We had the first masters meet of the season yesterday at George Mason. I swam the 100 free, 100 back, 100 fly, and the 25s of each stroke. None of my times were anything to write home about, but I was fairly pleased with most of my swims.
100 free
I usually only swim this sucker once a season as an individual race, and then a couple times a year as part of a 400 free relay. I can't remember the last time I actually trained for the 100, and have never really cared enough about it to try in a masters meet. This time around, though, I figured I'd actually give it a shot. Trying something new, I decided to try galloping (deeper pull on one side, shallower pull on the other, breathing only to one side). I took it out in a 27.71 and brought it back in a 30.00. I probably could have taken it out about a second faster, but it's been so long since I've actually *raced* the 100 free that I don't really know how to pace it anymore. Anyhoo, it felt really good! I felt strong and smooth, and felt like I had a powerful kick (for the first time since the spring!). My third turn was too long (I was just far enough from the wall that it was either glide in to the turn or take a half stroke, and I picked the former), but everything else was good. Probably lost at least .5 on that turn. As far as my energy was concerned, I didn't fade too much down the stretch, and just really had a great all-around race. That 57.71 isn't anything to write home about, but is my third fastest masters individual 100 free, with my fastest being a 56.73 from Zones last spring. I was so pleasantly surprised by how good the race felt that I'm considering breaking my tradition and adding it to my event lineup at a handful of meets this season! Later in the season, as my fitness improves and I have a better aerobic base, I might creep down towards a 55.
100 back
Ugh. I have absolutely no idea what has happened to my turnover. Ever since last spring, I just haven't been able to turn my arms over quickly. I knew I was having turnover issues going into this meet, so I decided to drop the 50 back, since it would be completely pointless. I had a correspondingly slow swim, going a 1:05.39, a full 2 seconds slower than my slowest in-season time from the 13-14 season. That being said, my splits were good, taking it out in a 31.49 and bringing it back in a 33.90 (they were both slow, but I view anything less than a 2.5 second gap between the two 50s to be a good split...at least for me...). This was my first short course race wearing a nose plug, and I like it! I think it really helped on the turns, especially off the first wall. My underwaters felt really good, too, but I consistently got destroyed on the surface. I recovered from a partial slip on the start (left foot slipped down a few inches on the start, and I went really deep), but my underwaters were the only good thing going for me for the rest of the race. Sigh.
100 fly
This one was so aggravating! I haven't done any butterfly speed training so far this season, so I was rather leery of how I'd swim. I had a good start and fantastic first 50. My shoulders started to tighten up a bit heading into the 75, but nowhere near as badly as they did over the summer when I swam. Unfortunately, the turn at the 75 was a disaster. As I was bringing my feet in to the wall, both of my quads locked up. My legs locked into a bent position, and not only did I get almost no push off the wall, I don't think I kicked underwater. I came up right about the flags and I'm pretty sure my legs were deadweight for the whole last 25. My shoulders were on fire as they took on the full load, and I limped down the stretch. By the time I finally touched, I was in major pain. I couldn't fully straighten my legs, or bend them past about 90 degrees. I managed to pull myself out of the water and hobble back to the warmdown pool, but man, that was painful! In regards to the splits, I nailed the first 50, taking it out in a 30.02, but brought it back in an abysmal 35.20 for a 1:05.22. The first 50 felt phenomenal--I felt smooth and on cruise control, with my fly feeling better than it's felt in over a year. Except for my quads locking at the 75, I would like to think I would've been a 1:03, which would've been my fastest in-season time since Zones in 2013. So frustrating!
25 fly
Haha, this one was hilariously bad. I had really good reaction time off the block, but I entered the water a bit too deep and ended up completely misjudging how close I was to the surface for my breakout. Thought I had one more kick to get to the surface...and ended up coming to the surface still in full streamline. Oops. Lost most of my momentum on the non-existent *breakout* and couldn't make up for it. I went a 12.76, almost a half second slower than last year.
25 back
Didn't have any problems with slipping on the start, I just had a very anemic push (quads started hurting again), and then had problems getting any sort of speed with my dolphin kicks. Conversely, once I got to the surface, I actually felt like I had a good turnover. I went a 15.22, which is .6 slower than last year.
25 breast
This was the first time I'd done a full lap of breaststroke since screwing up my left knee last winter. Felt fine till the last two strokes, when my knee started to twinge. I went a 12.91, .3 slower than last year.
25 free
This time I went too shallow on the start (after a quad induced anemic start), and only got 4 dolphin kicks before surfacing, vs the 7-8 I normally do off the start on free races. Managed to hit the lane rope with my left hand, too, which was awesome. I went a 12.76, which was almost .5 off my time from last year.
All in all, I enjoyed the meet! Besides not being able to sprint backstroke and the unfortunate quad cramping issue, I'd say it was a pretty successful outing. I'm quite happy with my 100 free and the first 75 of my 100 fly. Good to know that even with no speed training and a less-than-ideal aerobic base, I've still got decent speed...at least in a 75 of fly... And the 100 free was a very pleasant surprise, so who knows, I might actually be able to do some free events this year and not make a complete fool of myself.
