I'm not a new masters swimmer nor am I new to meets, but am new to the 400 IM. Truthfully, I'm a little concerned about my ability to make it through the event legally (well, I'm really mainly afraid of the 4th 25). I'm scheduled to swim the 400 IM at a meet this weekend (Saturday). There are twenty people entered, it's a 10 lane pool, and as luck would have it I'm seeded 11th. If only one person above me scratches, I'll be in a heat where the fastest person is seeded 1:40 faster than I am, and the slowest person (besides me) is still seeded 40 seconds faster than I am. My seed time is MUCH closer to the people seeded right behind me, and I think I seeded myself as accurately as I could.
So... I am extremely anxious about swimming in this heat, as I was already anxious about swimming the 400 IM. Do I scratch to save myself the humiliation and to save some energy for Sunday's events? Or do I get lapped at least twice by the leaders, once by the next slowest person, and tick everyone off for holding up the meet? I'm already swimming the 1000 earlier in the session, and the 400 IM will be my 4th event of the day. I really have mixed feelings about this.
If you like the event or want to swim it in the future, give it a whirl. If you think scratching makes you mentally week, swim it to erase that feeling.
But just to play devil's advocate ... I frequently scratch one event per meet. Either I've purposefully signed up for an extra event to keep my options open or I just don't want to swim that event that day. If I am not interested in swimming it (for whatever reason -- too tired, don't feel like it, don't need a time, focusing on other events), nothing will compel me to swim it. When people attempt to make me feel guilty, which happens less now, I just ignore it. It's masters -- we can do whatever we want. "Getting your $$$ out of the meet" doesn't move me either and I almost never max out events. A wise swimmer once told me, if you have one really good swim a meet, you've achieved something and it was worth it. So sometimes I narrow my focus rather than broaden it. To each his own!
If you like the event or want to swim it in the future, give it a whirl. If you think scratching makes you mentally week, swim it to erase that feeling.
But just to play devil's advocate ... I frequently scratch one event per meet. Either I've purposefully signed up for an extra event to keep my options open or I just don't want to swim that event that day. If I am not interested in swimming it (for whatever reason -- too tired, don't feel like it, don't need a time, focusing on other events), nothing will compel me to swim it. When people attempt to make me feel guilty, which happens less now, I just ignore it. It's masters -- we can do whatever we want. "Getting your $$$ out of the meet" doesn't move me either and I almost never max out events. A wise swimmer once told me, if you have one really good swim a meet, you've achieved something and it was worth it. So sometimes I narrow my focus rather than broaden it. To each his own!
