Race:
Master's Swim Meet
Date: 9 March 2014
Location:
Edinboro, PA
It finally happened, and it's ok. I swam in a swim meet and set no new
personal bests. Here is how it happened:
6:30AM I woke up in my hotel room
in Youngstown, OH.
7:00AM I ate a pancake with a huge quantity of syrup,
followed by a bowl of Frosted Flakes cereal.
9:00AM I was watching Shannan's
daughter at a district swim meet and I felt the thrill of competition. "I will
feel this way in a few hours when I swim," I said to myself. Meanwhile, my
stomach was hurting from the pure sugar I consumed at breakfast.
9:45AM I
get in my car and drive toward Edinboro, PA.
10:50AM I feel a great fatigue
come over me. It may be the "crash" that inevitably follows a sugary meal, or it
may be a tiredness that comes from a busy weekend and shift to daylight saving
time (though my fit-bit tells me I slept for 7 hours and 6 minutes, which isn't
that bad). Either way, I am drowsy enough to consider pulling into a rest stop.
I reject the idea, and keep going.
11:20AM I start my warmup in the pool. I
feel sluggish and there is a kink in my neck, but no big deal.
12:00PM I
swim in Event #2, the 100-yard freestyle. My time is around a second slower than
my personal best. "That's ok, I can't always out-perform myself," I say to
myself. But there is darkness inside me. I don't feel optimistic about my next
swims. In fact, I leave the pool and get a Pepsi from a vending machine. I chug
it down as fast as I can and joke to myself that the bubbles of carbonation will
help me float. I do not ingest caffeine daily. But I really wanted to boost my
mood and my performance. I hoped it would affect me in time for my next swims.
12:30PM I swim in Event #5: 100 yard breaststroke and swim about 2 seconds
slower than my personal best. I had a good dive and pull out, but I could tell
when I got to the opposite wall that I was not covering a lot of distance with
each stroke. I saw the wall coming up long, long before I actually reached it.
Gees, where is my power?! After my swim I reason with myself again: "You rarely
practice your breaststroke, so of course you didn't do as well today." That
argument made sense. I need to practice my breastroke more.
12:40PM Event #6
was the 50 yard freestyle. I swim as fast as I can. I concentrated on taking
long arm strokes and kicking hard. My calf muscle complained and I let up on the
kicking a bit in order to avoid a cramp. I was actually pleased that my time was
29.5 seconds. That is still a second slower than my personal best, but coming in
under 30 seconds meant I was still in the game.
1:00PM. I swim in my premier
event, the 200 individual medley. By "premier" I mean this is the event that
meant the most to me. I had a specific goal to reach for this event on this day.
My goal was 2:52.50, which was already several seconds faster than my personal
best, 2:53.99, set in January. I started the swim really well. My dive took me
deep into the water and I stayed there a while as I dolphin-kicked. I finally
surfaced around the middle of the pool length. I felt no anxiety, no
breathlessness doing the 50 yard butterfly segment, and I was keeping up with
the others in my heat. I did a nice fly-to-backstroke turn and maintained my
momentum and position for the next 50 yards. I gently hit the wall (literally)
at the end of my backstroke, and I heard my friend Dan go "oh!" (thanks Dan),
but I headed right into my breastroke to show everyone I was fine. But it was
here that I started to fall apart. I just couldn't find any power in my stroke,
and I got slower and slower. My freestyle segment was fine and I floored it
during the last 25 to try to recoup what time I had lost. But alas, I finished
in 2:58, several seconds slower than my goal.
1:15PM It is time for me to
leave. As I head down the stairs to the locker room, I realize my quadriceps are
so weak that I have trouble keeping upright. This wasn't a great swim meet for
me, but I am not discouraged. I look forward to championships next month!
