Loveland Sweetheart Meet: Post Meet Write Up

Firstly, I had a GREAT time at the meet last Saturday. I was so nervous the night before I slept poorly (not to mention my sinuses were rebelling and making breathing a challenge), and was really anxious all morning. I got to the pool a bit before warmups were supposed to start and signed in, then found two of my teammates and chatted until we went to warmup together.

The pool was nice, smaller than the one I normally swim in, and warmer too, but not bad. I felt better once I saw it, because it was no longer such an ominous thought about what it would be like there. Warmup felt good, and we got out and talked and hung out until Rachel and I had our first race (100 IM).

My friend Alix and my boyfriend, Jeff, are very awesome and not only came to watch and recorded my stats, but they also critiqued and gave me suggestions for my next race, or the next time I swim a meet. Jeff sent me a note from his iPhone, so I'm going to copy and paste all the meet data on each event, and then write up my notes as well.

100 IM - Heat 1
Lane 3
2nd place
Time: 1:39.83

This was literally the first event of the meet, so I had no idea what the start tone sounded like or anything. I've watched meets before, but never at this level (the last one I went to was the Santa Clara Grand Prix, where I was watching Michael Phelps and Ryan Lochte swim). Apparently it works exactly the same way. I got up on the block and I was freaked out of my mind. The tone went off and I dove in and when I surfaced to start my fly, I swear the building was silent, and I couldn't see ANYONE else in the water. I was totally sure I'd false started, but I didn't stop swimming because I wasn't certain. Turns out I was just out ahead of everyone else in my heat, and lead all the way through the breaststroke leg, getting beat out by about six tenths on the freestyle. I think I could have done better if I worked on my turns more, because my backstroke to breaststroke transition is terrible, and I even kicked the wall really hard with my left heel in this meet, which stunned me on my push off a little. I also need to work on my underwaters on ALL my strokes, because I generally don't do any at all.

The race felt AWESOME, though. I had so much adrenaline going into it that I hardly remember the first two lengths, and by the time I got to breaststroke I was hurting like crazy, swimming out of my mind. I loved how it felt, and I can't wait to swim this race again.

50 Fly - Heat 1
Lane 7
4th place
Time: 51.06

Oh butterfly, I love you so much, but you are so cruel to me. The second half of the second lap was excruciating, and my stroke completely fell apart. I did swim it faster than expected, but I have a lot of work to do on my fly. I want to make 50 fly a staple for me in meets, and I'd love to work on trying to get below :50 as my next goal.

100 Freestyle - Heat 2
Lane 1
3rd place
Time: 1:18.52

This race felt great. I seeded it at 1:30, which is what I've been swimming it without a dive in practice. I think I swam this faster than usual, though, and it felt awesome all the way. I could have done better on my first turn, and of course underwater dolphin kick, so I think I can totally improve. I definitely want to do this race again.

50 Freestyle - Heat 1
Lane 4
2nd place
Time: 39.21

I totally should have won this heat in this distance. I know I can swim faster than :39 low off a dive, but when I hit the water, both sides of my goggles filled up with water and I was swimming blind. I tried to turn where I thought the wall was (based on the fuzzy T bar on the bottom of the pool), but missed the wall entirely and killed my momentum. I suppose it's good that I finally had goggle fail, since things had gone so well the previous three races went perfectly in that regard. I'm looking forward to giving this race another shot.

50 Breaststroke - Heat 2
Lane 2
4th place
Time: 52.40 (DQ'd)

This was my fail race. I was talking in the stands with Alix, and she was telling me I really needed to work on my pull downs, and got me to promise to do them in this race. Well, when I dove in, I was thinking so hard about the pull down, and worrying about my goggles, that I did one fly stroke off the dive. I have NO idea what the heck I was thinking (or maybe I just wasn't?), but that DQ'd me. Still, the time wasn't bad, and the lane watcher ladies said my breaststroke looked pretty good. This is another one I can't wait to try again, to see what I can really do with it.

All-in-all, despite the DQ and goggle fail, I feel like this meet was a success. It gave me an idea of what swim meets are like as a swimmer, and I have a lot of stuff I can work on before the next one. I can't wait to do it again!