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!
What she does is shift her back foot after the starter says take your mark. Since she was not still after the kids take their mark, she got DQ'd. I have seen this happen with other kids too, and most often at meets at Indy. They are tough there. At our little meet, they let the kids wiggle a bit.
Of course, USA rules now say that false starts aren't told to the swimmer until after they swim so that it does not hold up the meet. I watched one of our seniors win a 500 only to get DQ's for a wiggle on the blocks.
And on the whole, I have found that you cannot argue with the meet officials, it gets you no where. And since they are volunteers, I don't want to make their lives hard anyway. My daughter will not break any records, or even win her heats. She can learn to keep her foot still and at 12 she does know better. She is pretty happy go lucky and was matter of fact about getting DQ's and she kept that foot still the rest of the meet!
What she does is shift her back foot after the starter says take your mark. Since she was not still after the kids take their mark, she got DQ'd. I have seen this happen with other kids too, and most often at meets at Indy. They are tough there. At our little meet, they let the kids wiggle a bit.
Of course, USA rules now say that false starts aren't told to the swimmer until after they swim so that it does not hold up the meet. I watched one of our seniors win a 500 only to get DQ's for a wiggle on the blocks.
And on the whole, I have found that you cannot argue with the meet officials, it gets you no where. And since they are volunteers, I don't want to make their lives hard anyway. My daughter will not break any records, or even win her heats. She can learn to keep her foot still and at 12 she does know better. She is pretty happy go lucky and was matter of fact about getting DQ's and she kept that foot still the rest of the meet!
