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
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Originally posted by SWinkleblech
I find that I can swim 5 to 10 seconds per 100 yds. faster at a meet then in practice. Of course the pool I work out at is the worst pool to swim. I don't know if it is the pool or just the adrenelan (sorry can't spell) kicking in. What I am getting at is that you might be O.K. giving the faster times because you might just swim those times at a meet.
This often happens for experienced competitive swimmers, but I doubt that it happens very frequently for rookies (unless they've just never tried to see how fast they can swim until they get to a meet). It takes time to get used to the mechanics of racing, and it's unlikely that you'll turn in best times while you're doing that.
I remember a world class swimmer once commenting that he had known guys in college who could turn in great times in practice, but couldn't duplicate those times in competition, and noting that they were almost invariably guys who hadn't been on a high school swim team. I think there's a real advantage to learning to race in an environment where you've got one or two meets per week, where you know that you're not going to be at top of form every day and learn how to make the best of what you've got each day, and where you know that if you muff something, you'll have another shot at it in a few days.
If you're a newcomer to racing, I think it's best to take the attitude that you're only racing against yourself. At your first meet, you're guaranteed to win every event, because the worst you can do is get DQed, and even that is better than you've ever done before!
Originally posted by SWinkleblech
I find that I can swim 5 to 10 seconds per 100 yds. faster at a meet then in practice. Of course the pool I work out at is the worst pool to swim. I don't know if it is the pool or just the adrenelan (sorry can't spell) kicking in. What I am getting at is that you might be O.K. giving the faster times because you might just swim those times at a meet.
This often happens for experienced competitive swimmers, but I doubt that it happens very frequently for rookies (unless they've just never tried to see how fast they can swim until they get to a meet). It takes time to get used to the mechanics of racing, and it's unlikely that you'll turn in best times while you're doing that.
I remember a world class swimmer once commenting that he had known guys in college who could turn in great times in practice, but couldn't duplicate those times in competition, and noting that they were almost invariably guys who hadn't been on a high school swim team. I think there's a real advantage to learning to race in an environment where you've got one or two meets per week, where you know that you're not going to be at top of form every day and learn how to make the best of what you've got each day, and where you know that if you muff something, you'll have another shot at it in a few days.
If you're a newcomer to racing, I think it's best to take the attitude that you're only racing against yourself. At your first meet, you're guaranteed to win every event, because the worst you can do is get DQed, and even that is better than you've ever done before!
