AMYMSA Mile Swim

Race: 1,650-yard freestyle swim (scy)
Date: December 10, 2011
Location: Greensburg, PA
Time: 27:42.78
Age Group Rank: 2 out of 2

This was my best time to date. Last year I did the 1650 in 29:30. This year I figured I'd be faster so I put down 28:30. Beat it! I'm excited because I was not swimming in top shape. I had not been in the pool for 10 days prior to this. In fact I have not been working out since a week ago when I tore a muscle/tendon in my neck. It went "pop" last Sunday and I've had pain, significant restriction in movement, and fatigue ever since. Of course I've gotten a little better each day, but this morning I still had these symptoms and I wasn't sure whether I could swim at all.

The competition was in three heats. I sat at the end of a lane and counted laps for my teammates during the first two heats. Between tasks I got a chance to test out my neck. I got in an unused lane and started swimming. "Hey, I thought, this is fine." But then I realized I hadn't taken a breath yet. So, I snuck one between strokes and I was able to move my neck to do so, and there was no pain. I finished swimming the lap and got out of the pool. At that point I knew I could start the 1650 but I wasn't sure how long the pain-free period would last.

I swam in the third heat. I started in the pool rather than diving in. I also avoided flip-turns. I felt so slow and I wasn't sure where the other swimmers were so I snuck a peak at the lane counters in the adjacent lanes and saw that my competitors were swimming at the same pace--for instance, we all were on length 21, and then later, we were all on length 36. I really couldn't believe that I was keeping pace. I wasn't doing flip turns, I hadn't done anything physically taxing in a week, and I was still slightly injured. Nevertheless, I ended up beating a couple other folks in my heat (my good friend in the lane next to me did beat me by 13 seconds), and I beat my seed time. I'm very happy.

I'll also plan to have a stiffer neck tomorrow, as I know I forced it to work harder than I probably should have. But nothing went 'pop' again, so at least I didn't re-injure it to any large degree.

The only damper on the night was at the party where I played two lousy games of pool (billards) and lost both times by a lot. This surprised me, as the last time I played pool I remembered I had been pretty good. But then it dawned on me that I had been playing against some folks who had consumed some alcohol, and being the most sober person there, I was probably going to win even if I wasn't that good.

AMYMSA Swim Meet

Race: Masters Swim Meet (scy)
Date: November 20, 2011
Location: Greensburg, PA

Event #1: 100-yard freestyle
Time: 1:09.57
Age Group Rank: 3 out of 3

Event #2: 100-yard breaststroke
Time: 1:27.68
Age Group Rank: 3 out of 3

Event #3: 25-yard butterfly
Time: 15.94 seconds
Age Group Rank: 4 out of 4

Event #4: 500-yard freestyle
Time: 7:49.63
Age Group Rank: 3 out of 3

The meet was in Greensburg, not too far from me. I did a 400-yard warm-up. Then I competed in the following four events:
(1) 100-yard freestyle. I swam this in 1:09.57 which is just half a second off my personal best.
(2) 100-yard breaststroke. I swam this in 1:27.68, which is good I guess, but I have not swam in this event before, so I have nothing to compare it to. A swimmer I admire took me aside and said "Your stroke is awesome, but your turns are horrible." He showed me how to push off the wall and delay the first stroke until you are past the backstroke flags. I actually knew of this technique before but it seems awkward and I don't do it. But he's right; if I did the turn right, I could cut 5 seconds off my time.
(3) 25-yard butterfly. I did this in 15.94 seconds which was a big surprise in a bad way. I had a seemingly perfect dive and I felt strong and fast. But this time was off my personal best by 0.13 seconds. Now that is not a lot, so it isn't a big deal.
(4) 500-yard freestyle. I have never swam in this event before, but I exceeded my goal by a lot. I submitted a seed time of 8:30 but swam it in 7:49.63. People told me this was a fast time for someone who just learned to swim three years ago. I beamed in this praise. I don't do any of ths for the praise of others, but it feels good when you get it :)

AMYMSA Swim Meet

Race: Masters Swim Meet (scy)
Date: November 6, 2011
Location: Erie, PA

Event #1: 100-yard freestyle
Time: 1:09.00
Age Group Rank: 6 out of 6

Event #2: 50-yard freestyle
Time: 30.85 seconds
Age Group Rank: 4 out of 4

Event #3: 50-yard breaststroke
Time: 39.41
Age Group Rank: 2 out of 2

Event #4: 25-yard butterfly
Time: 15.80 seconds
Age Group Rank: 1 out of 1

Third swim meet of the season went well. I did a 450 warm up and then competed in the 100-free, 50-free, 50-breast, and 25-fly. I beat my seed time in 3/4 events. Great day. Now to bed!

Pumpkin Chase 5K Run

Race: 5K run
Date: October 29, 2011
Location: Wilmerding, PA
Time: 27:36.8
Overall Rank: 29 out of 91
Age Group Rank: 5 out of 10
Results: http://www.smileymiles.com/2011/RES%2011%20WILMERDING%20YMCA%20PUMPKIN%20CHASE%205K.HTM

Pumpkin Chase 5K. One of my fastest times, though it is hard to compare 5Ks at different locations given the differences in terrain between them. The route was on paved streets of Wilmerding, PA and our start time was 9am. Since it was snowing, we gathered under a tent to hear instructions and then walked to the starting point where they blew a whistle for the start. Down the hill we went, with volunteers and police officers pointing us in the right direction. Crossed over a small river and ran through a long neighborhood hugging the river bank. The water station was at the midway point, but no one was taking water on a snowy, 35-degree morning. The route ended with a brief uphill sprint and then I was done. My friend Dan beat me by a minute or so. In the YMCA's gym we had the standard fare of oranges, bannanas, cookies, and bottled water, and then the raffle prizes were distributed. My race number was drawn and I won a free hour of bowling for me and 4 friends. That was the only thing I won, though, as my time was not fast enough to get a trophy or medal. We joked that we'll have to wait until we are in the 70-79 year old age class (with fewer competitors) to get a trophy!

AMYMSA Swim Meet

Race: AMYMSA Swim Meet (scy)
Date: October 23, 2011
Location: Hollidaysburg, PA

I competed in 4 events:
(1) 100-yard Individual Medley. My seed time was 1:27 and my swim time was 1:21. That's a significant improvement from only a month ago.
Age Group Rank: 3 out of 3

(2) 50-yard Butterfly. My seed time was 38.42 seconds and my swim was 37.25 seconds, so this is good, too.
Age Group Rank: 3 out of 3

(3) 200-yard Freestyle. My seed time was 2:57 and my swim time was 2:52.73 Another personal best! This was a funny swim because I was the only one in my heat due to other people scratching. There were folks in later heats that could have moved up, but I guess they were too scared to compete with me :)
Age Group Rank: 3 out of 3

(4) 25-yard breaststroke. My seed time was 18.53 seconds but my swim was 18.84 seconds, so this was the one event where I did not out-perform myself. Oh well, can't win them all.
Age Group Rank: 1 out of 1

AMYMSA Swim Meet

Race: AMYMSA (scy)
Date: October 11, 2011
Location: Jamestown, NY
No photos

Master's Swim Meet. I did a 300-yard warmup and then participated in the following events:

A) 100 IM = 1:33.25 (this was rather disasterous, as my goggles fell off, my turn between backstroke and breaststroke was lousy, and then I got so out of synch that I had to stop in the middle of breaststroke and catch my breath.) Given all these issues, I am amazed that my final time was only 5 seconds off my personal best, so I look forward to pulverizing my personal best later in the season. Age Group Rank: 5 out of 5

B) 50 Butterfly = 0:38.42. I beat my seed time of 39 seconds so I'm happy with this. I know I can go faster, though. I was simply being cautious after the problems I had with the IM earlier in the day.
Age Group Rank: 3 out of 3

C) 25 Freestyle = 0:14.12. I beat my personal best of 15.31 from earlier in the year, so this is awesome. My extra speed probably came from a new technique my coach showed me a couple months ago.
Age Group Rank: 2 out of 2

D) 200 freestyle = 2:57.00. I kicked butt. Perviously my personal best was 3:12.15, so I have improved a whopping 15 seconds since 1/9/2011. People actually clapped for me. I'm not even sure why; I wasn't the fastest swimmer in the event, but I was the fastest of my heat...by a lot.
Age Group Rank: 2 out of 2

Slippery Rock University Mini Triathlon

Race: Sprint Triathlon
Date: October 2, 2011
Location: Slippery Rock, PA
Time: 1:17:01
Overall Rank: 27 out of 54
Age Group Rank: 5 out of 8
Results: http://www.runhigh.com/2011RESULTS/R100211AB.HTML
No photos

I swam well and I did it fast. The swim was in a 25y university pool (but they advertised that we would use the 50y pool) with very warm water. Relays went first, followed by the triathletes in order of seed time. The fastest swimmers went first, and you know what? I was third in line! Somehow I have become a "fast" swimmer!

Bike portion of mini-triathlon. This was 7 circuits around a university campus with one small hill. People were talking about how terrible the hill was, but I've been training on hills a lot bigger. I was totally prepared for this race, except for the fact that it was 41 degrees and raining. And even then I would have been prepared, except for two things: (1) I left my socks in the car so I wore no socks inside my cycling shoes...no big deal; (2) I decided at the transition between swimming and cycling that I wouldn't bother wearing my cycling gloves because my hands were wet and it would take too long to slide them on. Big Mistake! My hands rapidly became so numb that I couldn't feel what my fingers were doing and shifting became an endeavor that took a lot of concentration. Other than that, my neon yellow Pearl iZumi cycling jacket kept my core warm and dry. I recommend it highly.

By the time I was finished with the cycling, my hands felt frozen in the 41 degree, rainy weather. My legs were red and cold, my sockless feet were cold. It was a dark and stormy night, blah blah blah....So I didn't run very fast as I was having trouble picking up my feet. I don't think this was due to fatigue but rather the fact that my leg muscles were cold. Given the wet running shoes and my lack of socks (I left them in the car!), I started feeling discomfort on my left big toe. One cannot run his best when he's in pain with each step. It wasn't terrible pain because the coldness deadened the sensation, but at the end of the race I discovered my brand new shoes were bloodstained at the toe. I rubbed my big toe raw and didin't really know it. It's a small injury so I'll heal quickly. All in all, it was a great day because I completed the triathlon. In 41 degree weather. In rain. Who does that? I do :)

Despite my sluggish run, this was the fastest 5K run that I have done to date. I completed it in 27:49 which works out to a pace of 8:57.