I am new to swimming just started swimming seriously last year (I'm 33). I have never competed. I decided to join USMS and try a meet this year just to give myself something to work towards. I find the rules a bit overwhelming and I'm not fast at all. I just got my front crawl lap under 1 minute. I practice 1 hour 3 times per week. I have taken a few classes including a TI based class which really helped me.
My question is, at my age and with my experience how should I prepare to go to my first meet? Not just skill wise but to learn the rules and not make a total fool out of myself. :) Also, how friendly are the local or regional meets? Will my team be upset if I come in last? How competitive is it really?
Thank you!
Former Member
Concur with all the inspirational stuff. People who wax poetic on the fun/spiritual side of competition sound like a bunch of loons, until you jump in an do it yourself. It's like trying to talk about snorkling to someone who is not into it. Unless you are a natural poet, you sound like a stoned surfer, but once you do it, you understand.
A couple of practical suggestions:
- The key to good turns is not necessarily a flip turn. It's getting in and out of the wall quickly, and pushing off into a nice, tight streamline. A good open turn beats a bad flip turn every time.
- Pacing, swim the first half of that first race s.l..o...w....e.....r than you think you need to. That adrenline rush in your first race will get you going far faster than you are used to, and probably far faster than you can sustain. Remember, no one, not even Michael Phelps, Natalie Coughlin or Ian Thorpe can finish a 100 meter race in the first 60 meters. Throttle back in the first half, then see what you have left.
Matt
Matt,
I didn't know we were so poetic. :D Seriously, point well taken. It's like taking someone to a swim meet who wouldn't know what to look for ... they think they'd be looking at grass grow ... maybe so if they're watching me. ;)
Mark
