Hey y'all! I'm new to the board--well, I've been lurking, but I finally decided to get an account and post. :)
I'm seriously considering starting to swim masters. I swam competitvely when I was a child, but I quit when I got to be a junior in high school (I'm 30 now). I did some lap swimming off and on through college as most of my jobs involved the pool (life guard, swim instructor, asst pool manager, asst swim coach). In November, I started swimming laps regularly. I try to swim 3x a week--which can be difficult since I work full time and I'm in grad school part time (taking 2 classes)--but I always manage 2x.
Anyway, I was swimming over Christmas break, and that's when I realized how much I miss swimming and miss competing. I have struggled with whether or not I am ready to begin swimming masters yet for almost a month now. At first, I told myself that I wasn't ready because I can't do a 100 fly without wanting to die at the end. I am able to swim 500 yds without stopping. The workouts that I do (ones that I've found online) are between 2,500-3,000 yds, and I swim for about an hour. What kind of yardage should someone who is swimming/practicing be able to swim? How do you know if you are "ready" or not? I definitely don't think that I'm ready for meets yet, but I would like to start practicing with a team.
Thanks for your suggestions!!!
Take care!
Parents
Former Member
So I swallowed my pride and called about the masters team on Monday. I practiced Tues, Thurs, and this morning! It wasn't bad at all. There are so many different levels of swimmers, and it was nice not to be really forced to do anything. When I told the guy that was running practice that I was going of town next week and apologized for not coming in on Wednesday due to work, he kinda looked at me like I was a little crazy. I guess you don't have to explain/have an excuse/be dying to miss practice like when I was younger. :) The team has a meet this weekend, but obviously, I'm not swimming in it. Yesterday morning, they practiced going off the blocks and swimming some of the events, and I did it with them. Even though I got blown out of the water, I really enjoyed it. Who would have thought that I would enjoy morning practice? :)
So I swallowed my pride and called about the masters team on Monday. I practiced Tues, Thurs, and this morning! It wasn't bad at all. There are so many different levels of swimmers, and it was nice not to be really forced to do anything. When I told the guy that was running practice that I was going of town next week and apologized for not coming in on Wednesday due to work, he kinda looked at me like I was a little crazy. I guess you don't have to explain/have an excuse/be dying to miss practice like when I was younger. :) The team has a meet this weekend, but obviously, I'm not swimming in it. Yesterday morning, they practiced going off the blocks and swimming some of the events, and I did it with them. Even though I got blown out of the water, I really enjoyed it. Who would have thought that I would enjoy morning practice? :)
