Not So Bad After All

First day of the swim meet, I only had the 1650 to swim. I had no idea how I would do, how the arm would feel, how fast or slow I would be going. That made it a very strange return to swimming competitively, but strangely also took any pressure off since it all seemed like a total crapshoot as far as expectations.

I put down 24:00 as my entry time, about a 1:27 pace. I can't go off of the blocks due to the still-fractured arm, but did a wall start. My goggles fogged instantly because I forgot to dunk them (geez, I feel like a newbie at this, it's been so long!) and I think I missed about the first 6 turns and couldn't see my lap counter at all. My goggles finally did clear about about the 1000 yard mark but by then I was in the groove. The arm fatigued some, but not as bad as I thought it might and I think I picked up steam toward the end. I did a 23:03, something around a 1:23 pace. Not as fast as pre-broken-arm, but not as bad as I thought it might be.

Even more exciting than anything I was doing, our swimmers did really awesome. One of our guys set a state record for the 400 IM, 55 - 59 age group clocking in a PR (by 3 seconds!) with 4:52 (holy smoke!). Another swimmer did his first 400 IM ever, and came in just over 5:00 and 2nd in his age group. Another, who started out in my Swim Conditioning class a couple of years ago and has really worked on his stroke and moved up to Masters set a PR in the 1650 at 24:14. Plus just watching some of the A-MAZ-ING master's swimmers: a guy who swam in the 1956 Olympics, and is still clocking in outrageous times, I think he was seeded in the 1650 with a 22:00. Wow. And another gentleman in the 85 - 89 age group who swam it in 28:00 (I know more than a few triathletes who couldn't match this guy who is twice their age.)

More excitement tomorrow: the 1000, the 200 and some relays. Sunday will be the 500, the 100 Fly, and the 100 Free plus relays. They did say I could swim on the relays and do a wall start instead of a block start, so if we don't have enough women for the relays, at least that's an option and I can fill in.