No Noseplug Needed: Icebreakers Swim Meet Report!!!WITH PICTURES!

Well well. What a weekend.

It started with saturday being a bit "off kilter" I got up and did my easy run, but somehow even in an easy run of an hour outdoors at 2 degrees I managed to put myself into a sleep coma ALL afternoon. The run itself was fine. It was a bit chilly out but not bad and since it was supposed to be a flat Z1-2 run I kept it at that. But where i live there is no such thing as flat, so i just took it easy up the hills. It was sunny and nice so i got my dose of serontonin and D but still by noon i was feeling like a mack truck hit me.

Uh - oh. Was it time to finally get a winter cold.

I was too in need of a nap to even think about WHY.

The funny thing is that Rich fixed the toilet, woke me up to tell me he was going out and he needed to turn off the water, etc, etc...then i woke up and he was going to church at 5. OMG. I never sleep like that, 3 hours, comatose..unless I am sick....OR....women readers...you know what i am going to say...

Last week was rest week. That means all bodily functions re-set! Woohoo. Ugh...

So i decided that sunday would come, I would go to the swim meet and swim as i felt. Even tho I woke up ( after another 9 hours) and felt like Rip Van Winkle. Can i go back to bed now?

At 7am Rich said..."get going.." And i did.

I drove to the U of MN Natatorium ( So why is it called the NAT and not the SWIMATORIUM? ha that was what rich wanted to know!!!) That cracked me up. I got there way too early but that was ok, bc somehow i forgot it was sunday. But i saw my good buddy Barb, who i went to grad school with, and have been in touch with alot on and off, but more OFF lately. She is a swim goddess and I love her perspective and outlook on life. She coaches high school swimming teams and also has her own coaching business. Her ladies welcomed me with open arms and even counted for me in the 1k and the 500. Thank you! And look at this place?? I feel so lucky to swim there!!

So I warmed up about 800 with them, and had to say I was thrilled that i could find the flags on the backstroke and actually flip and not miss the wall. (more on this later) When they said they were doing 1k warmup I was happy with 800 since i last year I was SOOO CoLD that i was afraid to warm up.

Ok.

THIS YEAR...I was not that cold! First off I brought.. (Ok laugh) 4 suits. And 4 towels! It could have been warmer in there, as last year there was all this cold air blowing and also this year I may have ( ahem, ok, its ok) a bit more MEAT on my frame. Or maybe i had hibernated all day saturday and my stores were full, whatever it was i seemed better, but once again i kept laughing that I was warmest when i was in the pool!

1000 was first. I will spare you all the details but my main goal was to not go out too fast. I havent swum this distance even in practice and so despite a wu I didnt really do many pick ups and so i wanted to just feel the water and not be out of control in the first 500. I think i was a bit too laissez faire the first 500 but when people told me my 50 splits were totally consistent and that my last 100 was negative i knew i had done what i wanted.

Next up was the 50 back. I had decided to use a noseplug but once i got in the water i knew i didnt need it. I just made sure to come off my turn with a bit of a streamline, not fully prone, and i was fine. That sucked the wind out of me. Whew! I think i was 41 seconds not sure.

Then we had a bit of a break, wardrobe change! Then it was the 400 IM medly relay. I was first. I was off and was again sucking wind big time and turned over too soon on the 75 turn and had to REALLY REALLY REACH with my long arm to get to the wall. And really didnt get a good push. DANG. So i got to the block hard...and swam it in and off my relay mate went. TO the FLY! I got out and was like "why is everyone else doing 100 breast?" LOL Well...we went in the wrong order! OMG. I was more worried about not getting us Dq'd and meanwhile my relaymate said NO it's Back Fly Breast Free. I kinda thought that was wrong but she is the local MN masters person ( like a liason to USA masters) so i thought she knew. And let me be clear I really dont care. I was asked to be a relaymate and said "sure" but it was more of a learning and fun thing, so i laughed! when we were Dq'd!) and no noseplug!

Then a bit more break and then it was the 200free relay ( i was anchor! yikes!) and then right after that the 100 free. So i had been refueling like a champ, and that meant i was noshing on all sorts of stuff. Vanilla milk, banana, power bars, a gel, etc..and Inifinit all day long. and I have no idea what time it is, just that i found it amazing how many people really want to do the 100 FLY :) I mean like 9 heats!

So I anchored the 200 free relay then went to the 100 free. Boom. all good, all OUT i mean ALL OUT!!! So as i said, the 50 back sprint took it out of me. NOW, after all that sprinting I was suffering.....

TO GET MY BUTT OUT OF THE POOL!!! I mean TRICEPS dont fail me now!

I am also amazed at how my legs seemed to become one with the bleechers anytime i sat for too long!

Last but not least was the 500. I decided, at the advice of my teammate, the USA swimming person, to swim the 500 as a cool down. "Yes this is a good idea, I am tired and It is running late and i really didnt want to be here from 8am to 4pm." But...I mean...really? Hello? Can you say " LEAVE IT IN THE POOL?" I got on the blocks and said " this is nothing, just swim and at 300 if you are totally dying then you can just keep dying, but if you think you have an iota in you then you had better HTFU and just leave it in the pool."So i did. I dont know my 50 splits but i do know i went under 7 minutes and that was pretty darn sweet.

You know what else was sweet? We paid $10 to swim. You can do 5 events and then relays, so you get as much swimming as you can handle. AND if you preregistered you got a $10 gift certificate to:

Caribou

Panera

Or Target....

How sweet is that?

A good workout, sore lats and a lat fatigue i havent ever felt ( from getting out of the pool likely!) AND $10 at Caribou!!!

YEA for swimming meets!

And DOUBLE YEA bc FED won his 16th Slam today. Just watched it on DVR tonight!

PS pics to come!