Hi everyone,
Well the title above is kind of the gist of what this post will be about. I am starting my fourth season as master swimmer and am a bit sad about my attitude and feelings towards swimming competitions. I get very nervous before competitions. Vomiting or gagging frequently accompany me on days where I have competitions. I have been doing competitions now for the past two years and unfortunatly I don't feel as if it is getting any better. I understand that some nervouseness is normal, and in fact functional, but my anxiety feels like it is far from it. It is struggle to actually go to the competition and by the time I get there, I already feel mentally tired. I swim, but I don't feel like I can really give my all.
I have tried getting myself to enjoy competitions but lately I have started playing with the idea that maybe these competitions are simply not worth it for me. And that is fine.
Can anyone relate?
QuitarQueen
After 4 years (I'm assuming years/seasons are the same?), it certainly sounds like you've given it a fair try. Perhaps you should sit out some meets? Or if you swim with a team, just go and support others on your team, perhaps swim in a relay (or 2), and see how that goes?
I had a bad experience at a meet a long time ago that I'll never forget. I didn't swim in any meets for about 7-8 years after it. I took off a few weeks from swimming entirely. But I got back in the water--and I tried a few open water swims. Those seemed (and still do seem) a bit different--there are no blocks, it is generally a mass start (or sometimes a few seconds staggered), and there aren't tons of spectators who could potentially be watching you. If it is a looped course, most people probably wouldn't even know the difference if you dropped out early (you can discreetly let the course director or someone know).
I still do meets every now and then, and have mostly gotten over what happened to me. Heck this year I swam at 2 meets, one was the spring USMS nationals. I hit some really great times, and 2 out of 3 were PR's, since I had never swum those events in meets before!
After 4 years (I'm assuming years/seasons are the same?), it certainly sounds like you've given it a fair try. Perhaps you should sit out some meets? Or if you swim with a team, just go and support others on your team, perhaps swim in a relay (or 2), and see how that goes?
I had a bad experience at a meet a long time ago that I'll never forget. I didn't swim in any meets for about 7-8 years after it. I took off a few weeks from swimming entirely. But I got back in the water--and I tried a few open water swims. Those seemed (and still do seem) a bit different--there are no blocks, it is generally a mass start (or sometimes a few seconds staggered), and there aren't tons of spectators who could potentially be watching you. If it is a looped course, most people probably wouldn't even know the difference if you dropped out early (you can discreetly let the course director or someone know).
I still do meets every now and then, and have mostly gotten over what happened to me. Heck this year I swam at 2 meets, one was the spring USMS nationals. I hit some really great times, and 2 out of 3 were PR's, since I had never swum those events in meets before!
