Yesterday I swam in my first swim meet since high school. I chose sprint events because I’m not really in top form right now. I haven’t been training seriously, just sort of messing around in the pool a few times a week. Oh, and I took the entire month of December off. Actually, make that the entire month of December and half of November. So, I wasn’t really expecting much.
I did more or less exactly what I expected I’d do in terms of times. However, I am most proud of my breaststroke time / results. Surprisingly, I haven’t lost that much speed since high school (although that may say more about my high school swimming career, and why I didn’t swim in college, than it does about my current level of fitness). I ended up finishing first in my age group, and third overall in the 50 breast — and I wasn’t even in the fast heat! Because I had to guess at my seed time, I ended up in an outer lane in the 3rd of 4 heats. The two women who finished ahead of me were in the fast heat. If I had been in that heat… Oh, and my goggles were entirely filled with water for the whole race. So, if I had been able to see, and if I had been in the fast heat… who knows…
As a side note, Greg (the best hubby ever) was such a good sport about this. He drove up to the meet with me and hung out and watched for the entire thing. In case you haven’t had the opportunity to attend a swim meet, let me just tell you, unless you’re swimming, they’re not that interesting. He even videoed my races on his new phone so I can critique my starts / turns / form. I’m not entirely sure, but I think he maybe even enjoyed it.
This little reminder of the taste of competitive swimming got me all fired up. Since yesterday I’ve been trying to figure out what other races I should enter. I’m pretty confident that my main events will be the 50, 100, and 200 breaststroke. But, I’m game to try some distance freestyle as well. I’m thinking about entering a 1500 freestyle race this coming weekend.
The next opportunity I have to race breaststroke isn’t until March. This week I’m stepping up my training to get ready. I already have all my workouts planned for the week.
Don’t worry, I’m sure this swimming obsession will wear off soon….
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