5 August 2022
The most exciting part of my racing on Friday was ...
... my warmups! I managed to nab two new pools in one day, starting with an 1,150 yard morning swim at a surprisingly nice, perfectly cool water pool (Pool #539) at a Gold's Gym near my parents' house in Midlothian...
... which I went to instead of the meet so I could come back and do a few hours of work calls before my first event, the 400 free.
Back at the SwimRVA facility, I owe what little success I had to Ms. Taylor Swift.
Race #1 - 400 Free
In spite of all my intentions to not set a goal, I just couldn't help myself. I honed in on the 4:34+ time that I entered the race with, that being a conversion from my SCM swim back in May in Quebec. I rather should have anchored on the last time I swam this long course, in July of 2016 when I went 4:43.07. My final time of 4:44.44 looked beautiful and symmetrical on the scoreboard, even if it filled my heart with sorrow. There was nothing particularly horrible about the swim (except my lazy turns) as I didn't die, but just locked into a slow pace. While I did end up third place, I was far behind guys that I thought I could have hung with.
That's when I channeled the wisdom of Ms. Swift (though I know she wasn't talking about old farts racing, the "Shake It Off" chorus did me well).
Race #2 - 200 Back
I have now swum this race five times in my Masters career, going back almost a decade and I have been remarkably consistent, with today's result coming within 0.8 of the best time I have recorded ...
... so I was double chuffed with the time and the National Title that I achieved, the first time I've won a 200 backstroke at Nationals!
I'll see if I can be more consistent the rest of the weekend, and if I can remind myself to just enjoy the joy of racing.