I am fairly new to master's swimming and have been swimming consistently for about 9 months. I have been a competitive athlete all my life in various sports from mtn biking to volleyball in college. So far, I have done 8 swim meets and have had a perplexing situation arise on two occasions.
I get 50 yards/meters into an event and I feel completely unable to take a breath or exhale. It feels as if my throat is totally constricted to where I have trouble finishing the event.
This has happened when I was swimming the 50 fly and the 100 *** only. I have been able to swim the free and the back without issue and even the 50 ***. After I swim, I feel like I have a lump at the base of my throat.
It is so frustrating since I am doing well in the 100 ***, but it really has hampered my racing times. I have never had any issues racing mtn bikes at altitude and being anerobic.
Any thoughts or similar experiences? e
Parents
Former Member
Does it happen in only the first event that you swim in the meet? some of the people on my team were discussing this issue recently because I was feeling weirdness during my first event. We agreed that a lack of warmup was probably the cause. I was fine in subsequent events. I have adopted a more casual approach to swimming lately, and arrive later to meets which means I don't get a good warmup and wasn't able to do any sprints before my 1st race. I think they should have a 100 IM as the first event in all meets to give people a chance to do a sprint warmup.
Does it happen in only the first event that you swim in the meet? some of the people on my team were discussing this issue recently because I was feeling weirdness during my first event. We agreed that a lack of warmup was probably the cause. I was fine in subsequent events. I have adopted a more casual approach to swimming lately, and arrive later to meets which means I don't get a good warmup and wasn't able to do any sprints before my 1st race. I think they should have a 100 IM as the first event in all meets to give people a chance to do a sprint warmup.
