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?
Former Member
I've gotten less nervous with each meet. I find that it's helpful to have a scapegoat to blame for whatever slate of events I've entered (of my own free will). I use James for that. :bolt:
It is amazing how destructive that little voice in the back of your head can be.I don't think I have ever gotten ready for a meet without at some point feeling that I'd embarrass myself or "let everyone down." I know that is ridiculous, but it happens none the less.Sometimes you just have to tell that part of your mind to "shut up."
Yeah, tell it to "shut up", because you are THE King Frog and always will be! :cheerleader:
I think I have fairly normal amounts of anxiety pre swim. It's a lot worse for me before a run or a triathlon (with running the worst of the three). I've raced enough in the pool that it's a very safe, comfy space.
I swim at a college pool and most often have a lane to myself, and I dislike warmup with so many people. I get anxious and nervous around lots of people, but that's unrelated to swimming...
If I start to get super nervous I just remind myself that unless you're Lance, no one actually cares what your time is :-)
It is amazing how destructive that little voice in the back of your head can be.I don't think I have ever gotten ready for a meet without at some point feeling that I'd embarrass myself or "let everyone down." I know that is ridiculous, but it happens none the less.Sometimes you just have to tell that part of your mind to "shut up."
I get extremely nervous and sick to my stomach especially before my first event of the meet. The trick is to convert it into energy and not let it exhaust you. I do care how I place but I more care about PB's. In my mind, failure to drop time means I'm getting old!
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:
