24hr. countdown before 1st Masters meet-???

I usually swim the day before. Since this is your first meet, I would take it easy and stretch out a bit. Concentrate on your turns and relax in the water that day. For a morning meet, I eat a banana and something with protein in it - like peanut butter crackers. I like to have bananas during the meet as well. Bagels are good, too. Warm up during the pre-meet warm up so you can get used to the pool. Concentrate on the walls for turns and do some starts as well. They will start about half way through warm-ups. Remember, enter warm ups feet first until the sprint lane opens up for dives. Then, get in about 10 min before your event and just do a 50 or 100 of free just to warm up a tad. After the race, a cool down is a good idea. Just to get any lactic acid out of your body. The distance depends on how you feel. Swim until you aren't breathing heavy. And most importantly - have fun!! Let us know how it goes, too. Hey Alison! I survived!:bliss:I had a blast at the St. Pat's meet (my first Masters meet). I was a bit nervous, yesterday, :afraid:but I was pleased with my 200 breaststroke. I took six seconds off my best in-water time and I won my heat of the other NT's (newbies!). I did 3:29.42, so I'm still a "BB" on the Motivational Times chart for the 45-49 age group. My goal is to hit the "A" category. Oh well; I just joined and started swimming fast intervals in mid-February, so my stamina isn't there yet. My 50 ***, also "BB" was horrible (screwed up the start AND turn); 42.69. Never mind... My 100 breaststroke was 1:33.79 and I won the NT heat. Again, it was a "BB". So, I have work to do! I finished out with the 200 Mixed Relay (our team just made the entry with two gals and two guys) with a 41.54 split. We had a lot of fun with that one cheering each other on and high-fiving afterwards. We started out in sixth place, I gained on and beat the gal next to me, then the guys brought us up to third place at the end. It was a lot of laughs and a great way to end the meet. So, all in all, it was a GREAT experience! :D Any meets for you before Nationals? I'm going to sign up for one in Gwinnett, on April 25. It's a SCY developmental meet. One more chance to get in some meet action before Nationals. Let me know how you're doing!

I usually swim the day before. Since this is your first meet, I would take it easy and stretch out a bit. Concentrate on your turns and relax in the water that day. For a morning meet, I eat a banana and something with protein in it - like peanut butter crackers. I like to have bananas during the meet as well. Bagels are good, too. Warm up during the pre-meet warm up so you can get used to the pool. Concentrate on the walls for turns and do some starts as well. They will start about half way through warm-ups. Remember, enter warm ups feet first until the sprint lane opens up for dives. Then, get in about 10 min before your event and just do a 50 or 100 of free just to warm up a tad. After the race, a cool down is a good idea. Just to get any lactic acid out of your body. The distance depends on how you feel. Swim until you aren't breathing heavy. And most importantly - have fun!! Let us know how it goes, too. Hey Alison! I survived!:bliss:I had a blast at the St. Pat's meet (my first Masters meet). I was a bit nervous, yesterday, :afraid:but I was pleased with my 200 breaststroke. I took six seconds off my best in-water time and I won my heat of the other NT's (newbies!). I did 3:29.42, so I'm still a "BB" on the Motivational Times chart for the 45-49 age group. My goal is to hit the "A" category. Oh well; I just joined and started swimming fast intervals in mid-February, so my stamina isn't there yet. My 50 ***, also "BB" was horrible (screwed up the start AND turn); 42.69. Never mind... My 100 breaststroke was 1:33.79 and I won the NT heat. Again, it was a "BB". So, I have work to do! I finished out with the 200 Mixed Relay (our team just made the entry with two gals and two guys) with a 41.54 split. We had a lot of fun with that one cheering each other on and high-fiving afterwards. We started out in sixth place, I gained on and beat the gal next to me, then the guys brought us up to third place at the end. It was a lot of laughs and a great way to end the meet. So, all in all, it was a GREAT experience! :D Any meets for you before Nationals? I'm going to sign up for one in Gwinnett, on April 25. It's a SCY developmental meet. One more chance to get in some meet action before Nationals. Let me know how you're doing!