Race:
1,650-yard freestyle swim (scy)
Date:
December 10, 2011
Location:
Greensburg, PA
Time: 27:42.78
Age Group Rank: 2 out of 2
This was my best time to date. Last year I did the 1650 in 29:30. This year I
figured I'd be faster so I put down 28:30. Beat it! I'm excited because I was
not swimming in top shape. I had not been in the pool for 10 days prior to this.
In fact I have not been working out since a week ago when I tore a muscle/tendon
in my neck. It went "pop" last Sunday and I've had pain, significant restriction
in movement, and fatigue ever since. Of course I've gotten a little better each
day, but this morning I still had these symptoms and I wasn't sure whether I
could swim at all.
The competition was in three heats. I sat at the end of a lane and counted
laps for my teammates during the first two heats. Between tasks I got a chance
to test out my neck. I got in an unused lane and started swimming. "Hey, I
thought, this is fine." But then I realized I hadn't taken a breath yet. So, I
snuck one between strokes and I was able to move my neck to do so, and there was
no pain. I finished swimming the lap and got out of the pool. At that point I
knew I could start the 1650 but I wasn't sure how long the pain-free period
would last.
I swam in the third heat. I started in the pool rather than diving in. I also
avoided flip-turns. I felt so slow and I wasn't sure where the other swimmers
were so I snuck a peak at the lane counters in the adjacent lanes and saw that
my competitors were swimming at the same pace--for instance, we all were on
length 21, and then later, we were all on length 36. I really couldn't believe
that I was keeping pace. I wasn't doing flip turns, I hadn't done anything
physically taxing in a week, and I was still slightly injured. Nevertheless, I
ended up beating a couple other folks in my heat (my good friend in the lane
next to me did beat me by 13 seconds), and I beat my seed time. I'm very
happy.
I'll also plan to have a stiffer neck tomorrow, as I know I forced it to work
harder than I probably should have. But nothing went 'pop' again, so at least I
didn't re-injure it to any large degree.
The only damper on the night was at the party where I played two lousy games
of pool (billards) and lost both times by a lot. This surprised me, as the last
time I played pool I remembered I had been pretty good. But then it dawned on me
that I had been playing against some folks who had consumed some alcohol, and
being the most sober person there, I was probably going to win even if I wasn't
that good.
