Hey everybody, I'm new here, and relatively new to swimming as well (just joined a swim club/team this year, and I just turned 21). My first meet's coming up this weekend, and I'm excited/nervous for it, but my main question is regarding entry times for the meet...
Here's what I signed up with:
100 free - 1:20
50 free - :40
50 *** - :44
I didn't realize that the meet's going to be in a meter pool, instead of the yard pool that I'm used to. The times were mostly estimates, and I tried it out a few days ago just to double check, and I got :36 for the 50 free, and :40 for the 50 ***, which should be fine in the meter pool, I think, but my 100 free was exactly 1:20 when I tried it in the yard pool, which comes out to be more like 1:30 in a meter pool (according to an online conversion thing)...
So I'm just wondering - should I be really worried about that 100 free time? What should I do? I don't really know much about how meets work, but I don't want to be that one rude person ruining the heat for everybody else somehow. I feel like I'm gonna embarrass myself somehow, lol.
Sorry if this has been answered before, I tried to find an answer with the search feature, but I didn't see anything really relevant.
...Here's what I signed up with:
100 free - 1:20
50 free - :40
50 *** - :44
I didn't realize that the meet's going to be in a meter pool, instead of the yard pool that I'm used to. ...
I don't want to be that one rude person ruining the heat for everybody else somehow. I feel like I'm gonna embarrass myself somehow, lol.
Those estimates will be just fine. They are at least in the right ballpark. I've seen some really ridiculous mis-matches between entry time and final time. Don't worry about embarrassing yourself. People will be worrying about their own swims, not yours. Most importantly, do not change your race strategy because you find yourself in a heat of faster (or slower) swimmers than you expected. You can have a really horrible race trying to swim someone else's race. This is especially true on the 100. The 50s may be pretty much full blast the entire way, but for the 100 there is some pacing/energy-management/strategy and you can really kill your race trying to match pace with much faster (or slower) swimmers on the first length. Swim your own race.
Just the fact that you have thought this carefully about your times and done some practice tests suggests that you are mentally ready for your first meet. Have fun!
...Here's what I signed up with:
100 free - 1:20
50 free - :40
50 *** - :44
I didn't realize that the meet's going to be in a meter pool, instead of the yard pool that I'm used to. ...
I don't want to be that one rude person ruining the heat for everybody else somehow. I feel like I'm gonna embarrass myself somehow, lol.
Those estimates will be just fine. They are at least in the right ballpark. I've seen some really ridiculous mis-matches between entry time and final time. Don't worry about embarrassing yourself. People will be worrying about their own swims, not yours. Most importantly, do not change your race strategy because you find yourself in a heat of faster (or slower) swimmers than you expected. You can have a really horrible race trying to swim someone else's race. This is especially true on the 100. The 50s may be pretty much full blast the entire way, but for the 100 there is some pacing/energy-management/strategy and you can really kill your race trying to match pace with much faster (or slower) swimmers on the first length. Swim your own race.
Just the fact that you have thought this carefully about your times and done some practice tests suggests that you are mentally ready for your first meet. Have fun!
