Swim meet post #1

OK!! I'm up and running...took awhile to find a good wi-fi spot...there's something about being in a building made entirely of concrete - seems to work fine at the top of the bleachers but not at the bottom.

ANYWAY...things are going great! Got here with my mom (one of our two fans) at a perfect time...things weren't too crazy..that's how I like to get to transition to set up too...before things get too wild. Weasel Boy, in true form, showed up about 30 seconds before the cutoff for checking in. The pool is nice but there aren't too many windows so it feels a little like a bunker. But it's FAST!! it has those sweet overflow gutters so there's so much less resistance at every wall. and it's cool - like 80 degrees cool so it just feels FAST. Weasel Boy's camera hooks up to this sweet laptop so we're able to give you real time photos too! here's the pool:




The day started off with the 100IM and I came in first in my heat! the final results are up and i was 6th out of 8 in my age group. At masters meets you seed yourself by time so you race against people that have similar times as you. Then the totals come in for your age...makes for more exciting and less demoralizing races since masters swimmers are often at very differnt levels.

Here's my IM start. I almost fell off the blocks - lost my balance at the last second but I'm told that someone else was wobbling even more so the judges didn't see me - luckily I caught myself just in time...I'm just to the right of the white diving board post with the blue CCBS cap...green suit



The 100 IM was great - it was over so fast but my fly felt really good and that's what I was most worried about. I did all my turns legally and felt like they were efficient...I swallowed half the pool on the fly to back transition and then didn't have enough air to do a good pullout on the breaststroke leg but it felt really good and the score board said I was first!! Really, all that means is that I didn't seed myself very well. I swim in a 25 yard pool and this is a 25 meter pool so the conversions don't always work that well. Now i'll have a good benchmark to work from with my race times.. Here's my finish...I guess I was pretty far ahead but that's a good thing, mostly because most of my competitors were 15+ years older than me!! Oh well...I'm the on out in front...



Then it was Weasel Boy's turn for the 100 IM. He had a great start and a great fly length and looked fantastic...BUT, on his first turn - fly to back - he pushed off for the back on his stomach and got DQed. DRAT!! He ended up winning the heat so he has a good reference time now but the DQ was unfortunate. I'm telling you, if you practice it right every time, it'll be automatic. I didn't have time or the wits to think about my turns but the procedural memory I've been imprinting got me thru clean. Here's Weasel boy just before the start (in the back/middle with CCBS blue cap):



John did great in the 100 IM and a backstroke event and Weasel Boy and Coach both did the 200 Breast. Coach was third in her heat but most of the people were much YOUNGER than her so I'm guessing she won her age group. Weasel Boy did AWESOME!! He came from 5th to 3rd in the last 50 of the race - his pace was perfect - didn't go out too fast and then finished really strong.

Then I swam the 50 Free and came in first in my heat again!! This time it was MUCH closer and coach said the only reason I won was that I put my head down at the last flags and didn't breathe for the last few strokes...I won by a very narrow margin...but I was still only 6th out of 9 in my age group. Still, it's really fun to be #1 on the scoreboard!! It was a huge PR for me because it was 0:39 in a METERS pool when I couldn't get under 0:40 in a YARDS pool last week. Weasel Boy got the whole thing on video so we'll see if we can post that too...but maybe later...

Then we did the 200 Medley Relay. I swam Back, WB Breast, John Fly and Karen Free. We came in 4th in our heat but the results aren't up yet for the totals.

John is about to swim the 400 IM, a KILLER race...we'll see how it goes. He's an AMAZING swimmer so I expect he'll do great. Here he is swimming backstroke. He's the one in the middle with his arm straight up and the CCBS cap. Doesn't he look fast!??




Coach just said we moved up in overall standings to 26th out of 44 masters teams. NOT TOO SHABBY, eh?

OK, more later...