The alarm went of around 5:30 and I immediately started to gather a few odds and ends for my meet. The nice thing about only having about a minute and thirty seconds of competition is that I didn't need to get up at a ridiculous hour to fuel my body. No need for a regimented breakfast (I had a few cinnamon rolls and some coffee) , no hydration drinks, no pre-race gels, and really no urgency to use the bathroom. Yes, I still get nervous before my swims, but it is a different kind of nervous. It's hard to explain, but I try to visualize good starts and good turns and that's when I feel it the most. If I don't execute those perfectly, my race is probably done. The butterflies don't really linger around, they kind of creep in as I'm waiting behind the blocks for my heat. IM butterflies, for me, start the night before as I worry about what I'm eating for dinner and stay with me until about the time I put on my wetsuit or jump in the water to start the swim. I have the constant urge to have to use the bathroom, even though physically I don't need too, as I sweat every detail leading up to the start. OK, enough about that and back onto the events of the day.
I arrive at the venue just as the meet director is announcing that the pool is officially open for warm-ups. I make several trips, from my car, to the prime real estate on the grass just east of the event pool before trying to set up the monster that is our ONE Multisport tent. Even though Mike Sanders was going to be there to help me out, I foolishly thought that I could get it up myself. I must've looked like a clown to the dozens of other people that had already set up their tents and were relaxing in the cool shade. I'd get one side extended only to have the opposite side slip down. I'd get three sides extended, but then it would tip in a position such that I couldn't get the final leg down. Ultimately, I gave up and decided to wait for Mike's assistance. Once he arrived, we made quick work of it and were soon relaxing with the other athletes in the area:
Me and boyhood chum, Mike Sanders. Who would have thought, 30+ years ago that we'd be back at the pool swimming in competitions together?
After a while of just sitting under our fortress, I started to get a bit stir crazy and decided that I was going to jump in and start warming up. It was a bit early, but I didn't really know what else to do.
Here is a pic of the venue. The competition lanes are in the distance while the warm-up lanes are closer. There were 20 in all:
After about a 1000 yards, I got out and started to walk back to our spot. I see that my mom showed up and so did Mike's parents. I haven't seen them in at least 20 years and my mom hasn't seen them for probably 25. It was great catching up with them, but it was especially neat to see my mom making conversation just like they did when we were 10 years old and swimming on the Highland Vista Swim Team. So many memories and so many names from the past! Now that I've set up the scene, I need to discuss my gear before moving on to the race report.
Earlier this year, I ordered some custom ONE Masters suits for the team. Ever since we received them, I immediately knew that they were NOT race suits. Their heavy texture and odd fit (they have small legs) pointed to nothing more than a solid workout suit. I did, however, wear this suit for that Sprinters Spectacular back in March and received sub-optimal results. Now, can I blame those results ENTIRELY on the suit? I'm not sure. Maybe a better start or a faster turn could have made a difference too, but I have my reasons to think that the suit was a big factor. At any rate, I decided to don my older Speedo jammer that I trained in for most of last season and raced in back on 08/02/2012 (Phoenix Pentathlon Swim Meet). It is a little stretched, but it definitely fit the profile of a "race suit" much better. I used my TYR Tracer mirrored goggles (bought them just before the Sprinters Spectacular meet on 03/03/2013), and a silicone cap that TYR gave me for free when I ordered our team goggles. In the past, I've only used latex caps, but the thicker, slicker, better fitting silicone cap seemed like a good choice. They say that you should never use new gear on race day, but it's a swim cap, what's the worst that could happen?!? I just realized that I didn't post a pic of my new race goggles when I bought them back in late February/early March, so here they are:
The first event was the 50 fly. According to the psych sheet, I was ranked 10th overall (that includes all ages) with my seed (fastest) time being 26.95. As I was standing behind the blocks waiting, I happened to ask the guy next to me what heat was stepping up to race. He responded with, "nine." What?!? That was MY heat!! Good thing I was ready as I quickly stepped up and onto the block! My start felt solid and strong. I quickly got into a good streamline and started my dolphin kicks. My kicks felt extremely strong too. I surfaced and immediately started to get to work. My pulls also felt strong and I was grabbing water really well. The only glitch of the swim was on my turn. I stopped my stroke a bit early and had to glide/kick into the wall more than I should have. The actual turn itself, however, was quick and I was back on track within less than a second. I probably could have gone a bit deeper as I felt my kick slightly breaking the surface while I was still underwater. My stroke on the way back, along with my finish, were both very strong as well. Let's compare my previous 2 fly times with what I obtained today:
- 26.95 on 11/04/2012
- 27.54 on 03/03/2013
- 25.54 today
My next event was the 50 free. Again, just like my butterfly start, I felt solid off the blocks and had strong dolphin kicks. My turn was probably average, but I did have good form and was in and out fairly quickly. I noticed that I was "grabbing" more water and had more propulsion than the last meet. I didn't have quite as high turnover either. It was a great feeling! Here are my 2 previous times along with today's:
- 24.15 on 11/04/2012
- 24.12 on 03/03/2013
- 23.70 today
My last event was the 50 back. I was in the last heat (the fastest), but the slowest seed of the 10 seeds. That meant that I was in the dreaded outside lane, lane 8. As with my previous two events, I had another great start and and awesomely strong dolphin kicks. Fortunately, just before this event, I remembered that I hadn't counted my strokes to the wall in this pool. While the distance from the flags to the wall should be universal, every pool is slightly different. Up until this point, I've always counted 4 strokes before I had to flip over for my turn and push off the wall. After getting back into the warm-up lanes, I discovered that this pool had me going 5 strokes. I executed those 5 strokes, turned over, and blasted off the wall. More solid kicks had me surfacing about mid way through the lane. Five more stokes at the end and I hit pay dirt. Here are my previous times and today's:
- 29.18 on 11/04/2012
- 29.75 on 03/03/2013
- 27.62 today
When I try to break down the reasons why I had such good success today, I see that there are too many variables to pinpoint any one. Let me list said variables:
- Frank's Friday strength training
- Increased fitness
- More efficient turns do to more practicing
- Starting Beta-Alanine again
- Reverting back to my old "race suit" in lieu of the new ONE "training suit"
- Silicone cap
Oh, in case you were wondering, I did make it back to coach my son's game. He scored a running TD and an extra point. We won.
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