Swim 500 w/ the men?

RE: Swim 500 w/ the men?

Former Member — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 14:24:10 GMT

Not much, but I've been working on my kick this season too. It's just too easy to fall back to my default of not kicking much. I think a 10:00-10:10 is possible for Nationals, but not right now. A lot might also hinge on whether I buy a Blue Seventy suit or not. You're tough then. I've been at it 2 weeks although I've already noticed a difference. My coach wears our arms out so much with push ups and press outs during swim sets that there is no choice other than to kick during the swim. Yep, it's a curse when you can swim pretty well with no kick. You'll love B70. They are addictive. Glad I never had one as a kid.

RE: Swim 500 w/ the men?

Former Member — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 14:13:06 GMT

Kirk, thank you! You are capable of going around 10:00 to 10:10ish!! Forget 10:30! Good luck to you. How much do you kick on that 1000? Jim, the 1000 and 1650 are of minimal discomfort for me. I've been told I have too much left at the end at these races. In retrospect, I did not work that 1000 enough. But there's always next time!!! I am CreamPuff, remember? If I were truly tough I'd be called HammerTime. But be consoled in that the 200 and 500 do burn - and now I cry if I actually add in kick. Great points on the walls and SDK Jim - I agree with you and I think it will take some time to find out what works for me. I only took 1 good SDK and then went into flutter kick past the flags for each turn. Rather painful 20x particularly when you usually do it 0 times in a race. In speaking with one of the top 14&Us in the nation this weekend (she goes 10:00 in the 1000), she was saying that it really hurts and is "pretty much an all out sprint." I'm definitely chewing on that thought. . . I may have to try A LOT harder next time. So good news - you are right on par with the 14&U girls!!! I wish I was. Sheesh. :bitching:

RE: Swim 500 w/ the men?

knelson — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 12:52:36 GMT

So the 1000 was passable with a 10:32. I'd say that's more than passable! I'm swimming the 1000 next Friday. I entered myself at 10:30 and I'll be very happy to swim that fast.

RE: Swim 500 w/ the men?

knelson — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 10:19:34 GMT

Kirk, thank you! You are capable of going around 10:00 to 10:10ish!! Forget 10:30! Good luck to you. How much do you kick on that 1000? Not much, but I've been working on my kick this season too. It's just too easy to fall back to my default of not kicking much. I think a 10:00-10:10 is possible for Nationals, but not right now. A lot might also hinge on whether I buy a Blue Seventy suit or not.

RE: Swim 500 w/ the men?

aquageek — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 02:08:53 GMT

Excellent times, She-Puffy, especially that 1000, very nice. If I can stop enjoying sprinting (Fort, look away), I sure would like to get my 1000 to 11:00.

RE: Swim 500 w/ the men?

Former Member — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 15:55:51 GMT

depends on which particular men or women you're talking about, I guess.

RE: Swim 500 w/ the men?

Jim Clemmons — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 11:31:32 GMT

I tend to suffer during distance events, and I don't know if this is the right approach... James, Suffering is good - it builds character! :chug:

RE: Swim 500 w/ the men?

Former Member — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 11:07:31 GMT

So the 1000 was passable with a 10:32. Negative splitted with a 5:17 and 5:15 the 2nd 500. Swam my usual with zero kick of any kind. Had a lovely race with the boys and came in 2nd overall (I think I was around 3rd for most of the race). Lost 1st by 0.5 seconds. Was told I looked very smooth. 500 was the 2nd day with with el boys. Contrary to Glider's nice comment, the 500 was dreadful. Since seeing my 200 FR at 1:57 with zero kick two weeks ago, I've since been working on swimming with a 6 beat kick @ practices; however, it's only been 2 weeks. Coach and I agreed to not try kicking on the 1000 (too difficult at this point), but we agreed that I'd SDK and kick off every turn for the 500. Although I did make that goal, I was too tired to do the actual swim part and I added 3 seconds to my time of 5:11 - LOL! So, I'm going to stick with my kick and see if it can improve in a season or two or three or four. . . :D I think I got 5th overall on the 500 although it felt like last place after the 1000. The 1000 and the 500 were the most fun along with the 50 FR in which I swam fly.

RE: Swim 500 w/ the men?

jim thornton — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 10:32:36 GMT

1 Ulveling, Kristina 36 Swim Atlanta-GA 5:12.00 5:14.48 1 Ulveling, Kristina 36 Swim Atlanta-GA 10:34.00 10:32.73 If you doubled you 500, you would have swim 10:28.86. Just amazing swims. It seems to me that the SDKs on the 500 probably hurt you more than helped you. Possibly, with practice, this will switch around, but I gotta say that SDKs really use up a lot of oxygen and energy and keep you under water a lot longer than you would otherwise stay. For a distance swim, I don't know if the extra speed is worth it. Anyhow, extremely impressive swims, despite the self-described "passable" rating. My question for you is simple: how much does it hurt? When you are swimming the 1000, are you in pain? Do you find yourself saying, "When will this end?" Or does it feel relatively good and smooth throughout? I tend to suffer during distance events, and I don't know if this is the right approach...

RE: Swim 500 w/ the men?

Former Member — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 07:17:46 GMT

Donna and Puff both had good 500s (and 1000s, too.) You can see the results here. What was the time?

RE: Swim 500 w/ the men?

orca1946 — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 02:56:54 GMT

What was the time?

RE: Swim 500 w/ the men?

Donna — Sun, 29 Mar 2009 08:43:15 GMT

Well we swam this with the men. I wish I were in a lane on the other side of the pool where Jay and Kristen had a great race but no I got stuck in lane 1 on the other side of a ten lane pool with no head to head competition. Too hard to see lanes 9 and 10. Oh well maybe next time, that's my story and I'm sticking too it.

RE: Swim 500 w/ the men?

Former Member — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 12:54:18 GMT

Nancy, I still appreciate the info in the event that future meets are not mixed. Thank you! Stud, I'm sorry I won't be able to experience the shoulder rub! Oz, I will report back; however, plze keep in mind that I'll be doing a marathon 8 events in 2 days (I think), so it's more a kick off to my getting in shape for LCM as opposed to being able to knock out fast times. But who knows right? Need to keep a positive attitude. :) Thanks Winnie! I still wish I lived in Colorado even with all the snow and altitude! Sounds like you are having a blast up there. Swims @ 9000 feet, sounds AWESOME (once in a while!) Thanks for the vote of confidence Jim. I don't know. . . for some reason I seem to really like the 5:11 range but I'm going to just try and have fun, race and not worry about the time - particularly with 4 events being swum the previous day. It is true that on occasion the more I swim, the better I do towards the end. . .

RE: Swim 500 w/ the men?

Jim Clemmons — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 12:26:46 GMT

Thanks for the vote of confidence Jim. I don't know. . . for some reason I seem to really like the 5:11 range but I'm going to just try and have fun, race and not worry about the time - particularly with 4 events being swum the previous day. It is true that on occasion the more I swim, the better I do towards the end. . . Our Zone championships feature the 1000 free, last event, last day. I've had a couple of my best 1000 swims after 5 relays and 6 prior individual events during that three day format. :cool:

RE: Swim 500 w/ the men?

Rykno — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 10:32:57 GMT

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.

RE: Swim 500 w/ the men?

Former Member — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 05:34:40 GMT

Our Zone championships feature the 1000 free, last event, last day. I've had a couple of my best 1000 swims after 5 relays and 6 prior individual events during that three day format. :cool: I'll see you there...not in the 1000 though.

RE: Swim 500 w/ the men?

Former Member — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 13:01:24 GMT

Swim with the guys. Race 500, have some small serving of a recovery drink, hydrate, warm down, hydrate, pee, rest, pee, race again...you can fit it all into 30 minutes. Sadly I won't be on hand to rub shoulders pre race...it's been PROVEN to help get PB times. :blush:

RE: Swim 500 w/ the men?

Former Member — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 11:56:13 GMT

Thanks all for very positive responses for both scenarios. :) The meet director emailed me last night to say that by the way, the 1000/ 500 FR and 400 IM will all be seeded as MIXED even though the psych sheets have us separated out in the 500 FR and 400 IM.

RE: Swim 500 w/ the men?

Former Member — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 11:11:10 GMT

You may only be able to swim with the men if the meet referee (not the meet director) allows it since it would be a deviation with the sanctioned meet information. I am thinking that since it is a men's event you can't be seeded strictly by your entry time and would only be able to swim in an otherwise empty lane. The referee could assign you to the fastest heat where an empty lane was available. That would probably be the slowest heat and possibly the next-slowest heat. If there was a no-show in a faster heat you could possibly swim earlier if you were waiting by the starter. Kind of like "stand by". In Masters meets I've worked in before, there were some gamesmanship that seemed harmless but was abused. Motivations were to either be able to swim in the first possible heat (to be able to finish the meet earlier) or to swim in the last possible heat (to gauge the minimal effort needed to produce a win). If the meet is scored/awarded, the guys should be able to swim against their peers that they are competing against. Later - whoops, read your post about the Mixed seeding later. Problem solved.

RE: Swim 500 w/ the men?

WPSWIMS — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 09:59:03 GMT

Kristina, Good luck at the Dynamo Meet. I always remember the distance events being seeded mixed...to speed up the meet. At least you have time to rest, get something to eat, and get warm for your next heat. I never could stay warm enough! At least you are at sea level. Our state meet which is bigger than Dynamo is next week at Denver U. We just got tons of snow in the mountains, so I will be skiing next week and trying to get a few swims at 9000 ft. It is frustrating because they keep the Silverthorne and Breckenridge pool so hot and there are no back stroke flags on one side!

RE: Swim 500 w/ the men?

orca1946 — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 06:42:33 GMT

Let us know how you do!:blah:

RE: Swim 500 w/ the men?

orca1946 — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 01:09:47 GMT

Go for it, it sounds as if you like the competition, so go for the faster race. Good luck!:applaud:

RE: Swim 500 w/ the men?

Former Member — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 15:53:32 GMT

You will be swimming your own race either way, and there are benefits to swimming with the woman with more rest, guaranteed that the times will count and no trouble dealing with the meet director. Are the men really close enough to your times that you will actually get a good race out of it so it is worth the trouble? If the guys that are slower than you are much slower and the fast guys are much faster, what is the benefit of swimming in the wave pool? Now, if out of the 7 guys that will be in your heat, 5 of them are within 10 seconds of your time, then I see a good reason to go through the trouble.

RE: Swim 500 w/ the men?

Former Member — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 14:34:00 GMT

Thanks Geek, Vive, and Kirk for the advice. :) Les, I do not like the 500 (particularly after lopping off 10 seconds in my 1000 and 3 in my 200.) The 500 has been stagnant. Sort of curious to see how I would do under a *pressure-cooker* situation. @ the USS Auburn meet (where I was sick) I sort of cracked under the pressure of a very fast heat. I'd sort of like a re-do, even with a chance of failure.

RE: Swim 500 w/ the men?

Former Member — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 14:29:28 GMT

Jim, you bring up some excellent scenarios that I would NOT have thought of. Glad I asked. On #2 - I'm putting myself at a disadvantage rest-wise if I swim with the men. If I swim with the men, my rest will be cut in half and I will have only 30 minutes to my next event. If I swim with the women, I will have just over 1 hour of rest. So it's actually to my competitors' advantage if I were to swim with the men. #1 point - I checked and I would not be splitting up any men in the same age group. I wonder if there are other scenarios I have not thought of. . . As a man, of sorts, my instinct is to tell you to stick with your own gender and humiliate them, not me. However, when you mentioned that the second place time was 48 seconds slower, it did seem kind of unfair that magnificence of your sort cannot be stoked by actual competition with someone(s) as fast and maybe a wee bit faster than you. I say that if the Kentucky Derby lets fillies run with the stallions, and the occasional gelding, they there should be room for us all in the 500 seeding. The only possible flies in the ointment I can espy are: 1) if you bump some guy down one heat who would otherwise be racing someone in his same age group that he was hoping to beat for the points. However, even in such an unlikely scenario, chances are the guy you bumped down would be in an end lane, and the guy he was racing would be in the opposite end lane, so they probably wouldn't see each other well anyhow 2) assume that the woman who is now seeded 48 seconds behind you inthe women's 500 is not much of a distance swimmer but is an excellent sprinter. assume, furthermore, that you are racing her in the next event, a sprint, for which you will have gotten an hour's rest and she only 30 minutes. If she is of a suitably ill-termpered nature, i can see her crying, "Foul!" Such quibbles aside, I think the swimming world simply needs to do what I have long ago decided to do when it comes to CreamPuff. Acknowledge her magnificence, bow down, and worship.