First Ever Women's Relay, and The Best Inspiration Yet!

When I first started swimming with the Masters at our pool, I was the only woman there. Day after day, year after year, it was just me and the guys. Now don't get me wrong, I swim with a really fun group of guys. The best, really. But something was missing.

As a coach, one of the things I most hoped for was to increase the number of women in our program. And in the past few years, our women's participation has picked up steadily until now our lanes are a good mixed bag of guys and gals. But still, many women don't come to the meets - some are triathletes, many have young children, some may be intimidated by competing when they're just starting in Masters swimming. So this year, we finally had enough women at the meet to field a women's relay team, and I can't tell you how exciting that was!

Here we are, ready to swim the Medley Relay and the next day the 200 Freestyle Relay (we went under 2:00!), we had such a good time. What an awesome and strong group of ladies to swim with.

Luckily, the last day of the meet went much more smoothly overall. I avoided chocolate milkshakes altogether, and I turned in some times that I was much happier with. A 6:33 for the 500 was 11 seconds faster than last year's time. That's more like it!

But although the fun of the weekend meet was drawing to an end, the inspiration was far from over. To anyone out there sitting on your couch and thinking you can't do something like this, let me introduce you to the 89 year old lady who swam the 100 IM (that's butterfly, backstroke, breaststroke, and crawl stroke). Check this out!

In order to not DQ (disqualify) yourself, you have to swim these strokes according to a strict set of guidelines, and this lady can do it. Wow, if that doesn't  inspire you to do your very best at everything, I don't know what will. All I can say, is I hope I'm doing this when I'm 89.

A Bad Waitress, An Ill-Timed Milkshake, and the Worst Race I've Ever Had

The Ignisecond: The moment you know you're doing something really really stupid, but it's too late to stop it.

You can tell I wasn't much of a partier in college when I tell you that Saturday's 1000 yard event was the worst thing I've ever done to my body. Unlike other swim teamers in college, I never showed up for a meet (or even a practice) hung over. So I've never really felt like puking in the middle of a lane before. Now I know better.

It all started off at Saturday's meet, when the team decided to go out for lunch. We had been swimming events all morning and were starving. Only three of us were swimming the 1000, and we were in heat five. Since the early heats tend to take 20 - 30 minutes, we would have at least an hour and a half for lunch, right? We went to a place close by and advised the waitress that we were in a hurry, and would need to get some quick food. I ordered a baked potato and a chocolate shake. The baked potatoes are already made up, they just pop them in a warmer. This should take five minutes. One would think.

Half an hour later, still no food had arrived. I had to go and badger the waitress. Still nothing. Finally at 47 minutes into our break, we get some food. Did I mention we were starving? At this point, I'm wondering should I eat or not. But I was so darned hungry and the food was right in front of me, and.... I hate half a small baked potato and drank the shake, figuring at least that would digest quickly. We high-tailed it back to the meet....

....only to arrive as they were ringing the bell for the last lap of the heat before ours. We literally skivved out of our warmups, hurried over to the starting blocks and they blew the whistle for us to get on the blocks. I had an internal debate on the way to the lanes as to whether I should stop and make myself throw up into the garbage can. But I didn't. So there was my Ignisecond. Standing there on the blocks, I knew I should just get down and scratch the whole event. But my team was in a close race for 3rd place, and I knew if I swam well I'd probably get second place, which is worth a lot of points. So I took the blocks and waited for the buzzer. Beeep, and we're in the water and swimming.

Stroke...don't throw up...stroke....don't visualize a chocolate milkshake...stroke....don't throw up...turn. One lap down. Stroke...don't throw up....stroke.... oh God, how many more laps to go?....stroke...don't throw up... turn. That was what it was like for 1,000 yards.  I tried to go as fast as I could, yet knowing that if I really pressed close to the anaerobic edge, I'd lose it.

You will be happy to hear I did not hurl in the pool, thus making the entire swim meet have to vacate the lanes for chunk skimming. And I did complete the race. That's something, I guess. 2 seconds slower than last year. Should've been way faster, based on my 1650 time from Friday night. Still, good enough for second place. The woman who took 3rd place was hot on my heels, only 10 seconds behind me. That's a quarter of a second per length of the pool, or 1 second per 100. I couldn't have swum any slower and held onto 2nd. So I did my job after all. But I never ever ever want to do that again. And I don't think I'll ever look at a chocolate milkshake for the rest of my life.

The Ultimate Motivation

Why do I go to Master's Swim Meets? Is it to swim? Well, heck yeah. And hang out with my buddies from the Aquaducks? Yeah to that too. But really, a Master's Swim Meet is the ultimate motivation. I mean, if you have even the teensiest tiniest doubt in your mind that being an athlete makes a lifelong difference, you just show up at one of these meets and see some octogenarian swimmer belting out a 400 IM (that's butterfly, backstroke, breaststroke, and freestyle for those of you playing at home), and how can you help but be motivated by that?

Today in the shower after swimming the 1650, I was talking with a lady who had just finished her heat of the same race. I asked her how it went and she said she was very happy that she swam it faster than last year. Not bad, considering she's in her late seventies. But then here's the kicker. This year she had cancer, and a mastectomy, radiation, reconstructive surgery, physical therapy. You get the picture. And then she comes back and swims a 1650 faster than last year. That's pretty impressive in my book. Move over, Lance Armstrong. Do I want to be like that at 77 years old? You bet I do!

A great start to a fun weekend of swimming. And my 1650 (or the "swimmer's mile")? 22:45. That's 18 seconds faster than last year. Oh yeah.

Off To The State Swim Meet

I'll be in Portland for the weekend with our Master's team for the State Association Championships. If you're swimming Masters here, come find me (in my Aquaduck Sweatshirt and cap) and say hi!

My times from last year that I want to beat (all short course yards - 25 yard pool):

1650 Free: 23:03
1000 Free: 13:47
500 Free: 6:44
50 Free: 30:81
100 Free: 1:10

I'll swim the 1650 tonight, then a mix of events tomorrow and Sunday. I'm also swimming the 50 Fly, and a bunch of relays. I wanted to do the 100 Fly, but just haven't been swimming enough at all. Due to all the karate in the last couple of months, I've been lucky to get in the pool once a week, sometimes twice. So I hope that I can even meet my times from last year, especially in the long events. The short events should be better since I think my strength is good right now.

State Meet Day Three: Lessons Learned

Wow, I learned a lot this weekend about swimming in multi-event, multi-day meets. Namely, that lactic acid accumulation sucks, and that nutrition and hydration get complicated when you need to time them appropriately for sprinting at your maximum pace. I guess I had gotten used to the triathlon race-day groove: get up early, get my shower, eat a big breakfast, take a Clif Bar and some Accelerade to the race start and some gels in my pocket. That's about it. It's different when you need to warm up at 8:00 am, do a distance race at 9:00 am, sprint at 9:50, cool down, warm up again, sprint at 11:00, sprint at 12:30 and at 2:00. What the heck do you eat, and when?

Needless to say, I threw my Paleo diet out the window. The idea of eating chicken drumsticks and yams while trying to keep up a grueling start/stop/sprint/rest schedule was beyond me. I got up in the morning, made my famous breakfast oatmeal custard and took some Clif bars and bananas along for good measure. I actually did eat some chicken breast at one point on Saturday, but that was Not A Good Idea and I didn't repeat it. I did figure out my groove for how long to warm up for each event (hint: A LONG TIME) and my arm never really felt sore until the end of the last day, somewhere after the 100 Fly and before my attempt at participating in the 200 Free Relay.

It's funny, but I don't remember thinking of any of this when I used to swim at meets in college. I guess warming up didn't matter so much because I was younger and springier, and I probably just ate whenever, whatever and didn't worry about it. If I remember right, it involved lots of pasta and pizza and our coach bought enormous boxes of donuts on the way to the meet (early day gels, just not in liquid form).

Our team had a great third day at the meet. Two of our swimmers set state records, lots of PRs all around, some fun swimming on relay teams. For lack of other female swimmers on the last day, I even got to swim in the final relay, clocking a :30:81 for my 50 yard split, even with having to start in the water and not on the blocks. So that makes me wonder what I could do if I actually worked on sprinting again. Hmmmmmmm!

And doesn't this photo make you hope that you look this strong at age 70??? He set a state record in the 200 backstroke by 8 seconds, which is an amazing margin, with a 2:44, which is way impressive in my book. This is on the blocks as the anchor for our one of our relay teams. Our guys took 2nd and 3rd in the relays.

Although I forgot to go and pick up my ribbons (dang!), I ended up the meet with two 4th place in my AG (100 and 200 Free, no surprise there as I had no sprint in me), three 3rds (500, 1000, and 1650, again no surprise since my distance stroke was not as affected), and one 2nd (100 Fly, which was basically one long slog up and down the pool - not pretty. Must. Swim. More. Fly. before the next meet). My time on the 500 today was a reasonable 6:44. Overall, very happy and excited with my first meet in over two decades, and now I am off for some much-needed sleep!

State Master's Championships Day 2

More fun today, the meet really filled up on Day two with over 250 swimmers there. Wow, that was really something! I tried my hand at the 200, which totally stunk. I might be able to swim distance with my arm, but I really really cannot swim any faster at all. And the 200, you're kinda supposed ta swim fast, KWIM? I just don't have the strength or joint control in the left arm to catch and move the water (all of those things I talk about in swim class and coaching all of the time), so I couldn't get up any steam. Clocked in at 2:30.

The 1000 was better. Based on my 1650 time, I figured I could swim a 13:53 for the 1000. My arm was a little on the stiff side this morning from yesterday's swims, so I gave it a looooong warmup. As it turned out, I came in at 13:47, and my splits were darned near even at 6:53.5 for each 500. With my wall start instead of the blocks, I was a good couple of body lengths behind everyone at the first turn, but I started reeling them in one by one. My teammates said that the way I was picking up steam if I'd had another 50 or two I would've had everyone in the heat. As it was, I ended up 3rd in my AG, not too shabby.

So far for me: two 3rd place AG, one 4th. plus having a great time cheering on my teammates. One of my Master's practice lanemates set the state record in the 100 IM in the 70 - 75 AG and he had to break 1:15 to do it. That's pretty darned fast. No make that really darned fast! I also love seeing some of our newer swimmers competing for the first time and finding out what they're capable of. One of our younger swimmers beat her estimated 1000 time by a minute and a half! And it's just so heartening being around all of these terrific swimmers, I especially find the older age groupers to be really inspiring because we are capable of so much more than we think we are as we age. These people are amazing and they truly look terrific, healthy, and fit. A role model for our whole population, for sure.

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.

First Taper of the Year

The arm has made it through, so I'm planning on swimming at the Association championship meet next weekend with my Masters Team. I've only entered the ugly horrendous insane long events like the 500, 1000, and 1650 so I won't be tempted to do anything really stupid like sprinting. I'm also not going to be able to dive off of the blocks, but on the long events that doesn't make such a big difference anyways. I think I can hold a 1:25 to 1:30 pace on most of the long stuff, and at that pace I should at least be able to get some points for my team.

So begins the first taper of the year. No Crossfit for me next week, and I'll go a little easy on the physical therapy exercises toward the end of the week as well. I'd say that my arm has about about 95% of its range of swimming motion back, but the weak elbow joint makes my pull on that left side very inefficient. I swim a bit like a wounded albatross, but at least it's getting better every week.

Well the Good News Is...

Word coming in is that a lot of our swimmers hit PRs in this meet. Though bummed not to be there (even being up walking around for very long is still quite painful for me at this time, so cheerleading from the deck was unfortunately out), I'm happy that they all did so well. I'm lucky to get the opportunity to coach such a fun and hardworking bunch of swimmers!

The rest of the good news is that I saw the orthopedist yesterday and it looks like a clean break. Though it's right on the end of the bone adjoining the elbow, he says no pins or surgery needed, no tendon or joint damage. Although the 6 weeks off will be a b*tch, I should be good as new when it's all healed.

Gulp!

I just mailed off the entry form for my first swim meet in 23 years. Yes, I'm not just going to stand on the deck like a coach, I'm going to get on the starting blocks (gee, hope I remember how to use them and not fall off into the pool). I am WAY nervous, even thinking about it. These pics are from 1987, the last time I got on a starting block wearing Oregon's Green & Yellow.

For some of the events in this meet, I had no idea what times to put down. I haven't really gotten in the pool and checked what I could do, but here's what I put on the form:

100 Fly: 1:27 - This one I really have no idea on the time, it's a very wild guess. I actually haven't even swum a 100 Fly in years, but I'm reasonably sure I can complete it without drowning. The reason I chose the 100 over the 50 is that I'm more likely to get points for the team since many more people swim the 50 Fly (for good reason!) so my chances are better. This one could get ugly.

200 Free: 2:21 - I might be able to swim this faster than my estimated time, who knows. Again, chose the 200 because it's a tough bitch of a race and no one wants to swim the 200.

500 Free: 6:35 - I think I can go faster than that, but we'll see. I swam a 6:38 in the 500 in last year's Sprint Tri but I got some drafting from the guy in front of me for the first 200 of it. Then again, I also knew I had to bike and run afterwards so I wasn't going all out at the end.

100 Free: 1:05 - I think this is probably the most accurate guess of all, because I have swum some 100's for time in the pool. I figure if I can do a 1:07 from the wall, I can probably go 1:05 in a meet, yeah??

1000 Free: 13:55 - Gulp! Don't really want to swim this, but again neither does anyone else so it's a good possibility I can take 1st in my age group. This time is a ballpark estimate, I don't usually swim this far without biking and running afterwards.

Other than that, hopefully I can swim in some relays too. I'm hoping we'll have enough women swimmers to have a women's relay.

My Little Swimmer Girl

As a mom, as a swimmer, I get so excited watching my little gal in the pool. She was in her second swim meet ever this weekend. She still doesn't know how to swim the butterfly, but she signed up for it anyways, what a brave little thing she is! At her age, I would've been mortified to mess up or lose, but she just takes it all in stride. She came in last in the butterfly and was just excited to have completed it.


Because our pool is so shallow, we don't allow diving and don't have any diving blocks. So it was a little intimidating for the kids to get to this meet and see the blocks for the first time. Still, Asa managed to take that into stride too, she's looking pretty nonchalant here leaning on the blocks before her freestyle race.



Halfway down the first 25, she's looking pretty strong. That's her in the pink suit in the far lane. But like me, she's more endurance than flash and as the other swimmers started to fade, she just started picking up steam.


About 5 yards out from the wall she took a breath to the left and looked at the other lanes and I could see she was so surprised that there was no one there. She told me later she wasn't sure whether she was way ahead or way behind. Well, that would be way ahead. Man, she is one strong little gal!


And, unlike her mama who totally sucks at backstroke, she's got a lovely stroke. The lack of a ceiling to follow threw her for a loop though, and she zigzagged across the lane a few times before getting the hang of guiding off of the lane lines. I love her sweet little smile in this photo as she strokes along.

All in all she had a great time. I love that the coaches keep it pretty fun and low-key, but she gets to try her hand at competition in a great atmosphere. I don't know if she has it in her to put in the grueling hours it takes to be a great competitive swimmer, but I do know that this girl's got some talent in there.

Like A Chip Off the Ol' Block

Asa had her first swim meet this weekend, only a week after deciding to join our club's swim team! It was great fun to watch, she's such a go-getter. Although she hasn't even learned all of the strokes yet, she entered an event in every stroke. This led to some fun moments, such as her flip turn during the 50 yard breaststroke event, and her butterfly with breaststroke kick. But she really kicked some booty in the backstroke (ironically my totally worst stroke), coming in 2nd in the 25 yard backstroke and swimming backstroke on the medley relay team! More than anything though, she had fun.


I can't help but reflecting this week on my own swim team experience. I also joined a club team when I was eight years old, but instead of fun, and encouraging Jordan (Asa's swim coach), I got grumpy, mean, whistle-blowing, name-calling Mr. Freeman. He more or less single-handedly ruined any desire for competitive swimming that I might've had, and I only lasted a couple of months. Since he was also the high school coach, I did not swim in high school either. Basically, I didn't swim competitively until college, an unusual start to my athletic pursuits. I'm so happy that Asa has a fun and supportive team to swim with and to have fun with. Whether or not she chooses to continue as a competitive swimmer, just watching her enjoy herself is the greatest!



And man, look at that top photo. Don't you wish you had a freestyle like this kid? After one week of coaching? She is totally a natural. I wish I could take credit for that, but I've only really given her a couple of tips myself. She's a fish!