On February 20, I'm hoping to go to my first swim meet......ever! :eek: I swam on the team when I was younger, but I never competed. I'm incredibly nervous already and I have no idea what to expect because I have never been to a meet before. I swam with my friend who is a coach, and I have what seems like a lot of work to do on my strokes. How realistic is it that I be ready by February? Obviously I won't be at the top of the field, but I'm hoping to at least not make a fool out of myself. But what I really want to know is what to expect. How do I train, and how do I taper? When do I start tapering? Do I even need to taper? Any good pre-meet workout ideas? Any thing that anyone can suggest would be helpful!!! Thanx a bunch!!
~Kyra
Katherine may be in the minority, but not a great one. At a recent High School meet I would estimate that over 50% of the girls and over a third of the boys did gutter grab starts. This was a 7 team invitational, with the top 2 boys going around 55 seconds in the 100 back, so these were some fairly decent swimmers. Also at a couple of recent college meets, I recall some of the ladies and a few men starting out of the gutter.
With the current rules requiring toes under the water it is very difficult to launch out and over the water if you are holding onto the starting block grips, unless you are a larger than average size person. And even the big folks run the increased risk of foot slippage as they try to elevate their tail out of the water.
Katherine may be in the minority, but not a great one. At a recent High School meet I would estimate that over 50% of the girls and over a third of the boys did gutter grab starts. This was a 7 team invitational, with the top 2 boys going around 55 seconds in the 100 back, so these were some fairly decent swimmers. Also at a couple of recent college meets, I recall some of the ladies and a few men starting out of the gutter.
With the current rules requiring toes under the water it is very difficult to launch out and over the water if you are holding onto the starting block grips, unless you are a larger than average size person. And even the big folks run the increased risk of foot slippage as they try to elevate their tail out of the water.
