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.
As one of my coaching sayings goes " You - the water - -the clock":applaud:
Forget about being last in the fast heat or first in the last heat or what others might think of you.:blah:
Just go do it & be proud in your attempt of what others will not even try!:bow:
I just finished going through the psyche and marking the names of the people I know and want to cheer on this weekend. You can't scratch; I already have a star next to your name! :D
Seriously, though, in every other race you are entered, you are in the top group of women- and that's women of ALL ages. You ROCK! The 400IM is mixed and there are only two women faster than you- and they are a lot younger!
Hey, I went to Nationals, last year, as a newbie, and was seeded second to last in all of my events. I didn't care; at least I showed up and competed the best I could. Who cares what other people think??? If anything, what they WILL be thinking is that you ROCK for swimming the 400IM! About all I can handle is the 100IM. :blush:
You go, Girl! :cheerleader:
Thanks to all for your input. I've very much enjoyed reading your comments. It is very much appreciated, and definitely is helping. I'm really keeping my fingers crossed that there are two scratches ahead of me, though (I already know of one), so that I will have some company for the last 50-75 yards. :)
I'm actually seeded 12/20, so not the top half, but a couple of those below me are NTs so I have no idea where they will be. Looking back, that's what I probably should have done. However, the one good thing is that the event is being swum slow to fast, so in the faster heat I will have a little more rest between my 3rd event and the 400 IM.
Maybe I'll just pretend I'm swimming a really long 200 IM... :afraid:
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.
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? :)
Kristen
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I won't be there tomorrow but I'll see you Sunday and you can tell me all about it then!
Heidi
Heidi, enjoy your day off from racing and I will see you on Sunday! How was Boston last week?
The last time I swam a SCY 200 fly I went out too fast and the way I got through it was every time I pushed off I thought"you only have to swim a 25 fly and then you can hang on the wall and rest."I didn't,but knowing I could was a great comfort.Remember that in your 400 IM and go for it.
I love that idea. I will definitely use it -- thank you!!
S C is better to try a 400 I M cuz of the friendly walls! :applaud::banana:
Absolutely!
I was in the same situation as you the first time I ever swam a 400 IM--fastest heat, way slowest swimmer. I knew I should just be racing the clock, like everyone is telling you, but I was self-conscious about finishing last, plus I never really like seeing everyone going by me in a race. One thing that helped is that I decided that I wanted to swim just one split--breaststroke in my case, but you could pick anything late in the race--faster than someone else in my heat. That helped me swim slow enough in the fly that the rest of the race was manageable, and even fun. So yeah, I got lapped by most of the field, but I finished, and swam a smart race instead of trying to race faster folks from the get-go. And I was really proud when I looked at the splits and saw that I had indeed out-breaststroked the guy next to me who had nearly lapped me on the fly.
Just a thought--you seem to have lots of good advice on swimming the race, and I'm sure you'll have a blast at the meet, and swim an incredible IM!
That's great advice too, Janet! Thanks, and I will do that as well -- in my case it will be freestyle. I actually have a fairly strong freestyle split in my 200 IM, and doing that will probably help my kick at the end of the 400. And I'll bet that approach actually helps all of the splits to be faster than they would be by taking the pressure off.
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!
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.
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.Great job! Sounds like you need to be giving me tips.
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
