El Segundo SCY meet (Dingbat!)

Please allow me to do some out loud thinking here.... So, I went to a swim meet Sunday, El Segundo SCY meet. I think I'll have to chalk this one up to the 'learning experience' Quick digression: Thank you Wayne for putting together a very nice meet. I liked swimming in that pool. Seemed fast and very comfortable. Now, onto the dingbat part.... 200 free was my first event... I was doing really well, and thought I finished pretty strong, look up at the time, and it saw, um... WAY too fast. I look up at my teammates who were cheering me on, and they're going, are you okay??? I'm like .... :confused: huh? Then it dawns on me... I was supposed to go another 50 !!! No, I didn't turn around and try to do it, I scratched it. I didn't think of it right away, I could have finished, even with a slow time, and picked up a few points for the team... double DUH! (BTW, my Coach and teammates are the best when it comes to lifting your spirits!) I think this one is going into the "I can't believe I did that" category. I kind of knew going into this weekend that I wasn't going to be all there for the meet. Had a tough couple weeks - work, lack of sleep, pms, and some other emotionally taxing stuff going on... So it's okay, I'll do better next time. The rest of the meet, it was a mixed bag... I did 1:20.00 in the 100 free, which is my personal best, and OMG ;) , this is the first time that I did not come in last in my age group!!!! So, thats' a milestone. Although... I felt like I could have been smoother in that race... Compared to the way I felt at recent practices. After that was 50 free, and my technique fell apart on that one. Plus, one of the timers, nice old guy, got me all irritated (I know, I know, I shouldn't have let it bug me, normally it wouldn't)... but Man, he was standing right in front of the block, writing something down, I couldn't get on the block, the official is whistling for us to get on the block, and the guy is still bent over writing down stuff from the previous heat, and I can't get on the block without... um, getting pushy. I tried to get his attention about 3 times to ask him to scoot off to the side, but he was not hearing me, and not paying attention to the officials. :( I have a tough time getting pushy with nice old people who are trying their best, but are inadvertantly in the way... So, somehow, I managed to get around him, and get up on the block in the nick of time... My 50 free was not memorable. 2 seconds slower than my best from just 3 weeks ago. And I knew it was not gonna be good, the whole race just didn't feel right. My coach says it didn't look right either... heh, no kidding ;) Then the 500 free.. it was my first 500 SCY. I seeded 7:55 (converted from 400 free SCM) and did 7:38.07, with very even ssplits, and a faster finish. So, I'm pretty pleased with that one - for the firat one. Now I have something to build from in that event. Overall, it felt like I just didn't have the energy to stay focused yesterday... and I kind of knew that was going to be the case going into it. Oh, yeah, I forgot, I was drinking Mylanta the night before, like it was going out of style, something really upset my stomach, but it seemed to have stabilized (emptied out) by the meet. Well, all things considering, I still managed to do really well in the 100 1.22 faster than the last meet. I'm pleased with that one. Even though I pooped out at the meet, looks like I've made progress over the last 3 weeks, since the last meet. Thats' a good thing. At the morning workout today I actually felt really good. Too bad the meet isn't today! :D