200 Challenge: Goal time, roadmap and status updates

My warm up meet is half completed. I swam the 200 Free (LCM) this morning. My goal was to go sub 2:10 and get my splits much closer together. This is how it went: 1st 50: 30:32 2nd50: 31:58 3rd 50: 33:30 4th 50: 33:02 Total 1st 100: 1:02:30 2nd100: 1:06:32 (4 second difference between 100's) Have to say, I am quite pleased with this result. It is my fastest Masters 200. 2 seconds faster than last year and probably my fastest 200 ever.(I never really swam the event as a kid and I can't remember any times I did for it anyway). I felt really relaxed at the end of the first 100. In fact, I felt so relaxed, I thought I had gone out too slowly and blown it. I was tired at the end but no nausea (certainly nothing like I feel sometimes in practice). I felt I had quite a lot left in the tank. Strategy-wise I think I made a big breakthrough this time. I had been training a lot, doing 50's, going 31's and 32's until I was certain I could do them at that speed with relative ease and accuracy. I knew just how fast I had to go to do a 62. I doubted myself momentarily because, I suppose, I was more rested than in practice and just was't used to it feeling that easy. On the negative side, I had a slow start. I completely messed up the final turn. My feet slipped, skewing off the touch pad. I was turning onto my tummy before my feet had touched the wall. I didn't do one single SDK the entire race! I also think my final two 50's could have been a bit faster. I lost concentration. You really have to concentrate on that final 100 to keep your stroke long and smooth. The more your stroke goes to pieces, the more tired you get. If those final two 50's had been 32's instead of 33's then I would have got a 2:06 and I would have been really happy with that time. My big shave and taper meet is on October 31st so I have until then to work on my mistakes and build up a bit more stamina. I am now "hooked", more than ever, on the 200!

My warm up meet is half completed. I swam the 200 Free (LCM) this morning. My goal was to go sub 2:10 and get my splits much closer together. This is how it went: 1st 50: 30:32 2nd50: 31:58 3rd 50: 33:30 4th 50: 33:02 Total 1st 100: 1:02:30 2nd100: 1:06:32 (4 second difference between 100's) Have to say, I am quite pleased with this result. It is my fastest Masters 200. 2 seconds faster than last year and probably my fastest 200 ever.(I never really swam the event as a kid and I can't remember any times I did for it anyway). I felt really relaxed at the end of the first 100. In fact, I felt so relaxed, I thought I had gone out too slowly and blown it. I was tired at the end but no nausea (certainly nothing like I feel sometimes in practice). I felt I had quite a lot left in the tank. Strategy-wise I think I made a big breakthrough this time. I had been training a lot, doing 50's, going 31's and 32's until I was certain I could do them at that speed with relative ease and accuracy. I knew just how fast I had to go to do a 62. I doubted myself momentarily because, I suppose, I was more rested than in practice and just was't used to it feeling that easy. On the negative side, I had a slow start. I completely messed up the final turn. My feet slipped, skewing off the touch pad. I was turning onto my tummy before my feet had touched the wall. I didn't do one single SDK the entire race! I also think my final two 50's could have been a bit faster. I lost concentration. You really have to concentrate on that final 100 to keep your stroke long and smooth. The more your stroke goes to pieces, the more tired you get. If those final two 50's had been 32's instead of 33's then I would have got a 2:06 and I would have been really happy with that time. My big shave and taper meet is on October 31st so I have until then to work on my mistakes and build up a bit more stamina. I am now "hooked", more than ever, on the 200!