What's the right thing to do in this situation?
In general, in the National level group, drafting is a no-no. I really like training with them b/c drafting of any kind is pretty minimal. Either we all go 10 seconds back or if we are going 5 and you catch the person in front of you, you either pass them or they let you go in front of them at the next stop.
However, what do you do in this practice situation?
You are swimming 2nd in the lane. Boy in front of you starts missing the intervals during the last 25% of the set. He's done a great job of leading the lane until this point. You catch up to him as your entire lane is now missing the intervals (although the rest of the lane was missing the intervals on their own doing anyway).
However, you are not sure you can/ should pass him. Should I have tried to pass even though we were at the tail end of the set (and passing would be a heck of a chore as we were all pretty dead)? Stayed on his feet as the set is almost over? Waited another 5 seconds but then having other people on my feet? No one else was really on my feet as we had sort of put some distance between us and the rest of the lane. I sort of feel if the lane leader misses the send offs that it's more of a touch and go/ anything goes/ fend for yourself scenario.
Thanks!
Miss Cristina,
USS swimming might be much more regimented than masters, but here's what I will do in our little practices when a similar situation arises.
Scenario:
Blazingly fast 18 year old girl takes off before me. I leave 2 seconds later, hoping to draft for at least 10 yards before she so outdistances me that even her existence becomes an article of faith.
Repeat 10-19 times.
By rep #20, she is starting to get sort of tired, and I am still reasonably refreshed, having drafted most of the workout.
I am extremely tempted to sprint on the last one, tickle her girlish toes, maybe even grab same and let her pull me a while, in the process letting her know that the natural Talibanic order of things--with me in the position of supremacy--still holds.
But some niggling interior sense--call it morality, call it conscience, call it fear of being punched--tells me not to do this.
Instead, I leave a full second later than usual, i.e., 3 seconds after her push off.
If the set continues, and I continue to catch up, I have a bit of wriggle room. I can, if absolutely necessary, leave 4 seconds after her. Or--god forbid--the actual 5 that I am supposed to have done the whole time.
It's sort of like the Fed easing interest rates to prevent economic collapse.
Already, I hear your obvious objections, Miss Christina! And I have an answer for them!
What if even 5 seconds is not enough?
This may sound like blasphemy, but the answer is simple: 6 seconds, or even 7 seconds, or 8!
Especially if the person coming after you is struggling, they will be grateful to be able to better draft off you for a while. And especially if there are not too many reps left to go, the person in the front will not be demoralized or enraged by what may well strike him/her as the "sally save up" phenomenon.
If your coach is Germanic, and insists upon the trains running absolutely on time, you could dip underwater at the precise send-off interval, count one Mississippi, two Mississippi, then push off, and nobody would be the wiser.
With this approach, and you living in Georgia, I predict it will be no time at all before the boys are asking you to bust up their chifferobes...
Miss Cristina,
USS swimming might be much more regimented than masters, but here's what I will do in our little practices when a similar situation arises.
Scenario:
Blazingly fast 18 year old girl takes off before me. I leave 2 seconds later, hoping to draft for at least 10 yards before she so outdistances me that even her existence becomes an article of faith.
Repeat 10-19 times.
By rep #20, she is starting to get sort of tired, and I am still reasonably refreshed, having drafted most of the workout.
I am extremely tempted to sprint on the last one, tickle her girlish toes, maybe even grab same and let her pull me a while, in the process letting her know that the natural Talibanic order of things--with me in the position of supremacy--still holds.
But some niggling interior sense--call it morality, call it conscience, call it fear of being punched--tells me not to do this.
Instead, I leave a full second later than usual, i.e., 3 seconds after her push off.
If the set continues, and I continue to catch up, I have a bit of wriggle room. I can, if absolutely necessary, leave 4 seconds after her. Or--god forbid--the actual 5 that I am supposed to have done the whole time.
It's sort of like the Fed easing interest rates to prevent economic collapse.
Already, I hear your obvious objections, Miss Christina! And I have an answer for them!
What if even 5 seconds is not enough?
This may sound like blasphemy, but the answer is simple: 6 seconds, or even 7 seconds, or 8!
Especially if the person coming after you is struggling, they will be grateful to be able to better draft off you for a while. And especially if there are not too many reps left to go, the person in the front will not be demoralized or enraged by what may well strike him/her as the "sally save up" phenomenon.
If your coach is Germanic, and insists upon the trains running absolutely on time, you could dip underwater at the precise send-off interval, count one Mississippi, two Mississippi, then push off, and nobody would be the wiser.
With this approach, and you living in Georgia, I predict it will be no time at all before the boys are asking you to bust up their chifferobes...
