I swam at short course Nats last week and it was definitely a mixed bag!
Like for most folks, this was a weird training cycle, though for me it wasn't just the covid related pool closures. I've had off and on shoulder issues for the past 4-5 years, initially with my right shoulder and for the past 2 years, my left shoulder. It's been diagnosed as micro-tears in the labrum on both sides and, while pretty constant on the left side, got really bad in the January/February timeframe.
I had been training heavily up to that point, hitting 6 practices per week or so, but dropped down to just 2-3 per week, then tapered off to 1-2 per week with some weeks not getting in the water at all. I went to the doctor and got a prescription for rest and PT exercises, so I effectively twiddled my thumbs for several months, not starting to really "train" train again till May.
Even when I started hitting it again in late May, I still eased into it and never got back to the heavy training intensity I had pre-break.
Anyways, that's all just to say that my training wasn't the same this cycle as it normally is and my conditioning wasn't remotely in the same ballpark it usually is going into Nats. Usually I train heavy from September-April and then taper into Nats in late April/early May, while knocking out 8-10 meets throughout the season before Nats. This time around I had nothing more than a couple intrasquad practice meets and effectively started tapering in February and held the taper through July, which, uh, didn't go as well as you might think. 😁
That aside, here's the recap of the meet!
Friday Events
100 IM
From a technique standpoint, this was a trash race. I had had major issues nailing my breakouts in warmup, I presume due to just being rusty racing and going off the blocks, and started my breakout too far underwater. Besides that, it was great through the flags heading into the back-breast turn. I flat out had a complete brainfart and had no idea what race I was swimming, whether I was swimming a backstroke race, in the middle of the backstroke leg in the 200 IM, or if I was heading into the back-breast turn in the 100 IM. I effectively lost all speed there for a couple seconds as I frantically figured out what I was doing, but thankfully figured it out! After that dumpster fire of a turn, the rest of the race went well.
Honestly, given the poor breakout and atrocious back-breast turn, this was actually quite a respectable swim. I went a 1:02.10, which is my 5th fastest Masters time. I went a 1:00.59 at 2018 Nats, but besides that time my best is a 1:01.42. If I'd had a better breakout and hadn't pissed away so much time at the back-breast turn, I think I probably could have hit a low 1:01/high 1:00. My splits were 29.13 and 32.97. Comparatively speaking, in that 1:00.59 swim, my splits were 27.71 and 32.88. I probably left at least a second in the first 50 with the breakout and back-breast turn. I'd have loved to get my 25 splits to see how they compared!
There's the race video. I'm in lane 1 at the top of the screen. If it doesn't start at the right timestamp, my race is at 18:00. The slowdown going into the back-breast turn is *slightly* noticeable... 😬
100 Free
Like in the 100 IM, I blew the breakout and started my first stroke way too deep. Besides that, it felt like a pretty good race through the 75 and then I just totally shut down on the last lap. I definitely don't think I took it out too fast, which has caused plenty of meltdowns for me in the past, but I had spent most of Thursday on my feet at the zoo and science center with Alaina and Rhys, so I'm sure that was some sort of factor.
My splits were 26.19 and 29.83 for a 56.02. That is my 4th fastest Masters time, with my fastest being a 54.65 (with splits of 26.05 and 28.60) from 2017 Zones. I did the 100 free at one of our intrasquad practice meets earlier in the season and was a 56.59, so it's slightly disappointing to have only dropped half a second from what was effectively a random Saturday practice to Nats.
There's the race video. I'm in lane 6. If it doesn't start at the right timestamp, my race is at 2:05.30. Huh, the video doesn't look as bad as it felt!
Saturday Events
100 Fly
This was one of my worst 100 flys from a technique/performance standpoint, though the time wasn't too atrocious at my 10th fastest out of 23 Masters swims.
I actually hit my breakouts this time, but went too deep off the start and first turn, which resultingly took me one extra kick to get to the surface off both. I felt easy and cruised through the 65y mark or so, then started tightening up going into the 75 turn and utterly imploded on the last 15y or so. Shoulders and legs died and I went vertical, but at least I kept my breathing pattern! The last time I'd swum the 100 fly prior to this was at a meet in December 2019 and I felt much better in that race despite having swum it about 7 minutes after swimming the 200 free.
I went a 28.50 and 34.55 for a 1:03.05. Comparatively, my splits were 28.80 and 34.15 in that December 2019 swim. My last "good" Masters time before that was from March 2017 and I was 27.96 and 32.85 for a 1:00.81. Given how my splits were better in 2019 right after a 200 free, and I fluctuate taking my 100 fly out in anywhere from a 27.5 to a 28.7, I'm gonna chalk this one up to just a lack of conditioning vs pacing the race wrong.
Here's the race video, I'm in lane 6. It starts at 11:38 if the video doesn't take you there automatically.
200 IM
This was the first race I was happy about. I had a series of technique issues throughout, but finally nailed the start and breakout, after botching them on my previous 3 races. I had a whole slew of water inhalation issues on the backstroke leg that led me to losing speed on both the back and breast legs, but my pacing was solid (albeit slow across the board) and I didn't crash and burn like I'd done on the 100 free and 100 fly.
My splits were 30.03, 35.77, 42.59, and 34.06 for a 2:22.45. The overall time is dirt slow as my 13th fastest out of 18 Masters 200 IM swims, including a 2:21.39 at one of the intrasquad practice meets this season, but I didn't die! Compared to my 200 IM at 2019 Nats, my splits then were 28.05, 34.57, 40.03, and 32.22 for a 2:14.87. Absolutely nothing to write home about, but at least it was not a meltdown.
Here's the race video, I'm in lane 6. It starts at 1:23.40 if the video doesn't take you there automatically.
Sunday Events
200 Free
Timewise, this wasn't a great swim, but I was quite happy with it! From a pacing standpoint, I just about nailed it--no shenanigans with crashing and burning, no real technique failures despite some wake water inhalation midway through the race.
My splits were 28.69, 31.49, 32.78, 32.85 for 2:05.81. That time isn't all that bad! It's my 5th fastest out of 12 Masters races, with my 2:01.72 at 2019 Nats being the only swim under 2:03, and with one 2:03 and two 2:04s also faster than my time just now. Looking at my 2:01 from 2019 Nats, my splits then were 27.44, 30.35, 31.87, 32.06 for 2:01.72. Looking at the 2:03 I went in December 2019 (the 200 that was just a few minutes before the aforementioned 100 fly), my splits then were 28.52, 30.93, 31.71, 32.04. At least I'm in the ballpark this time around, with the slowdown being pretty consistent across the 50s.
Here's the race video, I'm in lane 8 at the top of the screen. It starts at 17:10 if the video doesn't take you there automatically.
100 Breast
I'd originally planned to pace this one appropriately, but while waiting behind the blocks due to a starting snafu a few heats ahead of mine, I decided to say eff it and just take it out fast and try to hold on as best as I could. I haven't done any real breaststroke training this cycle, either before or after the shoulder break, so I had no real expectations for how this would go. I'd gone a 1:12.53 at one of the intrasquad practice meets, but besides that hadn't raced one since early 2019, at which point I'd been a 1:09.92.
Oh, I totally crashed and burned at the end, as to be expected for taking it out in a sprint, but the time was decent! I split 32.22 and 38.88 for a 1:11.10, which isn't *that* bad of a time for me. It was my 7th fastest out of 21 Masters swims. Looking at that 2019 swim, my splits were 32.27 and 37.65. Looking at my lifetime PR from 2017, my splits then were 32.32 and 35.67, so my opening speed is good right now, but I don't have the back end, which is pretty much to be expected given my comparative lack of conditioning this cycle.
Here's the race video, I'm in lane 8 at the top of the screen. It starts at 1:10.00 if the video doesn't take you there automatically.
Overall Thoughts
I knew going into this meet that it wasn't going to be as good as my Nats usually are, what with the shoulder issues and comparative lack of conditioning, but I was surprised at how variably my events were affected. 100 IM was theoretically right in the ballpark, 200 free was close, 100 breast was close-ish, but the 200 IM, 100 free, and 100 fly were all off. I was also just rusty! Having not done a real meet in 17 months was quite apparent--breakout issues galore, just general rustiness overall in racing, my starts were pretty pitiful for the first few races (though I was happy with them on both the 200 free and 100 breast), etc.
I'm satisfied with how it went overall, though. Sure, none of the times were what I'd really hoped for, but I love racing and it was great to be back at a real meet.
Looking forward, I've got long course Nats coming up in October in Ohio, then there should be at least a few local meets before short course Nats in the spring in San Antonio, so hopefully getting back in the swing of regular racing, not to mention hopefully no more shoulder malarkey, will set me up well for San Antonio!
