Masters Swim Champs 2019

I’ve had trouble with motivation the last 6 months, so my running, biking, weight-training, and swim training have all been less than normal. I started the weekend knowing I was not in top condition, but I still had hope for some good swims because I started taking my swim training more seriously in the last month. I did a lot of sprints to get my body used to swimming fast. Based on my results, it seems that even if I did wait until the last minute (figuratively) to get into shape, it worked! I am lucky. Here’s the rundown:

 

SATURDAY

Event #4, 100-yard Individual Medley

I had not swum this event in competition since Oct 2017, and I can’t remember the last time I actually practiced it. I had no expectation for this swim, so I told myself it was just for fun. However, I didn’t want to be embarrassed, so I decided to practice it three times about 90 minutes before my start. It didn’t feel good. My arms felt tired. Anyway, during the actual race I think my dive was fine but I forgot to streamline underwater before starting the butterfly stroke. Then on backstroke, my legs sank for half the pool length. By the time I got to the freestyle segment I was finally hitting my stride, and I powered to the finish. My finish time was 1:15.23, which was 5% slower than my personal best. I was pleased with this, as I had predicted a slower swim.

 

Event #6, 50-yard Butterfly

I always try to visualize my performance on the starting block before the starting beep. I had planned to concentrate on three things in this swim: a good dive, limiting myself to just 2 breaths, and stretching out my arms with each stroke. Unfortunately, I was distracted on the starting bock by the fact that I grabbed the wrong pair of goggles. I had on my older pair, and while there is nothing wrong with them, the inadvertent change in plans caused me to lose concentration. I dove well, surfaced, and then skimmed across the water. I was thinking about when I should take my first breath and then suddenly I was at the wall. I just wasn’t thinking ahead and because my goggles were fogged up, I didn’t see the black warning markers at the bottom of the pool. In mid-stroke at the last possible moment, I saw the wall and made a very awkward turn. My finish time was 32.35 seconds, my season’s best time, but 8% slower than my historical best time. Besides the poor turn, I totally forgot to increase my arm reach with each stroke, so that’s how I can improve next time.

 

Event #11, 200-yard Freestyle

I was fairly optimistic about this swim. I had practiced it at the YMCA all month, working on my flip turns, contracting my abs to keep a better streamline, and pacing myself so as not to tire out before the end. I had Coach Josh give me some pointers on my start and turns, and I think that helped. My dive was great and I felt strong with my stroke. However, I had two turns that were pretty bad. I turned too soon and didn’t have enough foot contact with the wall to push off with much momentum. Even so, I saw that my nearest competitors were well behind me. At my finish, I looked around and saw I had won my heat, having swum more than 11 seconds faster than I expected. I set a new personal best at 2:26.30, which was 1.15 seconds faster than the record I set a year ago at Spire. I know I have an even faster time in me. I could probably have gone a second faster with better turns, and after looking at photos that Arianne took of me during this swim, I see that my head comes out of the water a little too much during my breaths.

 

 

 

Event #12, 25-yard Breaststroke

This was actually my best shot at setting a new personal best because I’ve never swam this event at Spire before. The pool at Spire is state-of-the-art and helps swimmers achieve their best times. Anyway, I had a mediocre swim, finishing in 17.46 seconds, 3% slower than my personal best. I used to have a strong kick, but it didn’t feel that way today.

 

 

SUNDAY

Event #17, 100-yard Freestyle

Based on my swim season this year, I thought maybe I could set a personal best time today because my season’s best (1:06.23) was only 4% slower than my personal best time (1:03.57). At a pool like Spire, improving by 4% or more is certainly possible. My plan was to start with a great dive by pulling my hips up high on the block and taking full advantage of the angled wedge of the block; not to breathe until after the first turn; and kick rapidly during the last 50 yards. I carried this plan out to the letter. I finished in 1:01.59, setting a new personal best and coming in 7% faster than I had all season long. I was elated. Before today I would never have thought the 1:00 threshold could be broken (by me). But now I’m really close. Maybe I’ll do it next year!

 

Event #21, 50-yard Freestyle

Going into today, my season’s best time was 28.73 seconds, more than 6% slower than my personal best set at Spire in 2017 (27.00). Before this meet, I really did expect something around 28.00 seconds, but I thought 27.00 was out of reach. This expectation was reinforced just before my race when Shannan told me that during my 100-yard freestyle, my first split had been 28-point-something. “Yeah, that seems about right,” I thought. So on the block I thought about all the things I would have to do perfectly in order to beat 27.00 seconds, and the list just seemed too long. A short-distance race like this one is unforgiving if one makes an error like a dive that’s too deep, a bad turn, an extra breath, or a lazy punch of the pad at the end. At the beep, I plunged in and went as fast as I could. Everything seemed to go well. At the end, I knew I had done my best. I looked timidly at the timing board to see my result. It read 27.08 seconds. I smiled. I was happy with that. I didn’t deserve anything faster. But next year, maybe I will with more regular training.

 

Event #23, 50-yard Breaststroke

The last swim of a meet is rarely my best, and the relatively poor showing in my 25-yard Breaststroke the day before didn’t help my mood. Nevertheless, I feel good about my start and turns during this swim. It’s just the strokes in between that didn’t seem to have a lot of power and glide. Midway through, I attempted to improve my arm pull because it seemed my arms weren’t grabbing the water as much as they could. But the good kick I sometimes have just didn’t materialize. I finished in 38.86 seconds, an improvement of 1.47 seconds from my season’s best time, but still more than 4.5% slower than my all-time personal best of 37.15 swum at Spire last year.

 

It took 2.5 hours to drive home today, and that’s plenty of time to think about things. I set more personal bests this year than I thought, and it has inspired me to improve some more. That’s why I do these athletic events. I see what’s possible and then try to beat it. If I can do that at age 44 (and I am!), that’s something to really celebrate. I’ve got a marathon coming up in September. I think I’m going to beat my old time, and if I don’t, it will be fun trying.

My first false start as a swimmer

I did something I've never done before in my 8-year career as a swimmer: I had a false start! (that means I left the diving block early, which is a bad thing!). I blame it on the fact that I turned a year older today. I'm just not as sprightly as I used to be, eh? No big deal. In a later race, the 200-yard freestyle, I set a season's best time.

AMYMSA Championships 2018

I took my swimming league’s championship very seriously this year. Masters swimming is much less about beating other swimmers and teams, but instead, it is about setting personal goals and trying to beat them. My goal this year was to come as close as possible to repeating the performances I had last year when I achieved 6 personal bests out of 7 events. That was huge, so I didn’t think it would be realistic to perform quite as well this time. Instead of 6 personal bests, my goal was one. Good news! I beat that goal and set 2 new personal bests out of 7 events. Here’s a rundown:

 

SATURDAY

Event #3: 100-yard Freestyle

This would be my best opportunity for a personal best because I had not swum this at Spire before. The pool at Spire is state-of-the-art and due to design features, its waters are free of waves and turbulence that in other pools slow swimmers down. All I would have to do is lower my time by more than 1.5%, and I’d get a personal best. That seemed likely, given that in the past two years at Spire, I was able to lower my times by an average of 1.6%. On the starting block I pulled up my hips like Coach Josh had shown me a few days before, and I rocketed into the water at the starting beep. My dive felt fast, I kicked hard, and took no breaths in the first length. I almost missed the wall at the first turn, and that slowed me down a little, but I kept going and had a good turn the second time. Heading into the wall again at the opposite end, I flipped over too soon and only the tips of my toes brushed the wall for the push off. Danise said I came to a complete stop in the water. It’s hard to recover from that, but I tried. I finished the event in 1:03.88, which was 0.31 seconds slower than my personal best. This record could have been easily broken by 2 full seconds had it not been for that bad turn. Knowing this, I was optimistic about the rest of my swims at champs; this swim showed I was in peak condition.

 

Event #7: 50-yard Freestyle

I couldn’t imagine beating my personal best of 27.00 in this event, set at Spire last year. I do this swim every month at swim meets, and throughout 2017-18, I had never swum this faster than 28.50. I didn’t care. I would just go as fast as I could. I plunged into the water and pulled hard with my arms with each stroke. I had planned my breaths ahead of time: no breaths going out, and two breaths on the way back. This is where my personality gets in the way of things. On the way back, I didn’t really feel the need to breathe. But my plan said I should. The debate in my head caused me to take an awkward half-breath that didn’t do me much good. In fact, Shannan said I paused in my stroke when I took that breath. I finished in 27.26 seconds. That’s right; if I had skipped that (unneeded) breath entirely, I would have beaten my personal best!

 

Event #9: 50-yard Breaststroke

My personal best in this event was 37.34, set way back in 2013. My 2017-18 season’s best time was close, so in Spire’s awesome pool, I knew I had a chance to set a new record. The problem with breaststroke is that you can go fast in two different ways: (1) increase your stroke rate, or (2) increase the glide between strokes. I’m never sure which works best for me. For the last few years I have been doing the former. This year I planned to do the latter. I was talking to Gary about this as we lined up at the starting blocks. He gave me some pointers on what might make one’s breaststroke faster, and I appreciated that, but the moment before a race is never the time to experiment with a new technique. I don’t remember my dive or pullout, but what I do remember is the novel sensation of water rushing over my freshly shaven legs. I’ve never shaved my legs before, but for this one swim it was worth it. I concentrated on my kick, making it push as much water behind me as I could. I could feel every water molecule as I did it, and I savored the sensation. I finished in 37.15 seconds, a new personal best.

 

SUNDAY

Event #12: 500 –yard Freestyle

I felt less energy on Sunday morning than I did on Saturday, so I didn’t know what would happen with this long-distance race. I didn’t expect to lower my personal best set at Spire last year because in my training during the previous month I have been doing a lot of sprints and not practicing my longer distances. Anyway, I had two strategies this year. First, I wanted to quicken my pace after length 14, because that is when I typically slow down due to fatigue. To quicken my pace, I concentrated on reaching farther with my arms and pulling more water. Looking at my results, I see that this had no effect. I still got slower. I admit at this point I was thinking about my future swims and I didn’t want to go too fast. My second strategy was to stay with my nearest competitor in the water because he had a similar seed time. This didn’t work because I went too fast and got well ahead of him during the first half of my swim. He came charging past me midway through, and I didn’t have the energy to keep up at that point. Despite not improving in the ways that I wanted, I finished this swim in 6:50.65, just 0.41 seconds slower than my personal best. If only I had added one extra kick to length 11, or streamlined a little more on turn 6, or shaved the little hairs on my toes!! Missing my record by one tenth of one percent was the hardest thing to endure this weekend. The regret was sour! That’s ok, I can learn from this.

 

Event #16: 50-yard Butterfly

This swim was the longest-shot for obtaining a new personal best. My season’s best time had been 32.18 and my personal best was 30.06 seconds. I’d have to increase my speed by more than 7% to set a new record. Not likely, but I love the 50 Fly and I really wanted this one to be my best swim of the weekend. I’d been practicing it a lot, and doing a lot of weight training to help my upper body strength. I was confident enough that I asked Shannan to record it on video. Dan and I were in adjacent lanes, and that can sometimes cause me some subconscious stress as I try to beat my friend and competitor. Today, though, I paid Dan no attention when we were in the water. As he said, “In a 50-yard race, there is no time to look around.” I’m really happy with my swim. I planned to take 4 breaths but only took one or two. My turnover was fast, and I felt like I was just skimming the surface the whole time. I finished in 30.75 seconds. Percentage-wise, this was my second-worst performance of the weekend, but I don’t feel bad about it at all. I did everything I had trained to do, and I had fun.

 

Event #20: 50-yard Backstroke

This is the one swim I am disappointed with. I had been practicing my backstroke a lot, and I felt I had a decent shot at breaking a personal record. Alas, I couldn’t get my hips up. This is not a problem in practice, but when I go at race pace, I somehow lose my posture and create a lot of drag under the water. I finished in 37.30 seconds, much slower than my personal best of 36.02.

 

Event #21: 200-yard Freestyle

I had little time to rest before this next event, my last of the meet. Since it was my last swim, I didn’t have to save any energy for a later swim. The chance of a personal best was somewhat low, given my season’s best time was 3.2% slower than my record of 2:27.86. I concentrated on a good dive and long stroke length. I felt invigorated and powerful. I punched the wall at 2:27.45 and smiled wide.

AMYMSA Allegheny Valley

Race: masters swim meet
Date: October 1, 2017
Location:

Event #1: 100 IM. My fly was good, but the backstroke--oh boy--do I need to work on that. My legs sank, despite my head being in a good position and my efforts to contract my buttocks during my kicking. Shannan says I need to concentrate on raising my hips, so I will work on that. My finish time was 1:16.49, which was 0.9 seconds slower than Dan, and about 4.7 seconds (6%) slower than my personal best. My quads were burning a little after this race, so I know I put an appropriate amount of effort into it.

Event #4: 50 Fly. Dan and I were in the same heat and we talked about strategy. I said my speed would depend on whether or not I took a breath during this swim. I did, in fact, go without a breath for the first 25 yards and I took about 3 breaths on the return. If I had skipped just one of those breaths I would have beat Dan, since he beat me by 0.01 seconds. My finish time was 32.18, which was 2.1 seconds (7%) slower than my personal best. Danise says Dan was well ahead of me at the turn and I just about caught up with him in the last 25. I wasn't aware of any of that, but I know that my rhythm felt better during the last half of my swim. I concentrated more on my kick during that time, and less on my arms.

Event #9: 200 Free. There was lots of talk before this race about what a difficult race it is. You can't sprint the whole time, but it's not a long distance, either. I went fairly confident that I would pace myself well. I have a long history with this distance--I've done it a lot at meets--and I do a lot of these distances in practice. I was in heat 1, lane 6. This made it hard to judge my pace because the people next to me were much faster. Anyway, I finished in 2:32.52, which was 4.7 seconds (12%) slower than my personal best. Given this result, it appears I went slower than I could have. I am not surprised. I was not extraordinarily tired or winded when I got out of the water. I did feel some lactic acid circulating through my body (a queasy stomach feeling), but it didn't last long and was probably just from sprinting the last 25 yards. I had more fuel in the tank and I should have burned it.

Event #10: 25 Breast. I had a good race until I swallowed water during one of my strokes. It is terribly hard to get air after that because with each successive breath my timing was off and I kept getting more water in my mouth. Oh well. My result was 17.16 seconds, which was 0.18 seconds (1%) slower than my personal best. This record will definitely fall sometime this season.

Event #11: Mixed Medley 200 Relay: I had the freestyle segment. There were no splits so I don't know how I did. I felt really good, though, at least after a lousy dive.

AMYMSA Champs at Spire

Race: Masters swim meet, championship
Date: April 8-9, 2017
Location: Geneva, OH

This past weekend was my Master’s Swim Association Championship Meet at the Spire Institute near Geneva, Ohio. I had a good feeling going into the meet; I thought I was going to do well because I felt prepared and strong. I even posted to Facebook the day before we left, saying “I’m going to kick butt at champs!” This ended up being completely and undisputedly true.

Event#3: 100-yard Individual Medley
I swam this in 1:11.78, which was a new personal best, breaking my old record set in February 2014. I kicked this old record good, lowering my time by 1.98 seconds, a decrease of 2.7%. My friends report I was first in my heat at the halfway mark but my competitors caught up during my breaststroke. This is ironic because I had made plans about my butterfly (“use a smaller kick and faster stroke rate”), backstroke (“kick fast and keep my hips up”), and freestyle (“take fewer breaths”), but I didn’t have a strategy for my breaststroke. I thank Arianne Winkleblech for helping me improve my backstroke kick in practices last month.

Event #5: 50-yard Butterfly
I swam this in 30.06, which was a new personal best, breaking my old record set in November 2014. I kicked this old record good, too, lowering my time by 1.52 seconds, a decrease of 4.8%. I have reinvented my butterfly stroke this winter, making my kick smaller and increasing my arm stroke rate. I could do this consistently during the first 25 yards in practice, but I had had limited success at the 50-yard distance. Today I did the new stroke the whole distance. I actually placed 2nd in my age group, beating out the reliable powerhouses of Daniel Pruzinsky and Ben Mayhew. Ben was gracious and supportive, while also expressing great surprise. Me too, Ben. Me too.

Event #8: 100-yard Butterfly
I swam this in 1:12.50, which was a new personal best, breaking my old record set in January 2013. I thought this would be an easy record to beat because I had never swum in this event since I set that old record. Surely I have improved in 4 years! I lowered my time by a whopping 7.74 seconds, a drop of 9.6%. I have more I can improve upon; I noted a bad turn at the 50-yard mark, and I started taking too many breaths during the last length.

Event #10: 200-yard Freestyle
I swam this in 2:27.86, which was a new personal best, breaking my old record set in February 2016. The improvement was 0.59 seconds or 0.4%. My dive felt great and I felt very powerful until I got to the 100 yard mark. Then, I nearly missed the wall. My toe barely brushed across the touchpad and I lost all momentum. Daniel Pruzinsky and I were in adjacent lanes and while at first he and I were neck-to-neck, this poor turn caused me to drop well back from him. Not only did a bad turn slow me down, but the next 25 yards of swimming were spent thinking about the mistake and wondering if I would get disqualified (the officials at this meet were actually giving out DQs), rather than what I could do to minimize its impacts. I thank Josh Gurekovich working with me this past week on my dives.

To sum up my first day of Champs, I set new personal bests in all four events. Three of these were substantial improvements resulting from changes I made to my butterfly stroke. I did some other things differently in the last few weeks of training that may have also made a difference. I will list these later in this post.

When I was a new swimmer in 2010, it was commonplace to set new personal bests, but it has been harder to set them now that my stroke techniques have matured and the small inefficiencies that developed early in my career have become ingrained and harder to squelch. Swimming is a highly technical sport, and tiny adjustments in body placement significantly impact speed. Somehow at this Championship meet, I made a few adjustments that made a difference. My great success from Saturday continued into Sunday.

Event #13: 500-yard Freestyle
I swam this in 6:50.24, which was a new personal best, breaking my old record set last year at Spire in April 2016. I kicked this old record good, lowering my time by 14.12 seconds, a decrease of 3.3%. My goals were to keep my pace steady from lap to lap, concentrate on having streamlined turns, and to stay ahead of all my competitors in adjacent lanes, since all had similar seed times as me. During the race I saw that I was leading my heat from the start, and I tried to slow down just a little so I wouldn’t burn out. I didn’t need to do this. I had practiced this swim over and over during my practices in the preceding month so I would probably have been fine going a little faster. I felt strong throughout, and I was not breathing hard, which helped me stay under the water longer at each turn. I smiled underwater when I saw the official standing over my lane, ringing the bell. This was a signal to everyone that the fastest swimmer of the heat had one more lap. Guess who that was? It was me! And I promptly got distracted by my giddiness and screwed up my last turn, right under the official’s nose. I thank Shannan for counting my laps and cheering me on.

Event #19: 50-yard Freestyle
I swam this event in 27.00 seconds, which was a new personal best, breaking my old record set last year at Spire in April 2016. I lowered my time by 1.38 seconds or 4.9%. This magnitude of improvement rarely happens in a 50-yard race; there is simply too little distance over which small changes in technique can have a cumulative effect. I really couldn’t believe what I saw when I looked at the timing board and saw 27.00. How did I do it? I had a great dive, strong arm pull, and I took only two breaths.

Event #21: 50-yard Breaststroke
I swam this event in 37.56 seconds, which ended up being 0.20 seconds slower than my personal best, set in November 2015. It’s too bad I couldn’t go 7 for 7 in terms of setting records, but the way I am looking at it now is that I’m leaving an easy record for me to beat next time. I went into the race with some mixed emotions, so my failure to swim it fast was probably a result of psychological factors instead of physical factors. Coach Josh thinks my breaststroke is my best stroke out of the four (breast, back, free, and fly). However, others whom I trust saw an issue with my head movement that could be improved. I learned about this on the day of my race, so during warm-ups I practiced the breaststroke with less head movement, and a fellow swimmer walking by my lane actually complimented me on how “smooth” my stroke was. I had not sought out this feedback, so I thought I must have fixed the problem. I think I probably did, but it was not enough to set a personal best. I don’t care. With so many fallen records in this meet, I am content.

In sum, I set 6 personal bests out of 7 events. My average improvement was 3.6%. I cannot wait to compete again to see if I can keep lowering my times. To do so, I have to figure out what I did this year that could have resulted in such success. Here is a list of things I think could have made a difference:

1. I wrote up a list of things ahead of time to concentrate on during each event. This helped me focus. Many athletes forget how important it is to mentally prepare for a race.

2. I shaved my chest and wore a swim cap. There isn’t a lot of data out there on whether or not this produces a measureable effect; it may reduce drag in the water, or it may be the placebo effect. In any case, the effect is estimated to be 1-2%, so this could account for only part of my success.

3. I asked my coach to work with me on my dives the week before my swim meet. This likely helped a lot on my 50- and 100-yard events, where the dive accounts for a significant part of the swim.

4. I sought out advice on my backstroke and freestyle kicks from Arianne a couple weeks before my swim meet. This helped my 100-yard IM.

5. I did extra weight lifting for more than a month in advance of champs. I think this accounts for a lot of success, especially in my butterfly stroke.

6. I practiced the actual events I would swim over and over during my practice sessions, even if they were not at race pace. I’m not sure I have done this in past years. My practices are usually more geared to freestyle. I know I did not change my practice volume (I did about 10 miles per month in the three months preceding champs).

7. My body weight is about the same as it was last year at this time, but I have more fat now (12% instead of 7%) and less muscle mass (42% instead of 44%). I was training for my Ironman last year; the numbers don’t lie!

8. I did longer warm-ups on Saturday before the afternoon session (500 yards); I also swam 300 yards to warm-up on Sunday morning, and another 300 yards before the afternoon session. I timed these much more carefully than usual to be within 30 minutes of my actual races.

9. I have been running long distances (5-7 miles) once a week since February. My overall mileage is no different from last year, so I can’t think of why that would make a difference in my swimming performance. Still, it’s a change of pace that is worth noting.

AMYMSA Oil City

Race: Masters swim meet
Date: March 5, 2017
Location: Oil City, Pa

After a 400 yard warm up, I did four events: (1) 100 IM, (2) 50 Fly, (3) 100 Back, and (4) 200 free. The 100IM was probably my best swim of the meet, since I came within a third of a second of my personal best and unexpectedly beat Ben. There is a pattern when I do these IMs that the backstroke segment leads to my legs sinking and I've tried to correct it to no avail. However, today I got the idea to just kick harder, and surprise, it worked! (why didn't I think of this earlier?). My 50-fly was fine, though I still want to clean up the pause I make between arm strokes. My 100-backstroke was a disappointment. I haven't swam that event in a couple years so I was expecting a large improvement. However, I did not pace myself appropriately. I went way too slow on the first 50. My 200-free was also a bit of a disappointment because I had some bad turns, and I think that prevented me from attaining a personal best time. I am really looking forward to Spire next month. I plan to do a lot of practices between now and then, and get into great shape.

AMYMSA Duquesne

Race: Masters swim meet
Date: January 22, 2017
Location: Duquesne, Pa

100 IM:
3 JIM KELLAM 42 M GRBG 1:13.79
35.21 38.58
This was just 0.03 seconds slower than my best time, so I am happy with it. Dan beat me by 0.04 seconds, so it was a good match.

50 Butterfly:
2 JIM KELLAM 42 M GRBG 32.25
This was 0.67 seconds slower than my personal best. I had a good swim. I never got tired but as I headed into the wall at the end I felt my stroke got short. I tried to lengthen it by adding some bigger kicks that probably didn't help me in the end.

200 Freestyle:
4 JIM KELLAM 42 M GRBG 2:30.13
34.59 37.03 39.05 39.46
This is 1.68 seconds slower than my personal best. I'm kind of in a funk with this event. I am concentrating on maintaining a consistent pace (not tiring out at the end). I did this a little bit today but I still need improvement.

25-breast:
2 JIM KELLAM 42 M GRBG 17.35
I missed a personal best by 0.37 seconds, which is a lot. Perhaps I was distracted by the false start the guy next to me did.

AMYMSA Greensburg

Race: Masters swim meet
Date: November 20, 2016
Location: Greensburg, PA

I'm starting to get serious about my competitive swimming again (after a lazy year in 2015 and the longer distance training for my 2016 Ironman). This meet illustrates that I still have speed, and by later in the season I am likely to have more.

My first event was the 100 IM. This was extra fun because Dan was in the lane next to me, and one of these days I'm going to beat him. I didn't have a great dive; I just wasn't ready when the signal sounded. My fly felt good though, and I was at the wall before I knew it. My turn was sloppy. I really need to think while I swim and plan ahead for these things. Anyway, Dan was ahead during the whole butterfly segment and I needed to get closer on backstroke. You can't see your competitors during backstroke so I just went as fast as i could. I felt my legs sinking a bit and solved the problem halfway through by kicking with my hips more than my knees. I had a nice turn at the wall and saw that Dan and I were neck-to-neck. My pullout in the breaststroke was a little short, but I was keeping up with Dan. His turns are better than mine, but in breaststroke I might have a touch faster stroke. At the wall I did a good turn and poured on the gas during freestyle. I kicked hard. I stopped breathing. I wanted to out-touch Dan. I think I improved my position from half a body length to getting even with him. We touched the wall at the same time...well, almost. He finished in 1:13.65. I finished in 1:13.88. I didn't beat him...this time! I still feel great about my race though, as I was just 0.12 seconds slower than my personal best. I can beat that next time.

My second event was the 50 Fly. I practiced this some during the previous week, but I'm pretty rusty after having ignored the stroke during my Ironman training. My dive was good and I added a few underwater kicks that seem to be helping me to surface in a more horizontal position. I concentrated on form and my swim probably looked really good, but I didn't have a fast turnover rate. My time was thus 1.69 seconds slower than my personal best. I am not unhappy with this. In order to get faster I had to improve my form. I didn't have good form last month; now I do, and I will get faster next swim meet.

My third event was the 50 Back. I don't swim this often because I don't feel good about my start (and it is hard to practice it at my pool). Anyway, I learned from the 100 IM and made sure to kick with my whole legs instead of just below the knees. I pulled a lot of water with my arms and I did the best I could. Even my turn and finish were really good. My finish time was 36.16, which was just 0.14 seconds off my personal best. Again, I feel like I can lower this next time I swim!

Feeling good about my previous events, I felt the pressure to perform lighten and it appears I took the 200 Freestyle a little too easy. A swimmer at the block was talking to me about how important it is to swim a little slower during the first half of the event so that you still have power at the end. I decided to take this advice so I reigned in my swimming during the first 3 laps. But this backfired because by the last lap my arms were still fatigued and I couldn't go any faster. My finish time was 2:31.27, almost 3 seconds slower than my personal best, and 0.39 seconds slower than two weeks ago.

Overall, I had a great time, and made an effort to talk to more people, too. The meets in 2015 were not as fun because I wasn't as social and I wasn't training as hard, either.

Wilmerding Indoor Triathlon

Race: Wilmerding YMCA Indoor Tri
Date: April 3, 2016
Location: Wilmerding, PA
Time:
Overall Rank: X out of XX
Age Group Rank: X out of X
Results: http:

The race started with the time it took on the treadmill to go 1.5 miles. I ran it in 11:09: Bumped the treadmill up to 8.3 mph. I don't think I've gone that fast before. Whoa, maybe I should get out more!!

Then I jumped on the exercise bike and went 5 miles in 14:09: I'm not sure I like those fancy bikes at the YMCA....I found it a lot different from my road bike, and even my indoor trainer.

Then I ended with a swim of 200 yards in 2:31: I went really fast at the start and then by the last lap I was really struggling. Fortunately, I was in the first heat and no one else had gotten to the pool yet, so no one saw me struggle. But now YOU know!

AMYMSA swim meet

Race: Masters swim meet
Date: February 21, 2016
Location: Cranberry Township, Pa

I had mixed feelings going into this meet. I was looking forward to the competition today, but I was feeling sluggish. The sluggishness dominated during my first couple events:

Event#2: 100 IM. My butterfly felt strong but my stroke rate was rather slow. Backstroke felt slow. Breaststroke felt slow...and my legs felt stiff from my long run the day before. I hadn't noticed I was sore from that until this part of my swim. I tried to recover in the freestyle segment, but my time was 1:15.49, or 1.73 seconds slower than my personal best.

Event #4 50-yard Butterfly. I decided to work harder in this event after my "slow" performance in the 100IM. I planned it out in my head before the start. I would take only 3 breaths. I followed my plan, and had a quick turn at the wall. My stroke rate was good. One of the faster swimmers in our league complimented my form, saying it was only a matter of time before I would be in his heat. Always nice to hear that! (I realize I will need to do more fly during workouts to achieve this). My only regret about this event was my dive. It was too deep and I took too long to return to the surface. I finished in 32.45, which was 0.87 seconds slower than my personal best.

Event #8: 50-yard Backstroke. What a disappointment! I put my heart into this race and had a great performance until the very end. I looked for the backstroke flags overhead, did 2 or 3 strokes and then peered over my shoulder to find the wall too far away for me to touch. I should have just kicked a little more, which would have provided the necessary thrust to move me forward. However, I panicked and didn't think of that until what seemed like 3 seconds of fruitless reaching. My time was 37.92 seconds, which was 1.9 seconds slower than my personal best. I could have had a best time today, but I failed! I was angry.

Event #9: 200-freestyle. "Ok, calm down. Let's do the 200-free. I should do well in this because I have been practicing this distance a lot in training." At the buzzer I dove in and tried to take it out a little slow. This was my strategy; I wanted negative splits. However, I seemed to be leading my heat after the first turn. I continued to increase my lead for the next 3 lengths. I felt myself kicking more than normal, but I wasn't too out of breath. My turns started out really good, then got progressively sloppy. I finished whole seconds ahead of everyone else with a time of 2:28.45, a new personal best. My old time was 2.2 seconds slower.

AMYMSA Championship Meet

Race: Masters Swim Team Championship meet
Date: April 12, 2015
Location: Spire Institute, Geneva, NY

Another swim season has ended, and I am sad about this! I have now been a Masters swimmer for 5 years, and each year has been different. I remember last year I was concentrating so hard on swimming that I didn’t have a lot of fun at meets. This year I had a lot more fun but didn’t make the progress I wanted in the pool. 

Our Championship meet was at the Spire Institute near Geneva, Ohio. It has a huge indoor pool that is designed for national swim meets at all levels, including Olympic competitions. I expected to feel like an Olympian during my swims, but as the expression goes, “there is only so much lipstick you can apply to a pig.” Plus, there was no one in the stands watching the meet. The facility was so big, it swallowed our ~125 swimmers and their families. It was too quiet. I still had a blast, but next time I think we should kidnap about 500 people and bus them in to be spectators.

Swim Champs Day 1

I swam in 4 events on Saturday:

1.       200-yard Freestyle Relay: The Greensburg men’s team conveniently had 4 members, so we formed a relay. Our respective ages were 40, 58, 67, and 74. We were more likely to break a bone than any pool record! David, Allen, and Doug each swam their 50-yard segments and then I jumped in to finish. I had a dive that was too deep, but I had a pretty powerful swim. I didn’t give it 100% because there was little chance we would beat the other teams, and I needed to save myself for my later swims. My split time of 30.95 was reasonable, being 92% of my top speed.

2.      100-yard Individual Medley: I felt pretty good about this swim, but my turns were still rough (a continuing problem stemming from lack of concentration and practice). I surfaced too quickly after my butterfly-to-backstroke turn, and I started the backstroke-to-breaststroke turn too far from the wall. This latter problem cost me a second as I had to coast in to hit it. My time was 1:14.16, which was 0.40 seconds slower than my personal best (set in February 2014).

3.      50-yard Butterfly: I am in a rebuilding phase this year with my butterfly stroke. I have been working with my coach pretty hard to correct some bad habits and we aren’t quite done with modifications. I knew this going into this race, so maybe my confidence was low. I swam the race in 32.63, which is 1.05 seconds slower than my personal best (set in November 2014). Jim Thorton complimented me on my stroke as I got out of the water, and that made me feel better.

4.      50-yard Backstroke: Disappointed with my swims so far, I took a stroll around the Spire Institute to look at their other facilities. What was wrong with me today? The design of this pool makes it the fastest pool I have ever swum in. It’s the end of my season, and I feel like I am in top shape (though Shannan reminded me that I had to take a week off from training this past month when my college’s pool closed for Easter break). I concluded that I wasn’t concentrating enough. I needed to get my mind thinking about how to swim fast. I have surely been taught how to do it. Now I just needed to put those tools to use. Yes, I can do this! I am ready! So I walked back into the pool area and immediately I see Shannan running towards me. She was running fast. Like hungry-tiger-chasing-her fast. “What’s wrong?” I wonder. Then I glance at the pool and I see people swimming backstroke. I realize that I am about to miss my heat of the backstroke. Shannan is running to me with my goggles and deck card, yelling at me to take my jacket off. All of this is happening in slow motion now, as my brain is attempting to stop time. I strip to my swimsuit underneath my clothes, throw on my goggles, and jump in the water with no time to spare. In fact, the officials waited about 3 seconds for me to get in position, and then the starting signal went off. I completed the event in 38.17 seconds, which is 1.89 seconds slower than my personal best (set in January 2015). So much for the plan to concentrate more during my swim!!

Swim Champs Day 2

I swam in 5 events on Sunday:

1.       200-yard Medley Relay: David started with the backstroke, I followed with the breaststroke, Doug did the butterfly, and Allen finished with freestyle. My split time for breaststroke was 43.86, which is only 85% of my top speed. I am surprised to see how slow I was. Maybe the time was slow because of my start and finish. I had a bad dive because David is fairly tall and I was concerned about jumping into him as he finished his backstroke segment. David was also in the way at my finish. I didn’t expect him to still be in the lane, so it was a distraction. He can’t climb out of the pool without using the stairs, so he had to wait for everyone to be done before leaving the water. I can’t blame David for all of my slowness, though. It was only a relay and I didn’t care much about it.

2.      100-yard Freestyle: If there was any event this weekend in which I had a chance to set a personal best, it was this one. My coach has been having me do timed sets of 100s over and over this year. I’ve been approaching my 1:05.59 record during these practice sessions, even without a diving start. This was it! I was going to kill it! At the start signal, I had a grand dive, my arms felt strong, my first turn was good, and I was not wanting for breath even after 75 yards. I contracted my core muscles to keep my feet high in the water; I was using my triceps to pull as much water as I could with each stroke. I kept my head down. Things were going great, except oops! At my second turn I almost missed the wall during my flip turn. This took away some momentum but I was still doing fine. At my third turn I repeated the mistake, only this time I missed the wall completely. I stopped dead in the water. I turned around, touched the wall, and headed into the finish knowing my awesome swim was ruined. I finished in 1:10.91. My first split was 31.13, and based on past performance, I could have done my second split in 33.83, which sums to 1:04.96. It would have been a personal best by a significant amount.  I was sad. Not angry. Just sad. My friends comforted me, and I felt their love. They reminded me that everyone was having trouble with that far wall, because it really wasn’t a wall at all. It was a movable bulkhead only extending 4 feet below the surface of the water, and with no attachments to the 14-foot deep pool bottom, it was hard to judge where it was. My sadness waned after just a few minutes because Jamie, who swam in my lane immediately after me, did the exact same thing. She missed the wall, too. Thanks for making me feel better! She showed me that anyone could have made the mistake I did.

3.       100-yard Breaststroke. Dan was in the adjacent lane. He got ahead of me right away, but this didn’t diminish my concentration. I was determined to swim this event well. I concentrated on streamlined glides and a spring-like stroke execution.  I didn’t worry about Dan until the very end when I pushed hard to surprise him at the finish. I didn’t catch up, though. I set a new personal best at 1:20.78. My old record was 1:22.54 (set in February 2015), so this was a big improvement. When I got out of the pool, Shannan hugged me with a broad smile. Dan gave me a high-five. It was a happy moment.

4.       50-yard Freestyle. Dan asked me what my goal was for this swim. I said “under 29 seconds, I guess.” I sounded non-committal and unconfident, and Dan pointed that out. I tried to readjust my attitude, and mentally prepared a strategy: do a tight flip-turn, take 3 breaths at the most, do rapid turnover of the arms, kick hard. The starting signal sounded and I was in and out of the water in 28.72 seconds. This broke my old record by 0.26 seconds. It was set in January 2014. I got out of the water and Dan said “See, I told you!” Yes, you did, Dan. Thanks.

5.       200-yard Individual Medley. Shannan had a similar conversation with me about this event. She detected some tiredness in me and tried to get me to step up to this last race of the season. My butterfly segment went well, I felt fast on my backstroke, and nearly finished breaststroke before feeling tired. I tried to ignore that, but by the freestyle segment I had lost concentration and slowed down. I finished in 2:51.76, which was 0.81 seconds slower than my personal best.

I had a lot of fun this weekend. My performances were not what I was hoping for, but that did not diminish the fun in any way. I am so appreciative of Shannan and my friends for their support and love. As for swimming, sometimes I have my head in the game. Sometimes I have prepared enough during my solo practices. Sometimes I can dig deep and push myself beyond perceived limits. I don’t think I had these things with me this weekend, but with swimming, there is always next year.

AMYMSA meet

Race: Masters Swim Meet
Date: January 25, 2015
Location: West Virginia University, Morgantown WV

We dodged a bullet today. Rain was just mixing with snow as I pulled into my garage at home following the meet. If the precipitation started earlier, or it was colder, we could have been stranded at the West Virginia University natatorium. It is a great place to have a swim meet, but I was cold the whole time. I wouldn’t want to stay there longer than necessary. Anyway, I had a great day! I set two new personal bests.

Event #2: 100-yard Individual Medley
I had high expectations for this race because I did a lot of IMs in practice this past week. I did fine today, but finished in 1:14.72, which was 0.96 seconds slower than my best time. I have not lowered my time in this event in a while. Today I blame my butterfly segment. I was unable to find a good rhythm as I pulled out of the dive. I want to blame the fact that the water was only 4 feet deep and I was distracted by the giant plain of white cement just below my face. Examined at close range, the cement forming the pool bottom reminded me of an English muffin, with all those nooks and crannies. Or maybe a lunar landscape. To be honest though, I am not sure my proximity to this alien underwater world was the problem with my butterfly. I just went slow. My turns could also be improved, especially the back-breast turn where I never know where to find the wall.

Event #3: 200-yard Breast Stroke
I set a new personal best in this race, finishing in 3:03.56, which was 4.73 seconds faster than my old time from 4.5 months ago. I do not swim this event regularly, so it makes sense that I would see big improvements here as my experience and general conditioning improves. With 4 years of competitive swimming experience, I am still a novice swimmer. Today’s strategy was based on my previous performance in September. My arms fatigued too soon, and I was burned out by the end of the race. To prevent this from happening again, I concentrated on doing a lot of glide between arm strokes. It felt good and I felt fast, so I assumed I was staying ahead of my competitors. However, by the 100-yard mark I realized my competitors were mostly ahead of me and my arms were not tired, so I changed my stroke to emphasize a stronger arm pull and faster stroke rate. This was not sufficient to win my heat (I was last), but it was still a winning strategy for beating my old time and not tiring out too soon.

Event #8: 50-yard Backstroke
I don’t remember my finish time, but it was a second or two slower than my 36.28 second personal best. I felt good during the race, employing a fast kick and rapid arm turnover. My turn was not very good, though. I was too close to the wall and Shannan said my streamline was not tight. That stupid wall. I think I’ve had one good backstroke turn in my entire life. I guess I need to practice that! I need to practice my start, too. Shannan told me a way to stagger my feet to prevent them from slipping.

Event #9: 200-yard Freestyle
This felt GOOD. I was pretty sure during the race that I was on par with my fastest time, and I was correct. I finished in 2:30.98, which was 2.12 seconds faster than ever before. I’ve been doing a lot of practice with my turns—especially streamlining off the wall—and this paid off. Most of my turns were good, though I got a bit tired or lazy in the middle and didn’t assume the best position. Today I also concentrated on keeping my head low when I took a breath; this preserved forward momentum. I will be interested to look at my splits because I think I maintained a pretty steady pace throughout.

AMYMSA meet

Race: Masters Swim Meet
Date: January 11, 2015
Location: Grove City, PA

We had our AMYMSA Masters Swim meet today at Grove City YMCA.

I swam the 50-yard Butterfly in 32.54, which was 0.22 seconds slower than my personal best. My dive was good but my dolphin kicks getting me to the surface were weak. I am also still pausing with my arms ahead of me during each stroke, which makes it hard to maintain the proper rhythm. I took only 3 breaths during the event and did not feel at all tired at the end (does that mean I should have worked harder?). Overall, I can’t complain because my speed was still good relative to past performance, and it is fun to think about how much faster I will be when I can work out these glitches.

I swam the 25-yard Freestyle in 12.99 seconds, shaving 0.3 seconds off my previous personal best. It took me a few seconds to invent my strategy (I should do this before the race!) of kicking hard and reaching far out ahead of me to grab as much water as possible with each arm stroke.

I swam the 50-yard Backstroke in 36.32 seconds, breaking my old record by 0.22 seconds. I feel great about this race. I think my arms, legs, head, and torso were all doing what they were supposed to be doing. My only failure was at the end when I started my glide into the wall much too early and I spent (what seemed like) a full second forcing myself to the touchpad. I am confident that my swim would have been well under 36 seconds without that mistake.

The 200-yard Freestyle was the very next event. I was not tired or sore yet, but I was still winded from the 50 Back. My strategy was to conserve energy and not go too fast during the first half of the race. I usually swim my fastest at the start and then get fatigued prematurely. I found that Dan Nadler was in the lane next to me and it seemed like he was maintaining a pace about right for me. It was helpful to pretend that we were driving cars in adjacent lanes of a divided highway, and we had set our respective cruise controls to the same speed. I was content to just swim next to him until the last 50 when I planned to step on the gas pedal and beat him. It didn’t quite work that way because I think he still beat me, but that last 50 was fun because of this competition, and I had something to distract my thoughts away from physical discomfort. I paid a heavy toll when I was done. I got out of the water and immediately felt wobbly and lightheaded as I walked to my chair. I plopped down without grace and sat there for 10 minutes as I caught my breath, massaged my very heavy-feeling and painful arms, and stared into space. I had reached my physical limit. I am proud of that. I didn’t beat my personal best (I was about 2 seconds slower today), but I am content knowing I gave it everything I had.

AMYMSA Masters Swim Meet

Race: AMYMSA Masters Swim Meet
Date: November 16, 2014
Location:
Results: http:

I swam in four events and did not set any personal bests. This is maybe only the second time this has ever happened in my short swimming career, and I'm fine with it. I was distracted by a few things before/during the meet, I did not warm-up, I was poorly hydrated, and my confidence was a notch lower due to discovering some problems with my butterfly on Friday, only two days before the meet. I knew all of this going in, and it helped me relax and have fun instead of worrying about setting a personal best.

100 IM: 1:14.12 was 0.26 seconds off my personal best.
50 Fly: 31.58 may be a mistake. If accurate, I beat my personal best by 0.74 seconds and beat Dan by 0.01 seconds.
50 Back: 37.23 was 0.69 seconds off my personal best.
200 Free: 2:38.16 was 5.06 seconds off my personal best. I went out too fast and got tired at the end. I also had lousy turns.

AMYMSA Masters Swim Meet

Race: Masters Swim Meet
Date: September 14, 2014

Overall, I feel great about this swim meet. My level of fitness is at its peak. I set one personal best today, and came very close in two other events. The fourth event...well, let's just not consider it, ok? Here are my results:

EVENT#2: 100-yard Individual Medley--
I swam this is 1:13.78, which was only two one-hundreths of a second off my personal best of 1:13.76. My dive was great and my butterfly seemed effortless. In fact, I was almost to the wall when I decided I should take a breath, even though I didn't need one. Note to self: skip it next time. I can breathe during backstroke. My backstroke was good, though my hips tended to sway too much. The breaststroke went well; I felt like I slowed down toward the end of the 25 yard length. Freestyle was fast, but I could have gone harder. I knew my next event would be in less than 5 minutes so I raced conservatively. Shannan says my hips were swaying here, too. This may be a chronic problem, but at least for this short event I can tone down the hip rotation and concentrate on a shoulder-driven stroke, and this will clean up my excessive swaying.

EVENT#3: 200-yard Breaststroke
I finished in 3:08.25, which was 2.5 seconds faster than my previous best time of 3:10.76. Shannan said I looked good, and it felt good. Earlier in the week, my coach told me breaststroke was my best stroke. I am not so sure, but it looks like his confidence gave me more confidence! I found today's swim to be relaxing, and I didn't feel tired until I got out of the pool. I got an early lead in my heat, and I admit to pausing at each wall longer than needed. I was scanning the pool to see where people were in the other lanes. The best thing about this swim was I didn't hurt my knee. Earlier in the week, it got very painful during practice. Once out of the pool, my quads and biceps were burning. It was very, very unpleasant. I wanted to sit down immediately and give them a rest but I waited for Shannan to finish her swim.

EVENT #7: 50-yard Backstroke--
I swam this in 36.75 seconds, which was just a fraction of a second slower than my personal best of 36.54. I had a sloppy start and a sloppy turn, but otherwise I am pleased with the swim. I once hurt my calf muscle on a backstroke start, and I couldn't risk that today, so I just kind of plowed into the water without much momentum. I was paying close attention to Dan in the adjacent lane. I have endeavored to beat Dan someday in something--anything--at a swim meet, and in past years I have come closest in backstroke events. He seemed slightly ahead at the halfway point so I sped up my cadence. I also, for the first time, had a perfect finish. By this I mean that I stopped my arm stroke well ahead of the wall and dove backwards with my right arm stretched toward the touchpad. I have never done this successfully before. I usually hit the pad with a bent elbow when I realize I am too close to the wall to do anything else. Anyway, Dan out-touched me by 0.25 seconds, so he remains my friendly nemesis.

EVENT #8: 200-yard Freestyle--
I finished in 2:41.56, much slower than I have in the past (2:33.10). I got off to a rough start because I was surprised by the start signal--I was not ready because the man in the first heat was not yet out of the water. But this isn't really why I had a poor swim here. My mind simply wasn't in it. After 100 yards I found myself thinking about next weekend's half-ironman race. And then I realized I had gotten far behind Dan in the next lane over, and there were several men watching the race from the pool deck (I was in lane 1, so they were basically standing over me), and I wondered if they had noticed how slow I was, and then I studied the way the stairs go into the water next to my lane, and Shannan was cheering for me and I smiled underwater because she seemed so supportive even though I was going slow. See what I mean? I can't tell you about my swimming during this event because I wasn't paying attention. I reached the end of the swim, and I was happy I was done. I didn't care if I was slow today. I know I have it in me to do it faster, and I had fun.

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: AMYMSA swim meet
Date: 01 December 2013
Location: Sewickley, Pa.

A good solid swim meet for me. Qick recap:

Event #1 was the 100-yard Individual Medley. My old personal best was 1:15.24, set a month ago. Today I swam it in 1:15.09. I think my turns were good. I was well ahead of my heat until my breastroke-freestyle turn. Nevertheless, I remember concentrating more on my breaststroke and freestyle segments more this race than a month ago. I maintained good streamlining during breaststroke and refused to get tired like I usually do. Then during the last half of the freestyle I found some extra energy for a sprint and made a good finish. I felt sick afterwards, which suggests I gave it my all.

Event #2: 50-yard Butterfly. I swam this in 33.60 seconds, about a second off my best time. I did not push it, and was not out of breath at the end.

Event #3: 100-yard Backstroke. I swam this in 1:27.25, well above my personal best of 1:22.61. I was still tired from the earlier swims. Indeed, I need to work on my endurance in this event, since I get tired after 50 yards (true for all my strokes except freestyle). My friends tell me I still need a lot of work on my turns, as I initiate them much too late. Also, my finish was terrible. I didn't quite run into the wall, but my arm hit the top of the touch pad and it was a second or so before I realized I needed to touch it on its face to stop the clock. Once agian, my legs were burning and I felt sick. In fact, very sick. I got lightheaded and nauseated. I thought about scratching my next event but eventually felt rested enough to go for it.

Event #4: 200-yard freestyle. I swam this in 2:42.89, well above my personal best of 2:38.11. I am surprised how slow I went. When I was in the water I felt like my strokes were strong and effortless. I was grabbing water and pushing it behind me. It's always nice to end with a good swim.

I truly did my best this meet and have no regrets. I am still very happy I lowered one of my personal bests in the 100-IM. In the spring I will train harder and do even better.

AMYMSA Swim Meet

Race: Masters Swim Meet
Date: 20 October 2013
Location: Indiana, PA
Results: http://www.amymsa.org/Results/S2013-2014/IndianaOct13.html

Second swim meet of the season. I felt great, even though I haven't been doing a lot of training in the pool lately.

Event #1: 200 freestyle
New personal best of 2:38.11. This beats my old personal best of 2:38.45 I set in April 2013. This was a great swim. It felt perfect. I shattered my seed time, which I always set as my personal best so I know immediately if I have set a new record. I made a mistake this time, though. I submitted a seed time for the 200-free based on the 200-IM, so I did not shatter my old record by as much as I initially thought. Oh well, it's still a new PB.

Event #2: 50 backstroke
I swam this in 38.49, missing my personal best by about two seconds. I was still tired from the 200 free, and I misjudged the wall and failed to do a good turn.

Event #3: 50 butterfly
This went pretty effortlessly. I swam in 33.17, which was just a half-second away from my personal best of 32.43. I could have sped up my stroke rate and gone faster.

Event #4: 100 Individual Medley
I swam this in 1:15.24 which bested my previous time by 0.67 second. I was pretty tired by this time but this felt good. I was breathing really hard after I got out of the pool, so I know I did my best.

Penn Trafford Recreation Commission Triathlon

Race: sprint triathlon
Date: 15 June 2013
Location: Penn Township, PA
Time: 1:08:51.2
Overall Rank: 123 out of 202
Age Group Rank: 4 out of 13
Results: http://smileymiles.com/2013/RES13%20PENN%20TRAFFORD%20TRIATHLON.htm

PTARC Sprint Triathlon 2013.
Yesterday's triathlon was my 6th solo race in my triathlon "career." Back in 2011, this PTARC triathlon was my first. So now I can compare the two races to gauge my improvement in the last two years. The event included a swim of 200 yards in a pool followed by an 11-mile bike ride followed by a 5K run. Yesterday I finished in 1:08:51.2 which was 10:27 faster than I did in 2011 (a 15% improvement). Yesterday I came in 4th out of 13 in my age group; in 2011, I was 13 out of 13.

Swimming:
Dan and I shared a lane for the event. He quickly passed me but I stayed fairly close behind him the whole time. I am not used to sharing a lane with anyone so I find it distracting. I am thinking more about my position in the lane than about the quality or speed of my swim stroke. A separate issue is the flip-turn. I don't have a lot of control about where I end up in the lane after a flip-turn, so instead of fishtailing around in the lane behind Dan I just did open turns. I didn't feel good about the swim.

T1 transition went really smooth. I wasn't cold, either, which was a big concern given the temp was in the 50s.

Cycling:
Dan was coasting down the first hill so I passed him almost immediately. He told me later he was unsure about the upcoming intersection and whether the policeman there was saying "stop" or "go." Dan trailed me the whole rest of the bike race. I hardly ever looked back to see where he was, but I knew he was always close. I think I managed my energy really well, as I maintained a quick pace but didn’t burn out too early. There were only two spots in the latter half of the bike course where I coasted for a few seconds in order to rest my legs. My average speed on the course in 2011 was 14.9 mph. In 2013, my average speed was 18.2 mph. Of course, I have a faster bike now than in 2011 but my body is faster, too!

The bike segment was fun because I like to bicycle and I find the course scenic and interesting. One thing that was hard this year was the fact that riders were so spaced out, I had no one in view ahead of me for most of the ride. I had to rely on my internal motivation to keep going fast, rather than push hard due to a competitive wish to beat the person in front of me. Dan was close behind me somewhere, but having a competitor behind you isn’t as motivating as having a competitor in front of you.

I’m trying to resist comparing Dan to a persistent disease that won’t go away—there was always the risk that I would have to “deal” with him again!

Dan finished his ride only seconds behind me. This is significant because it turns out that about 2/3rds into the bike segment, I passed a woman on a mild uphill section of the road. Her steering was shaky, as it gets when you are riding very slow and having trouble maintaining balance. I called ahead and let her know I was about to pass her on the left. I think she was wearing headphones though, so it may be that she never heard me. I gave her about 6 feet of buffer as I passed. I never thought twice about passing her until at the T2 transition, Dan caught up with me and said “that woman you passed? Yeah, she crashed. I stopped to make sure she was OK.” (Her injuries were superficial and she told Dan to go on)

I wondered for the rest of the race whether I had done something wrong. Dan tells me I did not cause her accident. Apparently she lost control after I passed her but not IMMEDIATELY after I passed her. My compliments to Dan for stopping to help. My compliments to him also for catching up to me so fast afterward. He really had to work hard to make up the lost ground. Would he catch me in the run segment?

Running segment:
After the swim and the bike ride, I now had a 5K run. My T2 transition went smoothly, though I look forward to changing my laces to the elastic kind, which will save a few seconds of shoe-tying. I grabbed a GU for a bit of fuel and consumed this slowly during the first mile. I don’t know whether it is a psychological or physiological thing, but in the past this has boosted my energy level and today’s race was no exception. Overall, I ran at an 8:20 min/mile pace and finished this segment in 25:50.2. The race course in 2011 was quite different (easier, in fact), so I can’t compare my times. But looking at my five previous triathlons, this was the fastest pace I have ever run.

I did have to walk a few steps in the first half mile because my calf muscles were cramping. This has been a chronic issue, but not recently. I’ll have to work on that.

So where was Dan? He usually beats me in a run. The cross-country running course double backed on itself in several places, so I could see Dan was just a few seconds behind me throughout the race. He’d catch up at some point, but when? I wanted to stop. I was tired of running and the course wasn’t much fun because it was just looping around ball fields in unmown grass. There was a place where a volunteer called out “almost to Mile 2!” and I thought “darn! I thought Mile 2 was a long time ago.” Eventually the course took us down to the high school track for one quarter-mile circuit. Surely this is where Dan would catch me. I ran in the second lane from the inside, giving him (or anyone else) room to pass. But no one did. Finally, Dan started to make his move. I heard him get closer. I stepped up my speed. Then in the last curve of the track he started to sprint. But since I anticipated that he would do that, I started sprinting as soon as I heard the change in his cadence. It was a stroke of good luck that I was in the second lane from the inside of the track. Dan was attempting to pass me on my left. But as we neared the finish line we saw that the chute that you run through was on the right side of the track! I headed right for it with Dan basically at my left elbow. But there was only space for one to go into the chute and I hit it first. I was actually surprised to see the final race results that put Dan 1.2 seconds behind me. It seemed that he was just a fraction of a second behind me.

Given that he had to stop to assist a cyclist who crashed behind me on the bike course, Dan deserves the 4th place age group finish that I received. But life isn’t fair sometimes, and his loss to me by 1.2 seconds is insignificant enough that I view it as a tie. I will only brag in jest that I beat him.

AMYMSA Championship Meet

Race: Masters Swim Meet Championship
Date: 7-8 April 2013
Location: Indiana, Pennsylvania
Results: http:

DAY#1
I had an excellent start to the championship meet. I acheived a personal best in 4 of the 5 events I swam today.

Event #2: 200-yard freestyle relay
Time: 1:52.59
Age Group Team Rank: 4 out of X
John swam the first leg, followed by Trevor, then me, then Matej. My dive seemed really high and arched as I tried to avoid hitting Trevor at the wall. Despite the shape of the dive I did not go too deep into the water and I trucked through my 50-yard segment. I did not feel sespecially fast, but it turns out I swam those 50 yards faster than ever before. My old record was 29.66; I swam this today in 29.26 seconds.

Event #3: 100-yard individual medley
Time: 1:15.91
Age Group Rank: 5 out of 5
My butterfly segment was strong but I forgot to dolphin-kick before surfacing. My fly/back turn was weird. Other than that, I went as fast as I could and set another new personal best at 1:15.91. My old record was probably 1:18.81. I say "probably" because there was a swim where a 1:16.00 was recorded for me, but if I remember correctly it was somebody else's time and not mine. Either way, I established a new benchmark.

Event #5: 50-yard butterfly
Time: 32.43
Age Group Rank: 4 out of 4
This is by far my favorite event in swimming. I did this with ease, which means I could have gone faster. Nevertheless, it broke my old personal best by 1.08 seconds, an improvement of 7.6%. This swim was recorded; I am in lane 3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IADQKgQF6lI&list=PLyL7N7XBHL4360OB4z7GVd7kJi8IGe3C6

Event #9: 50-yard backstroke
Time: 38.01
Age Group Rank: 2 out of 2
This is the only event in the entire weekend when I did not set a new personal best. I missed it by a fair amount: 1.45 seconds. My start was OK, but I was too far from the wall when I tried to turn and that caused me to lose momentum. I would probably have been disqualified if the officials were on that side of the pool.

Event #10: 200-yard freestyle
Time: 2:38.45
Age Group Rank: 3 out of 3
I still set a new personal best, but it was close. My old record was 2:38.86. I am still happy with setting a personal best, but it doesn't reflect the effort and planning I put into this. The strategy I worked out with my coach was to do the first 75 yards at about 80% effort. I would then build during the next 50 yards, and then do another 50 yards at 100% effort. The last 25 yards would be afterburners, hoping I'd have enough to get to the wall. This was my last race of the day and I wanted to give it everything I had. All of this sounds like a great plan but I failed miserably! The first 75 yards went so fast that I was halfway through the next 50 by the time I realized I should be increasing my speed. At that point I wasn't sure then how far I had swum. Was I on the first 50 or the second? I decided I was on the first 50. However, I was wrong. As I got to the wall at 200 yards, I thought I had another 50 yards to go. I was therefore surprised at my flipturn to see that two people to my right had already finished the race! At yard 205 I decided that it was impossible for me to be so far behind, and at yard 210 I decided that I must have mis-counted my yards and I was now the only one left swimming. I could have stopped at that point. Or I could have stopped at the opposite wall at yard 225, but I had already done half an extra lap and why not follow through with what I had begun? Believe it or not, I maintained my all-out pace through the end (but not the after-burners part of the plan), even though it didn't count. My 2:38.45 time therefore is a pretty big overestimate of my "real" time because (a) a flip turn at yard 200 would not be as fast as a streamlined finish, and (b) I hadn't even reached my full speed.

The paragraph written above is what happened in my mind. But now I see my splits. My first 50 yards took 35.14 seconds. My next 50 yards: 40.39. Then 41.05, then 41.87. I am puzzled that I slowed down by 5 seconds per lap during the period when I thought I was quickening my pace. Crazy race.

DAY#2
I had an excellent finish to the championship meet. I acheived a personal best in 4 of the 4 events I swam today.

Event #14: 200-yard medley relay
Time: 2:14.88
Age Group Team Rank: 5 out of X
I started the first leg (backstroke), followed by Dan (breaststroke), then Matej (butterfly), then Trevor (freestyle). I threw on the throttle, concentarting on getting my arms out of the water as fast as I could (I have a strong stroke, but my cadence tends to be slow). My backstroke turn was not perfect but overall good. I was pretty sure I had a personal best but had to wait the entire meet before they posted the splits. Sure enough; my time was 34.XX seconds. My old record was 36.54. The great thing is that the one event yesterday where I didn't set a personal best was the 50-back, so this replaced that rough race. Our team actually won our heat. That felt good.

Event #15: 100-yard freestyle
Time: 1:06.48
Age Group Rank: 4 out of 4
Another fantastic race. I remember having a perfect dive; I probably didn't surface until the 15-yard mark, the legal limit. I cremed my old personal best of 1:07.80. My legs started to burn.

Event #18: 100-yard breaststroke
Time: 1:23.46
Age Group Rank: 3 out of 3
At this point I had had a string of great races and I wondered if I could keep up the pace. I did. I started with another good dive and some OK turns, and I didn't even swallow any water. I felt some fatigue as I got close to the end but I scolded myself not to slow down. "Streamline, streamline," I said to myself. My old personal best was 1:25.29.

Event #22: 200-yard individual medley
Time: 2:54.97
Age Group Rank: 2 out of 2
Once again, could I fight off the fatigue and do this race justice? Happily, my answer was yes. I broke my old record of 2:56.89. I'm actually surprised a bit that I did not break this record by a greater amount. I gave it everything I had...to the point where I felt nausous. I used to avoid that feeling, but now I look forward to it because I know I pushed myself to my limit, and that's why I race--to push myself to do more than I think I can do. The best part of this race was the fact that I was swimming neck-to-neck with the swimmer next to me (Gian P.) for the first 190 yards. Our butterfly segments were the same; our backstroke segments were the same; I pulled ahead in the breaststroke by maybe a body length; but then in the last length of freestyle he was fierce. I could see him thrashing his arms and splashing hard with his legs each time I took a breath on his side. He was frantically trying to beat me, and I pushed forward, too. Ultimately though, my effort was too late. He was already accelerating toward the wall before I was able to match his speed, and he beat me by 0.25 seconds. He and I had a friendly recounting of the event as we grabbed our towels to dry off.