My first meet in 16 years is fast approaching. Although I practice diligently, my pool does not have starting blocks and does not allow diving of any kind. I have many fears regarding my first meet, but the standout fear is that my goggles will fall off, flood with water, or become wrapped around my neck during the start.
I did some searches to see whether anyone had advice on how starts should be performed to minimize the possibility of this happening, but came up blank. Any advice would be appreciated?
By the way, I certainly hope that I can at least do a few practice starts in the warm-up area on the day of the meet. Diving in after 16 years (and with my goggle phobia) will be intimidating.
My first Masters swim meet started 30 minutes earlier than had been listed on the entry form. I guess I was the only one that didn't know that since there were a ton of people there when I arrived at what should have been the beginning of warmups. Instead sprint lanes were opening up as I walked out onto the pool deck. I started my warmup in the main pool and then moved to the warmdown pool once the main pool cleared out. So I didn't get any starts in. The pool I train at doesn't have blocks and diving isn't allowed, so my first Masters race was the first time that I had done a start in years. I did fine and so will you!
My first Masters swim meet started 30 minutes earlier than had been listed on the entry form. I guess I was the only one that didn't know that since there were a ton of people there when I arrived at what should have been the beginning of warmups. Instead sprint lanes were opening up as I walked out onto the pool deck. I started my warmup in the main pool and then moved to the warmdown pool once the main pool cleared out. So I didn't get any starts in. The pool I train at doesn't have blocks and diving isn't allowed, so my first Masters race was the first time that I had done a start in years. I did fine and so will you!
