Tempe: One more time, we find each other

Originally posted by urban ION ... ...to come and watch me swim. ... God bless you, Mark Urban :D Man, speaking of 1:59.07 in 200 backstroke: that was fast. Every single inch of it, that I was watching closely.

Hello every one. I just wanted to thank every one ,who cameto the nationals. This was my very first Nationals. I particped in 3 events. I was really impressed with the entire event. I would like to thank theU.S.M.S. I would liketo thank the AZ. masters ,who made this event such a tremdious sucess. I would like to thank the refrees , And I would like to thank all of the volunteers. But what impressed me most was the attiude of the people. I had asked quite afew swimmers their goals. And allhad one response. they were not concerend with winning. but their main conceren was to better their time. which I thouht was great. The warm ups the meet. allwent as smoothly as ashark cuts through water. I watched older people to the younger people, as they swam I daid to my self , rvery one has aplace here. From the slowest to the fastes.I would like to part with this saying from an old song. There is aplace inthe sun for every one

Meg, that just great. Now my best times were way back in my teens. Anyway, I swam this year at 42.95 for the 50 yard *** and 1:34.58 for the 100 yard ***. I competed for less than a year in masters. I don't know if I will get faster since I started back in swimming at age 45, working out at least 3 to 4 days around 1:10 to sometimes 1:25 mintues. Ion did really good in the 100 yard, I thought that his taper would help him in sprints and maybe cost him a little in distance-1000 yard Freestyle. Now Meg, its hard to image that Melinda Mann did a 1:10.76 at 46 years old in the 100 yard breastroke, that's faster than a lot of us doing the 100 yard freestyle. And C Kratti in the 40 to 44 year old age group doing 1:05 in the 100 yard breastroke. In 1969, the American record for women was 1:06. No joke.

Originally posted by cinc310 Sorry, I will not be able to see you in Tempe,Meg. My mother has had problems with an infection in her toe and even thou I got off work on this Sunday, I will not go to Tempe which is a 2 hour trip from where I'm at. I'll see her in the hospital and practice a swim workout at the health club. I saw you did a 3:17 for your 200 yard breastroke-way to go. I know that they were a lot of fast times in but we can't all go under 3:00 like we did as teenagers. Good luck in the 50 yard and 100 yard. Try for 39.8 to 40.8 in the 50 yard and a sub 1:30 in the 100 yard. Sorry about your mother, Cynthia. Much more important for you to see her than me! Thanks for the compliment on my 200 ***. I was frankly shocked at my time! That is the fastest for me in a long time. It was much faster than what I did at my team's meet in March. I was worried I would have no energy because I'd been at the pool all day in the heat, and the 200 was the last event of the day. I was pleasantly surprised with my 50 and 100 too. I got a terrible start on my 100 (I was still trying to grab the block when the horn went off), so to do the time I went was great. The best I've ever done in my life is 1:29, and that was 10 years, one kid, and 40 pounds ago! I am now inspired to get some weight off so I won't have to drag it up and down the pool with me! Ion, I saw your 100 free, and you looked great! Good job! Thanks Arizona for a fantastic meet. I had a blast! Meg

Originally posted by cinc310 ... Ion did really good in the 100 yard, I thought that his taper would help him in sprints and maybe cost him a little in distance-1000 yard Freestyle. ... Indeed, it seems to be like this. I remember in the 1000 free, in the second 500, when I was calling on my body for effort, my body wasn't responding, it was almost a body empty of energy. The splits also show this fading. Three weeks ago when I swam 17 seconds faster for the 1000 free in the La Jolla meet with three days of half rest, during the second 500 I was calling on my body for effort, and my body did respond. Today, the head coach told me that in the future we will taper by also incorporating small anaerobic threshold sets, besides the usual broken swims and sprints. In the 1000 free, it might be that I was also affected by nerves: before the race, a doctor was worried about me being almost blue, and people where cheering me up when seeing that before the race I was shaking like a leaf. After the 1000 free, I became more relaxed, and I swam a very good for me 100 free, and two very good for me 50 free in relays. Originally posted by cinc310 ... Now Meg, its hard to image that Melinda Mann did a 1:10.76 at 46 years old in the 100 yard breastroke,... ... I saw amazing swims in Tempe, by people in the midst of the prime of their life, that outdo lots of gifted age-group competitive swimmers. Polishing the mind and the body in order to be sharp during this lifetime, it works like it was never known a few decades ago.

Originally posted by MegSmath ... Ion, I saw your 100 free, and you looked great! Good job! ... Meg Hey, Meg. Twice in the 100 free I did back off the pain, thinking "What's the point to push? I will end with a 59.89 anyway, i.e. 'big effort, small result', like I keep doing it in recent years.". Had I known to be in pace for the 58.40 -my lifetime second best- and close to 58.11 -my lifetime best-, I would have pushed through pain to get a new lifetime best. The occasion was there. Loud and clear. But I didn't know. A few heats after me, the heavyweight division comprising of Paul Smith and John Smith, had a dramatic battle.