Got to the pool and synched in with Keith. Then we did a hard ladder. After that I continued with 100 sets and a 200 back set. Kept a good pace going - not particularly fast but not much rest at any one time. 450 Warm up 50-100-150-200-250-300-300-250-200-150-100-50 Free :45 per 50 100 Back 5x100 Back w/paddles on 1:30 200 Kick 5x100 Free on 1:30 200 Kick 6x100 Back on 1:30; free on 1:25 w/paddles 200 Kick 3x200 Back w/paddles on 3:00 100 Kick 2x100 Free 5750 yards 101 minutes
Swim/LCM/Solo: 600 various 4 x 50 scull w/agility paddles @ 1:10 8 x 50 DPS free w/agility paddles @ 1:10 50 EZ 12 x 50 kick w/fins @ 200 pace @ 1:00 -- 6 free (35-36) -- 6 back (36-37, cramping issues) 50 EZ 6 x 50 single arm fly @ 1:10 50 EZ 8 x 50 DPS back w/agility paddles & fins @ 1:10 50 EZ 2 x (25 scull + :30 RI + 25 smooth fly + 25 EZ flutter kick) -- tried fly w/agility paddles, still very awkward (32) -- fly w/o paddles, cruise (30) 100 EZ Total: 3100 m ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Since Coach Cheryl (who I shared a lane with) said the pool would be LCM right after nationals, I wasted no time in going! It felt long, but not horrifically long. Still did a mostly recovery workout with nothing fast. Hopefully, I will be ready tomorrow for at least some 100 pace work. Tips for improving breast collected from nats thread. Maybe I can work on these on a recovery/technique day. 1. evil kick on back, knees not breaking surface 2. eggbeater kick 3. evil kick w/buoy right above knees 4. breast pull w/flutter kick for turnover 5. breast alternate fly pull and evil pull (sounds awkward) 6. hip thrust -- no idea what this is about 7. narrower pull Way way more importantly, Patrick insists I need to learn the back to breast crossover turn. I look at videos of these and get dizzy and confused. Does someone have a 5 step to do list for this turn? This is definitely something I can see trying to learn.
Swam w/ ... and Dave. SCY 600 Warm up 10 x 100 - 1:30 Odds IM, evens free 16 x 25 - :30 IM Order, half underwater 1:00 Rest 5 Rounds of: * 4 x 50 - 1:05 (Odd rounds 1/2 underwater, Even rounds kick) * 2 x 200 Pull - 2:20 Making the 200s on 2:20 wasn't so bad but pushing off for 12 yards underwater right after was pretty tough. The original interval on the 50s was :50. Don't think I could have handled that. 8 x 50 Kick - 1:00 1:00 Rest 100 Timed kick (IM - 1:33) 200 Cool down (5700 Total)
Swim/SCY/Solo: 600 various 5 x 50 front scull w/agility paddles -- Wook, I like this for DPS too 50 EZ flutter kick 10 x 50 w/fins & agility paddles @ 1:00 odds = DPS free evens = DPS back 50 EZ flutter kick 4 x 50 caterpillar fly drill @ 1:10 8 x 25 shooters w/fins @ :490 50 EZ flutter kick 100 smooth free Total: 2000 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Made it to the rec center for a post nationals recovery swim. I don't feel quite as horrible as I usually do after a multi day meet, though I am certainly tired. I'm going to jump right back into training though, with LCM Zones so close. I am heading to Mason shortly because they have switched to LCM. I have 4 weeks to train before doing a 2 week taper. I can't decide if I should go back to the gym or not ... I may not. I'm going to be really really busy the next month with Teen Fort graduating, Lil Fort's going away party, spring racing season, soccer tournaments, etc. Last night was Lil Fort's last USAS practice. Kinda sad, but she can't keep doing 3 sports and swimming is the one to go with the move. She's a good little fly/free swimmer, but she is a vastly better runner and wants to focus more on that.
I woke up at 4:30 to see if the Pan Am psych sheets were up. If they were, I planned on reading over them. If not, I was heading to the pool. No psych sheets yet so I cruised though this. 400 w/bout and snorkel 400 IM (k,dr,dr,swim) 200 EZ kick on back w/fins 8 x 25 fly @ 30 --trying hard to build some endurance 200 bk @ 3:15 200 br @ 3:30 200 fr @ 2:50 200 IM @ 3:00 200 w/d Back to breast turns and off to work 2200 nothing creative or exciting here. Just some "make it" swims.
I am reserecting workouts from back in 2008 but I am not as fast as I was so this will be interesting. Another interesting note, the difference in speed between my right arm and left arm is even greater than before. 500 free 6x50@1:20 free right arm only w/paddle on right hand just made these 200 free kick w/zoomers 6x50@1:15 free left arm only w/paddle on left hand made these with 6 seconds to spare there used to be only a 5 second difference between right and left but this was more like 11 seconds 500 free kick w/zoomers 6x50@1:00 free w/paddle on right hand 4 kicks on the paddle hand 200 free kick w/zoomers 6x50@1:00 free w/paddle on left hand 4 kicks on the paddle hand 400 free EZ Total 3000 meters
Back at it regular training again with the kids, back to using my long fins on the kick sets again, back to doing ALL the reps on the sets, and ALL the yardage as given. Oh boy...coming off tapers can be a b**** at times, but I need a little kick in the butt now. Only had 6-7 per lane tonight, so it was a joy! Warmup: 1000 Free (1000/1000) 24 x 50 SDK on back w/ long fins @ :45 - pretty much kicking in a wave pool (1200/2200) Lane Station Rotator - Main Set Lane 6: 7 x 100 Free @ 1:30 EN2 work using the chart we've been given my :52 best time shows the EN2 100 is about 1:08s - EN2 is supposed to be a pace you could hold "forever" while keeping your HR 130-150 or so. Lane 5: 7 x 100 Stroke @ 1:40 EN2 work Did Fly - with my :57 best time showed 1:15 (+2 for fly/back) so 1:17 per 100. I couldn't swim fly that slow and keep it in control, so I just swam them at 1:07/1:08s. Because I did Fly, the odds were stroke, evens were EZ Free Lane 4: 7 x 100 Free @ 1:30 EN2 work (same as Lane 6) just held them around 1:08s Deep Tank: 12 x underwater SDK bursts across tank (about 12.5 yards) 200 EZ (2400/4600) All w/ long fins and paddles: 10 Rounds of: 50 Free @ :45 holding ~200 best time pace per 50 (~28.5) - went :26s/:27s2 x 25 Free @ :45 - Faster speed than the 50s (1000/5600) 200 EZ -------------------------- 5800 Yards My abs and legs are already killing me with all this fin work today. Time to start adding some pushups and light weights into my life...just stuff I have around the house though...I'm not a gym rat type of person.
Friday 5/10 AM SCY and PM LCM AM swim: 600 swim (200 FR/100 BK) 500 kick w/ board + fins 400 pull w/ buoy only 4x200 @ 2:40 D1-4 5x100 @ 1:10 AE 4x100 @ 1:40 kick w/ board + fins 100 EZ Total: 3300 PM swim: 500 swim 5x100 @ 1:45 k/sw/dr/bld 3x100 @ 1:30 D1-3 4x50 V.S. 100 EZ Total: 1600
Yesterday's swim got me up to 199.90 miles on the year; ahead of my GTD goal-pace by only a mile. Since I started the week about 4-5 miles ahead of pace, this is not a good thing... the dreaded "you'll need to pick up the pace" was bound to reappear after its nearly four-month break. Sure enough, as the calendar clicked over, the exclamation-point-in-triangle warning symbol made its appearance. My 2000 yards in 39 minutes today was enough to stave off the GTD demons for another few hours... and put me over 200 miles for the year. The swimming has been spottier over the last few weeks, back to 5-6 times/week. Last week, with busy-busy being the order of the day at work and home I only managed to do 4 workouts. My times feel slow. So maybe I needed a little break anyway. I'm trying to get back on track this week with training for distance open water and middle distance IM. Of the four workouts I did between last Wednesday and Sunday, I felt pretty good about 3 of them, though I do feel like I've lost a bit of fitness, I'm trying to maintain and be efficient (get the workouts done faster). Maintenance Workout #1: 3000 SCY/57 minutes WU: 400 fr on 7:00 4 x 100 IM on 2:15 200 IM on 4:00 10 x 100 fr on 1:45 200 IM on 4:00 4 x 100 IM on 2:15 CD: 400 fr < 7:00 Maintenance Workout #2: 3600 SCY/69 minutes 6 x 200 alt. fr and pull < 21:00 800 IM on 16:00 600 IM on 12:00 400 IM on 08:00 200 IM on 4:00 400 EZ CD Maintenance WRKout #3: 4000 SCY/75 minutes Basically the same as #2 above, but added 4 x 100 IM on 2:00 before the cool down; so 600 of each stroke and an additional 1600 of fr and or pull. Fly feels a lot better, less tiring... back is slow, not as crisp as earlier this spring; same can be said of free-style... breast speed could be described as glacially slow, painfully slow... the stroke's evil-overlord laughter taunting me constantly... kick is so sad that hip replacement might be an option, just ditch the whole thing and start over. If going cyborg gets me breast stroke proficiency I'm prepared to assimilate, I hate that I can't conquer breast.
Today I started to decrease my free interval. Was swimming with Dave, Peter, and Dave; but they had a set of 4 times 4x100 on declining intervals I couldn't meet and another mixed set of 75's and 25's that I couldn't meet. So, I swam two sets of 16x100 with the free's on 1:25. I didn't feel fast today, but I did keep on going. 12x50 on :50 100 Kick 16x100 Free on 1:25-1:30 200 kick 16x100 Alternating Free on 1:25 and Back on 1:30 w/paddles 100 kick 20x25 4each on :40; :35; :30; :25; :20 2x100 kick 4x200 Alt Back and Free on 3:00 w/paddles 100 Easy 5800 yards 105 minutes
500 mix up 200 moderate @ 2:50 4 x 100 descend @ 1:30 8 x 25 drill @ :35 IM order 3 x 100 kick descend @ 2:20 2 x 50 sprint kick @ 1:30 3 x 100 pull descend @ 1:30 2 x 50 sprint pull @ 60 We divided up into sprint, stroke and distance groups at this point. I did the stroke w/o. Rest/x intervals tonight so I actually half way paid attention to the clock, which is odd for me. That being said, I was able to focus on my technique. 100 IM r/10, 100 ba r/10, 200 fr r/20 100 IM r/10, 100 ba r/10, 100 br r/10, 100 fr r/20 100 IM r/10, 50fl/50ba r/10, 50ba/50br r/10, 50br/50fr r/20 200 IM r/10, 200 fr r/30 100 IM sprint 200 w/d 4000 In and out quickly tonight. This was one of my favorite workouts that we have done in awhile. Probably because I felt good in the water throughout the entire set. No wording about the clock had a lot to do with this I'm sure. Inspired and enthusiastic after everyone's performances in Indy.
My day 1, which was in fact day 2 at Nats started with some odd girl at the airport shimmying at me and blowing kisses while I was waiting for Fortress. Naturally, I panicked and urged Fort to hurry through the terminal to rescue me. Fort and I drove to the IUPUI or whatever it is named, parked up and rushed inside to see all our swim buddies and get a 500 in. After greeting a few friends and having a stretch off in the pool, we headed out to go check in. The only problem was that neither of us took the time to note where the car was parked and so began the hunt for a silver sedan...yeah, they are not common. Losing the car in a parking garage seemed to be in vogue as we managed to do this several times over the course of the weekend. Last year it was losing the car keys...this year Team Fort stepped it up to a larger item, the whole car. It did occur to me that it is a blessing that there is a black stripe on the bottom of the pool, otherwise Fort and/or I might still be circling the North Pool in Indy trying to find out way out! I also managed to nearly send Fortress into the stratosphere when I misplaced her iPhone after videoing her race. Thankfully, I called it and we heard it ring...then I checked the pocket of her Speedo bag and there it was. She never used that picket for her phone, but I always put my phone in that pocket in my bag...so it wasn't really lost...but those were anxious moments in the camp. Anyhow enough of that. We've all seen how well Fort did at the meet. Some truly epic swims. I got to see a few folks swim from a distance while I lay down up in the stands. Usually I never get to enjoy watching too many pals, but this year with just 4 events and no relays I found I had cheerleading time a plenty. My swims were fairly good. In case you've missed me talking about it for the last 6 months, I had a meniscus tear repaired in November. It's been a tricky road back and I don't think I quite got to the level I hoped for and after New England & Zones I felt a bit down, actually a lot down, and thought I had wasted my money on Nats...as late as Monday last week I contemplated not going. However a taper and a shave do seem to work miracles with my swimming and I enjoyed good time drops from Zones, that left me feeling that I had the speed ("raw" speed as Fortress called it) but the stamina for the 100's was a little lacking. It's always hard not to compare to last year but, overall I didn't disgrace myself and I was within 2 seconds of my best 100's and closer still on my 50's. All swims ranked as 3rd or 4th best times, which after a knee-op (see, I mentioned it again) I have to be grateful and happy. As I noted to some my 50FR at :27.09 was only a little behind my PR :26.92 but it felt like the best 50 I've ever swam. I hope to see the video soon. Anyhow a grand weekend where I met old friends and new friends and got to hang with some cool Californians, and finally shake hands with Kirk Nelson, a forumite and age-group fellow. Sunday night began at the Tilted kilt, where I seemed to be the only lecherous old man in town, then turned into a bit of a late one. I was about to go lights out when I got the msg to come to the JW Bar, so I climbed out of bed and went down for a pint. I met some new friends and had a good time. I was out until 10pm...Pacific time! I felt groggy going home on the plane but it will help me get a good night tonight. Well, that's all for now except for those that checked in for an expose on Fort...not much to say except she is just that fast, and her secret? I think it is a glass or two of Kendall Jackson Chardonnay with food!
Yesterday was the third day of a great meet for me. Nationals have been somewhat difficult for me as of late (labral tear, elbow tear, insomnia, power outages, etc.) But this meet I was healthy, uninjured and got at least a semblance of shut eye. And it really paid off with 6 PRs, 3 NRs and near misses on 2 other NRs. Day 3: I felt pretty good during warm up, just some leg fatigue. By day three, when you're UW 15 meters for all your races, leg fatigue is inevitable. 100 back, 1:01.30, PR, Missed NR by .01: I'm not gonna lie. I looked up at the time and was a little heartbroken. I would rather have swum a 1:01.5. My splits were good -- 29.3 & 31.9. But I didn't have the leg power on the second 50, especially the last 25, and that cost me. My turns were a little glidey (2 strokes before flipping) and my entry on my start could have been cleaner. I let myself be disappointed during my warm down and then shrugged it off. The time was still a PR and I have been the beneficiary of a .01 swing on other occasions. Plus, it will still be the AA time this year since Karlyn swam a 1:01.7 earlier this year. I knew swimming this on day 3 wouldn't be ideal, so I will have to figure out when and where to swim it rested. Certainly keeps me hungry! And I am encouraged since I still feel like my 100 training wasn't ideal this season. Here's a vid that Stud took with a nice "dammit" at the end: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IXsOI...ature=youtu.be 50 free, 24.67, PR/NR I used to dislike the 50 free. But since it occurred to me that I could try SDK-ing on the start, I like it more and may start swimming it more often. I had a tad slow reaction time compared to my other swims. I took 11 kicks on the start and from the vid it looks like that took me to about 13 meters. Then, I took 9 rather than my usual 5-6 on the turn. My breakouts didn't look great (lack of access to blocks). My flutter kick/leg drive looked really solid until right at the end. I was thrilled with the time! I knew 1980 Olympian Sue Walsh had swum a 24.7 last month, so knew I had to improve on my Zones time of 24.86. Really happy with this for the final event of a 3 day meet. Ellen and Stud took vids. I think that is Teen Fort screaming at the end. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DiKcA...ature=youtu.be https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v...type=2&theater ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Best event: 50 fly Most Frustrating event: 100 back Here's a couple other vids from the meet: 50 back: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GW0X0F4sgMo 50 fly vid: https://www.facebook.com/leslie.livi...40?ref=tn_tnmn -- shows a total of 13 strokes and a glidey turn 100 IM vid: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O7jNS...ature=youtu.be -- no SDK on breast to free turn -- did not need that breath inside the flags Battle Plan: I'm going to reboot for LCM Zones in late June. I'll be moving in late July, so July and August I will likely not be as laser focused on swimming. And I have to find a place to train in Pitt. As for next SCY season, I will not go to Santa Clara -- shallow outdoor pool. I may focus on the Harvard SCY meet and Colonies Zones SCY instead. Onward! Teen Fort did not have a great meet. She didn't taper enough. But she ended with a great race in the 200 breast, taking the win in the final 5 yards. She hadn't swam that race since age 14. Funny, that her best race was the 200 breast and mine was the 50 fly! She did enjoy the experience and meeting lots of masters. I think she will talk up masters swimming in college next year and she may swim at LCM Nats at U of Md next summer.
Updated May 13th, 2013 at 05:30 PM by The Fortress
Swam w/ Dave, Dave and Dave. Pool was really hot today. Someone removed the thermometer so I have no idea how hot but it felt warmer than the typical 86. SCY 650 Warm up 3 x 50 Free - :50 / 1 x 50 Kick - :50 1 x 50 Stroke - :50 / 2 x 50 Free - :50 / 1 x 50 Kick - :50 2 x 50 Stroke - :50 / 1 x 50 Free - :50 / 1 x 50 Kick - :50 3 x 50 Stroke - :50 / 1 x 50 Kick - :50 4 Rounds of (Pick 4 from Fly, Br, IM, Free, Free for each 100) * 100 - 1:30 (fly on rounds 1 & 4, Br on rounds 2 & 3) * 100 - 1:25 (did IM) * 100 - 1:20 (free) * 100 - 1:15 (free) 100 Easy After 2 rounds, I wasn't doing so well and we decided to implement a 1:00 rest in between rounds. 7 Rounds of: * 75 Pull - :50 / 25 Pull - :40 * 75 Kick w Fins - 1:05 / 25 Kick w fins - :45 50 Easy 4 x 25 - :40, no breath 4 x 25 - :35, kick 4 x 25 - :30, IM Order 4 x 25 - :25, Fly 4 x 25 - :20, Free 200 Cool down (5300 Total)
I arrived home around 10.30pm last night and grabbed a quick sandwhich and went to bed. My plan today was to do an easy hour stretch type swim. The alarm went off hard at 4.30am and I dragged myself to the pool. I am glad I made the effort because I felt much better after the swim. The pool was setup long course, which was hard since I have been concentrating on short course yards for the last few months(with the odd LCM thrown in for good measure). It was great seeing everyone this morning and most of my team had watched the live streaming video of both Nikki and my races. I think my team mates were as excited about the meet as I was. I just wish We had more attending. Oh well there is always next year. 1000 swim with snorkel 6x150 kick with fins with 15 seconds rest between 150s 12x50 reducing stroke count per 50 on 1min 6x50 swum 25 fast, 25 easy 200 easy Total 3000 meters. I plan on taking this week pretty easy before getting back into the groove next week. As I have blogged before I spanning on doing 4 or 5 workouts a week through the summer and then working on my next goals and a program for the next year. I am looking forward to spending time with my kids in the evenings.
I am not forgetting what I learned about my stroke Saturday. Going to apply it in my training. 1000 as 200swim/200pull/200swim/200kick/200swim 5x200@3:30 free w/paddles & bouy 4x200@:05RI kick w/zoomers #1&3 fly #2&4 free 200 IM w/zoomers breast w/fly kick 300 free w/snorkel & 4 beat kick 200 EZ Total 3500 meters
Saturday night I went out for dinner with my team mate Nikki and her mother. We went to the Webergrill restaurant downtown Indianapolis and despite an hour wait the food was well worth the wait. For future reference and events in Indy I would recommend the restaurant. I had a really solid nights sleep and woke around 6am. I went through my normal morning routine of reshaving, brewing and drinking coffee and taking my vitamins. I then headed down stairs and had a nice leisurely breakfast of oatmeal and a bagel. I headed off to the pool later than usual and caught the last 4 heats of the women's 500 at around 9am. My friend Katie Gilmore with Alexandria masters swam an incredible race and ended up taking second in a blazing quick time of 5.06. Today was my off race day and I had zero expectations for placing. First up was the 100 back followed by the 50 free. I had not swum a fast 100 back since 1992 and despite the odd back swim in practice(which are not swum all out) I have not swum the race at all. The 50 was never my thing and I don't recall the last race 50 and I bet it may have been back in the 1980s. I did my normal warmup of about 1600 but did back 100s instead of my normal pace 100 frees. I practiced my turns and even joined the start lane and did a practice back start. After getting out and drying off I heard the start of the relays and only then realized I had not done a back finish and did not know the number of strokes from the flags in. Oops! In the end it did not matter because I had a great race, hitting all my turns, and taking four strokes into the finish and hitting the final wall spot on. My splits were 28.x, 29.x for a final time of 58.4. I felt really energized at the end and felt like I could have done another 50 at that pace. I am now determined to do a 200 back at some point in the future. I can definitely say I have not done one of those in an even longer time frame. After the back, I took a nice long warm down which felt good. I got out wrestled my speedo fastskin3 on and then spent about 45 minutes stretching and focusing for the 50. I had entered on the only 50 time I have done since joining masters which was back in January and at 25.14, was over a second slower than my first 50 of yesterday's 100, and even slower than the first 50 of my 200. I felt with a good start and turn I could do a 23.x. I concentrated on taking a good track start and I got off the block really strong with a good breakout. I was half way down the pool and shock and horror I breathed. It was not intentional, but I breathed. I hit the turn really well, had a good streamline, kicked and the next thing I knew I had taken a second breath. I could not believe I had breathed. When I finished I was really upset at myself. I turned looked up and saw my time was 22.61. I had a moment of joy followed by that feeling of I could have gone even quicker. My time placed me 3rd, which I never ever would have imagined possible. This meet exceeded my wildest expectations and my first place in the 1000 and third place in the 50 has to be one of the weirdest medal combos. I ended the meet with two golds, two bronzes, a fifth and an eighth. I would like to thank all the forumites for there support and encouragement since joining masters swimming. I am even more motivated to continue this fun masters journey. The most inspiring part of the week for me was seeing the 90 year old Vladimir Ouchaya's 20 minute plus 400 IM followed by a great 30 minute discussion with him about his life and how he quite smoking and took up swimming, competes regularly in his 90th year and has no intention of retiring any time soon. Swimming really is a life sport and my congratulations goes out to everyone who participated this week.
I got back to NYC yesterday evening after a difficult five days in Alabama. My aunt, who had been in the hospital since I arrived on Monday, was diagnosed with pneumonia, but happily responded well to her treatment and regained enough strength and health for the doctor to decide to release her Thursday morning. Unfortunately, between the doctor’s visit in the morning and her discharge around lunchtime, she started getting very confused and seemed to be seeing people who weren’t in the room. At the same time, she was cogent if you talked directly to her, knew basic info like where she was and what date it was, and was very insistent about getting home as soon as possible. The nurses assured us that elderly people (my aunt is 93) often become disoriented in the hospital but get better once they’re in familiar surroundings, so we went ahead with the discharge and took her back home. Unfortunately, things only got worse from there. At home she was too disoriented to get around, even with help—she kept trying to run into walls, convinced there were rooms behind them, and attempting to maneuver her walker around what looked to her like people in her way. We called her primary care doc to let him know what was going on, as well as the home health service that would be setting up some additional assistance. With some pleading, I convinced the latter to send someone out that afternoon to do their initial evaluation. I also spoke with my sister, who is a pharmacist. After hearing the problem and asking me what new medications our aunt was given in the hospital (just the antibiotic to treat her pneumonia), she did some research and let us know that one possible side effect of that antibiotic was CNS excitement, which could lead to hallucinations. The home health care nurse came, did most of her evaluation, then suggested that we take my aunt to the ER. It had become increasingly clear that even with my mom and me both staying with her at home, we couldn’t care for her or keep her safe in her present state. So on the same day she was released from one hospital, she ended up in the ER of another one (the local hospital this time, thankfully, not the bigger one 40 minutes away). They did a battery of tests to rule out other causes, and eventually admitted her. Her antibiotic was changed. She finally conked out around 2am after what must have been a completely exhausting and confusing day for her—I know it was for us. The next morning she was very tired and weak but no longer hallucinating, and by the afternoon she was back to herself. It was such a relief to be able to chat and joke with her again. She went from the hospital to the local nursing home the next morning. She’s technically out there for rehab, but the nursing home or the local assisted living facility might end up being a more permanent thing. Her previous situation—living alone, with my mom looking after her as needed and spending nights at her house—was becoming unsustainable as she grew more unsteady and her eyesight deteriorated, and although everyone involved had acknowledged that, no one was willing make any changes until there was a crisis. This week was it, and I feel good that I was there to help them through it and get things to a better place for my aunt and my mom both. So, having flown back last night, I was able to totally switch gears and go out this morning to do a mock dive meet at the Flushing Meadows Pool in Queens. This event was an opportunity for local divers to get experience diving in a meet format and getting scores for each dive, but results were not official, and totals weren’t tallied. It was run by one of the local kids’ diving clubs (I had to join AAU to participate), and my dive coach was to be one of the judges. I almost didn’t go—I’m still exhausted and body-sore from several nights spent on hospital couches—but I figured that we don’t always get perfect circumstances to compete in, so I should take whatever opportunities that come up to practice competing. There were supposed to be 3 of us masters divers attending, but I was the only one that ended up going. I was a little nervous, but not too much—mostly I was just grateful to be there, amused by the kids, and thrilled to have an opportunity to practice going off the boards again. I consulted Coach Croft about my dive list—the meet offered the chance to do 7 dives, off either or both boards—and learned how to fill out a dive sheet. Then I warmed up, got some feedback, and got myself ready to go. We were given an order—I was the first diver of 13 in each round—and things started. My first couple of dives were good, the next two were shaky, but I finished up strongly with three solid dives. Here are my scores—the first six dives are from 1m, the last from 3m: · Forward dive tuck (101C) 5.5, 5.5, 5.5 · Forward flip tuck (102C) 6 6 6 · Forward flip with half twist (5121D) 4 3.5 4 · Back dive straight (201A) 4 3 3.5 · Inward dive tuck (401C) 5 6 5 · Back flip tuck (202C) 5.5 6 5.5 · Forward dive tuck from 3m (101C) 5.5 5.5 5.5 Afterwards, we had a little extra time, so we practiced synchro diving off the 1m just for fun. I had never tried diving with a partner before. I was paired up with a young diver who was a very good sport. She had to modify her approaches to match mine—our back approaches are different, and I’m not doing a full forward approach yet—but she was a quick and willing learner, and was able to match my movements. We did an inward tuck dive and a forward tuck dive together, and it was so much fun that now I want to do synchro diving at IGLA as well. At the end of the mock meet mock awards were given. I ended up with an orange and a balloon. The whole morning was a blast, and the best thing is that these will be a monthly happening. I definitely want to go out and do this again!
Got up at 5:00. Thought about long course yards at the Nat. Checked the weather. Figured I could swim later. And went back to bed. So, I slept in another 4 hours. This afternoon, I took my daughters to Dublin and I put in a pretty good workout, probably better than I would have at the Nat. Did a couple of pretty hard ladder sets. Then finished up with some hard swims - a 500 back and some hard 100's. 5x100 Free on 1:30 300 300 250 250 200 200 150 150 100 100 Free - :45 per 50 2x100 Kick 50 100 150 200 Back w/paddles :45 per 50 alternated with 50 50 50 50 Free w/paddles on :45 Then repeat from 200 down to 50 2x100 Kick 500 Back w/paddles - 7:02 50 Easy 3x100 Free w/paddles on 2:30 - 1:12, 1:10, 1:12 3x100 Back w/paddles on 2:30 - 1:15, 1:17, 1:17 100 Easy 5550 yards 105 minutes
Updated May 12th, 2013 at 09:24 AM by David W Cochran
Had a fantastic time at the form/stalker dinner last night, meeting lots of new folk. One of them (same age) actually has a son the same year same college as Fort Son. Small world. Had a semi decent nights sleep for a traveling insomniac. The only am emergency was that Teen Fort lost a contact in the am and hadn't brought any replacements. Ack. I've learned the hard way to pack extras after swimming a one eyed day at Zones one year. In any event, I had a great day two and am so excited I fear I wont fall asleep. 50 fly, 25.70, NR/PR I really thought that I would not swim faster than Zones where I had perfect walls. In fact, I had a wager on it. But I decided to use my nose clip for the first time in fly and took an extra kick on the second length. That and a little more rest allowed me to shave off .2. I did have a slight glide at the turn. The ever witty Ellen took a vid (thx!) and I counted 13 strokes. I didn't quite take the whole 30 meters UW, but was fairly close. Comparing vids, I can see my DPS has improved in fly since Greensboro; it felt long and powerful. Very happy about that swim. 100 IM, 1:02.3, PR I hadn't swum the 100 IM in SCY in 2 years and never at nationals, so was a tad nervous. But very caffeinated! I missed the NR by .2 and it was all in my breast to free turn. I glided in and then, brain fart, didn't SDK off the wall. Maybe my legs where telling my brain they were done. I wanted at least a body length lead at the 50, and went out n 27.7 (12 + 12 SDK). Fast, but it didn't feel excessive. Did not have a particularly speedy evil leg, and lost some ground there to a real evilstroker. But my free leg was fairly solid and I pulled away a bit at the end. So psyched about the time! A PR by 2 seconds. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Really hoping for some sleep tonight. Tomorrow 100 back and 50 free. It could be the first nationals ever where I don't scratch an event. . The speedy Water Rat beat me to it!
Updated May 11th, 2013 at 10:46 PM by The Fortress
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