Choosing your first meet.

I have no competitive swimming background experience. I'm a self-taught swimmer and joined Masters about a year ago. My kids' coach was also kind enough to let me swim with the age group team in the intermediates practice over the summer. I decided last spring to do summer Nationals in Omaha. It was such a cool opportunity to be able to swim in the Olympic Trials pool and I didn't want to pass it up! It was my first meet ever. I went into it knowing that I would be last in my races and was in it more for the experience than anything else. I would have loved to have a couple 'warm up meets' before hand, but there just aren't many (if any...) local meets for me to go to. As far as how I swam in Omaha, it was a terrible meet. But it was awesome to be allowed to come and swim there anyway and I'm glad I took advantage of the opportunity. A couple weeks after Nationals, I had my second meet. It was a local (the only that I know of) meet and was WAY fun. I'm SO glad I did it! I entered 4 events but ended up swimming 7 (was asked to join 3 relay teams) and had a blast meeting swimmers from all over our state (though none of the swimmers from my Masters group were there). I do hope to find more meets to participate in this year. As far as how to prepare for that first meet - just do what you can. Work out with your Masters group, ask your coach to help you fine tune your stroke. Get out there and do your best, but make sure your goals are reasonable! And, most importantly, HAVE FUN! :D

Any thoughts? From my perspective, former swimmer, back for about a month, I'd REALLY like to swim a few meets. How did you choose? When were you ready? How did you choose events? How did it go? Also, maybe some commentary on those who have no competitive swimming background. How did you prepare? Just pick any meet, preferably a local one (local for me is 3 hours or less away) :) Depending on your age and how long you've been away from swimming can also dictate what you choose to swim. Pick 3 events, or maybe a full series of 5. Start out easy, like all the 50s, or challenge yourself with 200s. It's really up to you. No one will laugh at you for "doing poorly". Masters swimming is different to everyone. We all have our own top speeds, and as long as we're happy, we keep doing it. No big deal. I remember my first days back in the water after years out of the pool. Fly was a new concept to me all over again. It's amazing how you lose those swimmer muscles, but they come back quickly. It's trying to lose the :chug: & :bed: on the couch stuff that sets you back. Good luck.

My first meet was also a first swimming competition. It was with almost 2 yrs experience knowing how to swim, but I was swimming almost continuous leading up to the meet. I just did the events I knew how to do and was able to accomplish with dignity (50, 100, and 200 frees). I registered them as NT (no time) which seeded me in early heats with swimmers of a wide variety of times and age. For now on with new events however, I just conservatively guess the time if allowed to do so. Building up to my first event of this meet I developed severe anxiety. My heart was pounding and I started getting dizzy. While on the block I thought I was about to fall off, then the starting horn beeped, and I was still standing there for a moment looking at the official before I blasted off (for a personal best time of course:D). My wife and kids were watching and filmed it for a laugh. I realized the anxiety was all for nothing but for some reason I always get butterflys leading up to the first heat. I just deal with them visually to keep them controlled. Just go out and do the swims you know you can and you will keep coming back for more.

Do you have "developmental" meets in your area? Georgia Masters has these meets that do not count for rankings, but they are a great way to get the bugs out (or butterflies!) in a low-key environment. To be honest, though, this is not the way I started. My first meet back after 31 years (I only swam in high school) was a large meet in Atlanta with a lot of great swimmers tuning up for Nationals, the following month. My second meet was 2010 Spring Nationals, at Georgia Tech, with nearly 2,000 swimmers. I was seeded near the bottom of my group in my events and I was a bundle of nerves. But, it was an awesome experience! At both meets, everybody I met was so supportive and encouraging! Just let people know it's your first meet and they will kill you with kindness. That would be my one bit of advice. Go into it with the primary goal of having fun and meeting people. Be friendly and it will come back twofold, because Masters swimmers are a terrific bunch of people! Good luck! :cheerleader:

After many years away I rained for a month prior to my first meet free and back events. Did well in 50's but lacked endurance and speed in 100's. Still, it was great to meet so many nice folks and my enthusiasm and commitment grew. Three months later I swam in the National Spring Chamiopnships and won 6 medals making top ten in 4.

When the carbon fiber on my bike began to delaminate, What type of bike was this? I had a Kestrel that did this. I bought it in 1990 and used it for little over a year then some bubba at a bike shop clamped it on a maintenance stand, down hill from there. I loved that bike:bitching: sorry for high-jacking your thread doc.

So, I have one question for you: Why only one meet each year? Hey Elaine! Lots more backstory where that came from but I'll save it for a later day... maybe in Feb at the Auburn meet. As for more meets, we probably would if there were more local ones. I think Murfreesboro is the closest yearly meet to us (about an hour away) and I've though about going to that one. I've got kids from age 1 to 14 so heading out for an entire weekend is going to be tough. I also coach U16 and U8 soccer which consumes half my weekends each year. We did go to Nationals when it was in Auburn last year and had a great time. Last week a visitor from Florida mentioned something about Pan Am Championships being in Sarasota next year. Roger perked up at that so... maybe. What type of bike was this?It was a 1991 Specialized Epic Allez. I put a lot of miles on that bike. Specialized was surprised that the problem existed and asked for the bike back. In return, they gave me a really good deal on a brand new aluminum frame which was actually lighter than the carbon fiber. I wish I could ride more. It used to be my lunchtime ritual but I don't work near the mountain I used to climb anymore. Weekends just aren't practical for riding much due to reasons cited in my reply to Elaine.

No worries! Thanks for all the thoughts. I think I just need to decide when and if I feel like racing. We have several local meets, so I'm a little spoiled in that regard. Choosing events will be the interesting bit- I'm a middle distance free gal by trade but the 50s and 100 IM sound more fun...

Also, maybe some commentary on those who have no competitive swimming background. How did you prepare? I'm sort of in between having a "competitive" background and not having one. I learned all the strokes swimming summers at a local pool in a city league. I was pretty bad at it and was out of swimming long before High School. I swam some in college to train for some small triathlons. My first meet was at least 25 years after I had last dove off of any blocks and about 20 since I had trained for anything swimming related. I never really meant to train for a swim meet. I had been getting back into cycling to help alleviate arthritis in my back. When the carbon fiber on my bike began to delaminate, I was stuck finding something else to do while waiting for a new bike. My wife got me a jammer and off I went to the pool. I figured I'd work up to swimming a mile a day and maybe enter some triathlons again when I got the bike situation fixed. So, training was hop in, 72 lenghts (1 mile), hop out. Eventually, that became 2 miles. Hop in, 144 lenghts, hop out. I'm not sure how I kept track of the lengths or how I coped with the daily repetitive routine. Lots of people do it and enjoy it... I was slowly getting bored and longed for the spring when I could get back on my bike. After a few months, I was forced to share a lane with a "masters" swimmer. One masters workout turned into two that turned into a week... and a month... and somewhere along the way, I was absorbed into a masters team. The team only does one meet a year (Auburn SCY Invitational) and they had just finished that meet before I started swimming with them. I had a year to get ready which was good because I had some serious things to work out like dives, flip turns, backstroke, fly and a lifetime of bad swimming habits. We did 3500-4000 yards a day of various interval training. I substituted a lot of stroke with free so I could keep up. I skipped a 25 or 50 here or there but kept pushing myself. We upped the yardage as the meet got closer and tapered about 12 days out. I had no clue what a taper was. I simply did what everyone else did and trusted that it would work out. So, the meet was coming up. Since the team only did one meet, there wasn't a real problem choosing which one. The biggest problem was choosing which events. Everyone on the team was swimming 10 events. So, I chose 10 events. I started with 50 Free, 50 Back, 50 ***, 50 Fly because I was knew I could at least finish. I was pretty sure I could do the 100 Free, 200 Free and 100 IM. Breaststroke was my strongest stroke so I picked up the 100 and 200 for that. Finally, I nervously checked off the 500 free. Roger helped me pick my seed times. They all turned out to be a little too aggressive so I ended up finishing near the back of my heats. No big deal really because I knew I wasn't competing directly against the swimmers in my heat. Race day finally comes and I'm pretty nervous. I also managed to contract a nasty cold. When I get there, everyone is (well... lots of people are) squeezing into full body rubberized suits. I'm putting on Speedo briefs and feeling pretty under-dressed. My first event is 100 IM. I'm in heat 16, lane 3 or heat 13, lane 6... or something like that. I keep checking the back of my hand where I wrote in sharpie where I'm supposed to be. Then, I bug the guy in line in front of me to make sure he is in the lane I'm supposed to be in and his heat is before mine. Next, I worry about whether or not my goggles will fall off and if I'll false start and if I'll mess up my back to *** turn and if I'll be able to beat my seed time and if I'm following the correct procedure for getting on the blocks. That carries on all the way through the start signal. Instantly, the nerves vanish, the adrenaline rushes and instincts take over. 70 seconds later, I touch the wall and I'm hooked. Whichever meet you pick, hope you have a lot of fun!

:Just read one of your blogs, You are already very speedy so perhaps my advice above isn't as relevant. Just take it in response to the "no competitive background" question.:)