Swim happy

This will be a bit of a long post, so forgive me. One of my resolutions for the New Year was for my first meet of the year (which just ended) to be my new "BMY"- Best Meet Yet. Last November and December, I had two really spectacular meets where I dropped a lot of time in a lot of events. Perhaps this was too much to expect, but I wanted to prove to myself I could get right back into it after the Christmas break (which was a week and a half), and after getting sick the first week of the new year, too. The meet began well enough, I dropped almost a second and a half in the 100 back, to set my new PB at 1:16 flat. Then it was BZZZZT all downhill from there. 100 free's 1:00.83 is something I blame on my own arrogance (an arrogance which I didn't even know I had until it was too late). If I had just taken a test dive, maybe I would have a new 100 free PB right now. As is, I got flustered by the tiny blocks. So disappointed with my 100 free was I, that I blew-off cooldowns for the rest of the meet. Day 1: 100 back: old PB 1:17.38 (Dec '10) /// new PB 1:16.00 (Jan '11) 100 free: PB 58.93 (Dec '10) /// 1:00.83 (Jan '11) 200 ***: PB 3:09 (Apr '10) /// 3:17.08 (Jan '11) (admittedly, the April swim was tapered and shaved down, and I have no experience in this event at all) 100 fly: PB 1:11.25 (Dec '10) /// 1:15 (Jan '11) So last night, I just kept telling myself, "Keep your nerve, keep your nerve, keep your nerve, there's still another day, a whole 'nother day of racing..." When I came to the meet earlier, I was told I had to scratch one of my four events because the meet got overbooked. I opted out of the 200 backstroke and got a refund. That left the 200 IM, the 100 ***, and the 50 free. I have never swum the 200 IM before, or indeed any IM. I raced it and got a time of 2:42. I guess that's good? I really have no perspective on it. The 100 *** was a crusher, but I kept my cool and didn't completely wipe out. Still, my coach and I have both agreed that my breaststroke needs a lot of work, particularly my kick and my turns. I got a 1:29. So, the meet so far: Day 2 200 IM: PB 2:42 (Jan '11) It's a start! 100 ***: PB 1:24.30 (Dec '10) /// 1:29 (Jan '11) Only the 50 free is left to tell of. My PB coming into it was 27.53, as set at a meet way back in October. In those two great meets I had in November and December, I set new PBs in EVERY event I was entered in except for the 50 free. I got a 28.05 and a 27.86, respectively. So, how did I do? 26.35! :D I flew, baby, I flew! It was one of those spin-around-and-rip-off-my-cap-n-goggles swims, so I could find out my time on the board as quickly as I could. As I was packing up my bag to leave a few minutes later, I realized I was "back in it." Bad swims leave me feeling like a stranger in my own body. I feel like my temple is all disordered. I might have aches, I might feel disoriented for hours and days afterwards. For me, there is only one cure-all for this kind of thing: have a really good swim. Incidentally, my three latest PBs in the 50 free have all come at the end of of my most disappointing meets. My 27.72 last May came after a very dissatisfactory 100 free which was rather similar to my 100 free yesterday (I slipped off the blocks, lost streamline). My 27.53 last October came after a meet where I had made only marginal gains (even the 50 free PB was a mere 19 milliseconds faster than May's swim). And now this one comes at the end of this meet... 26.35. I felt great swimming it and I feel great now, afterwards. Keep your nerve, my fellow swimmers.

This will be a bit of a long post, so forgive me. One of my resolutions for the New Year was for my first meet of the year (which just ended) to be my new "BMY"- Best Meet Yet. Last November and December, I had two really spectacular meets where I dropped a lot of time in a lot of events. Perhaps this was too much to expect, but I wanted to prove to myself I could get right back into it after the Christmas break (which was a week and a half), and after getting sick the first week of the new year, too. The meet began well enough, I dropped almost a second and a half in the 100 back, to set my new PB at 1:16 flat. Then it was BZZZZT all downhill from there. 100 free's 1:00.83 is something I blame on my own arrogance (an arrogance which I didn't even know I had until it was too late). If I had just taken a test dive, maybe I would have a new 100 free PB right now. As is, I got flustered by the tiny blocks. So disappointed with my 100 free was I, that I blew-off cooldowns for the rest of the meet. Day 1: 100 back: old PB 1:17.38 (Dec '10) /// new PB 1:16.00 (Jan '11) 100 free: PB 58.93 (Dec '10) /// 1:00.83 (Jan '11) 200 ***: PB 3:09 (Apr '10) /// 3:17.08 (Jan '11) (admittedly, the April swim was tapered and shaved down, and I have no experience in this event at all) 100 fly: PB 1:11.25 (Dec '10) /// 1:15 (Jan '11) So last night, I just kept telling myself, "Keep your nerve, keep your nerve, keep your nerve, there's still another day, a whole 'nother day of racing..." When I came to the meet earlier, I was told I had to scratch one of my four events because the meet got overbooked. I opted out of the 200 backstroke and got a refund. That left the 200 IM, the 100 ***, and the 50 free. I have never swum the 200 IM before, or indeed any IM. I raced it and got a time of 2:42. I guess that's good? I really have no perspective on it. The 100 *** was a crusher, but I kept my cool and didn't completely wipe out. Still, my coach and I have both agreed that my breaststroke needs a lot of work, particularly my kick and my turns. I got a 1:29. So, the meet so far: Day 2 200 IM: PB 2:42 (Jan '11) It's a start! 100 ***: PB 1:24.30 (Dec '10) /// 1:29 (Jan '11) Only the 50 free is left to tell of. My PB coming into it was 27.53, as set at a meet way back in October. In those two great meets I had in November and December, I set new PBs in EVERY event I was entered in except for the 50 free. I got a 28.05 and a 27.86, respectively. So, how did I do? 26.35! :D I flew, baby, I flew! It was one of those spin-around-and-rip-off-my-cap-n-goggles swims, so I could find out my time on the board as quickly as I could. As I was packing up my bag to leave a few minutes later, I realized I was "back in it." Bad swims leave me feeling like a stranger in my own body. I feel like my temple is all disordered. I might have aches, I might feel disoriented for hours and days afterwards. For me, there is only one cure-all for this kind of thing: have a really good swim. Incidentally, my three latest PBs in the 50 free have all come at the end of of my most disappointing meets. My 27.72 last May came after a very dissatisfactory 100 free which was rather similar to my 100 free yesterday (I slipped off the blocks, lost streamline). My 27.53 last October came after a meet where I had made only marginal gains (even the 50 free PB was a mere 19 milliseconds faster than May's swim). And now this one comes at the end of this meet... 26.35. I felt great swimming it and I feel great now, afterwards. Keep your nerve, my fellow swimmers.