I just got back from another weekend swim meet. A month ago my 13 year old daughter came away from the regional championships with a 19:34 1500m which was off of the provincial short course championship qualifying time of 19:10 leaving her quite disappointed. This afternoon after swimming 5 races yesterday and finishing with an 800m that was 8 seconds slower than her best (likely due to 4 previous races and a meet that her club was just training through) and then 2 more 100m races this afternoon she went into her 1500m feeling tired and a little discouraged. I told her to just go out a little easier and see if she could lock on a pace to give her 19:30 … the little monster went out a little less crazy than she normally does and was fortunate enough to have a 16 year old guy swimming in the lane next to her that she could pace off of. I kept looking at my watch and writing down her splits in disbelief … final time 19:07 for a 27 second pb and a time that qualifies her for jr. nationals in the summer. Man I wish I could swim as fast as a 5ft 2" 13 year old girl
The only drawback to the tale is that the entries for short course provincials were due Feb 19th and the race is next weekend so I think she is 3 days late with the breakthrough but still very happy anyway since she told me prior to the meet that it would be nice to get a time that qualified her so that she knows she is fast enough to go even if she can’t.
Congratulations to you and her. Can she use her time to qualify for next year?
-Ben
PS- I thought I might see you in Peterborough today at the YMCA half? Any reason you decided not to do it?
I was hoping to do the half in Peterborough but taking my daughter to the swim meet was more important (and I’m really glad that I didn’t miss seeing that swim). The last time I ran the half there was 1984 so it would have been interesting to see how my time compared 25 years later. How was the footing? My long run Sunday morning was pretty slow due to 2-3 cm of new snow on the roads so I don’t imagine the roads were much better for the race. The times didn’t look too fast so I was wondering about the conditions.
The time doesn’t help her for next year since she ages up again. Her problem is that her birthday is the end of October and it seems to take her a few months to get the next age group times. She missed out on short course last year in an event by 2 seconds and then had it easly by April so she went to the long course championships. This year she is ahead of the game by a couple of months so maybe she can repeat it again next year.
I was hoping to do the half in Peterborough but taking my daughter to the swim meet was more important (and I’m really glad that I didn’t miss seeing that swim). The last time I ran the half there was 1984 so it would have been interesting to see how my time compared 25 years later. How was the footing? My long run Sunday morning was pretty slow due to 2-3 cm of new snow on the roads so I don’t imagine the roads were much better for the race. The times didn’t look too fast so I was wondering about the conditions.
The time doesn’t help her for next year since she ages up again. Her problem is that her birthday is the end of October and it seems to take her a few months to get the next age group times. She missed out on short course last year in an event by 2 seconds and then had it easly by April so she went to the long course championships. This year she is ahead of the game by a couple of months so maybe she can repeat it again next year.
Choosing the swim meet was definitely the right choice. Is your daughter only a swimmer right now…or does she bike and run too?
In regards to Peterborough…The weather was horrible in the morning. The snow was coming down like crazy and the wind was really blowing. BUT around 5min before the race actually started the snow finally stopped and the wind seemed to die down. So that was a huge blessing. So ya the footing wasn’t that great especially for the first 10.5km. But then coming back actually a lot of the snow had melted and the roads were pretty good for the most part.
Are you doing Around the Bay or the Ottawa Marathon?
-Ben
I wish she could swim for me at the races! She has got some pretty decent running genes too. At the McQuaid XC race in Rochester last fall she placed 3rd (by 2 seconds) in the middle school race against grade 7-9 competition and she has another year in that age group. This was done with very little run training and just using her swim fitness and some runs in August. When she enters high school in the fall she’ll have her crazy dad as her xc coach who will have to balanace some real run training with what she does with her swim club.
I’m thinking that skipping Peterborough was a good thing after hearing your report. I’m racing in Boston in 8 weeks. I was thinking about Around the Bay too but they are too close together. Ottawa is too close to triathlon season (actually Boston sort of is too but since it is Boston and I’ve never done it I’m going this year).
Good luck at Boston…I will be interested to see how you guys do there. You are a machine anyways…so i am sure you will rock it. But it looks like a few others STers will be able to give you a run for your money. What triathlons are you doing this year? Is this an Ironman year for you? What Ontario ones will be doing? I am just curious…not stocking you or anything…
I’m doing IM Louisville this year and KTown for sure in Ontario. I want to do the Peterborough half but it is the same weekend as provincial long course swimming that the “fish” will be at so I’m not if I’ll be able to juggle that one in. I’m disappointed that they moved the Cobourg date to the same weekend as Louisville since I’ve done that race every year since it started but will be forced to miss it this year.
Congrats on Rachel’s continued swim improvement. Maybe a father-daughter tri relay is the ticket.
FYI - I think that Round the Bay is full (unless you want to cough up $500 for a charity spot) so that is one less race to consider in your build-up to Boston.
Just make sure that she stays on the full swim program and gets whatever running she can in :-). That is simply awesome…must be those Faulds lungs that the rest of us in 40-44 fear being passed down!
