I'm sure I'm not the only one who gets nervous about swimming in meets. Right? :blush:
I don't worry so much about how I will compare to the other swimmers. Luckily, I don't have to worry about that because I can't even come close to them. I know that I'm really only competing with myself. Do those of you who are top-notch swimmers get nervous about not winning? I just worry about not doing well. I worry about messing up and looking stupid. I worry that I will look like a fool and have to remind myself that Masters swimmers are wonderful, non-judgmental people. :D
The thing that sucks is that I work my butt off (and I know I've gotten better!), but I have a tendency to get bummed as the meet gets closer because I feel like I still have SO far to go. Maybe I'm just too hard on myself. I swam on Thursday and felt LESS ready than I did two weeks ago. I don't know if my nerves just affected my swimming or what... Anyway. I often end up feeling like 'Why am I doing this?' as a meet gets closer rather than 'Let's do this!'. Today I'm getting my gear ready to go and trying to just remind myself that I'm only competing against myself and I KNOW I've improved since my last competition (last summer) - and that's the whole point, right? :agree:
What do you all get nervous about before your meets?
Parents
Former Member
Thanks for the replies everyone! I feel a little more relaxed this evening. My gear is all ready to go and all of my 5 kids have somewhere to go or someone to look after them so we don't have to have any tag-alongs. :D
I'm looking forward to my 50 FR tomorrow - I feel like I'll get a 'real' time on it. My only other recorded SCY time is from last July and I totally flipped too early on my turn and almost didn't touch the wall. So I was left to continue from nearly a dead stop after the turn and came in just under 38 seconds. :doh: I've worked hard on my butterfly through the fall/winter season, so I'm hoping I improved on that as well. And, now that I've corrected my breaststroke kick, it will be interesting to see if my time goes up or down on that one.
I usually feel calm enough once I'm at the meet and it comes time to race - the more relaxed I am and the more fun I'm having, the better I swim. So, hopefully, this will be a laid back meet. :cool:
I'm really hoping this meet goes well and that I'll feel even better when I go to my next one in two weeks. I'm hoping to add a couple new events at that one - maybe a longer distance (400 or 800 - it's SCM) or an IM.
Good luck and have fun! You'll do great. :cheerleader:
Thanks for the replies everyone! I feel a little more relaxed this evening. My gear is all ready to go and all of my 5 kids have somewhere to go or someone to look after them so we don't have to have any tag-alongs. :D
I'm looking forward to my 50 FR tomorrow - I feel like I'll get a 'real' time on it. My only other recorded SCY time is from last July and I totally flipped too early on my turn and almost didn't touch the wall. So I was left to continue from nearly a dead stop after the turn and came in just under 38 seconds. :doh: I've worked hard on my butterfly through the fall/winter season, so I'm hoping I improved on that as well. And, now that I've corrected my breaststroke kick, it will be interesting to see if my time goes up or down on that one.
I usually feel calm enough once I'm at the meet and it comes time to race - the more relaxed I am and the more fun I'm having, the better I swim. So, hopefully, this will be a laid back meet. :cool:
I'm really hoping this meet goes well and that I'll feel even better when I go to my next one in two weeks. I'm hoping to add a couple new events at that one - maybe a longer distance (400 or 800 - it's SCM) or an IM.
Good luck and have fun! You'll do great. :cheerleader:
