Hi everyone...
Tonight is my very first masters swim practice and I'm really quite nervous.
While I've been a competitive swimmer since the age of 5, swam on a US team, competed in both long course and short course US Nationals, and then went and swam in college.....I'm a nervous wreck about tonight's practice. Although I have more than enough swimming experience, I'm terrified that I won't fit in with the master's team.
I've been "out of the water" for 6 years now and I'm very out of shape and I've gained a considerable amount of weight. I can't believe that I've allowed myself to get like this, but it obviously didn't happen over night. So I've been doing cardio and weights at the gym to get myself back in shape but it doesn't seem to be working very well. I realized how much I miss swimming and that I'd like to get back into the sport and thats how I got interested in masters swimming. I'm excited to swim for me...not for the coaches, not for my parents. I'm looking forward to ENJOYING swimming, rather than dreading practices and having kick boards thrown at me if I have to stop during a set. I'm excited to meet people and have fun.....but I'm still so nervous to step foot onto the pool deck.
I guess I'm mostly embarassed. I know its silly to be like this, but I'm afraid everyone will be in good shape and I'll get run over during the practices. I'm wondering if maybe I should put off swimming for a little while until I can lose some more weight.
Can anyone please shed some light on their first masters practice and what you might have been feeling?
I really appreciate any help or advice that you can give me. Thank you!
Parents
Former Member
When I first joined Masters I lost over 100# through careful combination of diet and exercise. The exercise was enough that when I got home at 8 pm I was hungry for more healthy foods and it curbed my appetite on the days I swam. It also relieved stress and with some new friends I met at the pool it helped with some lifelong emotional issues.
It was the first time in my life that I got to my correct body weight/composition.
As far as the office thing, I do much better when I pack my own lunch. I bring extra fruit and keep "emergency" foods in my cubicle to help me resist the vending machines, office candy jars, and leftovers from "food days".
I don't have a good solution for people who may be well-meaning but still try to sabotage efforts. This includes the people who buy you candy for every holiday, the team lead at work that wants you to stay late and miss practice for something that isn't critical, the social/travel settings where the only food available isn't healthy and it's too long to go without.
Some things I've found that helped:
* Whirl a bunch of ice, a banana, some skim milk, some lite choc syrup in the blender. It is a chocolate "fix" but has to be consumed slowly due to the cold.
* Hot chocolate or herb tea for colder nights after dinner.
* Fruit drinks like Crystal Lite can provide the "sweet" fix
* A small carton of nonfat yogurt at 4 pm can help you get through a 6 pm workout. It has enough protein to stick with you.
* Don't let yourself get too hungry.
* Get lots of bulky food into you - salads, vegetables, soups
* Find non-food rewards for when you need to treat yourself
* If you stand next to people who are bigger than you or slower than you, it makes you look good.
* Don't tell whoever is messing with your schedule that you want to go swim. I say I have "an urgent appointment" so they don't think I'm off to go float on a pool lounger with a cold drink which is all they know about as far as swimming goes.
When I first joined Masters I lost over 100# through careful combination of diet and exercise. The exercise was enough that when I got home at 8 pm I was hungry for more healthy foods and it curbed my appetite on the days I swam. It also relieved stress and with some new friends I met at the pool it helped with some lifelong emotional issues.
It was the first time in my life that I got to my correct body weight/composition.
As far as the office thing, I do much better when I pack my own lunch. I bring extra fruit and keep "emergency" foods in my cubicle to help me resist the vending machines, office candy jars, and leftovers from "food days".
I don't have a good solution for people who may be well-meaning but still try to sabotage efforts. This includes the people who buy you candy for every holiday, the team lead at work that wants you to stay late and miss practice for something that isn't critical, the social/travel settings where the only food available isn't healthy and it's too long to go without.
Some things I've found that helped:
* Whirl a bunch of ice, a banana, some skim milk, some lite choc syrup in the blender. It is a chocolate "fix" but has to be consumed slowly due to the cold.
* Hot chocolate or herb tea for colder nights after dinner.
* Fruit drinks like Crystal Lite can provide the "sweet" fix
* A small carton of nonfat yogurt at 4 pm can help you get through a 6 pm workout. It has enough protein to stick with you.
* Don't let yourself get too hungry.
* Get lots of bulky food into you - salads, vegetables, soups
* Find non-food rewards for when you need to treat yourself
* If you stand next to people who are bigger than you or slower than you, it makes you look good.
* Don't tell whoever is messing with your schedule that you want to go swim. I say I have "an urgent appointment" so they don't think I'm off to go float on a pool lounger with a cold drink which is all they know about as far as swimming goes.
