Opinions wanted on this one -
I have a meet this weekend and on day 2 the 500 FR is seeded by time and gender (men are separated from women.) I am actually used to swimming mixed seeding in distance events.
Provided the meet director would accommodate me (and s/he may not), would you ask to be seeded with the men to get the full racing experience?
As it stands, I'm seeded 1st of the women (2nd place is 48 seconds behind) and I would be seeded 5th with the men.
The only other thing to consider is that if I swim with the women, I will have 1 hour rest until my next event. If I swim with the men, I will have about 30 minutes until my next event. And I have 3 events left to swim after the 500 FR.
And, to confirm, am I correct in assuming that if I swam with the men, the time would not count for USMS purposes due to my changing the event/ program order? But am I correct in assuming that my other swims would count assuming all the rules are followed?
This meet is for pure racing fun. Times are irrelevant for me. Oh, and I'm used to swimming by myself which I find sort of boring; however, I have gone PB's swimming solo or having competition. And, I will get creamed by some of the top men (will be a fast heat), but that does not bother me greatly. It's more of a learning experience.
Thanks!
I say swim against the women for two reasons
the first, how often do you get to swim the 500fr with out looking where the other swimmers are. this will giveyou a chance to swim the race and know if you can swim your race, or if you are effected by those around you.
the other thing...i'd say make a game of it. since you know #2 is more than a 50 behind you, see if you can catch her by the 300 mark, see if you can lap someone twice. if you get to about 75-85yds ahead of #2 before the 400 mark you might feel the extra energy to try to lap her a second time.
I just swam the 800, seeded after time, so in lane 4 was a 26yr old with a made up time. he entered with 10:06, I had 10:26 (from the only time I swam i 1 yr ago). He hit the wall at 9:38 and I got under 10 at 9:54. for me it turned into swimming faster so he didn't pass me, but at or around 650 I started to pass people and it was enough to get me to swim harder.
I say swim against the women for two reasons
the first, how often do you get to swim the 500fr with out looking where the other swimmers are. this will giveyou a chance to swim the race and know if you can swim your race, or if you are effected by those around you.
the other thing...i'd say make a game of it. since you know #2 is more than a 50 behind you, see if you can catch her by the 300 mark, see if you can lap someone twice. if you get to about 75-85yds ahead of #2 before the 400 mark you might feel the extra energy to try to lap her a second time.
I just swam the 800, seeded after time, so in lane 4 was a 26yr old with a made up time. he entered with 10:06, I had 10:26 (from the only time I swam i 1 yr ago). He hit the wall at 9:38 and I got under 10 at 9:54. for me it turned into swimming faster so he didn't pass me, but at or around 650 I started to pass people and it was enough to get me to swim harder.
