At the age of 30, and about ~50 pounds heavier than I was at the peak of my swimming career in high school, I had my best meet ever last weekend!
I wasn't able to go to Nationals this spring, so Zones became my shave/taper meet of the season. Since January, I've averaged 6-7 practices a week (3-4 in the morning, 3 in the evenings on my own), which is a level of training I haven't hit since my first season on the team back in '11-'12. It's definitely paid off! I've been able to hit intervals in practice I haven't hit since high school, and my overall endurance and speed is way up from the past few years.
During the 7 meets I did this season before Zones, my swims were overall trending quite positive. I had a few less-than-satisfactory swims, but by and large, I was hitting typical shaved/tapered end-of-season times at random in season meets.
Going into Zones, I wanted to make sure I didn't do what I've tended to do in the past, which is overload myself with individual events and max out on relays. A perfect example of that was Zones a few years ago--over the course of Saturday and Sunday, I swam a total of 9 individual events and 8 relays, which was an epic disaster! This time around, I swam 7 individual events (counting the 1000 on Friday) and 7 relays. With the combination of spreading the event load over three days and my being in significantly better shape, I didn't crash and burn at all! I had a couple swims that weren't as stellar as I was hoping for, but this still stands as my best meet ever.
Friday
1000 free
I haven't done the 1000 since I was 16 or 17. Just to make it clear up front, I don't like distance. I *can* do distance, but I don't have the patience for it and it bores me, and I don't train for it in practice. That being said, this was a complete throwaway event. My three goals were to break 12:30 (that's a 1:15 pace per 100), not embarrass myself, and not kill myself for the rest of the meet. It was a surprisingly good swim! I stayed in cruise control till the last 50, only doing flutter kick off the walls and pretty much not kicking on the surface, and I finished the race without feeling tired in the slightest, feeling like I'd just finished a 1000 pull. I went a 12:10 and think I could easily shave off another 15-20 seconds, if not more, if I ever decide to swim it again.
Saturday
100 free
I'd set my flat start MPR of 56.51 in this event last spring, leading off the 400 free relay at Nationals. I usually only do the 100 free a couple times a season, and have usually been in the 56-57 range. Last month, I did the 100 at a short course meters meet and my time converted to a high 55. After that swim, I decided to see what I could do at Zones. I don't train for free in general, and definitely don't train for sprint free (or sprints of any stroke, for that matter), so I just wanted to see what I could go. It was great! I was about 6 inches too far from the wall on two of the three turns, but everything else was about as good as I can remember ever doing in the 100. I went a 54.65, which blows my previous MPR out of the record and puts me in contention with my lifetime PR of 54.4! I'm very happy with how my first "real" event of the meet turned out, and am considering adding it to my event rotation for next year.
200 mixed medley relay
I swam the fly leg on this relay. Remember what I said earlier about not training sprint free? Well, I hadn't done the 50 fly in well over a year and haven't done a lick of fly speed training in practice in probably 2 years. As soon as I started swimming, I could tell! Stroke tempo felt awful, I felt completely out of whack compared to the slower tempo I'm used to in the 100 and 200 fly. That being said, I split a 26.3, which is my 2nd fastest Masters time. I'll take it!
200 IM
IMs in general are another event I don't train for--I train for the individual strokes (well, fly, back, and breast, not so much when it comes to free). The 200 IM has been a bit of a nemesis over the past few years--I went a 2:19 at my first Zones in 2012, but didn't get back under 2:20 till January, when I went a 2:19.9. In fact, my most recent 200 IM prior to January was a 2:25 I did in January 2015. My one goal was to beat the 2:19 from 2012. I did it quite well! I went a 2:15.2, and almost all of the time improvement came on the back half. My breast and free were both a bit over 2 seconds faster than on both of my 2:19 performances, which is great, since that's historically where my IMs have fallen apart, even back in the day.
200 breast
This was the first of the two events I was most looking forward to at this meet. I've spent the past two years improving my breaststroke, putting lots of time and effort into it in practice to try and have it not be such a drag like it used to be back in the day. I had a great 200 breast last spring at Nationals and got to within 4 seconds of my LPR of 2:32.51, so my goal this time was to try and go sub-3:35. I blew that goal out of the water! I crashed and burned pretty bad on the last 35 yards or so, but I broke my LPR and went a 2:32.50! Only a .01 drop, but that's the first "real" LPR I've broken as a Masters swimmer! I broke my 50 fly LPR in 2012, but I don't really count that one, since I only swam the 50 fly a handful of times as a teenager, always at one of the first meets of the season, coming off the break after long course. I was ecstatic with how this turned out! My goal for next year is to aim for 2:30. I think if I can clean up that last 50, it's definitely within reach.
800 free relay
This was about 20-25 minutes after the 200 breast and I was still hurting. Energy level was low and my left bicep and pec were really tight from the 200 breast, so I didn't expect much going in. I still went a 2:04.5, which is only .2 off my flat start MPR from last Nationals. I'm now very interested to see what I can do in the 200 free without all the other stuff going on, and think I could hit a 2:02 or better. My LPR is a 2:00 and change, so I'm not that far off!
400 medley relay
This was about 10-15 minutes after the 800 free relay and I was dragging by this point. I wasn't in pain at all, but man, I was tired! I led off the relay and knew I wouldn't be able to throw down a great 100 time, so rather than crashing and burning, I decided to swim it like the first 100 of the 200 back. In that aspect, it wasn't bad at all--I went a 1:05.2, which is right at what I wanted to take the 200 out in.
Sunday
100 IM
My MPR going into this meet was a 1:01.5 from 2012 Nationals, and besides going a 1:01.7 at 2013 Nationals, I hadn't broken a 1:02.7 since then. Back in January, I went a 1:02.9, so my goal for this meet was just to break 1:02. I went a 1:01.42, a new MPR! My back to breast crossover turn was too long (I was about half a stroke too far out at the flags, so I had to lengthen my last couple of strokes to be able to execute it), but the rest was good. I'll take it!
400 mixed medley relay
I swam the fly leg on this relay. My goal was just to put up a respectable time, I still had two individual events and three relays to go after this one. I put up a 1:01.2, which isn't a bad time at all, in my top 5 Masters times. I cruised it and bungled the finish pretty badly (thought I was about a stroke closer to the wall than I actually was...which led the next swimmer to dive early, DQing us...oops).
200 mixed free relay
This was 5-10 minutes after the 400 medley relay, and I'd had all of a 75 to warm down. Wasn't feeling great, but threw down a 25.00 with a bad relay start and a slightly off-target turn. As a flat start, that would've put it as my second fastest Masters 50 (just behind my 24.9 from 2012 Nationals), and I think it's my fastest relay start, back to back with another relay, to boot!
100 breast
This was my other main focus event, besides Saturday's 200 breast. I really, really wanted to do well on it and see if my 1:09.1 relay split from a 400 medley relay in February was a fluke, since my fastest Masters flat start was a 1:11.3 (and my 5 fastest Masters times were all 1:11s!). I had some trouble on the first 50 getting my stroke rate up, but ironed it out for the second 50. I was utterly shocked when I saw the time! 1:07.99, nearly 3.5 seconds faster than my MPR, and almost .75 faster than my LPR of 1:08.6! I was completely flabbergasted, my highest hope had been to break 1:10 going into the meet! The biggest improvement came on the back half--while my first 50 was about a second faster than usual, the second 50 was almost 2.5 seconds faster than the norm. I'll absolutely take it!
200 back
This was my last individual event of the meet and one that I was totally unsure of how'd I'd do in. I haven't trained much back at all this year, and haven't really done so in 2 years. I'd thrown down a 2:19 in the 200 in January, which was my fastest in-season, non-2013-backstroke-season time, and threw down a 1:01 in the 100 back in March, which was my fastest in-season time, so I was just curious to see how I'd do. I paced the race poorly, started with too strong a kick and paid for it on the back half, but pulled out a 2:17.7, which is my 2nd fastest Masters time. All that said, my splits weren't terrible, out in a high 1:05, back in a high 1:11.
400 free relay
Despite being 20-30 minutes after the 200 back, my legs were still toast. I went second on the relay and gave it my best shot, but I didn't have much left to give right then. Still, I busted out a 55.8, which was still well under my previous MPR, so it wasn't a bad swim at all.
200 medley relay
Less than 10 minutes after the previous relay, I got back up to lead off our relay. I threw down a 28.8 in the 50 back, which is my 3rd fastest 50 back as a Masters swimmer, with the two faster times coming from Nationals in 2013 and 2016, when I hadn't swum 13 events in the previous 48 hours. I'll take it, I thought I would've been lucky to crack 29.5 with how I was feeling!
Overall
All in all, this was a phenomenal meet! While I wish some swims had been even better than they were, I didn't have a single bad event, and managed to take down two LPRs that I hadn't thought were even close to within reach this year, one of which I hadn't thought was in reach at all. Definitely the best meet I've ever had, either as an age group swimmer or as an adult.
Looking forward to next season
Looking forward to next year, I really want to hammer the breaststroke training! I'm in uncharted territory now, and know I still have plenty to work on in breast. Who knows where I will finally top out, but my next goals are 31.5/1:06.5/2:30. I also want to get back to working on backstroke--it's still my favorite stroke, but I've neglected it the past few years to focus on fly and, to a much lesser extent, breast. I'd like to get back down to the 2:12 I went in the 200 in 2013. For fly, I'm not going to focus exclusively on the 200 anymore. I've swum it 13 times in the past few years and have topped out at a 2:22. I'll continue to swim it at meets from time to time, but I'm going to be spending too much time on other strokes in training to really devote myself to that event. I'd also like to actually add the 50/100/200 into my event lineup rotations at meets. I'm quite pleased with how I did in them this season and think I could get down to my LPRs if I spend more time working on them at practice. I will be doing the 200 free at a meet in May to see what I can do when I'm rested, and would love to hit a 2:02. Beyond that, I'd like to hit 24.5/54.0/2:00.
Beyond all of that, I want to continue training the amount I am. I don't want to go through this cycle any more where I get in shape for Nationals, then stop swimming more than 1-2 times per week during the summer and fall and pack on the pounds, then cut (most of) the weight in the spring. I cut down from 211 to 188 as of last week, and want to stay in the 180-190 range. And I really want to keep the time in the pool. During the summer, sure, I'll cut down a bit, but my goal is 4 practices a week. Once we go back indoors in the fall, I want to kick it back up to the 6-7 practices per week from the start, and really put the work in to have next season capitalize on this season's many successes.
