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.
Yes, but, again trying to be completely serious, one of the things I've re-found in Masters' swimming is the sheer fun of racing. That's a major motivator for me to enter a lot of events. Yeah, I like to win and I like to do PBs, but I really, really have reacquainted myself with the love of racing. I know I had that as a youth when swimming, but swimming became much 'heavier' for me in my late teens and in college -- so much more pressure (whether internally or externally motivated) around achieving certain times, cuts, etc. With Masters and with open water even moreso, I have rediscovered how much I love just racing the guy (or gal) next to me ... no matter what shape I'm in or what time I'm going to go, there's almost always someone to race. That's fun for me.
One of the things I've discovered in masters swimming is the absolute freedom I have to train and compete for fun. No more distance workout drudgery, no more swimming max events, no more rules against scratching, no swimming meets and events I'm not psyched for, I get to create my own workouts, use whatever toys I want, etc. When I looked at my first masters entry form and saw I could swim 50s, I was beyond thrilled. I've loved re-inventing myself as a pure sprinter after being drowned and burned out from the distance focus of the 70s. So, racing max events holds no allure for me, and is the antithesis of fun. Swimming an off event or a 200 or more events is a nice lark on occasion if the timing is right, but definitely not a goal.
Yes, but, again trying to be completely serious, one of the things I've re-found in Masters' swimming is the sheer fun of racing. That's a major motivator for me to enter a lot of events. Yeah, I like to win and I like to do PBs, but I really, really have reacquainted myself with the love of racing. I know I had that as a youth when swimming, but swimming became much 'heavier' for me in my late teens and in college -- so much more pressure (whether internally or externally motivated) around achieving certain times, cuts, etc. With Masters and with open water even moreso, I have rediscovered how much I love just racing the guy (or gal) next to me ... no matter what shape I'm in or what time I'm going to go, there's almost always someone to race. That's fun for me.
One of the things I've discovered in masters swimming is the absolute freedom I have to train and compete for fun. No more distance workout drudgery, no more swimming max events, no more rules against scratching, no swimming meets and events I'm not psyched for, I get to create my own workouts, use whatever toys I want, etc. When I looked at my first masters entry form and saw I could swim 50s, I was beyond thrilled. I've loved re-inventing myself as a pure sprinter after being drowned and burned out from the distance focus of the 70s. So, racing max events holds no allure for me, and is the antithesis of fun. Swimming an off event or a 200 or more events is a nice lark on occasion if the timing is right, but definitely not a goal.
