My goal was 4500; I went 4550, holding 1:19s. My training partner pulled away at 3000 and finished with 4625; I didn't try to stay with him. The first 2500 felt great (effortless?), but after 3000 I began feeling hungry and didn't want to bonk (we swam at 7am so there was no prerace meal other than my usual latte). Surprisingly, my time at the 3000 mark was only 15 seconds slower than my 3000 Postal time in November. My breathing pattern for the first 3500 was two breaths on the left, one on the right--which worked well. Looking forward to tapering (and shaving) at the end of the month for the Charlotte meet where I'll be squaring off with the Geek (and my training partner) in the 500. One of my college coaches used to say that the 500 is a sprint. Now I believe him.
I think I have adequate conditioning. I need to focus on technique and race pace swimming.
I joined my Masters group in September '05, and did the 1 hour in January. I remember hating it, looking at the clock a lot, and having my technique fall apart fairly often.
This morning I hated it, looked at the clock a lot, and held my stroke a lot better -- and went about 10% further. That seems like decent improvement in a year. I'll take it, anyway.
Great job Bill! I'm a semi-seasoned swimmer and the postal scares the heck out of me - still does. I started to worry about it a couple days prior to the swim. I know my form fell apart about halfway into the swim. Instead of gliding across the water it felt more like "ker-plunk, ker-plunk" due to my breathing every two. I really don't think I'll be able to do 10% further next year - I think that's a super improvement you made.:notworthy: I too kept looking at the clock on occasion - was helpful and a bit distracting.
I was actually thinking of starting a thread similar to this one, so it's great that someone else has done it for me.
First of all, I am a distance swimmer, and until I read Kristina's distance I was pretty proud of my swim...
I swam it yesterday morning during my regular practice time, 5:15 a.m. This was the 3rd time for me. All of the previous times, my goal was to hit 5000, and every single January, I was sicker than sick. I always did the swim anyway, and always fell shy of 5000 (4995 in 2005 was particularly frustrating!).
Anyway, I swam it straight, no stopping for water, but thankfully I had no cramping issues like Kristina. At the 3000, I was a touch ahead of my 3000 postal swim, so I knew that I was on pace and felt pretty good. By the end of the 4000, I was simply in pain.
I think that the hour swim is such a mental race, I sooo wanted to just stop. When I finally hit the 5000 mark and had time left, I just about did stop. However, it sounds like it's a good thing that I didn't. I finished with 5085, and I think that I'm in the same age group as Kristina, so I'm glad that I kept going!
I can't believe that Kristina calls herself a sprinter! That's an incredible distance. I'd like to have her for a training partner.
Kristina,
I do train with men for the most part. My regular training partner is great. He started out as a sprinter, but I've almost converted him to a distance swimmer. Much to his surprise, he discovered that he likes the 500, after swimming it at Nationals last year and kicking my butt! Boo-hoo. Maybe I'll talk him into a 1000 for this year, so he can beat me again.
There are a few other guys who I train with occasionally, but they are so much faster than I am that it can get depressing. Sometimes I'll end up in the same lane as Jeff Erwin (mentioned earlier in this thread for his hour-postal record) during long course season, and I lose track of the number of times he laps me, even in a 50M pool.:(
How many yards did you get in each 15 minute section? Obviously you must have been around 1250 each time, but I'm curious how your yardage changed with fatigue. Also, how much of the 15 minutes was left for rest after you finished each section? I've never tried breaking it up; don't know if it would work for me.
Floyd,
I haven't heard anything about meets for this spring. If I do, I'll let you know. Good luck in your postal. I know that it's hard to do alone. I can never seem to make it to the Sat. and Sun. sessions arranged by Jill, so I end up swimming alone during regular practice times.
Thanks Matt and Heather for your kind words.
Still a LONG way from those top swimmers. But, ya gotta start somewhere. :)
Matt, that would be some major, projectile chow blowing. :joker: I remember looking up those times before my swim and just thinking "Wow!" and then doing my own thing.
Heather, swimming all the 50s and 100 free is a LOT in a meet (at least I think so). In fact, I think I remember swimming just the 50s at some meets.
Did I read that you did some personal bests even not feeling 100% (had a hint of a cold)? That's awesome! How did those swims go? How was your 50 fly?
Looking forward to hearing more 1 hour postal stories!! If nothing else, I feel that swim increases anyone's threshold for pain. :woot:
Kristina, sorry I just saw this today ... I did a PB in the 100 free by .03 hahah ... it's still a PB and 2 seconds faster than I was in December at the same meet/pool. The 50 fly was .6 faster than December and felt better but I was on crack when I swam it and decided to breathe every other stroke. I dropped another second on the relay when I remembered to keep my head down ...
I have another meet this Sunday so keep your fingers crossed. This time I'm doing the 100 fly instead of the 50 ***, they probably take me about the same time ...
Thanks for asking!
I'm so impressed with your postal swim. That is an amazing pace!
I won by not swimming it.
Me too. :groovy:
I was going to do it all fly like Kirk Nelson suggested. Then I thought about doing it all monofin SDK just for practice.
But then reason prevailed and I boycotted the event in protest of the fact there is no postal sprint quadrathlon. I will carry on with my boycott until the rules are changed. It's flat out discrimination. ;)
Good luck in that 100 fly, FlyQueen! Use those SDKs you've been working on!! Report back!
