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.
My guess is that the 400IM is preseeded since the entry doesn't say anything about positive check-in being required. That means that you will be in the first (slower) heat. If I were you I'd WANT to be in the faster heat. The slow folks won't give you a race. And I'm betting your seed time is actually 20-30 secs off. If you want, I'll race you in it in the fall so long as lefty is working correctly!
My guess is that the 400IM is preseeded since the entry doesn't say anything about positive check-in being required. That means that you will be in the first (slower) heat. If I were you I'd WANT to be in the faster heat. The slow folks won't give you a race. And I'm betting your seed time is actually 20-30 secs off. If you want, I'll race you in it in the fall so long as lefty is working correctly!
