Getting from Point A to Point B

Uh, yeah, getting from point A to point B...

In this case, point A is me being within reach of the Nationals cuts in the 50 fly, 100 fly, and 100 IM.  Point B is me getting the Nats cuts in at least the two fly events.  Not worried too much about the 100 IM, since I'm going to swim it one way or another.  The same could be said for the fly events, but I've got a personal goal of not only getting back into fly shape, but aging up to a faster age group and getting the Nats cuts in the two fly events within six months of me starting to really practice again.

I've been strategizing how I'm going to get the two fly cuts in the next two spring meets, on March 4th and March 17th.  A big part of said strategizing has included looking at my performance in the past few meets in those events.

Take my 50 fly performance in the 50 fly in the past three meets: Annapolis on January 21st, Tropical Splash on January 29th, and then Richmond on February 11th.  Here is the time progression I had in those meets, and how those swims were:

• Annapolis: 28.16.  Just not a very good swim.  Bad start, sloppy turn, not very good finish.
• Tropical Splash: 27.88.  The swim itself was fantastic, but I dove for the wall on the finish a full stroke too early, so kicked the rest of the way into the wall.  Conservatively, I lost at least half a second right there.
• Richmond: 27.29.  Iffy start (went too deep) and totally screwed up the turn, but still had a decent time.  Probably lost about half a second on the deep start and frigging terrible turn.  Half a second would put me right at the Nats cut.

Looking at those times, despite each swim having at least one glaring flaw, I've had pretty marked improvement from meet to meet.  I'm about 99% sure that, if I can finally have a flawless start/turn/finish, I can swim in at a mid 26.  That would get the cut with room to spare.  Gotta nail the start, turn, and the finish.  Those are the areas I've struggled the most on in this event.  The swim itself is quite satisfactory, but I'm failing miserably at the non-swim part of the event.  Uh, not exactly conducive to improving as much as I'd like if I manage to screw it up every time I swim it!

On the other hand, look at my 100 fly.  I've only swum it twice as a Masters swimmer, once in short course meters, the other in yards.

I've been doing a lot of fly in practice, as well as doing a few all-fly-with-fins practices here and there, so my shoulder endurance is pretty decent.  Still got a good ways to go to hit my old level of fly endurance, but it's pretty darn good right now, all things considered.  The first time I swam the 100 fly, at the SCM meet in early December, I didn't have the endurance, and my swim was terrible.  Partly due to me not pacing it well, but mostly because I just died.  When I swam it in Richmond, I didn't pace it well at all, and had the small issue of dying halfway through the swim--on a positive note, it was full body weakness, not specifically related to me swimming fly, so that at least is a good sign.

At the Richmond meet, I swam the 200 IM the day before I swam the 100 fly.  I was in the lane next to a 33 year old guy who absolutely kicked my butt in the IM.  I took it out too slow, and then had my elbow blow up. Bad swim all around.  Anyways, getting back on point, here's a comparison of my fly in the 200 IM and the 100 fly:

• First 50 of the 200 IM: Took it out in a 28.28.  For the IM, that was a pretty darn slow start--should have been well under a 28.
• First 50 of the 100 fly: Took it out in a 29.67.  WAY too slow!  For one, that's nearly a full second and a half slower than I took out the 200 IM.  I realize that I was still tired from the 100 back I'd done shortly beforehand, but still, that's an embarrasing split.
• Second 50 of the 100 fly: Brought it back in a 35.19.  Again, embarrasing, although the whole dying thing played a pretty big part in that performance.

This one was a much more embarrasing performance than the 50 fly.  Even setting aside my general tiredness at the time, I just had freaking terrible pacing.  I've gotta work on that in the next two sprint meets. Here's what my goals are for this event on March 4th.

• Take it out in a high 27.  That should be about a second slower than my 50 fly time, which is an acceptable difference between the 50 and 100.
• Bring it back in a 31 or 32.
• Nail the turns and breathing pattern.  

I've got a high 27 in me for sure for the first 50, given the lackadaisical first 50 of my 200 IM in Richmond that still wasn't too far off that mark.  And I think I've got enough endurance, provided I'm not already tired, to bring it back in a 31 or 32.  I've done a 35 from a push in practice at the end of a main set, so I sure hope I can shave a few seconds off that in a race.

If I do all these things well, come March 4th, I should be well on my way to Point B!

Recap of meet in Richmond this weekend!

This weekend I had my first two day meet as a Masters swimmer.  NOVA of Virginia Aquatics hosted the meet in Richmond.  Saturday was the longer events, from the 200s up through the mile, and Sunday was the 200s and 50s/100s (people had the choice of swimming the 200s on either Saturday or Sunday).  I entered in eight events, but scratched one (swam two events and scratched one on Saturday, then swam the other five on Sunday).  In order, here were the events I swam across both days and their times:

• 200 IM - 2:22 something
• 200 back - 2:24 something
• 400 IM - scratch
• 50 fly - 27.29
• 100 IM - 1:04.52
• 100 back - 1:06.03
• 100 fly - 1:04.86
• 50 back - 31.17

And here's how each event went:

• 200 IM: Ugh.  This was my first time swimming it as a Masters swimmer.  My energy level wasn't there, and I tweaked my left elbow.  I'd say the energy level issue was due to having done a spin class the night before and having gone to practice that morning before driving to Richmond.  To be fair, going to practice before the meet wasn't *exactly* a smart idea.  Anyways, I must have pulled a tendon in my left elbow a couple months ago, and it has been flaring up off and on since then.  The most common trigger is breaststroke (normally just breast, none of the other strokes) in practice, but ibuprofen before I do a lot of IM/breast work usually makes it a non factor.  Well, not for this time.  I'd tweaked my elbow in practice that morning, so dosed up on ibuprofen before the meet, and felt fine in warmup.  Not in the IM, unfortunately.  Elbow twinged off the start on fly, then hurt the rest of that stroke, was a steady burn in back, and was on freaking fire in breast, then just hurt on free.  Totally screwed up my focus during the race--didn't think to do my back to breast turn, or the fly kick on the breast pullout, or work on any semblance of technique on my breast pull.  Not cool!
• 200 back: Ugh.  Like with the 200 IM, this was my first time swimming it as a Masters swimmer.  Approximately a handful of ibuprofen later, the pain in my elbow had subsided to a dull ache, but it was still rather distracting. so I'm pretty sure my technique wasn't as good as it should have been.  Didn't take it out fast enough, so I tried to turn it on in the second half...and my legs burned out at around the 150 or so.  Sigh.  Not exactly a stellar swim.
• 50 fly: I was feeling much better all around this morning--I'd been popping ibuprofen like M&Ms since the previous evening, so the elbow was peachy keen, and my energy level was up.  Went a bit deep off the start, but got up and going without too much difficulty.  Then promptly flubbed the turn.  The pool has a metal gutter, and the metal extends down the wall about a foot or so.  I've been working at not grabbing the gutter during open turns, so I tried that this time...and my hands slid straight down the slick metal of the wall as soon as they touched.  Basically did an incredibly uncoordinated turn without my arms, for as much good as they did me.  Still, I dropped .9 seconds from my previous fastest time and set a new Masters personal record!  The Nats cut is a 26.78, so I've only got half a second to drop!  I figure the flubbed turn alone cost me at least .3 seconds, so I'm right there in the ballpark for this cut.  I've got two more meets to get the cut in--pretty confident that I'll get it.
• 100 IM: Eh, not so hot on this one.  4 years ago, I'd injured my chest--tore a small amount of the cartilage just to the right of my sternum, and inflamed the cartilage on the left side of the clavicle (the inflamation is called costochondritis).  At the time, it would hit me in waves of literally debilitating pain--when the pain hit, I couldn't do anything, and one time when it hit while I was standing, I fell over.  Took about 2 years and plenty of anti-inflammatory meds to fully get over the random waves of pain that would come through with no seeming rhyme or reason.  Anyways, during my warmdown after the 50 fly, the left side of my sternum flared up.  Nowhere near as painfully as it used to, but still pretty painful.  So, going back to the 100 IM... Like the 50 fly, a bit deep on the start, but not too bad.  My speed was a touch off, but again, not too bad.   On the fly to back turn, the sternum flared up.  Just on the turn, not during the back, although I could feel it every time I swept my arms in on breast.  Took the first 50 out in a 27, so that was good, although as normal, the second half was cruddy.  I have GOT to work on my breast and free in the IM.  With a first half like mine, I should be able to go well under a minute, if my breast/free were halfway decent.  I added about 3/4 of a second in the swim.  My best is a 1:03.70, which is just under 3 seconds off the Nats cut.  I've got two more meets to swim this event in, so I'm in the ballpark if I can nail everything in the race.
• 100 back: This was comparatively a better swim than the 100 IM, but my backstroke is just not where I want it to be.  Good start, relatively good turns, and my stroke/kick felt decent.  The last time I swam this event in yards was at the first meet of the season back in October, so I dropped a good 5.5 seconds since that swim.  All of that and I'm still somewhere in the general vicinity of 8-9 seconds off my best 100 back time from highschool.  I can't figure out why my back is so far off pace, since my fly is much closer to my old times (well, more on that below) than back is.  Nats cut is a 1:01.53.  With how relatively little progress I've made in my backstroke, I'm gonna have to write this event off as a pipe dream for this year's short course National Championship.  GRRR!
• 100 fly: This race hurt.  All of 15 minutes after my 100 back, I didn't have enough time to warm down sufficiently, and still had an elevated heart rate and faster breathing when I got up on the blocks.  First 50 was good, although I think my pace was a bit too slow for a 100.  About halfway down the third lap, my legs just died.  Given the short rest between events, I'm gonna say it was due to the 100 back.  Pulling the remaining 25 and a half was *slightly* painful.  That being said, I've been doing a LOT of fly at practice the past month or so, so I was actually able to finish without feeling like I'd just swum a 1650 fly.  Still, the pull put stress on my sternum, so that was a dull ache on the last 25.  This was my first time swimming this event yards as a Masters swimmer, so I was pretty happy.  I was aiming for a 1:03.8 (Dan, one of my good friends on the team, is also a flyer, and that's what he went at the last meet), so I'm a bit disappointed that I didn't make it...but feel pretty confident that without dying, I could have gone a 1:01 or 1:02.  Nats is a 59.09, so it is conceivably within reach.  I've got two more meets to try for that cut, and another five weeks of practice time to train for it.  My fly in general is doing much better than my back at getting close to my old times.  My 50 fly is only about half a second off my old best (I think my old best was around a 26.7), and my 100 fly is about 6-7 seconds off my old best.
• 50 back: This one was just ridiculous.  Unless I miscounted, this event was only 13 minutes after the 100 fly, so I only had time to do a 200 warmdown before going back to the blocks and stretching out for a couple minutes before swimming again.  Nowhere NEAR enough time to get ready to swim again!  Besides the fly kicks off the start and turn, I had no legs, and my arms were apparently nonexistent.  All that being said, I only added .3 seconds from my best.  I'll count that as a success!  Going back to the my-backstroke-is-not-very-good thing, my 100 back is 8-9 seconds off my old best, and my 50 back is about 3.25 seconds off.  For the life of me, I cannot figure out why my back just isn't there.  Everything feels pretty good--underwater work (what I think is my best aspect in back right now), kick, pull, turns, everything.  I've even been working with my head coach, Drew, for the past month or so on my back pull to fine tune it.  I'm improving...but slowly, much slower than my fly is improving, even though I do a good deal more back than fly in practice in general.  Something just isn't right with back, and it's bugging me like crazy trying to figure it out.

The coolest thing at the meet by far was seeing the women's American record holder in the 95-99 age group in the 50 and 100 free!  At 99 years old, she swam both events (and even dove from the blocks!) and got a standing ovation when she finished them.  If I hadn't known she was 99, I'd have pegged her as late 70s/early 80s, tops--fantastic shape for her age.  I didn't see what her times were today, but her records are 1:26.77 for the 50 and 3:02.75 for the 100.  SOOOOOOOO inspirational!!

I've got two areas of concern--my left elbow and the sternum issue.  I'm hoping consumer strength ibuprofen is enough to take care of the sternum, and that it's not a return of the costochondritis.  If it's back, it's gonna totally eff up my swimming if I have to deal with it for the next two years!  For the elbow, I'm going to keep up the ibuprofen diet and refrain from swimming breast as much as I can this week, which will hopefully give it time to calm down.  With the sternum issue, it's not as simple as just not swimming breast, since anything and everything can trigger it--since this morning, that has included looking before I change lanes while driving, extending either arm (sometimes), or a totally random movement that doesn't seem like it's connected to my sternum at all.  Still not debillitating pain and is quite manageable, but I don't want it worsening.  Since it's seemingly random, I'll keep up my ibuprofen diet this week and hope that takes care of both the elbow and the sternum.

Nats registration closes March 23rd.  In the five weeks between now and then, I've got three meets to go, one distance meet (200s+) and two sprint meets.  I'll probably do the 200 fly and 200 back at the distance meet for fun, but depending on the event order at the two sprint meets, I might only swim the 50/100 fly and 100 IM at those two meets, since those are the cuts I'm really trying to make...and actually have a shot at.  Unlike most of the meets to date, when I've swum as many events as I could fit in, to try and eke out the best swim I can in each event, I might only enter in those three.  I'll have to look at the event order to verify that, though.  If the events are well spaced out, I might throw in another for fun.  Maybe.  Too early to decide, though, since the next sprint meet is March 4th, so I've got a while.

Until the next sprint meet on the 4th, and then the last qualifying meet after that on March 17th, I'm going to continue focusing a LOT on my fly in practice.  50 and 100 fly are the two main cuts I want to get.  100 IM would be nice, but I won't be heart broken if I don't get it in the next two meets.  After fly, the next thing I'm going to focus on is my turns.  My overall turn speed still isn't ideal, so that could squeeze out a few more tenths of a second per swim.

If I make those two (or three) cuts by March 23rd, then the two remaining meets, and the remaining month of practice time, before Nationals will be focused almost exclusively on fly, turns, and possibly back, depending on what I decide to swim at Nats.

5 weeks and counting!

Oof...the long road to Nationals just got shorter

At the beginning of the short course season back in October, I thought that you could get Nationals cuts up till a couple weeks before the meet.  Well, they posted the online entry form last week, and you only have through March 23rd to get the cuts, a full month before the meet.  I mean, I understand why they have it like that, I just assumed they'd give us more time.

My original game plan from December for the rest of the season was for me to go to a total of eight meets from January-April before Nats.  The last meet before Nats is the Zone championship meet from April 13-15 (Nats is April 26-29).  I had thought it would be like USA swimming, when you could go to the State B meet two weeks before the State A meet and still get A cuts.

With the shorter time frame, the last two pre-Nats meets are now meaningless on the cuts front, since there's a meet March 25 and then Zones.

Since I've now got a bit less than 7 weeks to get Nats cuts, I gotta move up my meet schedule.  I'm trying to get Nats cuts in the 50 fly, 100 fly, 100 IM, and possibly the 200 IM.  With those four events in mind, here's my new meet schedule for the rest of the eligibility session:

• February 11-12: Two day meet in Richmond, longer distance events (200s on up) on the first day, sprint events (50s and 100s) on the second day.  I'm swimming my full repertoire of fly, back, and IM events, minus the 200 fly.
• March 3: One day meet in the Baltimore area.  It's a longer distance meet, 200s on up.  I'm probably going to swim the 200 IM and 200 fly, maybe 200 back, too.
• March 4: One day meet in Warrenton, VA (about an hour away).  It's a sprint meet, so I'll try to get in the 50/100 fly, 50/100 back, and 100 IM.
• March 17: One day meet in Bethesda.  It's a short course meters meet, but they offer the full range of events.  This will be my last chance to make cuts (converted times are eligible qualifying times), so I'll swim whatever events I'm close to the cuts in.

After those four meets, I'll have two meets to get in the Nationals frame of mind.  There are two meets offered on March 25, so I need to decide which to go to.  One is a repeat of the meet in Annapolis I went to three weeks ago, so I think I might go to the other meet for a change of scenery.  And then there's Zones in April.  That will be my big prep meet, since it's a high level fast competition pool, as opposed to many of the pools we swim at.

Four meets to potentially make four cuts.  I can do this!

Hard core meet in Richmond next weekend!

I've got my first hardcore meet next weekend!  I'm going to a meet in Richmond that NOVA of Virginia Aquatics is hosting on Saturday and Sunday, my first two day meet since 2005.

Not just my first two day meet, it's also the first meet in which I swim some serious yardage.  Saturday afternoon I'm swimming the 200 IM, 200 back, and 400 IM.  Sunday morning I'm swimming the 50/100 fly, 50/100 back, and 100 IM.  I haven't swum any of the Saturday events as a Masters swimmer yet, so I'm rather nervous about them.

Here are the made up times I entered myself with for the Saturday events, since I've got no clue where I'm at for them:

• 200 IM: 2:20.00.  This should *hopefully* be an easy one to get.  My 100 IM last weekend was a 1:03.70, so unless I utterly die in this event, I hope to break that with time to spare.  Still, no guarantees!  The Nats cut is a 2:11.51, so I would LOVE it if I managed to get that in this swim, though I'm not holding my breath on that.
• 200 back: 2:22.00.  This one is up in the air.  I haven't swum the 100 back since the first, disastrous meet, when I went a 1:11 something.  I'm pretty confident that my 100 back time is closer to a 1:05 than a 1:11, so I *should* be able to go under a 2:22, hopefully.  Nats cut is a 2:11.39, but I think that's out of reach right now.
• 400 IM: 5:20.00.  I'm pretty worried about this one.  I've only done a 400 IM a handful of times in practice, but will be doing it a lot on my own this week in preparation.  Not worried about the fly or back legs, but the back half is a different proposition.  My old time from highschool was a 4:30 something, so I hope I gave myself enough cushion time.  I'll be pretty damn happy if I go faster than a 5:20!  Nats cut is a 4:51.49, but I've got no idea whatsoever if it's a feasible time for me to get at this point.

I'm much more comfortable with the Sunday swims, since I've done them all at least once.

• 50 fly: Haven't gotten the official time from last weekend yet, so I'm entered as a 28.16.  If I have a good swim, I'm fairly confident that I can hit around a 27 point, if not an upper 26.  Nats is a 26.78, so that's what I'm aiming for, although I won't be completely heartbroken if I don't get it this time.
• 100 fly: 1:09.09.  I've just got that converted time from the short course meters meet I swam at the beginning of December.  Been swimming a LOT of fly since then, so I should be able to smash that time unless I totally die or flub all the turns or something like that.  Nats is a 59.09.  I don't know if I can break a minute, but I'm sure going to try!
• 50 back: 30.89.  If I have a good swim, I hope to break a 30.  Nats is a 28.22, but I don't think I'll be able to hit that at this meet.  I'd love to get the cut with this swim, but ain't staking the meet on that happening.
• 100 back: 1:11.57.  I haven't swum this event since the first meet, so I should be able to smash this time.  As I mentioned in the 200 back above, I think my actual 100 back time is somewhere in the general vicinity of a 1:05, give or take two seconds.  Nats is a 1:01.53.  Unless my back is a LOT better than I think it is, I think that's out of reach this time around, but I'll still give it my best shot.
• 100 IM: 1:03.70.  Nats is a 1:00.77.  I'm very pumped about this swim, which should be the highlight of my meet!  I've been working on my back to breast flipturn this past week, and will continue to work on it this week.  I've also been working on my breast technique (by far my weakest leg of the race) with the coaches, so hopefully that'll help too.  If I have a good race and have someone to race against at the end, the cut should be in reach!

All total, I'm swimming 800 yards on Saturday and 400 on Sunday.  By far my most intensive meet yet, and also my most high stakes, since I've got two Nats cuts definitely within reach, and another one or two potentially within reach, depending on if I have standout swims.

Woohoo, turn the motivation this week up to 11!

Things to focus on in the pool

There are two months and three weeks till Nationals.  During that time, I've got several things to focus on in the pool.  It seems that my backstroke isn't improving quickly enough for me to make Nats cuts in it this year (at least, not in the 25-29 age group, although some of the 19-24 cuts look in reach), so I will focus on fly and the IMs (at least the 100 IM, possibly the 200 and 400, as well).

• Flip turns: My flip turns are rather lethargic--I've got great underwater work coming off the wall, but my actual flip speed is pretty crappy, so I lose ground on that portion of the turn.  If I'm neck and neck with someone going into the turn, they'll normally push off a fair bit earlier than me, but I can almost always catch back up to them, if not pull a bit ahead of them, by the time I get to the surface of the pool.  If I can get my turn time down, I can give myself an extra boost in races.  During my individual practices (not the team ones), I'll do a lot of 25s and 50s from the middle of the pool, working on increasing my flip speed.
• Open turns: My mechanics seem to be decent, but just don't have the turn speed.  As far as I can tell, I'm staying low in the water, not popping up as I turn.  Just have slow leg speed as I draw them towards my chest when I touch the wall.  Same as the training for the flip turns--lots of 25s and 50s from the middle of the pool should help out on this.
• Back to breast turns: Up until this week, I've been doing an open back to breast turn in practice and in meets.  I don't think it's a bad turn, it's just not a very fast turn.  My senior (and possibly junior?) year in highschool, I did a back to breast flip turn, where I'd turn mostly onto my left side, touch the wall with my right hand, then flip and push off leaning towards my stomach on breast.  I can only do it if I turn to that side--trying to do it to the other side is grossly uncoordinated.  The timing and body positioning is very tricky--since I can only do the turn to the one side, I have to be at the exact same part of my stroke when I hit the flags every single time, otherwise the timing is off.  And in regards to body positioning, if you cross the 90 degree line as you're coming into the wall and lean towards your stomach, DQ.  But you have to be right about that 90 degrees in order to turn and flip in that short a distance, so that's a very tricky line to cross.  I've been DQd once for that that I can remember.  Likewise, when pushing off the wall on breast, your body has to cross the 90 degree plane leaning towards your stomach, or DQ.  Gotten DQd for that once, too.  Did that turn for the first time since highschool in practice on Monday night.  Ooh boy.  Timing was off, turned too much towards my stomach going into the wall, and was almost flat on my back coming off the wall.  Yeesh.  Been working on a lot of back/breast turns this week, and I've gotten the timing down now, but still am working on the body positioning.  When the turn is done correctly, I used to be able to pull ahead by about half a body length over people who did an open back/breast turn.  Got a long ways to go, so those 25s and 50s from the middle of the pool are going to be a big component of my workouts for the next two months and change.
• Hypoxic work: My lung capacity has improved quite a bit since I began swimming again last fall.  That being said, my body requires a LOT of oxygen when I race.  At the meet this past weekend, in my 50 fly and 50 free, I only took two breaths on both, one down and one back.  Started to feel the oxygen burn pretty bad when coming into the flags at the finish on both races.  I'd like to get to the point where I can do the two breath 50 without hitting that burn.  I'll do more underwater 25s and more speed work with long breathing patterns. 
• Fly endurance: Just keep on swimming lots of fly.  I've gotten to the point where random 50s or 75s of fly here and there in practice are no big deal, and I can do sets such as 4 x 50 choice fast on :50 all fly without dying.  Just need to keep increasing the yardage and get to the point where 100s are no biggie.  I'm planning on doing an all-fly-with-fins practice this week, possibly on Saturday, to see how much my shoulders can take.
• Kick: My underwater kick is still my biggest asset when I race.  Once I'm on the surface, though, my kick is just middling.  Gonna keep pounding the kicking yardage in my individual practices, and will also incorporate vertical kicking at some point.

And for stuff outside of the pool.

• Weights: So far, I've yet to hit up the weight room.  Gonna make a concerted effort to make it there.
• Core work: Same thing as with weights.  I think a stronger core will help my kick out, and also help tighten up my body position between the walls.