Hi everyone, my first post here!
I have no experience in any formal swim training/competition whatsoever. Like alot of people, i was interested to attempt a first tri-athlon and therefore I dragged myself to the pool.
My experience in swimming was from elementary school, swimming everyday in HK (beach)- is that the same as open water, not sure what the difference is. Everyone said that open water swimming is different from the pool, does swimming at the beach count?
Anyways, I am fairly good with breaststroke endurance wise, I haven't really count or time myself, but my guess is I can do 30x 50meters okay.
However, I can't do other strokes. Don't know what's wrong with me coz i cannot get pass 25 yards with the crawl (breathing becomes difficult). Not sure if this is aerobic related or just my technique coz i can do it with breaststroke.
I really want to polish my front crawl and from all i read, everyone recommends the masters swims. Can i join the masters if i can barely do 25 yards of front crawl? I don't want to having to stop and cause traffic jam in the slow lane all the time.
Should I just practice in the pool until i can do 100meters before joining the masters so that I won't upset anyone?
Former Member
Most masters clubs are newcomer/beginner friendly. You’ve found the listings for your area so you can contact them (via the coach or a team representative) to get questions answered.
The best way to see if you will like a practice is to just show up. While it is probably a good idea to ask first, most teams are tolerant of drop-ins and visitors, so you should not have trouble trying out a team as a guest. This happens frequently as moving and business travel is common these days. Notice I did not say try out “for” the team. I can’t imagine a USMS registered team turning away any eligible (18y/o+) swimmer.
I relocated across state lines recently and every club I contacted was extremely warm and friendly, and all of them invited me to try some practices with them. This is simply good marketing since once a person finds a practice that suits them they are likely to be there for a while.
The USMS web has a handy guide to teams and clubs, including a “places to swim” listing. From a member standpoint, USMS operates starting at the LMSC level (then on down to clubs).
http://www.usms.org/lmsc/
Fayewolf, I too am newbie. These folks have been wonderful help to me already.
There are physical and mental things that we new swimmers encounter. I know my coach gets ill with me cause I'm trying to hard. That's easier said than done to stop trying hard at something you want to do. That in itself is hard, maybe, for experineced swimmers to remember or understand.
Maybe, a thread just for newbies here on USMS, would be good???
USMS newbie?? Or is that an oxymoron??:p
Mark
Mark, I love that idea!!! it is funny when you read the two words in one line, masters and newbie. :)
Have you joined a masters team yet? I read your post about your swimming lesson and I'm super impressed!!!
I really want to join an organized workout. I went to the pool and did 500 breaststroke, and then practice my dreadful front crawl, it was only 15 minutes and i got bored. I was not tired, just bored. So maybe a master team will benefit me. :)
