I am thinking of participating a swim meet, just to experience it once in my life. I had a lot of reservations about signing up for a meet. But after reading some of the threads in the forums, my fears have subsided.
1. I can't do flip turns very well. It seems I can do open turns instead.
2. I fear my goggles will pop off during my dive. Looks like I can start in the water which I am more comfortable with anyways.
But there are a few things that I'm still wondering about.
1. I'm pretty slow. I've read somewhere that most meets have a "slow heat"? What does that mean really? So you could have multiple people being #1 for the same age group? And how can you tell if a meet has several heats?
2. Why is it when I view some of the past event results, some events have rankings for the top 3 swimmers and some have only 1? I am attaching a screenshot of what I am talking about. Does that mean there was only 1 person swimming in that event?
3. How does one finish off for freestyle? Do you have to press a buzzer?
I actually did a back to back 50 and 500--I can't remember now which one came first, but I think it was the 500, which allowed me to warm up for the 50. I wasn't fast in either, but I didn't die. :)
I did a back-to-back 1500 LCM then maybe 5 min rest (at the most) before I swam the 100m. I didn't think I'd be in the fastest heat of the 1500, and expected 20+ min rest. But most of the fast people who were doing both either sandbagged or did NT.
I think that I did PB's in both events. Had a really good race for the 100.
As for a newbie doing meets... I'd see if the meet was offered in the past, or a similar meet nearby, and check through the results. If you're really concerned at being out of synch, you could always contact the meet organizer, or someone else who may be doing it.
I was once seeded in a 200 SCM free with 2 Olympians who both entered NT. I didn't show up for the meet at all (one or both were in all of my other events too). But I heard that they lapped everyone in that heat, and some twice.
If this helps, I didn't learn to really swim at all until about 5 years ago. I learned to do 100 and 200 fly (slow but still legal) and am going to try all 5 200 strokes in a month, and the 500 free the next day.
Crazy? Yeah. You have 3 choices in life: give up, give in, or give it all you got. I can look at my self for failing. I just can't look at myself and say I didn't try to be more than I thought I could be.
I felt that way over the first 100 fly. The same way on the 400 IM ... and then doing a 400 IM followed by the 50 back (I didn't get out of the pool) and the same for the 200 fly and 50 back. I will have those memories forever.
I'd rather be at the top of a hill, puking, in pain, on top of the world, rather than at the bottom wondering what it felt like to be on top. It all depends on attitude.
Besides, if you ask, I've always had people willing to give hints, tips, comments. That advice has been helpful. Worth the price of a meet.
I actually did a back to back 50 and 500--I can't remember now which one came first, but I think it was the 500, which allowed me to warm up for the 50. I wasn't fast in either, but I didn't die. :)
In 2013 I swam the 200, 400 and 800 long course free relays back-to-back-to-back. They don't offer those events often, so a few of us wanted to swim them all. If I recall correctly I swam anchor on the 400, then had to get right up on the blocks and lead off the 800. That was fun. :)
He's an excerpt from my blog at the time:
After that there was a short break and then we swam three relays in a row, in consecutive heats. I anchored the 200 free relay and the 400 free relay, but then had to lead-off the 800 free relay. At least there was a team 100 meters back in the 400, so I did have a solid two minutes rest before I had to do a 200! I'm somewhat amazed I was able to split a 2:16 in the 200. There was a guy two lanes over who was right with me, and I think that helped. I told myself before these relays I was just going to cruise, but somehow when the race happens the adrenaline kicks in.
This kind of thing is fun for the novelty once in a while, but not the best strategy if you are actually trying to swim as fast as possible!
I've been reviewing past event results and I see there are some events where there is only 1 swimmer. Do they still continue the event even if it's 1 swimmer? I feel so embarrassed about ending up in an event by myself while everybody else is waiting for me to just finish this lonely event so they can watch something more exciting.
I've been reviewing past event results and I see there are some events where there is only 1 swimmer. Do they still continue the event even if it's 1 swimmer? I feel so embarrassed about ending up in an event by myself while everybody else is waiting for me to just finish this lonely event so they can watch something more exciting.
It would be a very small meet to have only one swimmer in an event. Much more likely is that there was only one person of that age group and gender in the event. Most local meets are seeded by time only, so that if there are few people your age there, there will still be several people in an event. I doubt many people go to Masters meets to "watch something exciting." Sure there can be exciting races and that is fun to watch,but most want to swim well, be with friends, meet new people, encourage newcomers, etc.
It would be a very small meet to have only one swimmer in an event. Much more likely is that there was only one person of that age group and gender in the event. Most local meets are seeded by time only, so that if there are few people your age there, there will still be several people in an event. I doubt many people go to Masters meets to "watch something exciting." Sure there can be exciting races and that is fun to watch,but most want to swim well, be with friends, meet new people, encourage newcomers, etc.
Well, I know how the persons feels, the last meet I did was in 2004. I'm doing a senior olympics event in Tucson, the 50 and 100 yard breaststrokes. No dolphin kick, just the old pull and kick from the turns.
Can I quote you to my Coach? He thinks I"m loony for doing a 400 IM and a 50 back or 200 fly and 50 back right after.
I do those crazy combos in every local meet! In many cases, I swim the 200 fly AFTER a sprint event. Who cares what anybody else thinks?
