There is a nice article by Linda Shoenberger as the March Fitness article on swimming all the events without the utter hopelessness of knowing you are guaranteed to be dead last in a competition environment. It starts:
"Once upon a time there was a swimmer who didn’t want to compete in swim competitions. She just wanted to do fitness swimming and enjoy the camaraderie of a USMS workout group.
"But she also wanted to swim all the pool races offered in USMS competition. She couldn’t imagine herself racing the 200 butterfly in front of a bunch of other swimmers, coaches and spectators. But she could imagine herself swimming the 200 butterfly in practice at a leisurely pace without the pressure of being at a swim meet."
So the coach encouraged people to do the Check-off Challenge and made time during workouts for swimmers who wanted to, to swim the events.
:)
(Nice coach, pat pat...)
We did this last year as a team, I think 1 person might have completed the check off challenge.
The problem is, you still have to be motivated enough to swim a 200 fly for no other reason than to get a check mark.
"Today's main set is the 200 fly for time, or I am going to hammer your toes with a mallet. Ok, who is ready for some fly?" Silence.
Ambush is a possible strategy, but it can fall apart on you. True story: many years ago after we warmed down from a 7000+ yard workout, our coach made the surprise announcement that we were doing a 200 for time, diving off the blocks. And then he called up the flyers first, so we didn't even have time to think about it. Good move - no time for dread. So we dove in and started swimming the 200 fly. Me and another guy were even at the 100 in about 1:01. Then I turned at the 125 and he was just not there. I can't see him anymore, where did he go? I finished in a rockin' 2:07 and he came limping in maybe 20 seconds later. I said "what happened?" Everybody behind the blocks was still laughing. Apparently he switched to slow one-arm fly after the 100... waaaaait just a minute here. How is it possible that there is no piano smiley? I'd gladly trade the birthday cake thing for a falling piano...
We did this last year as a team, I think 1 person might have completed the check off challenge.
The problem is, you still have to be motivated enough to swim a 200 fly for no other reason than to get a check mark.
"Today's main set is the 200 fly for time, or I am going to hammer your toes with a mallet. Ok, who is ready for some fly?" Silence.
Ambush is a possible strategy, but it can fall apart on you. True story: many years ago after we warmed down from a 7000+ yard workout, our coach made the surprise announcement that we were doing a 200 for time, diving off the blocks. And then he called up the flyers first, so we didn't even have time to think about it. Good move - no time for dread. So we dove in and started swimming the 200 fly. Me and another guy were even at the 100 in about 1:01. Then I turned at the 125 and he was just not there. I can't see him anymore, where did he go? I finished in a rockin' 2:07 and he came limping in maybe 20 seconds later. I said "what happened?" Everybody behind the blocks was still laughing. Apparently he switched to slow one-arm fly after the 100... waaaaait just a minute here. How is it possible that there is no piano smiley? I'd gladly trade the birthday cake thing for a falling piano...
