Tomorrow morning is my very first swim meet. I'm very nervous but it was time for me to finally see what I could do in competition versus practice. There are so many things that can go wrong like forgetting to exhale well under water, running out of steam during my 100 free, forgetting stoke mechanics, diving too deep, etc. I don't care how i do compared to others, I'm competing with myself. I always imagined my race times would be faster than my practice times and I know i will be very disappointed if that's not the case. Any words of advice on how to mentally approach this wold be greatly appreciated. Like you wet the bed in your first meet but it got better in subsequent meets:D.
One other question; how do I control the depth of my dive on entry. I rarely every get to practice dives because our pool doesn't allow dives off the blocks unless with the team/coach. So I can only practice it off the pool edge (my masters team doesn't do much start practice). Should I arch my back on head and trunk entry or angle my hands up? If I dive too deep (I hardly have a superb dolphin kick to compensate), I'm toast. It's pretty much hit or miss with me now.
Thanks.
Former Member
Here are some dryland moves you could incorporate to improve your stroke.Bobby Freeman - C'Mon And Swim (1964) - YouTube
If you look closely you will see he does not have his fingers forced tightly together. I think they were doing an S-pull, you trying to confuse me George?:). That was pretty funny, I'll try it!
I realized that my 200 IM was posted to Youtube as my 50 fly, so I've reposted my IM.
Zones 200 IM - YouTube
Re: your BR-I don't know how short of breath you were ,but you are very short on the pullout.Assuming you have the breath for it you could go much farther before the pull down and then before the kick recovery.Give it a try in workout to pushoff,count to 3,pulldown,count to 2 and kick.Also there is a big problem with your right foot in your kick.You are leading with the top of the foot instead of the instep and that is actually something that can get you DQd.Interestingly the left foot is OK.That is something you really need to work on.Good luck.
