I'm kinda nervous I am swimming my first meet in 7 years tomorrow. I'm 26, swam from when I was 9 to end of high school, sparingly since. My last meet was freshman year of college (intramural meet). I am swimming 50y and 100y free. I used to swim about 25 secs on the 50 and 55 secs on the 100. I'm hoping to beat those times. Who knows though...I'm 30 pounds heavier (mostly muscle) from weightlifting, changed my stroke completely to total immersion style a month ago, but have not had a chance to practice much (only 1-2x per week the last 6 weeks or so not doing much yardage). I'll let you know how I do :)
Good for you! I hadn't swum in a meet for 28 years when I swam my first Masters meet two years ago. Because you are much closer in age to your age group times, you might well meet your goals first time out. But don't be disappointed if you don't. You are embarking on a new adventure of Masters swimming, which at least for me has been about a combination of fitness, learning and technical improvement, new events, and working toward goals. I once worked toward breaking 50 in the 100 free; now I'm working on breaking a minute, but I'm having more fun!
I'm with USA swimming as well. What meet are you going to? I want to go to the Minn. Grand Prix next month, but I need to hit a qualifying time next weekend. That will be my first meet ever, so I'm a bit nervous.
So I got basically the same as my old times, 25 in 50 free, 56 in the 100 free. I felt like I panicked on the 50 free and didn't really stick to the TI principles. On the 100, I got off to a great start, but faded. I hadn't practiced at race speed either so my turns were bad. I think I've got a lot of room for improvement. It was weird being at a meet with all teenagers and younger though. I might look to join Master's.
Daveindc,
Sorry I couldn't make it to that meet and skew the average age up by at least one year :rofl:. I had planed on competing in the 50 and 100 but the fates said nay.
So with your first meet as an 'older' swimmer, what lessons can you take away?
It sounds like you were not quite mentally prepared at the start of your 50. I too have had this issue. My suggestions are:
- Check your suit about 15 minutes before your swim, fastened, tied, adjusted etc. Make sure you also have your cap and goggles.
- Get behind the blocks with about 5 minutes before your heat (so more heats if 50, less if 100, etc.) and get your cap (if you wear one) on and adjusted. If you have the straps of your goggles under your cap, put the goggles on first but have them resting on your forehead.
- Visualize the race you want to swim about 2-3 minutes before your heat.
- Do whatever pre-race routine you desire but a pre-race routine should be designed to do one thing: RELAX YOU!! Do not focus on anything just try to clear your mind and relax your body.
- When the heat before yours goes off, clear your goggles of any moisture and/or fog that may be present and put them into place, do any last minute adjustments of suit, cap, goggles while you are behind the block.
- At the long whistle, step up on the block and assume your ready position. I use a grab start so I put both feet in position and bend down till my fingers just touch the block. That way I only have to adjust slightly to get into my starting position. This is not the time to adjust anything, that needs to be done before you step up.
- At the starter's 'take your mark' slow exhale and relax and listen for the beep.
- At the beep, take a huge inhale while you explode off the blocks.
As in all things, YMMV.
As for the 100, what were your splits like? What was your front 50 compared to your sprint 50? What was the differential between your front and back 50s. How much speed work do you do in practice? All out sprint 25s and 50s?
pwolf,
Thanks for your long detailed reply! Basically everything you said I would normally try to do, but I admit I was a bit off in this meet, especially with the 50. The heats moved faster than I thought so I ended up a bit rushed. I did not have a race plan for the 50, but had a few things I wanted to work on in the 100 and that definitely helped.
As far as splits, I do not know what I had, but compared to the guy next to me, here is what happened...my start was phenomenal (this was something I planned to focus on) because I focused on maintaining a perfect streamline and not rushing to the surface. I was more than half a body length in front of the guy next to me after the first 12 meters. I extended that lead to more than a body length on the first 25. After that, I lost ground each length and I think he barely outtouched me at the end. I would guess I was quite possibly in first place at the 50, but finished last or near last in the heat (I was in lane 1).
Speed work haha I do none of that so far. I just started swimming again 6 weeks ago and I am not even up to 1000 yards in my practices yet. I haven't been doing the sets and stuff I used to, but I will start doing that now. This is a big reason I wasn't mentally prepared. I also had no practice diving from the blocks (not sure where I can get that practice anyways).
Where do you practice? I went to Rockville Municipal a few times in the summer and now I'm swimming at a pool in Adams Morgan.
I swim with Germantown Masters at the Quince Orchard Swim & Tennis center in Gaithersburg. We also practice at the Germantown Indoor Swim Center.
I occasionally swim at the Montgomery Aquatic Center as it's 2 blocks from my work.
For back in the pool for only 6 weeks, those are VERY respectable times.
Daveindc Unattached-PV 26.92 56.55 (29.63)
Not bad splitting there. Goal is to get the differential to approximately 2 seconds but 2.7 with the short training time you've had is very good. Maybe go out a little slower on the front? shoot for something in the low 27s and bring it home in low 29?
Just to compare here's my latest 100:
24.53/27.52/52.15 (23.18 50 time) - that was with a horrible 3rd turn. So you can see, I have a similar issue as I take the front 50 out a little too hard and die a little too much on the back.
