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
Parents
Former Member
Kyra,
A couple of thoughts:
1) You will probably feel a whole range of emotions the next week: excitement, abject terror, anticipation, butterflyes the size of bats, etc. etc. Enjoy the highs and realize they will not last. Try not to dwell on the lows; experience them and let them pass through your system. In the greater scheme of things, neither the highs or the lows a week out matter. The issue is not whether you are ready to swim today, Wednesday, or the evening before the meet. What matters is whether you are ready to swim when they call you to the blocks. The only hint you will get is, maybe, the last 30 minutes of warmup the day of the meet. Even then, you will still probably have bat-sized butterflyes. Trust me, they are gone within the first 10 yards of the race. Just try to relax, realize you will probably be nervous, but that it is normal, and remind yourself you are doing this to have fun.
2) Because this is your first meet, you are just now starting to learn what helps you do your best, what does not help, what parts of competition you like, and what you don't like. You're going to have great swims, lousy swims, and everything in between. It's all a learning experience, so try to savor the good parts, chalk up the rest as valuable insights, and move on. The scary thing, and the cool thing, about racing is that to do your best, you have to confront who you really are under pressure. There is no posing; there is no talking a good game; the stopwatch does not care. Whatever makes you go fast, no matter how embarassing your dirty little secret is (mine is the Miami Sound Machine to psych up), you have to find out what that is and accept it. That's both cool and scary.
Good luck, and please keep us informed how you do. We are all learning from the conversation that YOU have the courage to get started.
Matt
Kyra,
A couple of thoughts:
1) You will probably feel a whole range of emotions the next week: excitement, abject terror, anticipation, butterflyes the size of bats, etc. etc. Enjoy the highs and realize they will not last. Try not to dwell on the lows; experience them and let them pass through your system. In the greater scheme of things, neither the highs or the lows a week out matter. The issue is not whether you are ready to swim today, Wednesday, or the evening before the meet. What matters is whether you are ready to swim when they call you to the blocks. The only hint you will get is, maybe, the last 30 minutes of warmup the day of the meet. Even then, you will still probably have bat-sized butterflyes. Trust me, they are gone within the first 10 yards of the race. Just try to relax, realize you will probably be nervous, but that it is normal, and remind yourself you are doing this to have fun.
2) Because this is your first meet, you are just now starting to learn what helps you do your best, what does not help, what parts of competition you like, and what you don't like. You're going to have great swims, lousy swims, and everything in between. It's all a learning experience, so try to savor the good parts, chalk up the rest as valuable insights, and move on. The scary thing, and the cool thing, about racing is that to do your best, you have to confront who you really are under pressure. There is no posing; there is no talking a good game; the stopwatch does not care. Whatever makes you go fast, no matter how embarassing your dirty little secret is (mine is the Miami Sound Machine to psych up), you have to find out what that is and accept it. That's both cool and scary.
Good luck, and please keep us informed how you do. We are all learning from the conversation that YOU have the courage to get started.
Matt
