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.
I got lapped twice on the first 500 free that I did. Not a big deal really. I did a 400 IM as my last event earlier this year. I didn't want to push hard because I was in a relay right after. My teammates advice: "Just go for a swim". So, I did and I swam it about 15 seconds faster than I thought I would.
Are you sure they will bump you up to the next heat? Seems like it would make more sense to leave a lane empty unless enough people dropped that they could consolidate heats.
I'd would swim the event. I was actually in the same situation back in December. It was the second time I had ever done the 400 IM in a meet. The first time was a disaster since I swam it right after a 500 free. I honestly considered scratching the event, but I talked myself into it. After swimming it I felt great for 1)actually feeling strong at the end and 2) Dropping my time by 15 seconds.
Flash forward to last weekend. I felt much more prepared and ready to swim the 400 IM last Sunday and it was the first time in a meet since December and the confidence in the event helped me swim even faster.
Peter, we must have been posting at the same time. "Just go for a swim" is good advice. Also, I did think about asking if they would be able to keep a lane open in the faster heat. I'm torn on that, as if I do swim in the faster heat I will have more rest between my 3rd event and the 400 IM, as it is being swum slow to fast. It might be worth less rest, though, and is worth asking about.
How did you do in the relay? :)
I only mentioned the open lane because that appears to be what they did in Auburn in february. Not sure how other meets are run but on sunday, the last (fastest) heats usually had 2-3 empty lanes.
I swam the *** stroke leg of our relay and did a personal best but not by much. I don't think the 400 hurt me any. Another of my teammates sayings: "400 IM is all about life after fly". Have fun this weekend!
Go for it! It's a great event to try out at least once and who knows, you might enjoy it. I decided to try it out once and now it's getting me Top 10 standings. And I've had to swim next to people who can beat me and lap me. But it's the clock that matters.
That usually done to have enough swimmers in the previous heat. So say there is 10 swimmers and 8 lanes, they will move a few swimmers down to the first heat so that there's 3 or more in each heat.
Swim it!!!
* It's the last event of the day.
* It feels really, really good when it's done.
* Nobody cares how fast you go.
* Everybody cheers when you finish!!
* When you finish, you can pound your chest and yodel like Tarzan!
Strategy -- Fly: To borrow from pwb, "Loaf, loaf loaf, and LOAF HARD". Back: Swim it. ***: Swim it. Free: swim, build, sprint, sprint. The great thing about the 400 IM is you don't have to swim any of it fast, except maybe the last 50. Otherwise it's just like what you do in workouts every day, with a little less rest between the 100s.
Swim it! You will love this event!
I'm glad this thread was started. I am in the same situation...signed up to do my first-ever 400 IM in a few weeks and ever since have been wondering just how ugly it's going to turn out.
Good thing for me is I set expectations for a new event low and I have always exceeded them, so I think this will turn out well. The comments on this thread only help my motivation too.
SWIM! Don't forget that (in my experience) competing Masters swimmers are some of the most encouraging and supportive people around - especially if you are nervous about a particular event. When I swam my first ever 100 Fly, there were some teammates who knew how nervous I was and as I swam, they were on both ends of the pool shouting their encouragement! The 400IM is still a "monster" that I am working my way up to - kudos to you for attempting it - that's better than me right now. :blush:
Swim happy and have fun!
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!
Maybe I'll just pretend I'm swimming a really long 200 IM... :afraid:
The really long 200 IM is what I think of when I do a LCM 400 IM...just like the really long 100 fly is really the 200 LCM fly. :)
