I know I had a lot of fun at the last meet with a couple of very close races with people right next to me, but honestly the only times empty lanes have bothered me have been when I've been in 1 and the only other entrant was in 8 or 6. Feels like a weird time trial when that happens. But just an empty lane or 2, no biggie. Does it bug the race directors? Why do I feel vaguely guilty about it? Should I just kick an extra 200 as penance tomorrow (I hate kicking) and forget all about it? Or is it not even something to worry about?
Hey Rick, I don't necessarily think this is true. There was a thread on this subject -- are you racing yourself or the competition? -- awhile ago. Plenty of people were purely racing against themselves and sometimes paying no attention whatsoever to people in adjacent lanes.
Then why come to the meet in the first place? Just get up on the blocks at your next practice, and get a time. If the other people in the heat make absolutely no difference, then why pay that money in the first place? Seems like a waste.
And I think it's complete hogwash that people aren't racing the people next to them. No matter what people say they are trying to do... people are naturally competitive. If you're right next to someone, you're going to try to beat them. It's human instinct.
Also, I'm not necessarily saying that people are looking to race a specific person. But they are looking to race the people who are their speed. If you're their speed, then they want to race you. Not specifically, but generally.
How disappointed would you be if you decided you did want to race people, and it then turned out that every single person who is within 5 seconds of you speed, decided to sandbag? You wanted a race, but nobody else was there for you.
Rick, how do you feel about the getting "splits" phenomenon? Lots of people swimming longer races for a 50 or 100 time and then just cruising the rest of the race.
I'm not a big fan of that. At the _very_ least, you need to notify the referee, so it can be announced at the start of the race, so your heat-mates don't chase you on the way out.
-Rick
Hey Rick, I don't necessarily think this is true. There was a thread on this subject -- are you racing yourself or the competition? -- awhile ago. Plenty of people were purely racing against themselves and sometimes paying no attention whatsoever to people in adjacent lanes.
Then why come to the meet in the first place? Just get up on the blocks at your next practice, and get a time. If the other people in the heat make absolutely no difference, then why pay that money in the first place? Seems like a waste.
And I think it's complete hogwash that people aren't racing the people next to them. No matter what people say they are trying to do... people are naturally competitive. If you're right next to someone, you're going to try to beat them. It's human instinct.
Also, I'm not necessarily saying that people are looking to race a specific person. But they are looking to race the people who are their speed. If you're their speed, then they want to race you. Not specifically, but generally.
How disappointed would you be if you decided you did want to race people, and it then turned out that every single person who is within 5 seconds of you speed, decided to sandbag? You wanted a race, but nobody else was there for you.
Rick, how do you feel about the getting "splits" phenomenon? Lots of people swimming longer races for a 50 or 100 time and then just cruising the rest of the race.
I'm not a big fan of that. At the _very_ least, you need to notify the referee, so it can be announced at the start of the race, so your heat-mates don't chase you on the way out.
-Rick
