I see a lot of forum members from my general area and am wondering if any of you are going to the meet in Richmond on February 9 and 10. I feel like I almost know some of you even though all I really know about you is whether or not you feel like Dara Torres is doping and what your swimming pet peeves are.
What a fun meet. I got to meet Paul, Julie and Chris (and watch Chris swim the backstroke:bow:!
Paul, with his lovely bruised heel, slipped on the block and cut his big toe, but still managed to swim pretty fast. I also got to see him swim 29.something in the 50 back.
I got to watch an epic duel in the 400 IM between Chris and Jeff Roddin (I can't really say much because my backstroke is considerably worse than Chris' breaststroke) and another great race in the 200 IM.
I also saw Julie swimming some, sans boot of course.
I didn't achieve my biggest goal of breaking 30 for the 50 free. Apparently there is quite a disconnect between my practice stroke and my sprint stroke. I am starting to get the hang of a good catch when I am trying to keep my stroke long, but that hasn't made it to a sprint stroke yet. In all fairness, I did take nearly a second off of my PR in the 50 fr by going 31.65. I also swam my first ever 500 free. Despite slipping on the blocks, cutting my toe and filling my goggles with water, I still swam my predicted seed time of 7:15. I had hoped to go under 7:00, but my first turn was an open turn because I was trying to figure out how to see with goggles half full of water and another one of my turns very nearly missed the wall with only my tippy toes touching the wall. I took 25 seconds off of my 200 br and wound up with a 3:10 (not quite to grudge level with SS). And I took a little over 20 seconds off of my 200 fr by going 2:36.
I enjoyed getting to put faces with some of the names and watching friends and fast people swim. I'm looking forward to zones and getting meet more people and hopefully break that elusive 30 second barrier.
What a fun meet. I got to meet Paul, Julie and Chris (and watch Chris swim the backstroke:bow:!
Paul, with his lovely bruised heel, slipped on the block and cut his big toe, but still managed to swim pretty fast. I also got to see him swim 29.something in the 50 back.
I got to watch an epic duel in the 400 IM between Chris and Jeff Roddin (I can't really say much because my backstroke is considerably worse than Chris' breaststroke) and another great race in the 200 IM.
I also saw Julie swimming some, sans boot of course.
I didn't achieve my biggest goal of breaking 30 for the 50 free. Apparently there is quite a disconnect between my practice stroke and my sprint stroke. I am starting to get the hang of a good catch when I am trying to keep my stroke long, but that hasn't made it to a sprint stroke yet. In all fairness, I did take nearly a second off of my PR in the 50 fr by going 31.65. I also swam my first ever 500 free. Despite slipping on the blocks, cutting my toe and filling my goggles with water, I still swam my predicted seed time of 7:15. I had hoped to go under 7:00, but my first turn was an open turn because I was trying to figure out how to see with goggles half full of water and another one of my turns very nearly missed the wall with only my tippy toes touching the wall. I took 25 seconds off of my 200 br and wound up with a 3:10 (not quite to grudge level with SS). And I took a little over 20 seconds off of my 200 fr by going 2:36.
I enjoyed getting to put faces with some of the names and watching friends and fast people swim. I'm looking forward to zones and getting meet more people and hopefully break that elusive 30 second barrier.
