Debrief on yesterday's meet

Having now had a day to think about the meet yesterday, I'm lightly revising my initial impression of it.

Specifically, I'm actually happier with both events than I was yesterday, though that doesn't change the fact that both were slow.

100 back

BLUF: Decent time, awful race execution.

The pool at UMBC is only a bit over 3.5' deep at the start end, which is not ideal for my type of starts--I typically go deep on both my dive and back starts, usually probably somewhere around 5' deep, so the shallow depth put a crimp on my start. I briefly touched the bottom with my first kick off the start and then had a bit of trouble getting up to the surface since my angle of attack was not the normal one. I've been working on surfacing at 10 butterfly kicks, but in the race I came up at 14.

That extra few kicks had downstream impacts--I think it directly contributed to my screwed up stroke count on the first turn, and had oxygen debt issues towards the back end of the race, compounded by my other issues. 

On the first turn, I flipped almost a full stroke too far out from the wall and touched with my legs, while not completely straight, substantially straighter than ideal and just made contact with the balls of my feet. In an attempt to make up for the lacking turn, I added 3 additional kicks (I did 9 kicks vs my target of 6) before surfacing and did those kicks harder than normal to try and make up for the weak push.

On the second turn, I just plain screwed up my stroke count. It wasn't like the first turn where I was just in the wrong place for my stroke count, I just flat out flipped a stroke too early. Same thing happened with that turn as happened with the first turn--straight legs, weak push, extra kicks (though only 6 kicks vs my target of 5 for the turn), and harder kicks.

The third turn was right on--nailed my stroke count and flipped at the right time, which let me hit the wall right where I wanted and get a good push. On the other hand, the oxygen debt from the botched start and botched first two turns hit me with a vengeance then. I only did 4 kicks vs my target 5, and was sucking wind from the breakout. Legs died within a few strokes and then arms died shortly thereafter.

Thinking about it, I think that shutdown was caused more by oxygen debt than just poor stamina on my part. Stamina was definitely a part of it, but an extra 8, harder than normal, underwater kicks is roughly equivalent to another 10-12 yards underwater with the shape I'm in right now, which isn't negligible!

I'm also someone who tends to have a significant difference in how I swim back with a tech suit vs a practice speedo. The tech suit changes my hip and body alignment, typically allowing me to get 3-5 feet further underwater given the same amount of kicks, and the quad compression makes a huge difference on the feeling of my quads falling apart at the end of a 100.

If I'd swum a smart race and nailed my start and turns, I think my 1:07 probably would've been a 1:06 or 1:05 purely from not going into serious oxygen debt and shutting down at the end. Add a tech suit in there as I've worn for every other 100 back I've raced, and that probably would've been good for another second, down in the 1:04/1:05 range.

Looking at my 20+ 100 back races over the past decade or so and comparing states of training, this swim correlates most closely with my usual early season races in the October/November timeframe. Looking at my most recent early season 100 back, from October 2019, the last season I trained for back, I was a 1:04 at that meet, which tracks pretty well with what I did yesterday, adjusted for all the poor choices on my part.

100 breast

I'm not going to go into anywhere remotely as much detail on this one. The 1:18 I went was just darn slow, but while I was swimming it it felt like I was swimming a solid first 100 of a 200. Not a great pullout off the dive due to the shallowness there, but besides that it was solid all around. My stroke felt strong, smooth, and in control, and my other three pullouts were solid.

I just didn't have any of the top end speed I need for a 100. Comparing this swim to other early season swims, the most comparable early season 100 was probably from all the way back in 2015 (I started training specifically for the 100 and 200 breast in the 2016-2017 season, so since I'm not doing any breast training, I'm looking at my last pre-breast focus season), where I went a 1:12. Even throwing a tech suit on, I'd be surprised if I'd have gone faster than a 1:16 yesterday, which just means my breast is darn slow right now.

At least it means the 100 breast is decidedly not on the table for Nats! 😁

The state of my training and possible event lineups for Nats

Update on my training

This has been an odd season for training. Heck, my training has been off ever since last April when Alaina and I went to Puerto Rico. A combination of taking a break a few weeks before Nats in San Antonio last April, then being mentally burned out and barely swimming over the summer, then still being burned out in the fall, plus getting the chest tattoo and the requisite time out of the water for it to heal after each session, plus still dealing with the lingering after effects of burnout (for me those effects were total lack of motivation in the water, disinterest in getting up for AM practice, desire to just take it easy instead of pushing it in practice, and total lack of guilt for skipping practice for a week or more)...

The long and short of it is that I didn't start "training" training till February! Sure, I was swimming before then, but it was generally just a couple of times a week, if that, and I didn't really push it that hard in practice.

Anyways, since late last month I've been swimming regularly and am on track to get back to 6-8 practices per week starting next week, with this week being my first week of hitting all 5 weekday AM practices. I'm no longer dealing with burnout, I'm motivated in the water, and I'm pumped to be training again! I think I can realistically maintain this training velocity through Nats at the end of April.

On the plus side, with a few weeks of legit training under my belt, I'm pretty happy with my endurance in the water. Despite how much time I've been out of the water since last April, my endurance is tracking pretty closely to where I'd typically be at this point of the season. My speed, on the other hand...hasn't been great. That said, there have been flickers of actual speed here and there!

Yesterday we did a two person 500 backstroke relay, trading off by 50. I went :32, :33, :34, :34, and :34. Till yesterday, a :34 has been the fastest single 50 back I've hit in practice, so for me to have two that were faster than that, plus holding that pace for three consecutive 50s, all on less than :40r between 50s, is a great sign of progress being made in the right direction. Ideally, if I were to do that set again in mid/late April, I'd want to shave off :1-2 from each of those 50s, but for right now it's great.

My main set this morning was a long pull set. 300, 4x25 fast, 250, 4x25, 200, 4x25, 150, 4x25, 100, 4x25, 50, and 4x25. The 25s were all on :30, while the rest was just leaving on the next :30/:00, with the 300>50 being descend. I did paddles for the longer stuff, no paddles for the 25s. In my descend, I got the 100 down to a 1:11 and the 50 down to a :33. I'm pretty sure that 50 is just :1 off my best paddles pull time, and that 100 is right there, too! Given that I'd also done 5x200 pull before the main set and my shoulders and lats were tight and sore, I'm quite happy with those times.

All of that is to say that there are glimmers of speed and that my current training is pushing me in the right direction, by all indications. I wouldn't want to go to Nats this weekend, or at least I wouldn't want to go this weekend and set my typically high standards for my swims, but I'm quite happy with my training velocity and direction right now.

Potential event lineups for Nats

Ooh boy, this is a bit tricky. I'd gone into the fall thinking I'd train for the 100/200 free, 50/100 fly, and 100/200 back. On the other hand, I also really like the 100 and 200 IM, and after the 200 IM debacle in San Antonio, I kinda want to try to redeem myself in that event. On top of that, my breast has felt surprisingly decent in practice--my BR times haven't been there, of course, but the stroke itself has felt surprisingly decent, so the 100 BR is potentially on the table. The problem is that all that adds up to 9 events, and you can only swim a maximum of 6 events. Given that nearly 1300 swimmers have already signed up for the meet with a month left to go before the entry deadline, I'm guessing there's a pretty good chance that people will only be allowed to swim 5 events instead of the normal 6. The 100 free, 200 free, and 100 back are the only events that I'm definitely doing, with the other events all vying for the final 2 or 3 slots.

I've got 3 meets, possibly 4, between now and the entry deadline, so my goal is to get through most of those potential events and see how I comparatively stack up in each one. I came into this season not planning to do any breast, but if it turns out it's actually legit this season and is comparatively better than another stroke/event on the list, then I'll just suck it up and swim it at Nats.

My first meet in this sprint to Nats is this weekend, where I'm doing the 100 back and 100 breast. I hadn't planned on doing any breast at meets this season, but with the order of events at that meet and my breast feeling decent lately, it's the only one that works out besides the 100 back, and I'm not going to a meet to only swim one event, so 100 breast it is.

So, all that said, here are my potential lineups at Nats, depending on which events I decide to do. I'm keeping myself to no more than 2 events per day, so that also complicates things given the order of events at Nats. Day 3 is locked in, it's the event lineups for Day 1 and 2 that have several potential variations.

• Day 1 potential lineups
• Option 1: 200 IM, 100 free
• Option 2: 200 back, 100 free
• Option 3: 100 breast, 100 free
• Day 2 potential lineups
• Option 1: 100 fly, 100 IM
• Option 2: 100 fly, 50 back
• Option 3: 100 IM, 50 back
• Day 3 lineup
• 100 back, 200 free

Frankly, beside the 100 back and 100/200 free, I haven't a clue what the rest of my event lineup will be. I threw the 50 back in there as an option just because of the :32 I went in practice yesterday, but unless I magically turn into a sprint backstroker over the next month, I doubt it's really going to make the short list. The 100 back on Sunday will indicate how I'm doing in it, obviously, but will also serve as a somewhat indicative proxy for the 200 back and 50 back as options. 'Nuff said about the 100 breast. 

Across the potential 4 meets before the entry deadline, I could theoretically knock out every single potential event and pick my 2-3 extra events besides the 100/200 free and 100 back from those swims based on meet results.

Honestly, regardless how it all shakes out, I'm just happy to be consistently back in the water, training hard, and finally motivated again!