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After a long rest set

DAM meet at SMU

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10 Comments
by
StewartACarroll
, February 23rd, 2013 at 05:54 PM (3218 Views)
After yesterday's practice and a really long couple of weeks I was not looking forward to this meet at all. The warm up started at 8.30am and the meet began at 9.30am. I left the house around 7.30am and got there with plenty of time to spare before warmups. My wife and kids came to see my races, which got underway at about 10.30am. After making national qualifying times in the 50,100 and 200 at the Bryan meet in January I decided to signed up for the 500 and the 1000. This is a tough meet because there is n additional warmup/warm down facilities. A couple of my team mates also signed up for the meet and they did awesome which made it especially fun. After my experience with lactic acid build up yesterday when going all out I made a more conscious decision to pace my events today. I had hoped to be swimming much quicker at this point in my training calendar but at some level I don't have much control over this.

To my pleasant surprise I was ranked 3rd in the 500 and had two young guys to race. One of the young guys went off really quick and at 200 I saw him at least 3-5 yds ahead, and I started to reel him in. At the 400 I knew I had him and with 50 to go pulled a couple body lengths ahead. Despite my time of 5.13 not being what I had wanted ii enjoyed racing and really enjoyed seeing the guy gasping for breath at the end as I hopped out of the pool

The 1000 was a different story and I was ranked almost 2 minutes faster than the next person. I again held back early and again pretty much felt like I even split the race. The timing pad did not stop the clock when i finished but the girl behind my lane told me I went 10.59, which is considerably slower than I went in training a few weeks back, but I was almost 150 ahead of the next swimmer and it felt good to get out without feeling like rigormortis had set in(like yesterday).

To my surprise when I checked the event rankings so far on the season both times rank me #1 or #2 in these event(depending on my official times). I am off to Saudi Arabia in the morning so it will be interesting to see if I can swim when I am there. Fingers crossed.

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Updated February 23rd, 2013 at 05:59 PM by StewartACarroll

Categories
Masters Swim Meets / Events

Comments

  1. jaadams1's Avatar
    Nice swims!
  2. StewartACarroll's Avatar
    Thanks James but I am feeling a little guilty because I feel like I sandbagged the event a bit today. I obviously didn't but I also know I did not leave everything in the pool like I would have liked.
  3. slow's Avatar
    Yeah, from what I hear it is pretty rare to get an actual race in these masters meets so sound like a good one. Good luck on being able to find a way to swim in SA.
  4. fdtotten's Avatar
    Excellent meet! Winning a close exciting race is always a thrilling experience. Masters meet will be unique in terms of facilities, quality of competition, and personal circumstances. Look at the glass half-full in that you swam a come from behind victory in the 500 race and a solid 1000 swim. You know that you are putting in the work, and over time will see the corresponding results. I think focusing on good races, well paced efforts, and teammates in the pre-championship meets is a good way to make the most of the masters meet experiences.

    Best wishes to find places to swim in Saudi Arabia, and safe travels!
  5. mcnair's Avatar
    Hope your travel is safe and the interruption to your training minimal... sounds like the swimming is going quite well to now!
  6. rxleakem's Avatar
    Excellent swims!
  7. knelson's Avatar
    DAM nice job.

    I had hoped to be swimming much quicker at this point in my training calendar
    I would say don't be concerned with it at all. You have to be beat up at this point. When you rest you will swim dramatically faster. I'm talking several seconds per 100.

    By the way, I saw Knut Landboe at the pool a couple days ago and mentioned you. He says hi. He said you were a tall skinny guy at Iowa. I said I get the feeling you were losing the "skinny" part of that description and that's why you got back in the pool!
  8. StewartACarroll's Avatar
    Thanks for all the DAM support everyone!

    I arrived safely in Median, Saudi Arabia last night and will be moving around the kingdom most of the week. My hotel did not have a pool as it indicated on its website(which sucks), but our business partner has assured me that in Jeddah the hotel has a 25m pool(watch this space). Medina is a holy city and I suspect that not many people come here looking for a swimming pool.

    I am deinfantely trying to stay positive and appreciate everyone's support and encouragement.

    When Knut says skinny thats an under statement; when I was a freshman I was 6'5" 139lbs. I was no more than about 160lbs when I swam at Iowa, and as I suspect as is the case with a lot of college athletes added weight after my college career.
  9. jaadams1's Avatar
    6'5" - 139!!?!?!??!?! Talk about need a Double Quarter pounder combo meal or 5.
  10. StewartACarroll's Avatar
    Yes I was a twig. I actually ate like a pig my entire college career and hardly gained a pound. when i stopped swimming I still ate like a pig but did not burn calories like when I swam. When I was a senior in high school my mum tells a story where she was in the bleachers and heard another parent say that the guy in lane 3(me) was an advert for famine relief!