So, I'm going to Nationals this summer. It will be my first meet... ever. I know I'm a really slow swimmer (part of that comes from being 5'2") and will likely be the slowest one in my events.
But I still want to do it!:D
I'm swimming 50 ***, 100 ***, and 50 free. I had to take 2mo off this spring because our van broke and it took us a while to get it fixed, so I wasn't able to swim from mid-March to mid-May. I'm back in the water now and am building up my training to swimming 5 days a week (in another week our Masters group will be meeting 5:30-7a M-F). Right now we're swimming short course still but when we switch our schedule, we'll be switching pools and swimming long course.
I had to time myself last week so I'd have my seed times for registration. In the past week I've already taken 6sec off my 50 *** - which, I think, is pretty good progress.
I'm not expecting to win my heats or get any awesome times at Nationals, but I'm super excited to be going and am anxious to see how much I've improved my own times.
Has anyone else been the slowest swimmer out there before? Any tips on staying positive? :blush:
I'm often last in swim meets, except at Senior Games, where I manage to finish ahead of people in their 80s/90s (I'm 61). I know a woman in her 70s who is so fast, I can't even be in her heats, let alone catch her.
Sometimes I can hit goals that are good for me, but even so are not going to send sponsors knocking at my door (unless they come to persuade me to wear their competitors' brand of swimsuits lol!).
Even so, I find for the most part a very encouraging, positive environment.
A shame about that guy who made the nasty comment to Aztimm--what a jerk! Haven't had that experience in a swim meet, although once, in a mile run (part of a bunch of events from the mile to the 20k, this race festival hasn't been held in years, yet I still remember the incident), I placed in my age group of ... oh, maybe 3? The way it worked was that if you saw you'd placed, you'd go to the award table and they'd give you your medal.
That was the theory anyway. When I arrived at the table, a man asked me what my time was--I did about 7:30. "Well, it's not a 4:30," he sniffed. And a woman chimed in, "Anyway, we're short on awards so we're saving them for the younger people"--now her remark would have come across as reasonable had it not been paired with the man's. But the two of them together succeeded in making me feel I was out of bounds even thinking of asking for an award even though the race flyer had advertised awards in both children's and adults' age groups.
If it had been some random runner who'd made these comments, I might have considered returning to the race. You get weirdness from time to time when crowds gather for something. But I felt so miffed at the attitude of these officials, I vowed not to return to this race.
Since then, I won't say I developed a thick skin, but I do think that my goals matter more than some stranger's insensitivity, and if someone feels the need to belittle me or my performances, their opinion of me falls in importance. Honest, constructive critiques, yes--gratuitous putdowns... I don't have the time or desire to carry that person's demons in my head. They can do their own heavy lifting! :)
I'm often last in swim meets, except at Senior Games, where I manage to finish ahead of people in their 80s/90s (I'm 61). I know a woman in her 70s who is so fast, I can't even be in her heats, let alone catch her.
Sometimes I can hit goals that are good for me, but even so are not going to send sponsors knocking at my door (unless they come to persuade me to wear their competitors' brand of swimsuits lol!).
Even so, I find for the most part a very encouraging, positive environment.
A shame about that guy who made the nasty comment to Aztimm--what a jerk! Haven't had that experience in a swim meet, although once, in a mile run (part of a bunch of events from the mile to the 20k, this race festival hasn't been held in years, yet I still remember the incident), I placed in my age group of ... oh, maybe 3? The way it worked was that if you saw you'd placed, you'd go to the award table and they'd give you your medal.
That was the theory anyway. When I arrived at the table, a man asked me what my time was--I did about 7:30. "Well, it's not a 4:30," he sniffed. And a woman chimed in, "Anyway, we're short on awards so we're saving them for the younger people"--now her remark would have come across as reasonable had it not been paired with the man's. But the two of them together succeeded in making me feel I was out of bounds even thinking of asking for an award even though the race flyer had advertised awards in both children's and adults' age groups.
If it had been some random runner who'd made these comments, I might have considered returning to the race. You get weirdness from time to time when crowds gather for something. But I felt so miffed at the attitude of these officials, I vowed not to return to this race.
Since then, I won't say I developed a thick skin, but I do think that my goals matter more than some stranger's insensitivity, and if someone feels the need to belittle me or my performances, their opinion of me falls in importance. Honest, constructive critiques, yes--gratuitous putdowns... I don't have the time or desire to carry that person's demons in my head. They can do their own heavy lifting! :)
