AMYMSA Swim Meet

Race: Masters Swim Meet, scy
Date: March 3, 2013
Location: Indiana, Pa.

I had a good swim meet at Indiana University but not not exemplary. I swam the 400 IM, 50 backstroke, 25 freestyle, and 50 butterfly.

Event #1: 400 Individual Medley
Time: 6:46.44
Age Group Rank: 3 out of 3

My seed time was 6:45.00 so I feel pretty good about my swim. I had never swam the 400 IM at a meet so there was some extra excitement and nerves going into the race. I felt my right oblique muscle tense up and my left toe cramp as I watched the heat of swimmers ahead of me. Oh boy, I thought, I hope I'll be OK. There is always some inner drama when I am competing! The swim itself was OK but not great. My butterfly segment felt easy until I swallowed water at yard 20 and spent the remaining 70 yards trying to clear my airway. I know this description makes it sound serious, but it wasn't. I've swallowed water lots of times and it's never pleasant but I swim through it. Still, it always distracts for the rest of the race. My backstroke turns were terrible, and by the time I was doing breaststroke I felt weak in the arms (but strangely, not very tired). My breaststroke turns and pull-outs were half-hearted. I even did an open turn during the freestyle segment. In sum, I swam this to get it done. Even so, I swam this faster than I ever did in practice.

Event #2: 50 Backstroke
Time: 38.28
Age Group Rank: 2 out of 2

My time was about 2 seconds slower than my best time. That's not a good swim! But I only feel that way in hindsight. It felt good in the water. I think the problem was my start. The official was running the heats super fast and I felt rushed. The start tone surprised me, so I got a late start. In my head I like to "play a tape" of me swimming each race before I actually do it. It's an imaging thing that helps me prepare. I didn't have the chance to do that with this event.

Event #3: 25 Freestyle
Time: 13.29
Age Group Rank: 3 out of 3

This was actually my best event of the day because I set a personal best. I was a little angry that I hadn't met my goals in the previous two events, so I plunged through this with every ounce of desire.

Event #4: 50 Butterfly
Time: 34.00
Age Group Rank: 4 out of 4

This might be my favorite event in swimming but I felt tired by this point. My stroke was good but not especially strong. My arms didn't pull as much water as I know they are capable of. I think I took three breaths, an improvement from the five I took last time. My turn was late and too close to the wall. And speaking of the wall, I have finally figured out why my turns are so bad at swim meets in comparison to practices at my home pool. My home pool's walls are of a different design and in "away" pools I get disoriented about where to put my hands during breaststroke, butterfly, and IM turns. That doesn't explain my poor backstroke turns, though. I'm just bad with estimating my position as I approach.