Swim Meet and Spring Dreamin!

Sunday was the annual swim meet at the U of MN. It is so fun to swim at the U, and since i have been swimming a bit more in a colder pool, the 78 deg pool didnt seem quite as frigid to me. I mean it was cold, but it actually felt really really good, and i could warm up and cool down from events without fear of hypothermia! Still i managed to stay on track with my operation "STAY WARM" plan. Coach told me to stay warm, even if that meant a warm shower btwn events.

I wish i had more pics but when it came down to it i was busy with wardrobe changes and trying to figure out what goggles to wear.

What goggles? Wear the ones you always wear? Well not so easy. I usually wear the BLUE SEVENTY SIREN, AWESOME specs, with a bit wider lens and a bit more plastic in general. They are for Open water Swims. Not diving off the blocks. When i practiced dive starts last week i was like "hmm, these are staying on but they are not leak free by ANY means."

I tried to overanalyze as much as i could, and succeeded in that but just decided i would bring my old goggles and wear those. Who cares that i havent swum in them for a year! So the Speedo Vanquisher's re-appeared, sucked the life out of my eye sockets, stayed on brilliiantly and i had NO/ZERO/ NOT A DROP of water on any dive start, SCORE.

Today tho i feel like i got punched in the bridge of my nose bilaterally. Ouch. Everytime i took them off after an event it was like unpeeling the glue from my nose. I had them on WAY TOO TIGHT, but they felt good while swimming, i guess just taking them off was the killer. Anyhoot, that was really the only aftermath, other than VERY SORE lats and a general desire to go back to bed today!

Onto the race report:

5 events, 5 suits. Yes you read that right. I wish i had a pic of the SuperWoman suit, i wore that for the 1000, the last event, and i needed every ounce of power to get thru that. Seriously by the time i got out after cooling down i think there were 10 people left on deck:) NOthing like opening up the joint at 9 am and closing it down at 2:30pm!

Here i am modeling my Splish made Gear West suit. Not an approved suit by anymeans bc there is a cupcake on the hip and butt, but i still love it. The racing flames and a cupcake, Yes, i know the cupcake thing is not needed but it sure is fun!
Our 200 free relay!
Relay minus me, and Swim buddy Steve ( not in a speedo) who counted for me on the 500.

So here was the plan:

50 back ( just to get in, it was the 5th event and had i not done it i would have had to warm up at 9 then wait till the 9th event to swim! too long!) I think i went 41. That was fine. I started like a rockstar, flipped like a rockstar and tried not to gas myself at 110% just stuck to 100%!

100 free ( this one was one i realize i needed to warm up for.) I had a good start, good turns but i just felt OFF. I felt like i was really struggling and did not feel strong, i just felt well...like i had an almond butter and honey sandwich in my belly. I had been eating and all the sudden saw my heat was next. woops. I went 1:13 and was thrilled with that since i felt like it was about a 1:18.

500 free. Ok here comes the one that i really cared about. I wanted to go sub 7. I didnt want to take it out in a 1:20. I had a counter and i made sure that he was to tell me if i was making my 50's on pace. I pretty much nailed it. Other than he forgot to give me the orange card, he gave me #19 which was fine but at that point i was confused bc I thought maybe i needed to go back again to get the orange! He couldnt find it! Funny, and not a biggie bc i knew i was done when everyone else was stopped at the wall. I went 6:58, same as last year but it felt much easier. I think i paced better. I would love to do that one more time this winter...see if i cant go sub 6:50.I think I could!

200 free relay! YAY! I led and did a 34, not sure what everyone else did, but we had a blast, and if there was one time that i botched a turn it was here. I flipped too early, didnt get a good push off, but oh well. I know i wasnt concentrating i was just flapping my arms too fast and got anxoious to turn.

LAST but not least...the 1000! Last year this event led off the meet. I kinda liked that bc it was a warm up swim, but in reality people shouldnt have to wait for this since as you can guess its not the most popular event!

I had another counter, and she did find the orange card thankfully in the end:)

I was sorta tired and sorta ready to be done, but i did the wardrobe change, wore the superwoman suit and knew that i was seeded in a heat with all faster people, men and women so i was gonna close down the meet! Yay me. Just dont make people wait too long was my plan!

My counter was to wave the cards slowly side to side if i got too fast and to shake them up and down if i needed to speed up. I only saw her wave them up and down once, and that was in the final 100. And that was bc she said "I figured why not, you were on pace, why not kick it in!" I love that!!! That is what i wanted, thank you!!

I paced about 42/43 sec per 50 and decided at each 250 I would reevaluate what my pace was, how i felt, breathing etc..my first 250 was great, i was bilateral breathing. I felt good, i felt strong, i was turning close and getting a good push off, etc...2nd 250 same thing. At about 600 I got a bit tired but the cards were still so i was on but i was starting to have to tell myself to breathe left. I go RIGHT RIGHT RIGHT every stroke when i am getting tired. That was ok. When i saw the card turn to 29 I knew this was it. It was GO time. I gradually picked it up. My stomach was getting hungry but i didnt feel weak at all. By the time i saw card 37 i was full on all out. And at the Orange card i hauled it in. I did the last 50 in 41 seconds. Maybe i had too much left, maybe not. It's really hard to tell, but in my book i guess the risk of going out too fast in a longer event is a greater faux pas than ending with a tiny bit of gas left. I ended with 14:28, and that is just fine. I didnt really have a time goal, just to hold under 1:30's.

So that is my non educated swimming race report. I did feel like i ate and drank super well, gotta eat, and so i noshed on and off with EFS, a gel, my honey and almond butter sandwich and a few banana laffy taffy's.

Now that we are getting MORE snow, i think we have at least 6 more inches I am dreaming...dreaming of this:

And would like to burn my Yaktrax, but i think I may need them again, soon.

Have a good week, thanks for reading.