I was just wondering, how many of you typically enter the maximum number of events that you can? I always do. One of our new coaches wants us to try and focus more on our "stronger events" and skip the other events. I usually like to see how well I might do in a event I haven't done in awhile.
That said, I think pwbrundage and Muppet's posts were meant to be more of a motivational nature than scientific. And they like pain.
Caveat emptor: I earned the nickname Bondage from my swimming teammates for a reason. Fatigue and pain can be your friends!
If you don't enter the maximum number of events for the meet, how can you win the age-group high point award?
Absolutely (see forums.usms.org/blog.php where I shamelessly swam an event all for a nifty swim backpack that I still haven't used!).
...says the man who apparently has never tried to race a 100 back 30 min. after a 200 fly. I will not try that again.
I'd do a 100 back 10 minutes after a 200 fly if needed. Seriously, the 200 fly is over-rated as a killer race, especially short course where languid turns and long SDKs off each wall can make this race quite fun.
I will have to disagree on the rest issue. It seems obvious to me that sprinters and mid-distance/ distance types will differ in the amount of time needed to recover from events due to the different amounts of slow-twitch and fast-twitch muscle fibers for each, as well as the amount of training done.
different amounts of slow-twitch and fast-twitch muscle fibers NO
the amount of training done YES! (is this not the key to all this 'not enough rest' whining?)
I care more about doing the best that I can in my events than a high point award.
There are some really nice towels out there that might change your mind.:)
What I would say, in the spirit of Muppet and Patrick's comments, is that you don't really know how much rest you need until you push the envelope a little. "Feeling" -- including imagining that you still feel a race 30 minutes after you finish it -- is often a very poor guide to how fast you will swim. There have been races in the past where I have surprised myself, thinking that I didn't have adequate recovery time. In some cases I actually think I did better in the second race than I would have done without the first race (give that lactate buffering system a swift kick to get it going! Though proper warmup should take care of that).
In all seriousness, Chris hit on a point I was trying to make. I surprised myself earlier this fall by doing 6 races in a space of about 2+ hours and going darn close to a best time on the last event (forums.usms.org/blog.php. This was in addition to a morning open water mile.
The message I probably didn't convey clearly enough is this: we are all often capable of more than we think, so enter a lot of events. The worst thing that happens is you get tired ... doesn't that then justify another of your favorite beverage of choice at the post-meet-party?
That said, I think pwbrundage and Muppet's posts were meant to be more of a motivational nature than scientific. And they like pain.
Caveat emptor: I earned the nickname Bondage from my swimming teammates for a reason. Fatigue and pain can be your friends!
If you don't enter the maximum number of events for the meet, how can you win the age-group high point award?
Absolutely (see forums.usms.org/blog.php where I shamelessly swam an event all for a nifty swim backpack that I still haven't used!).
...says the man who apparently has never tried to race a 100 back 30 min. after a 200 fly. I will not try that again.
I'd do a 100 back 10 minutes after a 200 fly if needed. Seriously, the 200 fly is over-rated as a killer race, especially short course where languid turns and long SDKs off each wall can make this race quite fun.
I will have to disagree on the rest issue. It seems obvious to me that sprinters and mid-distance/ distance types will differ in the amount of time needed to recover from events due to the different amounts of slow-twitch and fast-twitch muscle fibers for each, as well as the amount of training done.
different amounts of slow-twitch and fast-twitch muscle fibers NO
the amount of training done YES! (is this not the key to all this 'not enough rest' whining?)
I care more about doing the best that I can in my events than a high point award.
There are some really nice towels out there that might change your mind.:)
What I would say, in the spirit of Muppet and Patrick's comments, is that you don't really know how much rest you need until you push the envelope a little. "Feeling" -- including imagining that you still feel a race 30 minutes after you finish it -- is often a very poor guide to how fast you will swim. There have been races in the past where I have surprised myself, thinking that I didn't have adequate recovery time. In some cases I actually think I did better in the second race than I would have done without the first race (give that lactate buffering system a swift kick to get it going! Though proper warmup should take care of that).
In all seriousness, Chris hit on a point I was trying to make. I surprised myself earlier this fall by doing 6 races in a space of about 2+ hours and going darn close to a best time on the last event (forums.usms.org/blog.php. This was in addition to a morning open water mile.
The message I probably didn't convey clearly enough is this: we are all often capable of more than we think, so enter a lot of events. The worst thing that happens is you get tired ... doesn't that then justify another of your favorite beverage of choice at the post-meet-party?
