Unsolicited Racing While Training (Page 2)

Boy I guess I am really different.  I love others to race, copy, or even ask me questions.  As a swimmer, swim coach, swim instructor all my life, I love it when people want to know.

If I really want to get rid of someone, butterfly is my stroke of choice.  A six foot arm span and rough water keeps everyone away from my immediate area.

At 5:00 AM almost all the other lap swimmers are as into their own swimming as I am. There were epic threads on this and "the other tri board" about denizens of the pool. The racer who waits until you're 3000 yards into your sets and then sprints to beat you in 25 yard intervals was one of the more ignorable ones listed

This for sure. I had a friend doing this last night, once I figured out it was happening, I'd just recognize when she was going to race me and then I'd push the pace. It actually made swimming the 800 much more entertaining, cause every 75 yards or so I'd get to have a lap where I really wanted to get to the end fast.

And, I'll admit, I do the same thing sometimes to random people. If I notice we've started at the same time... I'm going to push to beat them to the end. It hardly ever happens (I'm slow as molasses) but it's still fun to try.

Happens nearly every time I swim, and I hate it. Probably speaks to a lack of self control; but I can’t NOT sprint to race them once I notice someone pacing me/waiting at the wall to push off at the same time. I should have been mad at myself for letting it get to me.

From about January to June this year I was training for the Bay Bridge Swim, a 4.4mi OWS here in the Chesapeake. I swam 3.5 miles twice a week, and 4.5 miles on weekends. When I was like 2 miles in, and someone wanted to “race for” 25 yds at a time; I would get very very angry about having to sprint to break up the way they had synched up at the wall and were swimming side by side w/ me. I was tired, and bored and in no mood to put on a sprint; but couldn’t let it go. Again I should have let it go, and I never said anything. It bothered me, “whippy F’in skippy; you can sprint for 25 yd to keep up w/ a pace I’ve been maintaining for an hour or more. There are better/faster people than me in this pool; go away and bother them.”

In the end it REALLY helped to be able to bust out a sprint in the middle of a LONG endurance thing. In the open water, towards then end when you’re the most tired AND the tide kicked in all of a sudden, you need to bust out that sprint to stay on course. Mentally I appreciate it, and know that it shouldn’t bother me. But when it happens, I’m always pissed. And w/ the better/faster people out there, I NEVER thought of it as a compliment. I actually kind of thought of it as an insult, like they thought of me as an easy target to beat. After all, they didn't know I had already been there an hour.

Happens all the time at my pool. If I'm the fastest one, others will race me. If I'm not the fastest, then I'll pick it up to hang with the fastie. I'm not a fast/efficient swimmer, and there are ppl that can haul arse in there. It makes me really work to keep up with them.

I'm not a "kicking and flailing" type of person, though. I like to think, at the very least, that I've got decent form.

Edited by tri_d00d 2010-08-03 12:26 PM

I'm with Jorge...it's good practice for the real thing when 100 other people will be flailing and splashing and kicking you in the face...