"The water is your friend. You don't have to fight with water, just share the same spirit as the water, and it will help you move."
- Aleksandr Popov
It was cold, dark, grey and rainy as I left work at the Weekend Today Show (where I'd been since 5 AM) and made my way over to the Asphalt Green Aquatic Complex for the 11:00 AM warm-ups. The weather, however, couldn't dampen my spirits as I couldn't have been more thrilled and happy to be back in the chlorine where I belong. Plus, I had the privilege and blessing of meeting the legendary Bob Barker just hour before, so I was riding high.
The Man, The Myth, The Legend...
But enough with all this pre-meet buildup, let's down down to brass tacks!
The meet:
Starting at 11:00 AM and finishing at 2:00 PM, I competed in 8 events (5 Individuals, 3 Relays). I swam in events #1, 5, 7, 11, 12, 13, 15, and 18 -- The 200 Free Relay, 50 Free, 100 I.M., 200 Medley Relay, 200 Free, 100 Fly, 100 Free, and 400 Free Relay. Full results can be found here.
Those of you who know me are probably saying either, "Wow, bold move" or "What an idiot!" Both statements were probably appropriate...
200 Free Relay: We started off the meet strong in the 200 Free Relay, taking 2nd in our division (18-24). I felt fast, but definitely felt like I was spinning my wheels. My breakout, turn and finish were not great, but I dove in after the guy next to me and finished ahead of him, so that was nice. Unfortunately, we didn't get any of our relay splits throughout the meet because the timer wasn't functioning properly.
50 Free: I felt good again in the 50 Free, going 22.11 to post the fastest time of the meet. I definitely could've easily gone 21.9 or 21.8, but suffice it to say that there was still significant rust on the breakout and the turn.
100 I.M.: This was a really fun event. I went 59.47 (out in 28.19, back in 31.28) to win my division, but unfortunately was touched out for the fastest time of the meet by a guy in an older division in my heat (he went 59.30). Again, not to beat a dead horse here, but my turns were pretty horrific so I feel like there is plenty of room for improvement there.
200 Medley Relay: The rust finally came off and I really felt like I hit my breakout, turn and finish. I split a 21.61 -- a time that certainly isn't incredible, but with which I'm pretty satisfied. Our relay took 2nd in our age group.
200 Free: My swim of the meet. I literally could not have been happier with this race. It came during an extremely difficult stretch of the meet, during which I swam 4 of 5 consecutive events. The race went exactly as I had planned, which isn't a usual occurrence for me. I was seeded 2nd to a fellow AGUA swimmer who has finished in the top 10 nationally for his age group, so I decided to hang on his hip and see if I could make a move at the 100 mark. It worked to perfection. At the 100, I turned the kick on and by the 125 I had blown past him. From there I just kept pressing and finished in a meet best time of 1:55.81 (I was 27.54 at the 50, and 1:28.27 at the 150--no split at the 100)... This kept me individually at 3 for 3 golds -- the Phelpsian dream was alive!
100 Fly: Aaaaaaaand this was where I came screeching back down to earth. After riding high on that epic 200, I was physically exhausted, and only had about 4 minutes until my 100 fly. I jumped into the warm-down lane, and, after a few laps jumped right back out and took my place on the blocks for the 100 Fly, still out of breath. Never a good sign. Crash and burn. Upon reaching the first wall, I had a terrifying realization that I have literally never had before in my 12+ years of competitive swimming: "Holy shit, I don't know if I can finish this race."
As I plodded back to the halfway point, I was very seriously considering stopping and scratching the rest of the event (something I've never done before). I didn't want to look like a chump (probably too late, but oh well), so I kept on (I was 32.64 at the 50...ouch). As I pushed off the wall at the 50, I looked down the pool and the rest of my heat was basically at the 75 already... Awesome. Cue: me going into dolphin dive survival mode. As I hit the 75 and turned for home, one thought and one thought only consumed my entire being: "Do not drown in front of all these people you just recently met."
Somehow I managed to accomplish this task, and hit the wall in a blistering 1:17.64... Wow. For all you math majors out there, that is a 45.00 2nd 50. Good lord. I've never bonked like that in swimming before and hope I never do again. 3 golds, 1....Finish.
100 Free: This race was great, except for the fact tat it was about 10 minutes after my near-death experience and I still felt somewhere between fainting and vomiting. I went 52.69 (out in 25.13) to take third in my age group, but to be honest at this point I was just happy to be finishing races. The end was in sight. I really did not feel like I was racing this swim. It felt more like a strong 100 you would do in the middle of a practice. On a sidenote, I don't think I've swum that slow in a 100 Free since my freshmen year of high school...
400 Free Relay: I led off the 400 free relay in 54.23 (out in 25.80). Again, nothing special in the least, but that's what I get for choosing 8 events in 3 hours... In any case, our relay won our age group, helping me to finish individually with 3 Golds, a bronze, and a DFL*. In the relays I took home 1 Gold and 2 Silver.
All in all, it was an awesome meet and really fun to get back into the swing of things. Hopefully I'll be competing in some more in the near future.
Oh, and on another note, I met a guy who swam for Tufts back in the day who graduated in, get this... 1958!!! We shared some laughs over the fact that despite our huge age difference, we still swam in the same crappy pool at good ole Tuftensis Universitatis. There's nothing quite like Hamilton Pool.
'07 Onward and Upward!!!
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