The FAF AFAP Digest

Went better than I thought it would! Drove up Saturday afternoon. Arrived at Rutgers around 5:00. Just in time to see Michael Ross' 200 free and Chris Stevenson's 200 back. Seriously sick fast swims! Also got to see some fast 200 backs from forumites SwimmieAvsFan and Julie Oplinger. Met Patrick Brundage -- super guy and he had a fabulous meet. Met Tom Patterson too, and he was burning up the water with a zillion events and PBs as well.

Had dinner and beers with the PV/VA/CONN gang. Tried to sleep. Hit the pool on Sunday -- nice facility! Love to go there again. I definitely preferred it to BU where I swam NE SCM Champs last year. Got up early because the timeline didn't show a warm up after the 400 IM, and then they had a 30 minute one ... Hmmm ... At least it gave me an opportunity to hop in the competition pool and do some freestyle turns on the bulkhead where the T was pretty far away.

Still felt like crap. Tired and groggy. This is maybe the worst I've felt before a meet. I had tried to ignore this feeling all week pretty successfully (after being told several times that when you feel like crap you nonetheless swim fast), but was in a major paranoid mood this morning. Thankfully, I got over it and, as Jim Thornton said, I don't have to swim in the Infirmary Olympics.

Event #1, 50 free, 28.56
(previous best was 28.7 from last Dec.; swam a 29.2 last March)

Felt awful, probably hadn't sprinted enough in warm up. This was definitely a "getting the cobwebs out" swim. Got a calf cramp on the turn and couldn't kick as much. Just didn't have my super duper sprint groove. But I'm glad 50 free was first since I didn't care about that as much as my other two events. And I'll definitely take the time!! Just think I coulda gone a couple tenths faster if it wasn't an AM swim and wasn't my first event. However, I must admit that, after this event, I was thinking that I would never rest/taper again. lol. Still felt like crap and was thinking I over-rested. I was wrong.

Event #2, 100 fly, No Swim! lol

Only had about 20 minutes after the 50 free, which I had already sandbagged. In my then state of mind, there was no way I was stepping up on the blocks for 4 lengths of fly with such short rest. Arranged for a 50 fly time time trial after the relays instead. Had about an hour to rest before my next event.

Event #3, 100 IM, 1:11.8

My previous best in a Pro was a 1:15.2 -- so this was a huge improvement. I was super happy. Think it was a much faster swim than Austin, where I swam a 1:06.8 in SCY. Splits were impeccable as usual -- 32.5 (and this was easy speed only) and 39.3. Hahaha. Glided into the turn big time from breast to free. Chris S. said I need to get a real back to breast turn as well. I've only done the flip once, and it wasn't a huge success, so haven't worked on it at all in a year. Maybe something for the to do list. This is definitely my best 100 IM ever, so might be worth focusing on. I didn't stay under water SDK-ing nearly as long as I did in Austin, so I probably had more oxygen.

Event #4, 50 fly time trial, 29.99, Missed tieing the WR by .01

World record (KPN) was 29.98. The last time I swam the 50 fly in SCM was in June with a B70 and I went 30.7. And I was really happy with that time, as it was an improvement on the 31.3 I swam last December. Thought I had no real shot at the record, but wanted to see if I could improve on my prior time some. Wow, I was shocked to get so close. Especially since I didn't have much rest after the 100 IM. So I was thrilled! Swim Stud video'd the race -- plenty of power and speed and absolutely sucky starts and turns. Poor breakout and a bit of glide into the turn. Wolf Girl would have been cluck clucking. (Yes, I see on FB he already said my start "blew".) No matter! My fly and back seem to really be rockin' lately. Now if this time doesn't give fins a good name, I can't think what else will!!

(Edit: Since my fly time converts to a 26+, I think that is a lifetime best. First ever as a master!)

And now, of course, I wish I had had a crack at improving my 50 (31.7) and 100 (1:11.7) backstroke times from IGLA. But a girl/mommy can't have everything. Unfortunately, I heard that FINA is still not recognizing IGLA results. I feel sorry for the WR setters at that meet. I'm also bummed about my 50 back because the time I swam currently would be #3 on the FINA All Time Top Ten list, and it may not make it there.

Had lunch with the gang and drove straight to GMU to watch my kid swim in the finals at the Dolan meet. Avoided excess mommy guilt! Really happy with my 100 IM and 50 fly.

A friend asked me what I thought accounted for my improvements in fly over the last year. I'm not completely sure, BUT, I have been swimming 5x a week most of the year instead of 4x a week (although low yardage to be sure), have been kicking more the last year and have been lifting somewhat more the last year. I'm sure I have lots of improvement to do in the latter category still.