Hey folk--
Thank you for the suggestions you offered. I did, in fact, make my sub-2 min. 100 free goal. I also did a 200 freestyle--but that was done more for adding distance and working on technique than for time--didn't push to the max for most of it (except for the end... as you'll see).
Even so, I did 4:12.81 for that, beating out NARROWLY an 80 year old woman who posed a last-minute challenge (never let a swimmer's age lead you to underestimate her/him... fortunately, I have competed with this lady in the pool before and I respect her enormously... she and I are relatively evenly matched and neither of us as a result will give an inch). :duel: --but with a :)
So I broke the 2 min. barrier at last and now I'll work on the 4 min. barrier for 200. Or maybe aim for 1:50 for 100.
So this is all cool, and the rest is sheerly a tech question with TMI. ;)
How foolproof is electronic timing (where the swimmer hits a touch pad)?
I ask because when I finished the 100, I touched the pad as instructed and quickly let go so the time wouldn't restart. When I looked up at the board, I saw 1:56.?? and also saw that I'd narrowly beaten out the aforementioned woman (this I knew because I had passed her and saw her behind me when I finished). Her time showed up as 1:59 on the board. That seemed about right since we finished pretty close. My bf confirmed the time/place (in fact, when I told him that I last did the 100 free in that pool in 2:01--and without mentioning today's time--he remarked, "oh you beat your time by five seconds then.")
But later, I wanted to check my times for both events. The official told me that my 100 was 1:59 and on the print-out she showed me, that's what it said for my lane, with the faster time listed for the other woman's lane. Could both BF and I have misread my time? Or can things get crossed between the time shown on the board and the print-out? I can't imagine with all the gadgetry that human error comes into it, but I was absolutely certain I saw 1:56 when I finished.
A few years ago, something similar happened at the same pool--I was told my time in the 100 was about 2:20something, even though BF and I both saw 2:01 on the board when I finished. (And given the effort level and 100 times during workouts, the 2:01 seemed more accurate. The officials in that earlier meet insisted that the slower time was right--and the person I asked today also seemed too certain to press the issue.
In sum, I'm glad to finally break two mins. and that's more important than a couple seconds, but as this happened in a couple cases, I'm now curious whether others have had similar experiences with the touch pad timing.
Now to work on my stroke some more! I'm targeting an o.w. swim or two later in the summer--no touch pad timing there! :D
As for the touch pad, I'm pretty sure I touched it right. When I touched it, I heard a little beep or some indication that it had recorded my touch, and I was careful not to touch it again (that happened in a 50 free once, but they corrected it).
Couple of notes.... It's very unlikely that any beep you heard was from hitting the touchpad. The only beeps that are made are made at the timing system console where the timing operator is sitting. Unless you were in a lane adjacent to the timing area, it's almost impossible that you would have heard that beep.
Also, don't worry about hitting the pad twice. Once you hit the pad, it automatically turns itself off for a period of time, usually about 15 seconds. At the finish, the touchpad turns off until the start of the next race. (And usually, the pads are disabled automatically for a period of time after the start of the next race. Many meets do the "fly over starting", where the next heat starts while the last heat is still in the water. With the delayed pad activation, you can get out of the water, hit the pad all your want, and it won't register.)
-Rick
As for the touch pad, I'm pretty sure I touched it right. When I touched it, I heard a little beep or some indication that it had recorded my touch, and I was careful not to touch it again (that happened in a 50 free once, but they corrected it).
Couple of notes.... It's very unlikely that any beep you heard was from hitting the touchpad. The only beeps that are made are made at the timing system console where the timing operator is sitting. Unless you were in a lane adjacent to the timing area, it's almost impossible that you would have heard that beep.
Also, don't worry about hitting the pad twice. Once you hit the pad, it automatically turns itself off for a period of time, usually about 15 seconds. At the finish, the touchpad turns off until the start of the next race. (And usually, the pads are disabled automatically for a period of time after the start of the next race. Many meets do the "fly over starting", where the next heat starts while the last heat is still in the water. With the delayed pad activation, you can get out of the water, hit the pad all your want, and it won't register.)
-Rick
