AMYMSA Swim Meet

Race: Masters Swim Meet
Date: 23 February 2014
Location: Cranberry Township, Pa

Swim Meet at Cranberry YMCA
I swam 4 events and set 4 new personal bests. I feel very well accomplished and can’t wait to hit the pool tomorrow to build on this success.

Event #2: 100 Individual Medley
I lowered my personal best in this event by 0.93 seconds to 1:13.76. I started with a good dive and a strong butterfly. My butterfly-to-backstroke turn was especially good, as I did not surface for a while after the turn. Like usual, I was looking for the wall at the end of the backstroke segment and lost some momentum as I glided in. Breaststroke and freestyle segments seemed average. I was very pleased to have met and exceeded my goal for this race today, because I have been sick and skipped some training sessions this past week. In fact, my stomach felt a little weird going into this swim. Was this just a symptom of a body recovering from illness, or was it nervousness? Probably the latter because it went away after the swim. I cannot remember the last swim meet when I did NOT set a personal best, so having reached that benchmark so early in my day, I could relax a little.

Event #5: 100 Backstroke
I tried to stay relaxed for this event. In the past I have often sped through the first 50 yards, only to experience significant muscle fatigue during the second 50. So I purposely held back on the first 50. That’s a hard thing to do well, though, since if I go too slow…well, I would be going too slow. It seems like I did this perfectly today. My quadriceps were only slightly fatigued at the end of this swim, and I beat my previous personal best by 2.65 seconds to 1:19.92. Some of this improvement can also be attributed to a good (for me) start from the block with a streamlined glide and then a very good turn at the 25 yard mark (though Dan says I was still too close to the wall). I then overcompensated on the turn at the 75 yard mark, and nearly missed the wall completely. That’s a very awkward feeling; there is a moment when I am suspended under the water, bobbing upward but with hardly any forward motion.

Event #9: 200 Freestyle
Would my success hold up? Yes, it would. I swam this event in 2:33.10, cutting 5.01 seconds off my personal best. That’s more than a 5% improvement since December 1, 2013 when I last swam this event. I started with a too-deep dive but otherwise the swim felt strong and easy. I was paying close attention to my hand position under the water because Shannan had noticed something strange about that earlier in the meet. Whatever it was, it was less apparent during this swim, so in retrospect I am thankful she mentioned the potential problem. Several others at the meet said I swam well in this event (I had Lane 1, which was right in front of a row of spectators). I may have more ability to shave time off this swim in the near future; I was not tired enough after this swim, so I could have gone faster.

Event #10: 25 Breaststroke
I cut 0.12 seconds off my personal best, which isn’t all that much, but a win’s a win. I tried to make my dive shallower this time, since diving deep would cause me to waste some time trying to get to the surface. With breaststroke this is perhaps even more important because of the extended underwater glide. Anyway, I think my dive was good. I felt like I had good lower body propulsion but I may not have thrust my arms forward enough with each stroke. It is so tempting to increase the stroke rate while ignoring the value of increasing the distance traveled per stroke.

AMYMSA Swim Meet

Race: Masters Swim Meet
Date: 9 February 2014
Location: Franklin, Pa

AMYMSA Swim Meet in Franklin, Pa.
I had a great meet. I got three personal bests out of four swims. Most importantly, I am still on track for meeting my end-of-season goals. Let me set the stage: Last fall I had been swimming well enough at meets, but I was not improving to the degree that I was used to, nor what I knew I could accomplish. So in early January I worked with my coach to set some goals, with the realization that reaching those goals would require a commitment to pushing myself harder during practices. Today’s meet was my chance to test whether I was on track in the 50-yard butterfly event. My goal today was to set a personal best of 32.43 seconds, which would position me well to swim it in 31.5 seconds by the end of the season in April. Read on to see if I met today’s goal….

Event #2: 100 Individual Medley
My time was 1:14.69, which lowered my personal best by about half a second. My swim was not without flaws, since my back-breast turn was sloppy. But otherwise, this swim felt effortless to the point where I had to remind myself to swim faster. My backstroke felt particularly fast today. My stroke rate is often slower than my competitors due to my long arms, but I was easily keeping up with them. I elected to use the strength of each stroke propel me rather than quicken my turnover rate (this is a quality over quantity argument; I went with a stronger stroke rather than a faster stroke). My back-breast turn was poor because I initiated the turn too soon and found myself a bit on my stomach before reaching the wall. I would have been disqualified for that if anyone cared. My breaststroke segment felt good and I concentrated on a more rapid stroke rate in combination with good forward thrust of the arms. I saw no one in front of me during the breaststroke so I thought maybe all my competitors were behind me. I continued to think I was leading my heat during the freestyle segment. But at the end of the race I saw that fellow age-grouper Gary was on my left and had beat me by a second. I did not see him because I breathe on my right. We had a good chat after the race.

Event #4: 50 Butterfly
My time was 32.32, so yes, I beat my goal and set a new personal best. I had a fairly shallow dive and came to the surface a little sooner than I like. Also, I glided too much into the far wall; I should have taken another stroke to keep my momentum. But I was at least a body length ahead of everyone else in the pool and I can’t tell you how exciting that is. I knew this was going to turn out to be a great swim. After I got out of the pool, a particularly fast swimmer named Jim came over to me and gave me much encouragement. He said I had a powerful arm pull that carried me through the water (you will always be my friend if you compliment my upper body strength, which personally, I think is lacking). He said I could easily bring my time below 30 seconds with a couple changes to my swim. First, I should keep my head down. This advice surprised me, since I never really thought about my head position when I am not taking a breath (I only took 3 breaths in 50 yards). Second, my shoulder blades should pinch in the back as I bring my arms out of the water on the recovery. He didn’t say why this would be an improvement, but now that I think about it, I think this is just another way for me to thrust my chest forward, which is what my coach has been trying to get me to do.

Event #5: 100 Backstroke
I have this event on my list of things I like but it is far from my best event. My time was 1:22.57, which lowered my personal best by exactly 0.04 seconds. I did not expect to break this record because most recently I swam the event in 1:27.25. But in the water I felt really good. The roof rafters and flags were really passing me fast overhead. My turns were really quite good, too, which is a big improvement from last fall. I kicked like crazy to get me to the finish.

Event #8: 50 Backstroke
My personal best in this event is 36.54. I swam it today in 36.84. It took me a long time to recover from the 100 Back. My heart rate took a while to slow down and my quadriceps were hurting so bad that I walked with a limp. But somehow, at just the right moment, everything settled down and I jumped in the pool to start my 50 back. I still felt fast and my turn at the wall was pretty good. However, I misjudged where the wall was at the finish, so I turned on my side way too early…coasting, reaching, and eventually finding the touchpad with the grace and speed of a manatee. Before I was out of the water, John K. raised his voice and told me my finish sucked. Yep, that was true. He and I have a great relationship, so while this might have sounded harsh to people who don’t know us, I felt the love inside his rebuke. He wanted me to do well and I didn’t. Or at least, I didn’t do as well as I could have…because 36.84 was only 0.30 seconds off my best, and I would have beaten my time by a lot if I didn’t mess up the finish. Later, I was talking with Victor and he said I should work on my streamlining at the start: “Let your dive carry you farther before starting your stroke.” Then I watched an 80 year-old woman do exactly that. If she did it, I should do it. I should definitely start watching old ladies in the pool! (but seriously, thanks for the advice Victor).