Off-Season Race Recap: St. Louis Area Masters Swim Meet
November 13 – St. Louis Area Masters Swim Meet
My first-ever swim meet. I didn’t know how anything worked but just tried to pay attention and figure out when to swim and how to get to the starting block in time. Luckily, they got me registered and signed up, although I wasn’t pre-registered and didn’t have my license paperwork straight. Once I got authorization, I picked my events; the 400m and 800m freestyle. There were all sorts of swimmers: young and old, fast and medium.
In my 400m heat, I liked the feeling of swimming down the middle of my lane. The two guys on either side were swimming a similar pace over the first 200. One guy moved slightly ahead, the other behind. In the last 50, I closed the gap on the leader, but wasn’t able to catch him, coming in about a body length back. Cool.
Lots of waiting around and then, finally, the 800m. My goggles got unsettled on my entry dive and were a problem for most of the swim. After about 500m, I stopped at the wall to try and fix them. Other than that, it went well. It took me a while to figure out what the numbers that they were holding underwater meant. Aha! The number of lengths completed! I was close or better than my estimated times in both events so, all in all, it was a good experience. Nice folks.
My first-ever swim meet. I didn’t know how anything worked but just tried to pay attention and figure out when to swim and how to get to the starting block in time. Luckily, they got me registered and signed up, although I wasn’t pre-registered and didn’t have my license paperwork straight. Once I got authorization, I picked my events; the 400m and 800m freestyle. There were all sorts of swimmers: young and old, fast and medium.
In my 400m heat, I liked the feeling of swimming down the middle of my lane. The two guys on either side were swimming a similar pace over the first 200. One guy moved slightly ahead, the other behind. In the last 50, I closed the gap on the leader, but wasn’t able to catch him, coming in about a body length back. Cool.
Lots of waiting around and then, finally, the 800m. My goggles got unsettled on my entry dive and were a problem for most of the swim. After about 500m, I stopped at the wall to try and fix them. Other than that, it went well. It took me a while to figure out what the numbers that they were holding underwater meant. Aha! The number of lengths completed! I was close or better than my estimated times in both events so, all in all, it was a good experience. Nice folks.
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