2011 SCY Nats in Mesa, AZ

... furnace heat/blazing sun/desert winds were not conducive to fast swims.The funny thing today (for us natives used to swimming year-round outdoors in temperatures ranging from freezing to 115) were people complaining about how cold it was this morning! I absolutely loved the meet and thought that the Mesa crew did an awesome, awesome job. I really can't think of any improvement to be made. I will say, though, that I'm looking forward to racing indoors next year. As much as I love Arizona and love training outdoors, I still far prefer racing indoors. As for the tech suits, I'll say that THEY DO MATTER and that the meet results this weekend and looking across the season as a whole 'prove' that point. With that said, I don't think their advantages are surmountable for us Masters swimmers ... almost all of us can train a little harder, a little smarter, race with better strategy, improve technique, etc.

Bobby has been regaining his form slowly but surely over the last couple of seasons. He'll be going 50.x in the 100 and low 1:50s in the 200 before too much longer. (I remember him more of a 200 flier back in the day, but he claims to have gotten over that problem.) Yeah, he became a distance/OW swimmer instead :rolleyes:

Way to go Elaine! :cheerleader: 27 Krugman, Elaine 49 GAJA 38.90 42.84 That Guy, you're killing me! :blush: I did better at Nationals last year when I was a newbie! The heat has destroyed my body but not my spirits! I am having an absolute blast here! And, King Frog was at it again, :cheerleader: me on from behind the blocks for my race. :D The good news on my post-race critique: "You swam a great 35 yard race! Your turn was the best I have seen from you! Your stroke looked good!" The bad news from my post-race critique: "You swam a great 35 yard race!" In other words, the piano crashed- hard. Allen's response: "It's definitely the heat!" Well, considering how well I was swimming my taper sprints in the Buggatorium back in Georgia, I concur. I feel... WASTED. :badday: But, I'm having a blast! :D Hey, That Guy, I met your buddy James! :applaud:

That Guy, you're killing me! :blush: I did better at Nationals last year when I was a newbie! The heat has destroyed my body but not my spirits! I am having an absolute blast here! And, King Frog was at it again, :cheerleader: me on from behind the blocks for my race. :D The good news on my post-race critique: "You swam a great 35 yard race! Your turn was the best I have seen from you! Your stroke looked good!" The bad news from my post-race critique: "You swam a great 35 yard race!" In other words, the piano crashed- hard. Allen's response: "It's definitely the heat!" Well, considering how well I was swimming my taper sprints in the Buggatorium back in Georgia, I concur. I feel... WASTED. :badday: But, I'm having a blast! :D Hey, That Guy, I met your buddy James! :applaud: Glad to hear you're having fun. At Portland LCM Nationals in 2008, it was 103 degrees on Friday and Saturday. I kept going back to my hotel room so I could recover between events. Not as much fun as I would have had if I had been on the pool deck watching races and meeting forumites. I did happen to witness Paul Smith's wardrobe malfunction, so I've got that going for me. As for James, he kept trying to talk me into coming down there. He even asked me to count his 500. As a compromise I offered to send him the count in PM's every 30 seconds during his race (and of course those PM's would just have been "43" over and over) but strangely he declined. 11 Adams, James A 33 HMS 5:05.74 5:14.22 26.19 55.80 (29.61) 1:26.67 (30.87) 1:58.43 (31.76) 2:30.56 (32.13) 3:03.06 (32.50) 3:35.73 (32.67) 4:08.72 (32.99) 4:42.03 (33.31) 5:14.22 (32.19) :applaud: :applaud: :applaud:

There were some fast times. But, on the whole, I thought times were almost uniformly slower than the tech suit times (at least in the age groups I'm familiar with). Records were mostly set by stars aging up. True, Fort. Not just the suits though ... seems the shallow pool in combination with furnace heat/blazing sun/desert winds were not conducive to fast swims. Times in my division's 50 free were a full second slower than last year. That can't all be the suits! (I hope) Overall a really well-run meet. Volunteers were outstanding. Nice job.

I suspect I just didn't rest quite enough. That's what I'm hoping, anyway!Yeah, this meet wasn't your best. But from what I'm reading from you, it sounds like you missed your taper more than you miss the suits.

Yeah, this meet wasn't your best. But from what I'm reading from you, it sounds like you missed your taper more than you miss the suits. And missed some of your pre-taper training due to the foot injury. My impressions on the tech suit effect after a year without them: 1. Strong kickers are less effected than weak kickers -- agree with McTrusty. 2. Younger masters less effected than older masters. 3. Slimmer masters less effected than weight challenged masters. 4. Those doing serious core work/drylands less effected. 5. Too much pure bulk/strength is probably not as beneficial without the suits. 6. Short axis strokes are effected more than long axis strokes. 7. LC times will take more of a hit than SC times. I don't agree with Susan. I think women are still effected. How could they not be when you take away the float, zipper, compression and full coverage? Record setting was largely confined to stars aging up (Sheri Hart, SVDL) and masters 60+ years old. However, it's possible that women were effected less than men; I'd have to do further analysis of times across a broad spectrum. For myself, though I was an ardent tech suit fan and wish we had them back, I have to grudgingly admit that I seem to do better vis-a-vis my chief competition without the tech suits.

I can't quantify the suit speed since I switched events and trained totally differently this year versus the meet at Ga Tech. Either way, the loss of the suits is still one of the darkest days ever.

I just watched the day four recap video. My favorite part was the guy at the 6:27 mark! YouTube - 2011 U.S. Masters Swimming Spring Nationals Day 4

It was fantastic seeing old friends and meeting new ones last weekend. Chris Stevenson was extremely happy that he swam faster than me in the 100 back. I saw his time go on the board about five minutes before my swim, and I thought "Well, it would be nice to go 51.5." Given our extreme differences in the way we swim the 100 back, it would be interesting to have us side by side for contrast. If I had known he was looking for a grudge match, my motivation to swim fast would not have been limited to only those in my heat. To respond to the comments about swimming outdoors: I love swimming outdoors ... when backstroke is not involved. I was very fortunate to stay away from the lane ropes in all my backstroke races, but that is not always the case. I know a lot of people who swim indoors were affected by the constant sun beating on them. I went through about 64 ounces of Gatorade each day. This was my best Masters meet ever, and one of the best meets of my life. There were too many factors that contributed to it to list here, but I will note that I was not nervous for any of my races. (I was hyperventilating a little bit before my 100 ***, though.) Usually, I'm close to vomiting at championship meets, but I was surprisingly calm and "zen" all weekend. My best swim of the meet was the mixed medley relay. We broke the national record by more than a second! Our flat-start splits were about .7 slower than the record, so we all stepped up for this once-in-a-lifetime achievement. I was shocked that I split 24.96 on the breaststroke. Have fun in Auburn, everyone! I hope to see you in Omaha.