Figured I would kick this off with my RR on yesterday’s meet, here’s wishing all the fishes a good kick off to the summer vacation time..
First all the excuses. Woke up at 3;30AM with an actual stomach cramp, the doubled over kind that I only ever get at the end of hot races, or after exceptionally hot work out swims. And a massive headache. Stretch it out, take some aspirin and then just drift until the alarm goes off. I decided no breakfast as I never eat this meal. Always fast until noon swim and having an empty stomach seems to suit me. Just some Gatorade with a tiny bit of maple syrup to sip on during the day and some half caf coffee . Warm up was ok but not magical, but did manage to get in a couple of hard paced 50 breasts at about 42 pace. Felt good to be shaved, almost forgot, and only remembered at about 8PM nite before, so a bloody panic shave.
First up is that 200 breast and one 59 year old guy is next to me with a 2;45 entered time. I figure he will be out fast and ahead of me, but I will hug the lane line for some mental pacing. Dive goes well, first time I don’t take my first stroke and see both sides already a stroke ahead, but youngster starts pulling away. I fight for the pace, and pick up the last 75 instead of my usual wait until last 50, and I can still see him not too far ahead. He does his 2;45 and I look up, 2;51+. Splits were 39.8/43+/44+/43+. Dropped 6 seconds off the meet in this very pool a couple months ago. I’m quite surprised and very out of breath and loaded up. Off to warm down pool, 200IM coming up quick.
I do about 1500 of warm down and put in some 25 build stroke work, but really don’t feel recovered. But heat is up and fast guy who entered 2;20 is a no show, so I’m seated all alone as only one under 3 minutes. Glide out the fly, breath every stroke, and think about what to do next. Back comes and I feel like a dog chasing a rabbit, all race and no brains. Forget everything I had been working on and the split showed it, 44 flat. Fly was a 35+ so out in 1;19+. Breast felt sluggish after just doing that 200 of it, but I held onto the stroke and the millions of yards I do frog kick kept me at a 45+ split. Strange thing is I was not super winded at this point, so just busted my ass on the last 50 thinking I should have gone harder sooner. 33+ on the last split, for 1;18+ on the back half and a 2;38 flat total time. Over 3 seconds faster than the last meet, so was happy with that solo style swim. But dam, I know I got a sub 2;35 in me, but this being the last yard meet of the year, it will have to wait..
100 fly was my throw away event, last meet I did a 1;18 at the end of a cold rainy day, so nothing to lose really. Went out in 34+, was racing a younger girl next to me on the 3rd lap, came out of the last turn and after a few strokes had to resort to drill fly to the finish. Just ran out of arm juice, breath was still pretty good. Came home in a 39 high for a 1;14+, so at least beat my timeby 4 seconds. thinking I still got a 1;10 in me with a fresh swim, just don’t do that race too much anymore.
So I get to bag all the excuses, great meet that hit the high end of my range. The 200 breast will be the 2nd fastest swim in the nation for my AG this year, best I ever placed in the top 10 rankings. The 200IM time vaulted me from 11th to 7th, so another top 10 score. But that swim also got me the SO Cal record for the event, so now I have 3 new records that no one ever sees…Thanks for all the support, you guys help me get through those solo lap swims and keep me motivated to work hard, and just do better than the day before. Now lets get to this summer vacation thingy…
