Newbie - afraid of signing up for Provincial Masters Meet.

Former Member
Former Member
Hello. First post. I'm Canadian (British Columbia), and I haven't found a forum like this for Canada. This looks like a wonderful place - friendly, intelligent people - a great resource. So.....I was a runner for 40+ years. Then it became a struggle in my mid 50s. (I'll be 57 next month.) Osteoarthritis in both knees put an end to it. When I got this diagnosis, I moped for a while, and then, on February 21st, 2019, it suddenly occurred to me that Swimming is my new sport. I bought a few books, and went to the pool most days since SRD. (Swimming Realization Day.) I absolutely love the feeling of swimming. It's my new drug. I hope I can have 40+ years of it. :) But in these early days I cannot claim to be very good at it. I'm improving rapidly, and that in itself is thrilling. The books are very helpful, and I'm making adjustments/improvements in form. I care only about Freestyle. At the time of this post, my very modest PRs in a 25m pool (without diving in) are: 25m-19sec 50m-42sec 100m-1min32sec 200m-3min26sec 400m-7min19sec 800m-14min53sec 1600m-31min19sec I think by the time mid-April rolls around, I can be under 7min 400m. 400m seems to be my favourite event at this early stage. It just so happens that our Provincial Masters Meet is in mid-April. In running, I lived for meets. Those events organized my running. I'd love to do the same in swimming.....but I am so new at this. I'm terrified about signing up for this meet in mid-Apr. Do I belong there with a 7min 400m? I've looked at old results, and I'm in awe of the times recorded. I understand that as a 7min 400m person, I would be in a heat with other people around my time, no matter the age/sex. That's a wonderful thing. But I'm still mortified. It's a new sport. I'm very new at it. I'm not even sure what I'm asking in this post. Perhaps some of you will describe similar situations in your journey? Maybe you can talk me into signing up and losing my inhibitions? I'd hate to wimp out of this, then read results afterwards and cringe, while shouting "I would have loved this".
Parents
  • I did something similar at 67, now 71, but I'm a whole lot slower, like 50 sec. for 50 yds. I did about 500 road and track races over 40+ years, including shot put for 25 years. Then arthritis got to my spine and now I mostly walk. I had been a casual swimmer and lifeguard back in the 1960s. So I returned to swimming 2 or 3 days a week. I've done 9 swim events from 50 yards to 1 mile open water and a couple short triathlons. I didn't get such a big thrill out of the pool meets. It's mostly just sitting around bored. But was crazy for the mile open water swim in Lake Placid NY, the Olympic City. That had the same feel as a road race.
Reply
  • I did something similar at 67, now 71, but I'm a whole lot slower, like 50 sec. for 50 yds. I did about 500 road and track races over 40+ years, including shot put for 25 years. Then arthritis got to my spine and now I mostly walk. I had been a casual swimmer and lifeguard back in the 1960s. So I returned to swimming 2 or 3 days a week. I've done 9 swim events from 50 yards to 1 mile open water and a couple short triathlons. I didn't get such a big thrill out of the pool meets. It's mostly just sitting around bored. But was crazy for the mile open water swim in Lake Placid NY, the Olympic City. That had the same feel as a road race.
Children
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