This was a big weekend on the swimming front for me. There were two meets, a distance meet (200s+) in Maryland at UMBC on Saturday and a meet in Warrenton, VA today.
Maryland Masters Winter Meet at UMBC
The meet yesterday was a bit of a disappointment and rather frustrating. The meet director had sent out several emails in the weeks before the meet with the timeline for the events. There was a morning session for the mile, and then an afternoon session for the rest of the events that was supposed to start at 2:00 after a half hour warmup. I was entered in the 200 back, which was the second event of the afternoon session, and the 200 fly, which was one of the later events. Well, I got to the pool at 1:30...and discovered that they'd apparently started the second session a good 45 minutes or so early. I walked into the pool area as the heat before mine was getting in for the 200 back. Given that I didn't have my suit on, I had to miss the event. So not cool! As a side note, I looked into it and it turns out they did in fact have the earlier start time on the heat sheets...but didn't notify folks before the meet itself. Seriously, how hard is it, if you know the second session is going to start early, to send out an email before the meet and give everyone a heads up?!
Next was the 200 fly. I attempted to warm up for it in the diving well...which is about a whopping 40 feet long. I'd get in three full fly strokes before hitting the wall. Totally unhelpful for warmup purposes.
I've always (since I became a butterflier in highschool) had a complicated relationship with the 200 fly. For me, at least, it's much more of a psychological event than a physical event. Not to say it's not a physical event! It's probably the most physically taxing event I've ever done besides the 400 IM. Anyways, I hadn't done it since March of 2005, so I was pretty nervous. Standing behind the block waiting for the heat before me to swim, I started psyching myself out. A combination of being nervous, as well as not having done a full 200 fly swim in practice since highschool, resulted in me being pretty psyched out. The first 100 was decent. I think I took it out pretty slowly, so my pace, while clearly not fast, was relatively suitable. I started to feel the burn on the 3rd 50 and died on the last 50. My back muscles totally locked up, so I'm pretty sure my stroke looked awful. I ended up going a 2:32 something. With how much I psyched myself out, it actually wasn't that bad a swim! I'd set a goal time of a 2:25 beforehand, but all things considered, I'll definitely take it!
On to the natatorium itself at UMBC. Good grief. I've swum at some pretty crummy and depressing pools during my now 14+ year swimming career, but this place ranks as one of the worst. It was apparently built in the 70s, and definitely looks it. The pool itself isn't that bad, but everything surrounding it is flat out depressing and dingy. Pretty sure that didn't help me motivate myself before the race.
Dreaming of Spring Meet at the Warrenton Aquatic and Recreation Facility
In contrast to yesterday's pool, this place was great! Just one pool, but it's only a couple years old, very nice--fast water, real competition lane ropes, and very nice blocks. Kinda out in the middle of nowhere, which is pretty funny, but still one of the best non-college pools I've swum at. I've swum at some very nice pools, too--University of Kentucky, IUPUI, George Mason, the Sportsplex in Nashville, and a few others. This one, while not at that caliber, is definitely one of the top ones I've swum at. In addition, the whole experience was more enjoyable because three of my friends from the team were also swimming--Dan, Katie, and Sarah. Meets are much more fun when friends are there!
On to the events--I was entered in the 50 fly, 100 fly, and 100 IM. I also swam the backstroke leg on the 200 medley relay. Overall, a much better swimming day than yesterday was!
50 back: This was the second event of the meet. I got to do a total of about a 300 warmup before the race, since I'd gotten to the pool late. Good start, great underwater work, and pretty decent turn (not the best turn I've ever had, but better than my back turns have been lately). I went a 29.89, which is a full second faster than my previous best (as a Masters swimmer). I was very happy! My backstroke as a whole is just not clicking, and the only thing that seems to be going well for me in it is my underwater work off the walls. And I nailed the underwater work off the start and turn this time. Great start to the meet! Our relay ended up first, too, which was also awesome!
100 fly: This was my second event, about 20 minutes after the relay. As an aside, the meet today ran very quickly--I didn't have more than 20 minutes or so between any of my events. After my disappointing 100 fly at the Richmond meet a few weeks ago, I was anxious to do better this time. I got a good start, and felt fantastic during the first 50. At the flags going into the wall at the 75, though, the 200 fly from yesterday decided to come back and bite me in the rear. My back muscles and shoulders locked up then, so the last 25 was quite painful, and I'm sure it wasn't pretty at all. I still dropped 3.1 seconds from Richmond, and went a 1:01.75. My splits were pretty interesting--took it out in a 27.84 and brought it back in a 33.91. Uh, yeah, I definitely locked up on the second half! Should have been able to bring it back in a 30 or 31 if I hadn't locked up. Right now I'm 2.5 seconds off the Nats cut (it's a 59.09), so I'm definitely within reach, sans locking up! Very pumped about this swim!
As an aside, if I remember correctly, it took me 4 or 5 meets to break a minute in the 100 fly in highschool after I became a butterflier--I'm on track to potentially break the minute in the next meet, so it will have only taken me three meets this time around if that's the case!
50 fly: Sigh. This one was not all that good of a swim. I had a good dive, but my left goggle cup filled up as soon as I hit the water and the right one flipped off. I pretty much swam the race blind. That hasn't happened since my sophomore or junior year in highschool, and I'd forgotten how much it sucks and hampers my swimming. Completely guessed where the walls were, and managed to get lucky and have a decent turn, but the finish wasn't as good--still wasn't a terrible finish, but not the best one I've had. In addition, I hit the lane rope twice with my right hand, once going down and once coming back. All that said...I went a 27.45, which is only .16 slower than my best 50 fly so far. Sigh. Not great, but I'll take it. Still pretty confident that I've got a sub 27 in me, just need to actually have a great race for it to come out!
100 IM: Great on the fly, great on the back...and then it was just so-so. I generally try to do a back-breast flip turn, but I have to have an exact stroke count at the flags going into the wall for me to be able to do it. If I don't have that exact stroke count, I have to do an open turn. I was a bit off the stroke count this time, and then had a brain fart, so I kicked too long into the wall instead of taking an extra stroke for the open turn. Breast wasn't too bad, but my technique wasn't all that great. And then I died on free. At this point, my upper back was quite tight as a result of all the fly I'd done over the weekend, and my shoulders were starting to tighten up, too, so it was rather painful. I went a 1:03.93, which is off my best time of a 1:03.70, but still faster than when I'd swum it in Richmond, when I did a 1:04.52. I'll take it for now!
Overall, today was pretty satisfying! While I only got two best times out of the four events I swam, I was right there with the other two! One more meet in which to get any Nats cuts, so I've got my work cut out for me!
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