How Cheaters Cheat

I just watched a college meet where a girl won the 500 and got out of the pool before everyone had finished and got DQ'ed. I find that doing long events my mind sometimes goes somewhere else. How about cheating at practice? Coach tells you to swim 1000 and people stop at 800. How did you finish before me when I started in front of you and you never passed me? I agree in part. It is very irksome when people are doing zany things in the lane AND interfere with what the proscribed (sp?), mainstream set is suppose to be. However, rule of thumb for us is that everyone is doing something different, and there is always a rotating group of injured or recovering from injury swimmers, so who's to say why the equipment grab, shortened sets, etc....I say as long as everyone stays consistent within the lane and the right of way belongs to the lead swimmers.... Circa 2004-2008, I routinely swam 1/2 of every set (distance-wise), got out at 1000-1500, swam fly for free, never pulled, didn't use flip turns, and whatever else you may consider "cheating". But I didn't draft or hold up the lead person if I was being lapped. I did what I had to do to rest and let my back heal. Fast forward to 2009 and beyond, I will be the last person to name call anyone a "cheater". If you show up and get in the water and do something, then I say great for you!!! Remember not everyone has the same goals as you! Put another way, no one else on DAMM is geared to swimming a meet a month and gunning for the 50 free! And I very much consciously (sp?) think about every set given, and determine if I do it or tweak it. With 1 hour x 4 practices per week, I have no time for additional yardage that doesn't directly translate to speed in my 50 free. And once I am over my sprinting/racing fix, then I am toying with buying lots of fins for every type of occasion and using them all the time, just for fun!!!!:drool:

We have people on the team that never do stroke drills correctly, they do free 3 strokes into each turn to stay up with the lane.

I take my swim racing serious. If someone ever did that to me in a USMS meet, I'd be ticked to say the least...and immediately after they did that, they would probably be prying their goggles out of their eye sockets!! :duel: I accidently went under the rope to climb out after the 800 free and didn't even realize that the guy next to me hadn't finished (this is like :30 or more after I finished). I tried to duck under but still got in his way just a bit. I immediately apologized and got splashed in the face for my efforts. Had I not been so tired I might have dragged him to the bottom for that....with only me surfacing. But I just let it go. I figured they might disqualify me for what happened, but nothing became of it. Sometimes you forget the little things, it was like my 3rd meet back swimming or something like that too.

I accidently went under the rope to climb out after the 800 free and didn't even realize that the guy next to me hadn't finished (this is like :30 or more after I finished). I tried to duck under but still got in his way just a bit. I immediately apologized and got splashed in the face for my efforts. Had I not been so tired I might have dragged him to the bottom for that....with only me surfacing. But I just let it go. I figured they might disqualify me for what happened, but nothing became of it. Sometimes you forget the little things, it was like my 3rd meet back swimming or something like that too. I just watched a college meet where a girl won the 500 and got out of the pool before everyone had finished and got DQ'ed. I find that doing long events my mind sometimes goes somewhere else. How about cheating at practice? Coach tells you to swim 1000 and people stop at 800. How did you finish before me when I started in front of you and you never passed me?

I train alone, so I cheat, I only cheat myself.

using fins in a non-fin set Is that what you meant? (Sorry, can't resist tweaking the nose of fin-lovers out there.) I'm sure others would add "using paddles and/or pull-buoys in a non-pull set" too.

(Sorry, can't resist tweaking the nose of fin-lovers out there.) I'm impervious to criticism now. I thought this thread would be about drugs, not what swimmers do in masters perogative practices. :bolt:

drafting in races where it isn't allowed. I consider drafting in a meet a viable race strategy. I'll do one handed turns in practice regularly, but never on purpose in meets. Pulling on the laneline in backstroke is a common cheat for many swimmers in practice. It would annoy me in college if a teammate was able to keep up with me, but I don't have the same competition on my club team so it doesn't bother me if people do it.

I'm impervious to criticism now. I thought this thread would be about drugs, not what swimmers do in masters perogative practices. :bolt: I agree with Fort!!!! Practice is not a competition with a winner at the end! In fact I thought the first 2 rules of master's swimming were "Do exactly what the coach tells you to do unless you want to do something else." There are no rules in practice! As far as GTD the rules state that any yardage should be counted including fins, kick, pull, and drills. In races during swim meets, it's a whole different animal and cheating would be a consideration.

:applaud: If God wanted us to have fins, we'd have fins. Instead we have feet. Great, now it comes down to Evolution vs. Creationism. Who knew this could spiral out of control so quickly. (please sense my facetiousness) Just so everyone's clear, I have no problem with anyone using fins. (Properly.) And if the person in the next lane is wearing fins and I'm not, beating them is that much sweeter. But if you want to swim in my lane wearing fins in a non-fin set, you can either go last in the lane or GTFO.