Alright, guys, I got a meet coming up and I need some advice

Five events per day that's too much! Just wonder why didn't you choose 1500 Free after 400IM? Well, back in February, I did 4 events per day and I got PBs in 6 races over the weekend. Normally, a lot of events won't get me down too much, I think. So my thinking when I registered was: why not 5 per day? When I was picking events, I wanted to go with one really hard one. Just the one. So I had three choices, essentially: 200 fly, 400 IM, or 1500 free. I chose the 400 IM. As to whether to cruise or curse... man, they both sound good. pwb: I had considered doing 12 events and entering the 200 fly, too! Thankfully, I didn't! pmc: I've heard the strategy of treating a race like a warm-up. As sensible as it sounds, I mentally incapable of diving into the water after the buzzer and not going straight to race-mode. Too excited and nervous, you know? philo: it's not a masters meet. Today, I had my first real good practice since I got back in the pool last Friday. I'm a lot less worried about next weekend now. It's gonna be exciting!

Well, back in February, I did 4 events per day and I got PBs in 6 races over the weekend. Normally, a lot of events won't get me down too much, I think. So my thinking when I registered was: why not 5 per day? When I was picking events, I wanted to go with one really hard one. Just the one. So I had three choices, essentially: 200 fly, 400 IM, or 1500 free. I chose the 400 IM. As to whether to cruise or curse... man, they both sound good. pwb: I had considered doing 12 events and entering the 200 fly, too! Thankfully, I didn't! pmc: I've heard the strategy of treating a race like a warm-up. As sensible as it sounds, I mentally incapable of diving into the water after the buzzer and not going straight to race-mode. Too excited and nervous, you know? philo: it's not a masters meet. Today, I had my first real good practice since I got back in the pool last Friday. I'm a lot less worried about next weekend now. It's gonna be exciting! If there's only one week before the meet it's too late to do any major changes. I would leave everything as it is (you should be in the taper phase now???) and concentrate on practicing nice starts and turns - that can drop down your times. Also as I wrote I would consider about taking Creatine plus carbohydrate drinks during the meet days which may help to recover your energy.

I would dump the 400 free ??? & 200 back cuz they are in the middle of the day.

The meet is already over! That went by so fast. So how did I do? I ended up doing 6 events instead of the monster 10. Had I not been out of the pool for two weeks in beginning to mid May, I might have been able to manage 10. Yesterday, I swam the 200 IM, 200 free, and 100 free. I wanted to do the 100 back and 400 free also, but I wasn't used to the extremely fast pace with which the meet moved, so when I went to my car to get a dry towel (it was rainy), I came back to find I had missed my heat of the 100 back. As a consequence, I was kept out of my next event, the 400 free. day 1: The 200 IM: 3:02. That might be a new PB. I did it in 3:02, which SwimmingWorld converts to a 2:36 in scy, a 2-second drop from my PB in February. I'm waiting to see what SwimConnection converts it to before I make it official, though. The 200 free: 2:41. This is nowhere near my scy PB of 2:12. It's a 2:20 converted. Back in April, I was doing 2:10s (scy) in practice, off the wall, so this time is very disappointing to me. The 100 free: 1:09. Another disappointing freestyle race, especially considering four weeks ago when I was sick at a meet and I went 1:07 (which at the time was also disappointing). I guess being sick and in-shape > out of shape and not sick. day 2: (dropped out of 400 IM and 200 back) The 100 ***: 1:37. Converts to 1:23!!! PB by a second! WHAT?! This race is the most surprising to me. Out of left field. I'll take it. The 100 fly: 1:29 Not so good. Converts to 1:17, which is way below my 1:10 February PB. The 50 free: 30.88 It's "okay." A couple ten-one-hundredths under my scy PB. So, looking back at the meet, I have noticed something. All my freestyle races were disappointing. Normally, the 50, 100, and 200 frees are where I stand the most chance of dropping a lot of time and obviously are the events that I've come the farthest in. None of them were first of the day, like the 200 IM and the 100 ***. My first races on both days were my only PBs. Also, in the 200 IM, my coach noted that I seemed to shut down on the last 50. In other words, the freestyle. This leads me to three theories: 1.) didn't do so hot on freestyle because I've come the farthest on them so as such when I take a 2-week absence, I drop down farther on them and have to make up more ground 2.) didn't do so hot on freestyle (and that 100 fly) because my endurance got spent in my first races (although it certainly didn't feel like that in my 100 ***) 3.) both of the above what do you guys think? edit: oh, and I have another LCM meet in two weeks. On the schedule: 50, 100, 200 free, 100 ***, 100 fly, 100 back, 200 back, and 200 IM. I'll be back with a vengeance. Oh yes. :)

Its probably a combination of the faact that the freestyle events were shortly after another event and your body is not used to the fast turnaround of fast swimming (well that's what I put my slow 200 free down to in Feb) and that you are starting to plateau on your freestyle improvement, so will not see a time drop at every competition. Last summer just getting back into swimming I swam a 1.04 high on 100 yd free and almost dropped dead at the end of it. In Feb I swam a 1.04 low, soon after a 50 fly, leapt out of the pool and had to get into gear for the 500 free. So while I was disappointed I hadn't swum faster (I wanted to go 1.02x) I was also pleased how much better and fitter I felt. :blah: What was I saying? Oh yes....you are likely a faster swimmer than you were a few months back, just not under those particular circumstances.