aztimm's training blog
Saturday 12102011, NE Masters SCM meet
by , December 10th, 2011 at 08:08 PM (201 Views)
aztimmI had a pretty good flight PHX-BOS last night, got into BOS nearly on-time. Took the T out to my hotel, and got to bed somewhere around 12:30.
woke up around 7 this morning, showered, had breakfast (I was craving eggs and there were some in the free breakfast). then made my way over to Boston University for the NE Masters SCM meet, via the T.
on the way over, I got a text from fellow forumite rxleakem, wanting to take me up on the offer to sign him in for the 400 free.
I don't remember when I last swam a SCM meet, around 2001 or 2002. I have some results in a spreadsheet at home, but the times are mostly meaningless now.
all official results are located here:
http://www.swimphone.com/mobile/meet....cfm?smid=3514
my results:
http://www.swimphone.com/mobile/meet...othy&ln=Murphy
anyway, I arrived at the BU Rec Center, which is simply quite amazing. I signed in for all of my events that I planned to do (the 400m free, 100m IM, and 200m breast). I had signed up for the 50 free/50 breast, but due to timing I wouldn't be able to do them. was early and just kind of milled around with the rest of the group waiting for the BU swim team to finish. then I thought I should take a picture of the pool... (having trouble getting it to work now).
anyway, I changed and went in the main competition pool for warmup. it was supposed to be fast on one side to slow on the other, but as any big meet, it seemed a big CF, at least where I was at. I tried 3 different lanes, and I was stuck behind slower swimmers while someone was behind me tapping my foot. oh well...
got in around 1500m w/u various, including 1 block start
then I did my first event...400m Free
time: 5:16.45
http://www.swimphone.com/mobile/meet...urphy&s=finals
before the race I chatted with the guy in the next lane. he said he was seeded around 5:25, but then gave all kinds of excuses as to why he'd be slow. I figured I'd try to keep up and see what happened.
had a really good dive (in my Yingfa suit), and mostly just paced off of lane 2. evidently he, lane 3, and I (in lane 1) were together most of the race.
I really don't remember much...but my splits show a nice bell curve with a neg split, so I guess I swam it ok. maybe go out more up front, but I had no idea if/how I'd hang on.
did ~300 yards in the diving well (a total mosh pit)
after that, at long last, I finally ran into Leslie and Rich. I took a picture of the 3 of us with Leslie's phone (which she hadn't yet lost or had stolen)...
http://twitter.com/#!/FortLivingston...807427/photo/1
I debated doing the 100IM, but figured since I've never ever done fly ever at a meet (can I stress that enough?), and rarely even do it in workout, what the heck?
time: 1:21.48
http://www.swimphone.com/mobile/meet...urphy&s=finals
based on that split, again I guess I did it ok?
I had one of my best dives ever, did a solid 7-8 dolphin kicks, surfaced, and managed about 7 strokes of fly...and actually felt great for that whole 25.
I guess my back pushoff was ok, I'm far from an expert at that. somewhere around 1/2 way down I was realizing that I didn't do any back during w/u and had no idea how many strokes I'd need to do after the flags. I saw the flags, did about 2-3, then flipped over...and coasted for a while to the wall.
next to free, breast is my best stroke, and I felt comfortable with this.
by the time I got to free, I pushed whatever I had left.
so the 100 IM really isn't so bad. just a little of each stroke, not enough to even be painful, yet now I can say I swam some fly in a meet
I actually felt more spent after the IM than the 400 though.
I did another ~300 yards in the diving well after that.
since it was a while before my next event, I did a ~300 w/u before it. Leslie said to do some fast hands breast, so I did, and I managed to do a fast turn too.
finally my last event...200 breast.
time: 3:05.61
http://www.swimphone.com/mobile/meet...urphy&s=finals
I did a 200 LCM breast at the Mesa-Skyline meet in July and finished around 3:17 I think. but that was after a 1500, 100 free, 50 free, 50 breast.
my goal for this was 3:10, and I was shocked I was so much faster.
evidently I took that first 50 way too fast. by the 150m mark I so wanted this to be done. I'm kind of surprised my last 50 was as fast as it was.
Rich (aka SwimStud) was in the same heat, but I was in lane 10 (wall) and he was in lane 3. we did the reverse gridge leading up to it...each of us giving all the reasons why we wouldn't swim fast. but in the end I beat him--by ~3 sec
then I got in another ~300 w/d in the diving well before heading out.
overall, this was a great meet, extremely well-run (they made event check-in announcements, event announcements, etc very clearly). there was a swag shop (was tempted to get a suit, $18 but they had a whopping 5 suits in my size). there were also snacks. plus the location is great, there's a T stop right across the street.
It would be nice to do more of this meet, maybe stay over.
along with Leslie and Rich, I met Mike (who I checked into the 400 free) and Sue, other local swimmers who are on the USMS forums
and now I can also say I tripled the number of meets that I did this year -v- last year
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