Flashes of Panic

I planned to swim 100y breaststroke, 200y free, and 100y free, in that order. I’ve never done the 200 fr before, but it was the longest event of the meet (barring the 1650y, of course, which is a bit more than I’m ready for.) I seeded myself as 1:27, 2:25, and 1:07, respectively; the 100y times were from the Simon’s Rock meet, and the 200y was just a SWAG: Scientific Wild-Ass Guess.

I proceeded to blast my goggles halfway down my nose in the breaststroke start, which was profoundly frustrating. I used my first two strokes to pop them back on my eyes and get back to work, but I was rattled. The silver lining (which does not, of course, discount the reality of the cloud,) was that I hadn’t used all my available energy on the first lap, so the bear never really jumped on my back. My turns were rushed, though, and though it could have been much worse, it could also have been a good bit better. The outcome was a 1:27.7x, I think, within a second of my seed time, so not a disaster. Bonus: I won my age group. Anti-bonus: I finished last in my age group.

My brother told me that the plan for the 200y free, a four-lap race, was “pace, pace, push, race.” Or something like that. Mentally, it reminds me of running an 800m on an indoor track: enough laps to require a bit of moderation and pacing, but too fast for slacking off. Improbably, I wound up as the slowest seeded swimmer in the fast heat, so my brother and I stepped to the blocks at the same time for the first time in… decades, I think. I got in the water with my goggles sealed, and being thankful for that small mercy got me through the first length. Coming back, I could tell I was in a race; I hadn’t been dropped yet. The first two laps followed that pattern: I went out concentrating on form, kick, etc., then got excited and worked too hard on the return length. On the third lap, I was starting to feel like I might actually be laboring a bit… but then on the fourth lap, I could see the feet of the person next to me, so I sprinted hard to try and catch them. It didn’t work, but I wound up with a 2:25.01. Surely this should be good for some kind of prediction award!

Of course, this time I wasn’t first in the age group. I was second; my brother won it. (He pointed out that nobody in our age group swam the 50 free, so I might have had a bonus win there.)

I did a few easy laps in the cool-down lane during a break in the meet, so when the 100y free rolled around, I was still pretty loose. I was in one of the faster lanes in a middle heat for this, so I went to the blocks saying to myself, “chin down, chin down,” to keep my goggles on. Another good non-disastrous start, and I started kicking as soon as I knew I hadn’t lost the goggle seal, then sprint sprint sprint. I’d take two breaths in a row off the wall, then start skipping breaths in the name of speed. I felt like I was moving pretty well, though I don’t think I kicked as much as I could have; I still don’t have all the pieces together. I was in the race, though; I wasn’t being blown away. I wound up beating my seed, and my previous best, by nearly three seconds: 1:04 and change. My brother said I was pretty even (32-32) for the 50y splits, which he says means I need a faster start. I thought it meant I was flat out all the way! He thinks my turns have improved as well, but since I haven’t actually done much consciously, I think that’s just a consequence of swimming faster. (If you’re moving faster, and push your head and shoulders down enough, your own momentum will help flip your hips up, and the legs just follow along.)

A bad race, a decent race, and a really good one. Some of the improvement is probably from the clinic, some is from getting in the pool with my goggles sealed. And some is probably just from getting to the pool regularly (and getting some decent workouts) for or five months.

I’m not sure if I’ll have a chance to race between now and Zones in April, but I wouldn’t mind. Certainly I should spend some time practicing block starts.

Now Playing: Uniform from Devil Hopping by Inspiral Carpets