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.
Best advice I received about times is that you should toss out the ones you did in a different age group. Really. It makes keeping perspective much easier. Very few of us train as many yards as we did when we were in high school and college - I think my shoulders would fall off if I did. I am swimming now to stay in shape, to hang out with my swimming buddies, and going to meets helps keep me motivated and working hard in practice. I did tell my husband after my first meet that I felt like I was working too hard to be swimming so slow - but I've improved close to every meet and am now much faster than I was at my first meet. But you need to go have a first meet - you will meet some of the nicest folks and it will be fun. And it will be the fastest you have swam at your current age.
Do it soon. You will not regret it.
--mj
Thanks for the perspective and the encouragement.
Best advice I received about times is that you should toss out the ones you did in a different age group. Really. It makes keeping perspective much easier. Very few of us train as many yards as we did when we were in high school and college - I think my shoulders would fall off if I did. I am swimming now to stay in shape, to hang out with my swimming buddies, and going to meets helps keep me motivated and working hard in practice. I did tell my husband after my first meet that I felt like I was working too hard to be swimming so slow - but I've improved close to every meet and am now much faster than I was at my first meet. But you need to go have a first meet - you will meet some of the nicest folks and it will be fun. And it will be the fastest you have swam at your current age.
Do it soon. You will not regret it.
--mj
Thanks for the perspective and the encouragement.
