This is the 2nd year I have gone to the OCY masters meet in February. Last year, I swam the 1000 in the morning and was too burnt out to stay for the 200 free at the end of the meet. This year, I opted out of the 1000, and considered the 500 enough for a distance event, and threw in some 50's for fun. Since there were usually 1-2 people in my age group, I got 1st or 2nd in each event. Here are my results:
Seed times in () are either my best time or estimates.
Event 3 Women 30-34 100 Yard IM
1
Kenny, Laura 32 (1:20.00)
1:18.50
Event 8 Women 30-34 500 Yard Freestyle
1 Kenny, Laura 32 (6:24.00)
6:29.76
Event 11 Women 30-34 50 Yard Freestyle
1 Kenny, Laura 32 (31.70)
31.29
Event 15 Women 30-34 50 Yard Breaststroke
1 Kenny, Laura 32 (40.00
) 39.69
Event 17 Women 30-34 200 Yard Freestyle
2 Kenny, Laura 32 (2:27.00)
2:29.48
I always tend to focus on the distance events, but I was actually happier with my results in the sprints this time. In both the 500 and 200, I was in an outside lane in a faster heat, and since I don't have the speed to go out as fast as most people, I got left behind in the first 50. I didn't get all my splits, but I know I was pretty steady. Next time, I am putting in a slower seed time, not my actual PR that I am trying to beat. Also, I know my eating and hydration were a little off in the days prior to the meet, and the air temperature at the pool was cold, so it was difficult to stay warm. I did lots of warm-up and warm-down laps. Sometimes I just stayed in the warm-up lanes and kept swimming easy until about 2 heats prior to my next race.
Since I have issues with my right shoulder, hip, and knee these days, I have been doing a lot of technique work: lots of sculling (my standard front, mid, and finish scull) and drills (I've found lots of new ones at The Race Club). I still do some distance, but if things start to hurt, I switch to something else. I was surprised that my 100 IM improved so much, since last year, I did 1:20 point something every time I raced it. I haven't worked that much on fly and back (my weaker strokes), but my breast and free technique has been steadily improving.
I think it really helped for me to visualize the 100 IM in the days leading up to it. Because it is such a technical event with quick transitions, I wanted to make sure I didn't forget anything. Here is my pre-race mental checklist that I rehearsed:
- on the blocks: head down, hit the water in streamline, keep it tight, dolphin kick underwater
- Fly: no breath on the first stroke, big kick/big kick (NOT big kick/little kick the way I learned as a kid), snap arms all way forward, two hand touch
- Back: tight streamline and dolphin kick off wall, strong kick, rotate shoulders, head back, flags then 5 strokes
- Breast: feet wide on the push off the wall, tight streamline, dolphin kick, pull down with hands close to the body, accelerate through the part of the pull when the hands are near the chest, glide at the end of the stroke, two hand touch
- Quick transition to free, fast kick and quick turnover right away, high elbows, strong catch, accelerate through the back end of the stroke, it's only a 25.
I'm sure there is more that I could work on, but this is what I have been focusing on in practice, and it's a lot to remember in just over a minute. I messed up my technique at two points in the race. My dive went a little too deep, and I tried to start swimming before I had completely surfaced, so my first stroke of fly felt weak (my arms just didn't get all the way out of the water). My back to breast turn was also weak. I had too much of a glide into the wall, and not a strong enough push off the wall. Fortunately, there were some people in the heat a little bit ahead of me, so I had people to chase the whole way through, so I still beat my best time despite some technical mistakes.
So much about my meet. It is always fun watching teammates at these meets too. As usual, Ansie looked amazing in the 50 fly and 50 back. Mike Caputo did a solid 5:13 in the 500, taking 2nd as the winner went 5:00 (compare that to John Kenny's 5:14 at Ursinus in December!) Bill did an awesome 51 in the 100 free and 25 in the 50 fly. The most anticipated race to watch was the 200 free with Bill, Mike, and Kris all in the same heat. Kris came out on top with a 1:51, then Bill in 1:55, and Mike was just a bit burnt out after the 500 and a tough 100 fly. It's always inspiring to watch such fast swimming.
For full results: https://www.teamunify.com/njocy/__eventform__/671505_results%202016.pdf
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