Would you scratch?

RE: Would you scratch?

Elaine Krugman — Wed, 30 Mar 2011 10:17:41 GMT

Thanks, Elaine! You did great as well! Don't worry about your 100 ***. A meet with that many events that goes that quickly is tough to do. You were a lot fresher for the 200 ***, as evidenced by the fact that your 100 split in the 2 *** on Saturday was faster than your 100 *** on Sunday. :) That's happened to me before a couple of times when the long distance free is the first event of the meet and the 400/500 is the last event of the meet. The physical and mental fatigue takes its toll. I feel like I need to focus more on IM and backstroke rather than distance free right now. Like many of you, I'm sure, I tend to overthink races, splits, results. etc., and it really gets into my head. And since I have events that I am dropping time in and have the potential to drop more, that's what I need to be doing to keep my sanity. And this is masters, after all. It's supposed to be fun, right? :) Thanks Alison and Kristin! I appreciate your kindness, Kristin, too! You are so encouraging and supportive; something I really appreciated when I met you at Auburn for the first time. I was completely new to you, but you treated me like a teammate and I felt honored to be on your relay team! You are an awesome swimmer and I felt you had a lot of guts to go out in the 400IM the way you did. I understood your hesitation; I think we are a lot alike when it comes to overthinking races, etc. Like you, I let things get into my head! I think you have it right when you suggest what you need to do to keep your sanity. It sounds like the perfect decision for you, because, you're right; it's supposed to be all about fun! And, I've been thinking the same thing for myself, so we're running on the same wavelength. I just recently added the 100IM as my "fun" event; no pressure on myself, just fun. And, when I worked with my coach yesterday, we worked on everything BUT breaststroke for the first time. I even asked him to time my splits on a 500 and critique my freestyle mechanics; something we have only worked on briefly in the past. Why the 500? For the same reason you mentioned; a second warm up. I could have really used that on Sunday, rather than warming up in the hot kiddie pool. I didn't know the 50 meter pool would be closed and I had missed warm ups in the competition pool, because the storm was really bad until 8:45am, in our area. The hot water in the kiddie pool, I believe, is what did me in on my 100 breaststroke; it was a reaction to the heat (something I have problems with in or out of the water). I only went out in :43, but my muscles shut down after the halfway point and it took several minutes to catch my breath after the race. Later, for the 100IM, I felt fine and caught my breath back quickly. And, my time was seven seconds faster than my 100 breaststroke, so I didn't loaf it; I almost got a PB. And, I felt great afterward. So, I'm thinking of adding more events that will get me on the blocks and into the cooler water more and get my body ready to race my best events. I may not do the 500 (especially at a one day meet), but I would at least like to pick up some other 50's, since I'm a sprinter. Besides, from what I figure, if I had picked up more events, I would have placed third, right after Marianne and you. I would have been really pleased with that 1, 2, 3 in our age group! Instead, I placed 6th out of 11, because I only competed in 4 events. Celeste, I agree with Kristin; you look awesome for your age! :applaud:

RE: Would you scratch?

Former Member — Wed, 30 Mar 2011 08:01:29 GMT

Kristin - I'm so glad you didn't scratch!! You're an animal!! (i.e. dolphin, shark, mermaid, etc.) Aren't you glad you did it?! :applaud::applaud::applaud: Celeste, now the light bulb goes off! I knew I had seen your name before St. Pat's... and it was here! It was so nice meeting you! And I must say that you look 10 years younger than the heat sheet said you were. :) I am SO glad that I didn't scratch! It did help a lot that the event was pre-seeded. Next time, though, I won't complain if I'm in a faster heat. I know I can get through it now, so that will get me through. I thought about you at my practice today! Remember when we were talking about swimming similar paces at practice and at meets? Well... looks like I qualify for that in distance free. :blush: My coach gave me 3x500 pull (granted I was wearing paddles, but still), on 6:15. I came in at 6:00, 6:02, 6:01. I should be going a lot faster in meets than a 6:04 and a 12:35 in the 1000! It's a mental thing at this point, I think -- probably for both of us!

RE: Would you scratch?

Celestial — Wed, 30 Mar 2011 01:50:55 GMT

Kristin - I'm so glad you didn't scratch!! You're an animal!! (i.e. dolphin, shark, mermaid, etc.) Aren't you glad you did it?! :applaud::applaud::applaud:

RE: Would you scratch?

Former Member — Mon, 28 Mar 2011 14:16:07 GMT

Thanks, Elaine! You did great as well! Don't worry about your 100 ***. A meet with that many events that goes that quickly is tough to do. You were a lot fresher for the 200 ***, as evidenced by the fact that your 100 split in the 2 *** on Saturday was faster than your 100 *** on Sunday. :) That's happened to me before a couple of times when the long distance free is the first event of the meet and the 400/500 is the last event of the meet. The physical and mental fatigue takes its toll. Even though Saturday was a wash except for the 400 IM for me, Sunday was better (except for the 100 free). I swam the 500 free as a hard 2nd warmup, and ended up swimming my Auburn time. I think giving myself permission to relax my swim helped me to go faster than I expected to go. Which means that I've not been relaxing the 500 enough at the beginning. I think that if I had actually raced the 500 I would have gone maybe 5-6 seconds faster at most, and I wouldn't have had good races afterwards. Probably the main difference in my pacing if I had raced it would have been that I would have built the 2nd half of my race instead of just the last 50. But at what cost? The 200 IM was about 15 minutes after I finished my 500. I ended up swimming only three seconds over my best (B70) time from St. Pat's last year, and 3 seconds better than my Auburn time from last month. I was hoping to see a drop since I've been training more IM for the 400. The 100 free was about 15 minutes after that, and that race wasn't great as I couldn't ever pick up my speed (and should have also taken it out faster, as I wasn't all that tired when I finished... but then again I am not a sprinter). 200 back was so much fun -- I LOVE that race but even more LCM... ended up going 1:17/1:18 for my 100 splits and the entire race felt great, and I had a personal best -- 2 seconds below my Auburn time. Given that I have been told that the 200 back is supposed to hurt (which it never has the half dozen times I've swum it -- except maybe the last 50), I would think I have more room to improve there as well. I feel like I need to focus more on IM and backstroke rather than distance free right now. Like many of you, I'm sure, I tend to overthink races, splits, results. etc., and it really gets into my head. And since I have events that I am dropping time in and have the potential to drop more, that's what I need to be doing to keep my sanity. And this is masters, after all. It's supposed to be fun, right? :)

RE: Would you scratch?

swimshark — Mon, 28 Mar 2011 07:29:48 GMT

RE: Would you scratch?

Former Member — Sun, 27 Mar 2011 11:07:22 GMT

Congrats on your swim! What pretty splits! I'm not sure yet if I'm going to Auburn nats, but if I do I'll be sure to look you up. Maybe we can even swim the 4IM together! Thanks! But 4IM long course? Not sure I'm ready for that! Maybe the LCM 2IM though... :) Great job! After reading this thread, I'm now looking forward to doing it, instead of wondering what the heck I was thinking and debating, like you, whether or not I should scratch. Fortunately, in my case it's the very first event, so if it goes well, I should be pumped for everything else. Thanks again for starting this thread. :) Awesome! I'm so glad the thread is helping others! I am a lurker for most of the time, and have been helped by others' threads. Glad this one is giving back. Good luck, and please be sure to post how it goes! Great job!! See, I told you you'd love the feeling after. I'll join the "great job" club,great job:cheerleader::cheerleader::cheerleader: Thanks!! :) Good luck in the 500! - my aim is to break the 6.00 too (or re-break according to my fastest converted 400m), but not sure when I'll get the opportunity to swim it again - and I ought to train a bit more for it too. Also despite being a good flyer, my back has historically been awful and my *** only slightly better - acceptable for 200IMs, but I need to put in some work there for the 400. Keep us updated on how you do:) My strokes are mediocre, but my backstroke is getting better. I think the 400IM is almost more about endurance than it is having a perfect stroke. Go for it! And good luck in the 500!

RE: Would you scratch?

Elaine Krugman — Sun, 27 Mar 2011 09:34:30 GMT

And you did too! Let the record show that Elainiak won ALL the breaststroke events in her age group! A couple of PBs too! Well done! Results --> www.clubassistant.com/.../st_pats_2011_results.pdf :smooch:Thanks, Swimosaur! But, I'll be honest with ya here. I used my Auburn times as my seed times; not my PB's. Although I was close to hitting my PB on the 200 breaststroke and 100IM, I was way off on the 50 and 100. I had too deep of a start on the 50 and thought I was never going to surface; I thought I would DQ for not breaking the surface before my insweep! So, I missed my PB of 38.90 by 3.03 seconds. Ouch! Then, on the 100, today, I was 5 seconds off my PB! :badday: The lactic acid (or whatever you want to call it...) flooded me at the 75 mark and I was basically treading water to keep from :drown: on the last 25. I didn't have that problem yesterday on the 200 or 50, but the 100 breaststroke was my first event of the day, following a lousy warm up in the 88-90(?) degree kiddie pool that knocked me out. Oh well, the 100 breaststroke served as a good warm up for my 100IM, once I got rid of the lactic acid build up and got a second wind! :D It was a fun meet and I enjoyed watching and :cheerleader: for the other Forumites and my non-Forumite buddies! Swimosaur, I didn't get to meet you at Auburn, so I hope to meet you at Nationals; either SCY or LCM! :)

RE: Would you scratch?

Swimosaur — Sun, 27 Mar 2011 05:49:59 GMT

You did great this weekend ! And you did too! Let the record show that Elainiak won ALL the breaststroke events in her age group! A couple of PBs too! Well done! Results --> www.clubassistant.com/.../st_pats_2011_results.pdf

RE: Would you scratch?

Elaine Krugman — Sun, 27 Mar 2011 04:54:18 GMT

Congratulations, Kristin! You did great this weekend ! You ROCKED! Congrats. to Marianne, as well, for winning high points in the 45-49 age group. Marianne you were AWESOME to watch, this weekend, beating all your seed times! You keep improving like this and we'll be seeing you in the Top Ten someday soon! :cheerleader: Heidi, you rocked as always. You are fast! Great job! :applaud: Celestial and Swimcat, it was great meeting you two this weekend and putting faces to the Forumite avatars. :D Joyce, if you are out there lurking and happen to see this, congatulations to you, too! You're getting better all the time! I'm looking forward to swimming relays with you on our new team, later this year! I hope I didn't miss any of our gals. If so, sorry about that! I still haven't matched up all the swimmers I have met to their avatars. :cheerleader:You GO Girls!!! :cheerleader:

RE: Would you scratch?

Former Member — Sat, 26 Mar 2011 14:06:40 GMT

Definitely! Once I got to freestyle, I felt like I was home free. Actually, I thought that the breaststroke was the hardest part. Don't be afraid to do this race, especially since you're a strong butterflier. You have plenty of time, though... I'm 45. :) Thanks, Heidi! Great job on the 500! I've yet to break 6:00 without the old B70. Not sure this is the meet for it, though, as my freestyle isn't where I want it to be right now. The 6:04 at Auburn just about killed me. Stranger things have happened, though! Good luck in the 500! - my aim is to break the 6.00 too (or re-break according to my fastest converted 400m), but not sure when I'll get the opportunity to swim it again - and I ought to train a bit more for it too. Also despite being a good flyer, my back has historically been awful and my *** only slightly better - acceptable for 200IMs, but I need to put in some work there for the 400. Keep us updated on how you do:)

RE: Would you scratch?

Former Member — Sat, 26 Mar 2011 10:10:45 GMT

:applaud: I guess there's a real sense of achievement as you get into the 100 free. I am going to do the 400IM one day, not this year, but before I'm 40 :afraid: Definitely! Once I got to freestyle, I felt like I was home free. Actually, I thought that the breaststroke was the hardest part. Don't be afraid to do this race, especially since you're a strong butterflier. You have plenty of time, though... I'm 45. :) Congrats! I knew you'd be much faster than your seed time! Sleep well and we'll try to take that 500 under 6 together! (I went 5:59 last weekend). Thanks, Heidi! Great job on the 500! I've yet to break 6:00 without the old B70. Not sure this is the meet for it, though, as my freestyle isn't where I want it to be right now. The 6:04 at Auburn just about killed me. Stranger things have happened, though! Great job! Sounds like you need to be giving me tips. Thanks! That's the great thing about reading this forum, though... we all have tips for each other. There's always something to learn, and new perspectives to examine. Great swim & thanks for the thread! If I hadn't already sent in my registration for my final meet of the year, I would have entered the 400IM because of your story and the responses. And I had that thought YESTERDAY! Dan Glad it helped more people than just me! Can you late enter? Kristin, I was with your friends behind the blocks cheering you on and I can assure you they weren't "sympathetic". They were saying great things about you and how well you were doing! It was all good! :cheerleader: Congratulations for doing such a great job. Good luck tomorrow; I'll see you there! Cheers! :chug: Thanks, Elaine! It was great to see you! Tomorrow I will be more talkative, as I won't be stressing about the 400 IM anymore. :-) See you in the morning!

RE: Would you scratch?

Allen Stark — Sat, 26 Mar 2011 09:53:28 GMT

I'll join the "great job" club,great job:cheerleader::cheerleader::cheerleader:

RE: Would you scratch?

Former Member — Sat, 26 Mar 2011 09:01:17 GMT

:applaud: Well done! To those of you who are debating swimming this race, do it at least once. The feeling of the last 50 is amazing! I guess there's a real sense of achievement as you get into the 100 free. I am going to do the 400IM one day, not this year, but before I'm 40 :afraid:

RE: Would you scratch?

Former Member — Sat, 26 Mar 2011 08:55:42 GMT

Your 400 IM was great!!! If you loafed the fly like you said and split it at 1:22, maybe you should consider taking up the 100 Fly as well!! It was fun to watch and cheer you on. Marianne, the fly did feel easy and was over before I knew it! Not sure how much faster I could take it, though, as I am not a very strong butterflier... Your 200 fly looked great -- so strong! I cannot even imagine going another 100!

RE: Would you scratch?

Former Member — Sat, 26 Mar 2011 08:53:31 GMT

You did great, Dave and I were in the stands watching. You were strong throughout, just like I thought you'd be! :applaud: Thanks, Jeff. I'm glad I swam one event well today -- it was nice to end the day on a positive note!

RE: Would you scratch?

swimshark — Sat, 26 Mar 2011 08:24:50 GMT

OK... the deed is done. :) First off, the rest of my meet today was mediocre to fairly crappy. However, I'm really not sure how much of that is the lack of the B70/full body suits, as the only events I've swum well this SCY season are the ones I never swam in the magic suits. So... I'm thinking that I need to reset my expectations for my freestyle. I knew I'd have to do this (as I know many of us did), but I just didn't think I'd have to reset them so drastically. Anyway... the meet went relatively quickly, with not much rest between events. I swam the 1000, the 50 free, 200 free, and then about 30 minutes after the 200 was the 400 IM. My 200 was the worst, possibly because I was worried about swimming it too hard and not being able to finish the 400 IM. I was determined to keep a positive attitude, though, which to those who know me, that isn't always easy for me to do. :) I was in the first of two heats, as they swam the 400 IM slow to fast. I had seeded myself at 6:00, which I felt was conservatively realistic based on my 200 IM time. I decided to take the great advice I received on this thread (love the loaf/loaf/loaf/loaf faster advice for fly, but have to admit that I forgot about outsplitting my heat in one stroke until I was on the 2nd 25 of my free. I did speed up at that point)! My friends, knowing how worried (neurotic) I was, were all standing at the end of my lane cheering for me -- hopefully not in an overly sympathetic way. The race went great -- Judd, you're right! I LOVED it!! I split 1:22/1:23/1:38/1:14 and ended up going 5:38.03. I couldn't believe how much easier it was than I thought it would be. I know that with swimming it more, and I WILL swim it more, I'll be able to fine-tune my pacing and hopefully will eventually be able to go sub-5:30. Thanks to all of you for your encouragement. I do appreciate it, and if I have all crappy races tomorrow, I will still have the 400 IM! To those of you who are debating swimming this race, do it at least once. The feeling of the last 50 is amazing! Great job!! See, I told you you'd love the feeling after.

RE: Would you scratch?

Former Member — Sat, 26 Mar 2011 08:18:11 GMT

You did great, Dave and I were in the stands watching. You were strong throughout, just like I thought you'd be! :applaud:

RE: Would you scratch?

swimsuit addict — Sat, 26 Mar 2011 08:15:09 GMT

Edit: Janet, I recognized your name -- I think you are in my age group, and beat me at several events at the Auburn meet. :-) Nice swimming! Aha, so you must be the Kristin who is always ahead of me in the GTD age-group rankings! Thanks for the kind words, Auburn was an unexpectedly good meet for me. It's too bad we never got a chance to meet in person there though--if I'm at a meet down that way with you again I'll definitely make a point of introducing myself!

RE: Would you scratch?

Former Member — Sat, 26 Mar 2011 08:10:44 GMT

RE: Would you scratch?

Former Member — Sat, 26 Mar 2011 07:52:37 GMT

Aha, so you must be the Kristin who is always ahead of me in the GTD age-group rankings! Thanks for the kind words, Auburn was an unexpectedly good meet for me. It's too bad we never got a chance to meet in person there though--if I'm at a meet down that way with you again I'll definitely make a point of introducing myself! Absolutely! I'd love to meet you! Are you going to be at LCM Nats this year?

RE: Would you scratch?

jethro — Sat, 26 Mar 2011 07:24:40 GMT

To those of you who are debating swimming this race, do it at least once. The feeling of the last 50 is amazing! Great job! After reading this thread, I'm now looking forward to doing it, instead of wondering what the heck I was thinking and debating, like you, whether or not I should scratch. Fortunately, in my case it's the very first event, so if it goes well, I should be pumped for everything else. Thanks again for starting this thread. :)

RE: Would you scratch?

swimsuit addict — Sat, 26 Mar 2011 06:55:01 GMT

Congrats on your swim! What pretty splits! I'm not sure yet if I'm going to Auburn nats, but if I do I'll be sure to look you up. Maybe we can even swim the 4IM together!

RE: Would you scratch?

Swimosaur — Sat, 26 Mar 2011 06:07:04 GMT

The race went great -- Judd, you're right! I LOVED it!! I split 1:22/1:23/1:38/1:14 and ended up going 5:38.03. I couldn't believe how much easier it was than I thought it would be. I know that with swimming it more, and I WILL swim it more, I'll be able to fine-tune my pacing and hopefully will eventually be able to go sub-5:30. :applaud: Well done!! :applaud: Bravo!! :applaud: Standing O!! :applaud: See I told you! It's the best event in the pool! It's as much fun as you can have at a meet! And the breaststroke pullouts?? You know, the part where it feels like somebody set your lungs on fire?? I guess I forgot to mention that detail ... but you did great! Excellent swim! And ... excellent time, too! Last year that time would have been in the top 30, and if you can go sub 5:30, you'll be in the top 20! I think you've found a new event! Congratulations!

RE: Would you scratch?

Elaine Krugman — Sat, 26 Mar 2011 05:51:05 GMT

Your 400 IM was great!!! If you loafed the fly like you said and split it at 1:22, maybe you should consider taking up the 100 Fly as well!! It was fun to watch and cheer you on. Marianne, it was fun cheering both you and Kristin on! You rocked today! :cheerleader: Congratulations on killing your seed times by a ton! Good luck tomorrow; we'll see you there. Sorry I will miss your 500, tomorrow, though. My first event isn't until the 100 breaststroke, so I'm going to cruise in around the same time I got there today and warm up in the 50m pool.

RE: Would you scratch?

Elaine Krugman — Sat, 26 Mar 2011 05:48:02 GMT

Kristin, I was with your friends behind the blocks cheering you on and I can assure you they weren't "sympathetic". They were saying great things about you and how well you were doing! It was all good! :cheerleader: Congratulations for doing such a great job. Good luck tomorrow; I'll see you there! Cheers! :chug: