Long Course Swim Meet

Not many people at this meet so it went fast. Not much time between events.

So my daughter went to a swim camp at the University of Minnesota a couple of weeks ago and at the end of the camp they do a swim meet. Each kid swims 2 events in the 50 meter pool. My daughter threw down a 45 second 50m backstroke which beat my PR in long course 50 back by 3 seconds! So although I wasn't going to swim it, I decided I can't let her have a household PR. I was going to switch my 100 back for the 50 back but I ended up just getting an official 50m split from my 100m race.

So first up was a relay. No pressure on these relays, just swim. Good warm up of 50 meters. Then I got out of the pool and got back in the same lane for my 100m backstroke. My 50m split was a PR but not fast enough to beat my daughter. I sprinted that first 50m and then just relaxed the next 50m. I ended up just 1s short of a 100m backstroke PR. So I was happy with that result. I so rarely swim any backstroke right now.

Next up was the 400m free. I swam this at USMS Summer Nationals last year. That was a really long race for me last summer and I beat my goal time of 8 minutes by swimming a 7:57. I didn't have any real time goals this year except to try and set a PR. Well I went 7:13! A 43 second PR! I felt really good in that race.

I swam another relay of 100 meters of freestyle, then a break and another 50m back as part of a medley relay team. After that relay, I walked back to the other end and dove in for my 200m freestyle race. The 200 is an odd race for me. I am not sure how to pace it. I can't give it everything because I will die after 100 meters. But I finished in 3:33 which was an 8 second PR!

Next up was the 100 free. After having a good set of 100's in the pool on Thursday I was hoping for a good result here. But I was a bit torn about going all out like I did on Thursday because I had the 1500 free just about 15 minutes later and I needed something for that. My time was less than a half second slower than my PR from last summer. I was ok with that.

Last was the 1500. I went out trying to push a little bit but not too hard. Just be consistent with my stroke. I viewed this as practice for my upcoming triathlon. I haven't been doing a ton of long distance non-stop swimming so this was a good test. I felt really good through this. Strong, steady, good form, breathing steady. The last 150 I tried to pick up the pace a bit. I finished in 29:50. I was a bit disappointed in this time. I was hoping to go under 29 minutes, and I felt like I was swimming as strong as I did in the 400. It turns out I was swimming about 4-5 seconds/50 slower than I did in the 400. So I have some work to do to figure out what that right pace is. Can I hold that 400m pace that I had for 1500m? Good experience, and confidence builder for the future.

So overall a good meet I am very happy. 5 individual events and I took first place in my age group in all of them. It helps to be the only person in your age group competing, but you can't win if you don't show up!