Just back from my first ever swim meet. Swam the 50y & 200y free. The best I ever did in training for 50y was 54 sec., today 51.91. I swam the 200 at my everyday pace not wanting to stress myself, 4:27.43. I've never done a 200 even in practice except on the way to 500 or 1000. I was happy with that and was probably even first in my AG since I saw no other 65-69 in that event. Also met a couple other first timers there, one of whom had only learned to swim a year ago.
It was also the first time I ever got the chance to dive off a starting block. None of the facilities I go to will allow it, so I just did a few practice dives but dove in from the deck in the races.
I'll be 69 next Sunday, so I want to do the epostal hour swim for the occasion. Next pool meet is Mar 5 in Southern Saratoga County. Waiting to hear from ssumargo next.
Well done, everyone! Sumorunner--you're about in my range speedwise, although your 50s are faster than mine. Hopefully we'll meet in a meet! :)
Nichollsvi.... if you're doing 200 fly and 200 IM, you're braver than I am! My longest fly event was 50 and I was really, really SLOW... like "are we there yet??"
I usually only do other strokes in meets if there's a 25 distance, so as to try them out without holding up the proceedings for too long--more just as practice.
I only wish swim meets were as frequent as road races. I enjoy those I can attend, although not as many as I'd like. Fortunately, my masters coach will sometimes have Thursday night relays, and creates mixed teams by speed, so that faster and slower swimmers work together. Lots of fun! Sometimes he even invites winners to pick from a box of prizes. He'll do things like pair people up and have one person kick and the other pull, or have a couple medley relays and in the second require us to do different strokes than in the first. Kind of helps wean us freestyle addicts away from our comfort zones. It's a light-hearted kind of break from the more serious part of the practice, yet still instructive.
Well done, everyone! Sumorunner--you're about in my range speedwise, although your 50s are faster than mine. Hopefully we'll meet in a meet! :)
Nichollsvi.... if you're doing 200 fly and 200 IM, you're braver than I am! My longest fly event was 50 and I was really, really SLOW... like "are we there yet??"
I usually only do other strokes in meets if there's a 25 distance, so as to try them out without holding up the proceedings for too long--more just as practice.
I only wish swim meets were as frequent as road races. I enjoy those I can attend, although not as many as I'd like. Fortunately, my masters coach will sometimes have Thursday night relays, and creates mixed teams by speed, so that faster and slower swimmers work together. Lots of fun! Sometimes he even invites winners to pick from a box of prizes. He'll do things like pair people up and have one person kick and the other pull, or have a couple medley relays and in the second require us to do different strokes than in the first. Kind of helps wean us freestyle addicts away from our comfort zones. It's a light-hearted kind of break from the more serious part of the practice, yet still instructive.
