DQ'd

A couple of summers ago I got DQ'd for a false start in my 400 IM at LC nats. It was a real breakthrough swim for me--a 6+ second drop off my lifetime PR. They called me to the clerk of course table afterwards to let me know. I had no idea I'd done anything out of the ordinary on the start, and I was so dumbfounded that all I could stammer out was, "But it was PR." I felt like I was a disappointed 10-year-old again. The meet referee offered to call the start judge over to clarify what I'd done, but I said it was alright and kind of slunk off to the warmdown pool. Afterwards I could have kicked myself, because it really would have been useful to know what the start judge saw. (I've since looked at the videotape from this swim and can't see anything untoward on the start, and I certainly didn't hit the water early). I worried the rest of the meet about my starts, since I didn't know what had garnered the dq. So, the lesson I learned is that if I get dq'd again, I need to talk to whatever judges are involved to know exactly what's being called. On that front, it was helpful to me this past year to read Chris's and Leslie's accounts of their experiences in their blogs--they were both more assertive than me in winnowing out what the judges thought they saw. And while several people have told me it was too bad that I had to swim a 4IM after getting called for a fs, I'm with Chowmi--it would have been much more disappointing not to have swum it. While I didn't get an official time, I still got splits that would be useful in prepping future races, got confirmation that my taper was on the money, and most important got the confidence that I am actually capable of swimming that event that fast. (And the story has a happy ending--after a few tears and a couple hours of confusion and disappointment, I came back that afternoon and nailed my 50 BR to actually win an event at nats!)

A couple of summers ago I got DQ'd for a false start in my 400 IM at LC nats. It was a real breakthrough swim for me--a 6+ second drop off my lifetime PR. They called me to the clerk of course table afterwards to let me know. I had no idea I'd done anything out of the ordinary on the start, and I was so dumbfounded that all I could stammer out was, "But it was PR." I felt like I was a disappointed 10-year-old again. The meet referee offered to call the start judge over to clarify what I'd done, but I said it was alright and kind of slunk off to the warmdown pool. Afterwards I could have kicked myself, because it really would have been useful to know what the start judge saw. (I've since looked at the videotape from this swim and can't see anything untoward on the start, and I certainly didn't hit the water early). I worried the rest of the meet about my starts, since I didn't know what had garnered the dq. So, the lesson I learned is that if I get dq'd again, I need to talk to whatever judges are involved to know exactly what's being called. On that front, it was helpful to me this past year to read Chris's and Leslie's accounts of their experiences in their blogs--they were both more assertive than me in winnowing out what the judges thought they saw. And while several people have told me it was too bad that I had to swim a 4IM after getting called for a fs, I'm with Chowmi--it would have been much more disappointing not to have swum it. While I didn't get an official time, I still got splits that would be useful in prepping future races, got confirmation that my taper was on the money, and most important got the confidence that I am actually capable of swimming that event that fast. (And the story has a happy ending--after a few tears and a couple hours of confusion and disappointment, I came back that afternoon and nailed my 50 BR to actually win an event at nats!)