Attaboy or attagirl: SR NH everyone welcome

I'm happy with the time. Since it's the first time I have swum that event since college, it was a PB. Plus, I won, that's always fun and helps the team. I was happier with my 50 free though. Congratulations on what sounds like a great meet. What was your time on your 50 free? I didn't see it posted anywhere. I've got my zone meet this weekend. I'm hoping I can put together a good 50 free there as well. Good start and good turn. Kevin

Here's a video of my 100 IM at the Utah Masters State Meet last weekend. www.youtube.com/watch

Attaboy Floyd! Congrats on your second best time ever! You'll go faster at Nats, I bet. Your breaststroke leg looked better than mine! And I noticed you took a couple SDKs before starting the free leg. Yay! Are you getting excited now for Federal Way? Taper time soon!

Not really an Attaboy! No new times or distances or PB's. This posting of mine really started about four weeks ago (one month exactly on the 17th of March) on the rant and rave thread, when I suffered (and announced) a rib fracture (one rib, three fractures). After four weeks of Tylenol 3 and at-home practical immobilization, I swam (well, I did go into the deep end) this past Saturday, just treading water, doing a very easy BR (not that my fast BR is any faster) and did some very easy 25m's FR to get the feel of the water and where, if any, in my motion I would or might hurt. No pain focii (focuses?) but I didn't really push it. This morning, Tuesday 17th, I went in for a one-hour real swim, power strokes, long strokes and found that I could still do about 8 strokes (4 cycles) FR / 25m, without pain and at a pretty good pace (SFK for about 11 meters off a push-off). I guess I'm baaaaaaaaaaaaaaack in circulation (even though my picture didn't look like anybody on that (in)famous DB). ;) SFK ... the "F"....................... stands for Flutter The day went pretty well after that (back to work) and no pains (so far).:D

Good going Ahmed, always want progress reports, hope it makes you feel better about your weather lately.

*BUMP* Just got back from Saturday practice feeling invincible! The icky-sicky illness that crushed me at zones is totally gone, and I had a great week of practice, including a killer dryland workout on Wed followed by a killer 5000+ yd backstroke focus workout on Thurs. Woke up today feeling like I lost a street fight, but got to practice early, did an extra 1000 mtr warm-up and then swam with the big dogs in the fast lane. Main set today was a 12 x 100 LCM free, pull on the 1:40 (this is fast for me). Did them all and got some rest to boot! :woot:

Very impressive, Dana- attagirl!

Attagirl Dana! You're going to do some fast times at Nats! I would like to tattle and give out a big ole ATTAGIRL to Aquafeisty who did her lifetime best in the 100 free, her focus event of the Illinois State masters championships. She also was only .01 off her all time personal best in her 50 breaststroke, despite knees currently subjected to PT. She also swam her fastest ever 50 free in a relay. She can report the rest of her outstanding times when she is done with her meet. Attagirl Carrie! :groovy: :applaud: :woot:

Thanks for your input Donna. The video wasn't very good because of the lighting. I should have had my daughter do it from a side of the pool where the windows were behind her, that might have made it a little better. Lately my backstroke has been a struggle. My last few 50's have been 3-4 sec slower than they used to be and I can't figure out why. I don't think I'm cupping my hand but perhaps I am. I'll need to do some "mindful" swimming and see. *** is improving but I'm far from being a breaststroker. The back to *** is very slow, you could time it with a sundial. lol I will add the back/*** 50's into my sets and see what happens. Thanks for the suggestions. Hi Floyd, I finally got to watch your 100 IM video and forgive me if I don't have a lot of comments, it was pretty dark and hard to see until you got close to "this" end of the pool. I thought your fly looked pretty smooth and good. I think the turn between fly and back can be done a little faster, unless you are like me and I sometimes had to use turns for gulps of air (LOL). But I will make two observations on your backstroke, one of them is your armstroke turnover needs to be quicker because this is a 100 race, you should try to race that 25 back swim if you can especially since you are a breaststroker and that next leg of the race is your specialty. My other comment may not be true because I was having a hard time with the darkness of the video. But just in case, here goes: are you cupping your hands on the stroke entry above your head? It sorta looked like it, but I'm not sure. If so, that will not help you. Hands need to be loose-goosey but controlled with pinkie finger entering first; this provides for a greater catch. I couldn't see the back to *** transition very well, but I noticed when you started the breaststroke, you took off swimming it like the 25 it is. When I used to have no brains whatsoever, I swam the 400 IM. My fly was pretty darn good and I could usually keep up with most people, usually hitting the wall about 3rd, and then I would swim the next 100 back like my life depended on it cause it was "my stroke" and I had to pull ahead as far as possible for the upcoming breaststroke portion which I would lose ground on. My point to you is to maybe work on your back to *** using them as 50s and swimming them on the clock and on some interval. Get used to getting the back into gear and getting ready for the *** since you seem to really move that stroke into a whole new gear. I enjoyed your video, as a matter of fact I felt like I was there and I wish I had been. I probably would have burst your eardrums cheering you on. Fine job, Floy, fine job....Attaboy Floyd!!!

Aw, thanks Leslie and Peter!! I was ecstatic with my times this weekend. I swam 6 events and went lifetime (not masters, LIFETIME) bests in 4 of them: 50, 100, 200 free and 100 IM. And that 50 *** only 0.01 off my best... where the heck did that come from? My previous best times for the IM and 50 *** were from 1997 and the free times were all from 2002. Woohoo!!! Oh, and to top it all off, my toddler took a 3 hour nap in her stroller during the middle of the meet today. Truly all the stars were aligned... :D (And Flyqueen had some spectacular times as well, almost all PB's... not to mention her blazing fast free and fly relay splits. I'll let her post some details there!)