Eau Du Chlorine

Well, it's done. And it didn't hurt as much as I thought it would. Makes me wonder what it would be like if I had actually trained for it...

Anyway, we did a 20 minute swim (I swam 1450yds), a 10km bike, and 5km run. I was pretty slow on my transitions and Mimi and I got lost in the woods on the run so it took me longer than it should have... We weren't timing it anyway. I know I finished the whole thing in under an hour and a half, but that's the best estimate I have. Now I just have to take a nap and stay hydrated for the big party tonight....

Posted by Jitterbean Girl at 12:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Swimming the 200 freestyle, 18 February 2006

Today wrapped up this year's meet short course yards meet. I finished it out strong and had a lot of fun! So, without further adieu...

The 200 freestyle was my first event today. I swam it really well, split-wise, meaning that I had the right intensity going on each 50 and that my first 50 was the fastest and my last three 50s were split very evenly. Towards the end you have to do that sprinting thing, and there I could feel my stroke shortening significantly. I was in lane one and had several teammates cheering for me on the side of the pool, which was AWESOME. Overall I came in at 2:12.30. A fun swim, and a faster time than I had anticpated!

The 200 IM came next. I was all psyched up for this one -- I was seeded second, and the first place seed was 17 seconds faster (than my wild-ass-guess entry time). She was 45, so I figured I might have a slight advantage in that arena (though that is by no means a given or a guarantee!). I also remembered swimming against her in the 100 breast the night before, so I knew she probably had a good stroke and hence we would probably swim the IM similarly.

My philosophy on the 200 IM is that you should swim each 50 like it's its own race -- you don't hold anything back even at the beginning because it is so short and the different strokes use completely different parts of your body. I took full advantage of my start, kicked underwater for about 12 yards, and popped up in the lead and stayed there for the rest of the race. I know I gave this one everything I had and pulled myself out of the pool exhausted but with the time of 2:23.90. Totally sweet. Added bonus: I not only won this event in my age group, I won it overall! Huzzah!

Last on the agenda was the 200 breast. I went into this with mixed feelings -- I simply haven't put the time in training for this event and my technique is sadly lacking. I also split this race badly -- I gained a second on each progressive 50. I came in at 2:48.42, which is a far cry from the 2:34.69 I swam to get my first AAA time almost nine years ago. I shouldn't beat myself up too badly though, as I think it is what my time was close to when I started the same season that culminated in that AAA time. Doesn't mean I'm happy with it either, though. I'm looking at this as a great starting point from which to improve (massively)!

The meet wrapped up with an awards ceremony. I had taken first in three events and second in the other three, which proved good enough to tie for the high point award in my age group, which earned me a nifty water bottle that boldly proclaims "ALASKA MASTERS State Swimming Championship High Point Award." (Side note: I hate to sound tacky, but I would have won every event I swam if someone from California hadn't come and swum in our Alaska state championships. I was not terribly pleased about that, especially since those first-place points are points our team could have used.)

So that wraps up the weekend. I'm tired and sore now, but the overwhelming thought running through my head is That was SO worth it. I am beyond ecstatic and thrilled to the nth degree that swimming has regained this focus and this role in my life -- I have missed it so much!

Damn, it feels SO GOOD to be back!

Posted by Jitterbean Girl at 11:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Just got home from the first day of the meet. I'm really pleased with how it's been going so far.

400 IM was first -- oh god, the pain. It didn't hurt as badly as I remembered (I didn't feel like I was carrying 40 pounds of lead in my abdominal cavity), but oh yes, it still hurt. That probably means I could have swum it a bit faster, but I went a 5:08.66! That's only 5 seconds slower than my fastest time nine years ago when I was swimming, oh, what, eight practices a week? I need to look up that old time, because right now I'm thinking there's no effin' way I went only 5 seconds slower. Thing is, I know I went a 5:03.08 at the A/BB Champs meet in late February/early March 1997. See? That meet is burned into my memory.

Maybe some things (like technique, for one) don't matter as much in the 400 IM as, say, pain tolerance. That's the only explanation that I can think of for swimming as fast as I did tonight.

But no complaints on that at all! Fast I like! Especially when it's my first meet in seven years!

(Side note: I creamed The Adversary, but given that she was somewhat injured it doesn't feel like a true victory. We shall see how things pan out in the future.)

The 100 breast followed short on its heels. My worst fear did not come true -- I didn't have to jump back up on the block immediately after struggling to pull my gasping-for-air self out of the pool. I went a 1:17.24, which is faster than I went a couple of weeks ago in practice, but damn, what happened to the days where I could swim it in 1:13? Now I was able to do that when I was just swimming for my high school and was only getting 5 hours a week in the pool. I clearly need to be working harder on breaststroke -- technique and distance.

The 500 free finished off the night for me. Hot damn, I had forgotten how much I like the 500. It's the perfect distance for a freestyle race. I'm not trying to sprint like a crazy woman (and flailing in the process, no doubt!) and it's not so long that the pain is unbearable. My goal tonight was to go 6:00 or faster, and I accomplished that (at 6:00.89)! I think I could have gone faster, but I obviously would have needed more training in that distance to have known exactly how far I could push it.

(Update: splits were posted with the results, and I split that sucker evenly. I held 36's the whole time!

Not too shabby, all in all. I'm in much better shape that I thought, given how quickly I recovered and was able to swim everything when my events were so close together.

God, I've missed swimming -- and competing!. It felt so good to get back up on the block, to chase the person next to me.

More to swim tomorrow! But now: a bit of good ol' rest and relaxation.

Posted by Jitterbean Girl at 11:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

This taper has been a trainwreck. Between rapidly shifting body clocks, work, and excessively icy roads, I've gotten in very few workouts. It's been a struggle to get to enough sleep too. My eating habits have been deplorable. It seems like I'm doing everything wrong.

I'm two days out from the meet and exhausted. I got a long nap in today, which was divine, and hopefully that will help and not backfire by preventing good sleep tonight.

Depsite that the shambles that the last week and a half has been (swimming-wise) I'm not letting it dampen my spirits. This will be my first big meet since my senior year of high school! I'm ecstatic about getting to race again! And since it's been so long, I'm not expecting fabulous things out of myself. This will be a great-reacquaintance to competition: it will let me know what I can do and what some reasonable expectations and goals are. And since I am in a sparsely-populated age group, I will still be able to take home some ribbons and earn a lot of points for the team.

The 400 IM is first for me on Friday night. This is good because I will swim my most important event when I am still fresh. After that, all of my events are pure gravy.

Bring it on.

Posted by Jitterbean Girl at 4:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I've been focusing more on technique on my less-oft-swum strokes, which is always a good thing since I'm supposed to be a jack of all trades. IMs will do that to you.

Butterfly:
My hands have been about the right width apart on entry, but as I start my catch and pull I'm too wide. I've been working on narrowing it into a more pronounced keyhole shape so that my hands touch before they exit and recover. This is awesome for my speed and my shoulders but it's kind of throwing off my kick. With the Old Bad Slow stroke, I had a great kick because my whole body was undulating in the water the right way. It's going to take some more work to fix my kick with the Improved Shiny Fast stroke. I think it will be ready by the time it's needed in two weeks though -- my 400 IM is going to count on it. The importance of butterfly must not be underestimated, especially when the Adversary is a butterflier. I know that if I am ahead of her or at least close to it at the end of the first 100, I will win the race.

Backstroke:
This needs some work. My stroke is too flat: I'm not getting enough roll. As a result, my elbows are too far from my body during my pull and at the time that I'm supposed to be throwing the water towards my feet, I have far too little power and the direction is all wrong. I've been bringing my elbows in and I've been able to tell a huge difference. I don't think this will be totally perfected by the time the meet comes around, but it is less critical than the butterfly, breaststroke, and freestyle in the 400 IM. The Adversary has a terrible backstroke, so improving this will just be gravy. It will make my job a whole lot easier in the last 100 though if I am as ahead of her as possible.

Now, if only my adductor would heal....

Posted by Jitterbean Girl at 5:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

So Mimi is really hardcore and wants us to enter 5-6 events in the meet. Thankfully it's just straight finals, since I'm not in the shape I was in when I was fifteen and could do that prelims/finals thing. Not that I wouldn't like to still be in that kind of shape, but I don't have time for 8 swim practices a week. Ah, the fun of getting older and having to be a functional and responsible member of society instead of a carefree high-schooler. What is up with that shit?

But I digress.

I know I'm going to swim the 400 and 200 IMs... no question about that, I've been training for them, I can do them. Unfortunately, when I only have 2-4 hours a week in the pool instead of 27 hours a week like in the days of yore, I can only really train for a couple of events. I'm not ready to compete in breaststroke the way I would like to. I've been putting in great times in my 400 IMs in practice, but I cannot say the same of my 100 breast, which I time-trialed this morning in an oh-so-slow 1:19.

I'll probably sign up for the 100 breast despite my lackluster performance and the fact that it is immediately after the 400 IM. Even better: since the IM is more than 200 yards, they may combine male and female heats, which means there is a very distinct possibility I would get out of the pool from the 400 IM and hop right back up onto the block for the 100 breast. Can they just take the 100 breast time from my 400 IM and count that? That would be a lot less painful!

I'm not sure that swimming the 200 breast would be a good idea. I have done zero zip zilch training for it, and haven't actually swum anything more than a 100 breast in practice in ages. Probably not a good move.... but it is the last individual event of the meet, so I'm not going to completely rule it out.

I think I'll do the 200 and 500 free. Gotta do some of that middle-distance and show off my shiny new-and-improved faster and more efficient freestyle! We swim lots of freestyle in practice so I'm not worried about them.

I'm toying with the idea of signing up for the 100 IM just so I can get that sixth event in there. It's the first individual event of the meet, plenty of time before the 400 IM, and it wouldn't be that bad. I'm just really amused by the idea of swimming a 100 IM, since the last time I could compete in that event was when I was 12! It could be a fun nostalgia swim and a great way to kick off the meet. Oh, wait, shit... I can only enter three events a day, and the 100 and 400 IM, 100 breast, and 500 free are all on the same day. Well, I think I would get more out of the 500 free. Sorry 100 IM, it would have been fun, but my need for some quality middle-distance outranks your sprinty and ephemeral frivolity.

Alright. I have decided now, as this is post really documented my thought process as I was going through it. I'll swim (pending coach's approval, of course):

Friday:
Event 13: 400 IM
Event 15: 100 breaststroke
Event 21: 500 freestyle

Saturday:
Event 31: 200 freestyle
Event 37: 200 IM
Event 43: 200 breaststroke (why the hell not, I've got nothing to lose)

Posted by Jitterbean Girl at 9:34 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

My mantra for the upcoming meet: superior competition through positive thought!

Posted by Jitterbean Girl at 12:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)