I'm sure each of us has one race (or maybe more) that has some special :groovy: :applaud: :wave: :banana: :laugh2:
meaning to us and it could be for any one of many reasons. (I'm not talking about embarrassing moments; this has been addressed elsewhere.)
I'm talking about swims/races, some moments of which live with incredible clarity and details in our memories and minds (in colour -or B&W, with sounds and possibly smells -chlorine, of course.)
I won't tell about mine (I have three about which I'm very proud) for a while. Not until regulars have told their stories and some would-be-posters (a.k.a. lurkers) have also shared.
Parents
Former Member
I only started swimming in high school and was (am) only a mediocre swimmer, so no age-group or college memories for me.
My memorable swims came at LCM zones at George Mason this past summer. I spent a lot of time training with the kiddies in the spring, but then suffered an injury and had to cut back on training. Zones was to be LCM exposure in a "real" pool (as opposed to the not-quite-regulation pools in the area).
Everything at the meet just clicked. I was sore and tenative about starts and turns during warm-ups, but when I hit the blocks for a race I forgot about the pain and just swam. All my swims that meet were PBs, but my 800 & 100 freestyle swims really stand out in my memory.
It was my first competition 800; although, I had done the 1500 in SCM before. My goal was to keep a steady, relaxed pace and get a baseline for this distance. The scoreboard at GMU is on the side wall of the pool, so I was able to see my 100 splits off the turn. My 200 pace seemed fast, but I felt great so I kept plugging away. At the 400, I was only a few seconds off my fastest 400 swim, but I still felt like I had a lot in me so, again, just kept pushing on. The whole race was like that. Usually, during a longer swim like this, I start asking myself what I was thinking to want to swim it, somewhere around the 500 mark. Not this time. Steady & relaxed--Mission Accomplished!
Suffering from some kind of personal block, I couldn't break through the 1:20 barrier for my 100 free. Short course times were improving at every meet, but I seemed stuck in LCM pools. The 100 was the first swim of the morning, and I was determined to just leave it all in the pool. When I touched the wall and saw the time of 1:15, I actually checked to see if I was swimming in the right lane. If memory serves, this was the morning after the 800, so I was feeling a little sluggish on dry land. Must be something in the water at GMU!
Breaking through that barrier changed the way I've approached all my swims this year. I no longer see barriers, and have successfully improved times in events at all distances. I look at this meet as my breakthrough meet, and pray that SCY zones has the same effect!
I only started swimming in high school and was (am) only a mediocre swimmer, so no age-group or college memories for me.
My memorable swims came at LCM zones at George Mason this past summer. I spent a lot of time training with the kiddies in the spring, but then suffered an injury and had to cut back on training. Zones was to be LCM exposure in a "real" pool (as opposed to the not-quite-regulation pools in the area).
Everything at the meet just clicked. I was sore and tenative about starts and turns during warm-ups, but when I hit the blocks for a race I forgot about the pain and just swam. All my swims that meet were PBs, but my 800 & 100 freestyle swims really stand out in my memory.
It was my first competition 800; although, I had done the 1500 in SCM before. My goal was to keep a steady, relaxed pace and get a baseline for this distance. The scoreboard at GMU is on the side wall of the pool, so I was able to see my 100 splits off the turn. My 200 pace seemed fast, but I felt great so I kept plugging away. At the 400, I was only a few seconds off my fastest 400 swim, but I still felt like I had a lot in me so, again, just kept pushing on. The whole race was like that. Usually, during a longer swim like this, I start asking myself what I was thinking to want to swim it, somewhere around the 500 mark. Not this time. Steady & relaxed--Mission Accomplished!
Suffering from some kind of personal block, I couldn't break through the 1:20 barrier for my 100 free. Short course times were improving at every meet, but I seemed stuck in LCM pools. The 100 was the first swim of the morning, and I was determined to just leave it all in the pool. When I touched the wall and saw the time of 1:15, I actually checked to see if I was swimming in the right lane. If memory serves, this was the morning after the 800, so I was feeling a little sluggish on dry land. Must be something in the water at GMU!
Breaking through that barrier changed the way I've approached all my swims this year. I no longer see barriers, and have successfully improved times in events at all distances. I look at this meet as my breakthrough meet, and pray that SCY zones has the same effect!
