Thank you for registering for ILMSA State Championships 2013 on Thursday, April 25, 2013 – Sunday, April 28, 2013.

 

This year I’m FULL in. 3 days of swimming.

Most of these are for points, not for personal gain. The backstroke and IM are simply not events I’m any good at, but I am OK enough that I can finish legal and possibly beat enough folks to get some points for the team. The Free events, being long, are ones I’m OK at and I might be able to pull off a few points. The 500 and 1650 are the only one I’m working to improve as that directly to Tris, so looking forward to those.

Swim Meet Events

https://www.clubassistant.com/club/meet_information.cfm?c=1863&smid=4474

Event Number	Gender	Distance	Stroke	Time	Date
1	Male	1650   SCY	Free	28:00.00	04/25/2013
12	Male	200   SCY	IM	3:30.00	04/27/2013
14	Male	100   SCY	Back	1:35.00	04/27/2013
16	Male	50   SCY	Breast	0:42.00	04/27/2013
21	Male	500   SCY	Free	8:04.00	04/27/2013
26	Male	100   SCY	Breast	1:41.00	04/28/2013
30	Male	200   SCY	Free	2:52.00	04/28/2013
38	Male	200   SCY	Back	3:25.00	04/28/2013
40	Male	100   SCY	IM	1:30.00	04/28/2013

So Thursday night I had a full… no overly full day of work. I managed to get out around 4:45 and head out. I picked up some chili on the way out… figuring it would sit well and well, I was STARVING! Traffic was BAD but I made it around 6:15 – for a 7:00 start. TOO CLOSE.

This year was unusual they were doing 2 per lane. So once I figured out where I was going, which side, what color cap, and all that I got warmed up. I did about 600-700 and focused on PACING. Last year was a dismal pacing execution and it was just miserable. Time wasn’t good and it felt just miserably painful by the end. Coach Corrine already hunted me down and first thing she said was – PACING.  Got it.

I was sharing the lane with a 72yr old. We chatted. Oh, did I mention his seed time was 90s faster than me?  Ouch!

We started, and I settled into a nice pace. I think I was pacing solid and steady. First 500 was clean and easy and not hard. Next 450 was reasonable although the effort was starting to accumulate and then BAM I jammed my hand, HARD into the lane line. !@#$!!@ and !@#$!@ and !@#$$@! I planned to swim it off… 50.. still hurt.. 150… still hurt…. 200…. is that a flap of skin flopping around? Crap, it sure feels like it… Still hurts like heck too, I figured I MUST be bleeding all over the pool. No interest in stopping, so I just shoved my thumb and pointer finger together. That helped keep the skin flap from flappin’ and reduced the pain. But messed up my form even worse.  I just held on for the rest of the race.

After I got out, I looked and yeah there was a flap of skin but it wasn’t bleeding. Few. I was a LOT smaller than it felt like though!! LOL

I talked to Coach and she commented my splits were solid although my pace was 90s off my seed time – and my seed time was conservative. Boo.  29:38 on a 28:00 seed time. Ouch. 13th place. DFL. Boo

And then I looked down and noticed my hand was all bloody. Crap. Ok.. got it bandaged up and went to count for teammates.

Sat was the next day for the meet.  Hand still hurt!

12	Male	200   SCY	IM	3:30.00	04/27/2013
14	Male	100   SCY	Back	1:35.00	04/27/2013
16	Male	50   SCY	Breast	0:42.00	04/27/2013
21	Male	500   SCY	Free	8:04.00	04/27/2013

So, I was VERY nervous about the 200 IM. First time I’ve ever done that distance and I have real problems completing a clean 50 Fly (the first leg) and then I’m usually gassed!  But I got out there and got it done. Thankfully Coach didn’t put me in the relay right before. 3:21 so I crushed my seed time. 13th place.

The 100 back went fine, 1:35 – right on seed. 11h.

The 50 breast went good, 41 so I just beat my seed time. 11th

I was part of a 200 Free relay. We hit 2:14 which is exactly as coach had seeded us. Even though our first swimmer had to do it twice due to a timing malfunction! boo!

The 500 Free went good too 8:00. 9th. A Teammate grabbed 8th (points) in the last 25yds so he really deserved it. I paced poorly, initial pace of 1:22 ending 1:47 – yeah that’s bad.

I was happy for the day to be done! Tired!

Sunday was the final day!

26	Male	100   SCY	Breast	1:41.00	04/28/2013
30	Male	200   SCY	Free	2:52.00	04/28/2013
38	Male	200   SCY	Back	3:25.00	04/28/2013
40	Male	100   SCY	IM	1:30.00	04/28/2013

I was feeling the accumulated fatigue as this point. Racing Thursday night, 3 hour bike Friday, racing all day Sat …. was taking it’s tool. But I got warmed up (took 500+ to even get close) and got ready for the day.

SIDE NOTE – At this point I have to say I was getting discouraged. I hadn’t scored a SINGLE point for the team and it was weighing heavy on my mind. The entire point of spending these 2 days away from the family was to support the team who had given me so much during the year. I wasn’t in any events “for me” it was all “for the team” but yet… no points. My age group was STACKED this year. Thankfully, 4 in my age group were on my team – but we kept sweeping up 8-12th place in too-many events. That’s not helpful – only 8th gets points.  I tried to not let it bother me – but it did.

The 100 breast I demolished. Came in with 1:34 – 10th. 7s improvement, but I’d need 19s more for 8th. Wow.  Holy cow that hurt but it was awesome.

The 200 free went ok, 2s off my seed time. I was tired. Plain and simple. 9th.  Teammate got 8th by a smidge – so good for him!

The 200 back, a new event for me, went fine. 3:29 so I beat my seed time. 8th!!!  POINTS!

The 100 IM I was going to bag. Spoke to Coach about it and the chances of points were not real. There were 22 swimmers seeded ahead of me. I would have to cut my time by 23s (on a 100?). She asked I swim it anyway, forget speed, just swim it and swim it legal. She was VERY happy with how clean I’d be swimming all meet – by far the cleanest EVER she really wanted to see it all put together. Plus, there was a massive number of scratches (no shows) so who knows. So I swam it 1:28 2s below seed but 1s above best – so that’s great considering how tired I was and how I was just going for form- not speed. (of course they are linked)

I wasn’t able to stay for the final count but we placed 2nd!! First time in 23years we’ve gotten beyond 3rd. Very proud to be part of such a great team and have such a great Coach!

And thanks to Brad for taking the bet to wear my Rev3 Shimmer Suit during the 500free. We raised over $100 for Boston Amputees!