Ok, so here it is my first meets since high school (long ago) & I am perplexed.
I always take a shower before practice/getting into the water. I don't know how this will work when I have a meet. Am I supposed to be dry when going off the blocks? Does it really matter? I have a feeling that the water will be cold & a shock when I dive in. I know I should be worrying about other things but this will do for now. How much of a warm-up do people do at meets before their events?
Parents
Former Member
You probably won't even notice the water temp.
At the meet I recently attended, I noticed that some people would go to the warmup area a heat or two prior to their race and do some drills.
As for a warm up, the idea is to "wake up" your body and get it ready for the race. Your warm up will depend on how many yards you have been doing in your workouts. I read that generally the warm up should be no more than 1000 yards. For me, I would be dog tired if I swam that much in a warm up.
I also read that the warm up is to work your pulse rate up so your brain and body start to sync. I'm not quite sure how fast that means, but I think it is different for everyone. If you ever watched Lance Armstrong warmup during the Tour de France, he is in a complete soaking sweat prior to leaving the starting point and in cycling there is a 5-15K "warmup" period before the start of the race.
I used to have a coach that insisted on a full blown workout prior to a meet - I always hated that. I like a nice 200 or so to stretch out and get the feel of the water and some sprints with practices on starts and turns.
You probably won't even notice the water temp.
At the meet I recently attended, I noticed that some people would go to the warmup area a heat or two prior to their race and do some drills.
As for a warm up, the idea is to "wake up" your body and get it ready for the race. Your warm up will depend on how many yards you have been doing in your workouts. I read that generally the warm up should be no more than 1000 yards. For me, I would be dog tired if I swam that much in a warm up.
I also read that the warm up is to work your pulse rate up so your brain and body start to sync. I'm not quite sure how fast that means, but I think it is different for everyone. If you ever watched Lance Armstrong warmup during the Tour de France, he is in a complete soaking sweat prior to leaving the starting point and in cycling there is a 5-15K "warmup" period before the start of the race.
I used to have a coach that insisted on a full blown workout prior to a meet - I always hated that. I like a nice 200 or so to stretch out and get the feel of the water and some sprints with practices on starts and turns.
