Choosing your first meet.

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!

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!