How many of you have gone to a meet, without a lot of proper prep for the meet? Maybe it was a lack of training time, less than focused training for any meet, maybe you have been swimming a lot but no real speed or race specific training during your practice?
What were your expectations going in? Did you worry too much about times or just go to do some racing and swim the best that you can?
I am thinking of FINALLY doing some meets. Found a low key one in a few weeks. I swim 4500-5000 about 5-6x a week. The practices are mix of aerobic swims, a lot of drill work to fix some flaws on my free/back and high intensity kick sets. Not done a lot/any speed work in months but I figure if I don't suck it up soon and just start racing, it may not happen for a long time to come.
Any feedback would be great.
Go.
It's fun, exciting, and motivational. It had been thirty 30! years between going off the blocks for me. You'll also get some good benchmark times to work from; you're only racing yourself. Depending on the meet, you may have people from all age groups in your heat just to fill the lanes; you're not really racing them.
There is an ex olympian from an earlier era on our Masters team. I asked him how I should train for my first meet, and he said meets are just another practice. Keep your normal routine and just go swim the meet. He said it's National Championships you train and peak for, not meets. Meets are just for fun and to practice competition.
Go.
It's fun, exciting, and motivational. It had been thirty 30! years between going off the blocks for me. You'll also get some good benchmark times to work from; you're only racing yourself. Depending on the meet, you may have people from all age groups in your heat just to fill the lanes; you're not really racing them.
There is an ex olympian from an earlier era on our Masters team. I asked him how I should train for my first meet, and he said meets are just another practice. Keep your normal routine and just go swim the meet. He said it's National Championships you train and peak for, not meets. Meets are just for fun and to practice competition.
