Monday, March 26, 2007

Swim Meet Wrap Up

Phew!

Whirlwind weekend! I think a 3 day swim meet is harder than any triathlon I've done, hands down. It's an endurance test of epic proportions - from nutrition and hydration, to stretching and staying warm, to being able to turn on the speed or work the pacing (anaerobic vs. aerobic), to keeping your mind in the right framework to not miss a turn and get DQed. What FUN!

Overall, we were happy with our results. We finished 14th out of 56 teams and we were 4th out of 7 teams of our size. We edged out the 15th/5th place team, North Suburban/Burbank YMCA by only 12 points so that was quite a victory - we scrambled to catch them throughout the whole weekend... MIT, the team ahead of us was in reach if we'd been able to make it thru the blizzard to the distance day last weekend (1000 and 1650 yard swims) AND if we'd had a few of our currently injured swimmers on board to swim more relays. It's disappointing to know that we have the skill, strength and speed to finish higher but that busy work/life schedules and bad weather inhibit our numbers. It's all about volume and point quality!! We've got the point quality, now we need to recruit the numbers.... it'll happen - we've come a long way as a team in a few short years...

Coach B just aged up into the 55-59 age group and she broke 3 or 4 New England records with her swims this weekend. Overall, she finished with 191 personal points - 4th place woman at the meet...and only 14 points out of first place. Totally amazing.

Personally, I had a fantastic meet. In December I was really frustrated with myself and felt like a weak link in the team...but for this meet I know I did my best and the improvements were remarkable. Here's the run down - my times this year with the time differences of previous PRs...

200 yd Freestyle - 2:56.32 (-0:10.3) - NEW PR
100 yd Freestyle - 1:19.29 (-0:02.91) - NEW PR
50 yd Freestyle - 0:37.02 (-0:00.10) - NEW PR
200 yd Breaststroke - 3:31.18 (-0:03.70) - NEW PR
100 yd Breaststroke - 1:41.15 (first time swimming this event) - PR
50 yd Breaststroke - 0:46.12 (+0:00.86) - old PR of 0:45.26 still stands
200 yd IM - 3:27.93 (-0:13.67) - NEW PR
100 yd IM - 1:34.19 (+0:00.22) - old PR of 1:33.97 still stands

I feel great about all these numbers - I'd attribute some of the improvement to fitness but more of it to technique. I swam a technically perfect 200 IM and I'd attribute at least 7 of the 13 seconds I gained to working excellent turns and pushoffs. I love that concentration and focus can make such a difference!!

It was a great weekend - and now it's time to shift from speedy swim workouts to distance... and to spend the bulk of my time focused on running and biking - you know, the stuff you have to put up with after the swim!!

Don't let Bold tell you that it's all about the bike... my friends, the fishies have it, hands down!

7 Comments:

Blogger Trisaratops said...

CONGRATS! Way to kick some shark butt!

2:35 PM GMT-5

 
Blogger The Fool said...

Yea Spence! All that improvement has got to feel good. I know what you mean about technique. Anything involving water (paddling too) means that BRUTE force usually means trouble; water is unforgiving and unmoved by our wrath.

I would rather not waste my energy in friction, when it could be turned into momentum.

Thanks for the inspiration.

8:15 PM GMT-5

 
Blogger Sixteen Chickens said...

Great job! I can tell you had fun from the excitement in your post!

9:07 AM GMT-5

 
Blogger Larissa said...

Wow - what an awesome meet! Congrats on all your PRs!

4:27 PM GMT-5

 
Blogger Unknown said...

WOO HOO! Hey...I've been dealing with knee issues. You still planning your trip to the ATL?

7:20 PM GMT-5

 
Blogger Audrey said...

hi! congratulations on your awesome meet. it's so great when it all comes together and it was well earned through lots of training laps! enjoy!

1:32 PM GMT-5

 
Blogger Bolder said...

hey! i read that.

like the PR on the 100 free.

great time!

well.done.

you have my unending admiration!!!

8:25 PM GMT-5

 

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