Hi again and thanks for the welcoming comments in my other thread.
Of course after lurking a few weeks, I've got to jump in with a splash, posting a bunch of times in a single day! ;)
But thought this should be a separate thread: I'm planning on two meets in the next few weeks.
1. Senior Games 50 yd freestyle. This one's iffy b/c so far I haven't received the entry form, yet it's generally held around mid-June.
2. A master's meet at the Upper Main Line Y on 6/19. (I'm from the Philly area.) I plan to do the 50 free in that one too.
Here are my questions:
1. Two things I know I need to work on: the dive and the flip turn.
Dive: The coach told me he'd help me w/ the dive next session. I know basically how to dive, just wondering if there are any additional tricks to diving off the starting block.
Flip turn: The flip turn's coming along--as in, I can now SOMETIMES manage to get a decent semblance of a flip turn. (Sometimes what I get is ... a flip gone all wrong. I tend to want to do the flip too far from the wall.) In the second of the two meets, the pool is 50 yards, but in the first, I'm pretty sure it's 25 yards. I'm wondering if it's better simply to do an open turn when racing unless I feel very confident in the flip turn.
2. Obviously in a 50 yard freestyle, I'll never be more than 50 yards behind anyone, BUT so far the best time in workouts (without diving, 26 yard pool, open turns) has been 55. That's definitely not going to put me right up there in the running for hardware, but is it going to leave me so far in the back as to have officials looking impatiently at their hour glasses and reading all of War and Peace while they're waiting for me to finish? ;) Is it possible that simply the dive into the pool and the race day adrenaline will shorten this time? (Also, I suppose doing 5x50 is a bit of a different experience than simply concentrating all one's efforts into a single one.)
I'm not afraid to finish last. Someone has to and I have experience (going to masters' track meets and getting clobbered, but competing mainly w/ myself anyway). But it would be nice to at least be in the mix for second-to-last place. ;)
Bottom line...I'm still willing to try it b/c I figure nothing that happens in the pool either time is likely to be fatal. I'm healthy and there are a lot of ppl who wait and don't try things, afraid of looking foolish, then have regrets if they lose their health. Still, any tips that will help me do the best I can (not worried about others) will help!
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Former Member
Originally posted by FindingMyInnerFish
1. Two things I know I need to work on: the dive and the flip turn.
Dive: The coach told me he'd help me w/ the dive next session. I know basically how to dive, just wondering if there are any additional tricks to diving off the starting block.
Yes, but I assume your coach will work with you on those things.
Flip turn: The flip turn's coming along--as in, I can now SOMETIMES manage to get a decent semblance of a flip turn. (Sometimes what I get is ... a flip gone all wrong. I tend to want to do the flip too far from the wall.) In the second of the two meets, the pool is 50 yards, but in the first, I'm pretty sure it's 25 yards. I'm wondering if it's better simply to do an open turn when racing unless I feel very confident in the flip turn.
It depends on how fast your open turns are. Personally, I was trained in flip turns before I was trained in open turns. At this point, my open turns are pretty fast, but there was a time when they were a lot slower than my flip turns.
2. Obviously in a 50 yard freestyle, I'll never be more than 50 yards behind anyone, BUT so far the best time in workouts (without diving, 26 yard pool, open turns) has been 55. That's definitely not going to put me right up there in the running for hardware, but is it going to leave me so far in the back as to have officials looking impatiently at their hour glasses and reading all of War and Peace while they're waiting for me to finish? ;) Is it possible that simply the dive into the pool and the race day adrenaline will shorten this time? (Also, I suppose doing 5x50 is a bit of a different experience than simply concentrating all one's efforts into a single one.)
I'm not afraid to finish last. Someone has to and I have experience (going to masters' track meets and getting clobbered, but competing mainly w/ myself anyway). But it would be nice to at least be in the mix for second-to-last place. ;)
There are advantages and disadvantages to swimming at a meet versus swimming in practice.
The advantages to the meet are:
1) You get a lane to yourself.
2) You get to use the starting blocks.
3) You may be the type who makes more of an effort at meets.
The advantages to practice are:
1) You get to pick the date and time.
2) When you're timing yourself, you don't have to react to a starting tone.
3) If you muff something, you can try again.
4) You can time yourself at every practice if you want, but you'll only have a few meets per year.
5) You're used to the pool where you have your practices, but won't be used to the pools where you do your meets.
If you don't ever time yourself in practice doing a 50 freestyle by itself (e.g., right after warming up), you may do better at your meets than you've ever done in practice. Otherwise, you may do worse at your meets than the best you've done in practice.
How "bad" a time of 55 seconds is depends on your age and gender. But I don't think it's fair to compare yourself to the other people at the meet since it's likely that all of them have been racing for awhile. Also, to be fair, you should compare yourself to all of the people who weren't brave enough to swim in a meet.
In my book, there are three ways you can win when you're swimming at a meet:
1) Finish first.
2) Place higher than you ever placed before in that event.
3) Get a better competition time than you ever got before in that event.
Since you're guaranteed to do both 2 and 3 just by participating, you're also guaranteed to win!
Originally posted by FindingMyInnerFish
1. Two things I know I need to work on: the dive and the flip turn.
Dive: The coach told me he'd help me w/ the dive next session. I know basically how to dive, just wondering if there are any additional tricks to diving off the starting block.
Yes, but I assume your coach will work with you on those things.
Flip turn: The flip turn's coming along--as in, I can now SOMETIMES manage to get a decent semblance of a flip turn. (Sometimes what I get is ... a flip gone all wrong. I tend to want to do the flip too far from the wall.) In the second of the two meets, the pool is 50 yards, but in the first, I'm pretty sure it's 25 yards. I'm wondering if it's better simply to do an open turn when racing unless I feel very confident in the flip turn.
It depends on how fast your open turns are. Personally, I was trained in flip turns before I was trained in open turns. At this point, my open turns are pretty fast, but there was a time when they were a lot slower than my flip turns.
2. Obviously in a 50 yard freestyle, I'll never be more than 50 yards behind anyone, BUT so far the best time in workouts (without diving, 26 yard pool, open turns) has been 55. That's definitely not going to put me right up there in the running for hardware, but is it going to leave me so far in the back as to have officials looking impatiently at their hour glasses and reading all of War and Peace while they're waiting for me to finish? ;) Is it possible that simply the dive into the pool and the race day adrenaline will shorten this time? (Also, I suppose doing 5x50 is a bit of a different experience than simply concentrating all one's efforts into a single one.)
I'm not afraid to finish last. Someone has to and I have experience (going to masters' track meets and getting clobbered, but competing mainly w/ myself anyway). But it would be nice to at least be in the mix for second-to-last place. ;)
There are advantages and disadvantages to swimming at a meet versus swimming in practice.
The advantages to the meet are:
1) You get a lane to yourself.
2) You get to use the starting blocks.
3) You may be the type who makes more of an effort at meets.
The advantages to practice are:
1) You get to pick the date and time.
2) When you're timing yourself, you don't have to react to a starting tone.
3) If you muff something, you can try again.
4) You can time yourself at every practice if you want, but you'll only have a few meets per year.
5) You're used to the pool where you have your practices, but won't be used to the pools where you do your meets.
If you don't ever time yourself in practice doing a 50 freestyle by itself (e.g., right after warming up), you may do better at your meets than you've ever done in practice. Otherwise, you may do worse at your meets than the best you've done in practice.
How "bad" a time of 55 seconds is depends on your age and gender. But I don't think it's fair to compare yourself to the other people at the meet since it's likely that all of them have been racing for awhile. Also, to be fair, you should compare yourself to all of the people who weren't brave enough to swim in a meet.
In my book, there are three ways you can win when you're swimming at a meet:
1) Finish first.
2) Place higher than you ever placed before in that event.
3) Get a better competition time than you ever got before in that event.
Since you're guaranteed to do both 2 and 3 just by participating, you're also guaranteed to win!
