Off the Deck

Today I did my first little local meet since early last fall. During the week leading up to the meet, I was really encouraged by how much I was looking forward to racing again.

The past two months have been a huge, accelerated rebuilding phase for me. After spending a winter in virus-purgatory, I am finally healthy (two months and holding sans a sniffle!) Thanks to a new team, training approach and worth-his-weight-in-gold Coach Mark, my attitude has done a 180, from “burned out” to “can’t wait to get to practice.”
And again, thanks to Coach Mark, I have been working, working and working to improve my technique across the board.

Therefore I was particularly excited to see if I could put it all together today under race conditions. Especially at my fave race venue, outdoor LCM.

But today was not meant to be my day. As much as I hate to admit it, I had a really tough time due to weather conditions. On the drive over to the pool I heard on the radio that it was 48 degrees. That in itself may not have been too much handle (especially if water temp was decent and I was doing just one distance event), but it also rained on/off throughout the meet and it was very windy.

Did I mention that I lean towards the tiny-delicate? Yep, the in/out race format is often not a good one for me because I easily slip into “need external source of heat now” mode. It’s one of the reasons why I swim strongest in summer — I can get stiff-from-cold-can’t-move at an indoor meet (Hello last meet I did Fall ‘09 — scratched the rest of my events after the first two. Just…couldn’t…function…bbbbrrrrrr.)

I did as much as I could today, but it’s minor consolation. I knew the weather was going to be bad, so I brought my parka, lined sweats, and several suits. My original plan per race was to warm-up, race, warm down, then change suits and thus conserve some heat with dry suit/sweats/parka intervals. After my first race, a very sluggish 50 fly, I was too cold to get back in to warm up pre-200 IM, so I had another sluggish race.

“Japanese snow monkey in hot spring” became my ad hoc plan — stay in the continous warm-up/cool down lane until my last event, the 200 free. Absolutely, the water was the warmest place to be (no hot showers at this pool, and the heats were moving too fast to jump in the car.) But I was shivering and teeth chattering while crouching in the water. So I switched to “shark-mode”: keep moving or die.

Swimming continous easy free/back helped a bit. I warmed up enough to hang in there until the 200 free, and while not stellar, I felt as if I was loose enough to at least apply some of the new-to-me technique principals. Which, several hours later and still a bit chilled post-shower, nap under covers and tea, was enough to motivate me to stay committed to pratice, working on my technique and finding more meets to get my race groove back.

Until next time,
Rebecca, swim evangelist

It’s only February, but since States information is already posted everywhere, it’s time to think about what I might swim in April.

In the past, entering has been a bit of a no-brainer because I love distance. So, normally I end up with a collection of the longest events offered — 1650/500, 400 IM, etc. with a few relay-50s tossed in to be social. The biggest decisions have usually been along the lines of: “should I go for a brute squad t-shirt?” and “should I hang around and do the 100 fly for kicks or leave right after the distance event du jour?”

This year however, I’m thinking about a radical (well, for me) approach: maybe a mix of 200s: the IM, back and fly, as well as the 100 breast because I need to start “bench-marking” that particular 400 I.M. leg to track improvement (oh please oh please!) this year pre-LC Nats.

Why the change? Two main reasons: 1) Air quality. It’s been hit or miss during practice for awhile now; during a state meet at full capacity? It’s miserable, as I found out last year during the infamous 1650 heat when everyone stopped due to lack of air. Until they fix it (and there are plans to do so this year) I don’t see the point of gearing up for a PR when I can’t breathe adequately.

And then there’s 2) I’ve been sick for a month. Absolutely, I have nearly nine weeks to get back into shape, and I am sure I will be by States. But as with most years, my focus is not SCY. It’s open water and LC Nats. Therefore, I may start training with those seasons in mind right now and oopps, do a scy meet along the way for the heck of it. So why not do a mess of short events for once?

Of course, how I feel as we approach the deadline will be a strong entry-factor. As will event order. In any case, it’s already been fun right now to think about to doing something a little different this year!

Until next time,
Rebecca, swim evangelist

Today I did my first meet, the “Gold Rush,” since April. It was a little (50 swimmers) local one. Even better, the host team’s (the Squids) all-inclusive, light-hearted approach created the perfect atmosphere for me to return to racing.

Before I recap my events, it’s much more important that I give a huge shout out the Squids team. They did an outstanding job, and you could tell that a lot of thought and work was a part of the planning stage.

Some of the more unusual and really fun elements of this meet included:
–An acapella rendition of the national anthem
–Goody bags stuffed with coupons and trinkets
–A beautiful marketing piece — an oversized card in color on glossy stock
–More food than anyone could eat — fruit & bagels in the a.m.; sandwiches in the later hours
–two diving events. The last time diving was a part of my meets, I was still an age-grouper/scholatic swimmer!
–An announcer that encouraged applause at the conclusion of every event as well as cheering home first-time swimmers and those finishing tough events.
–An all-inclusive attitude to relays. “Teams” and “points” weren’t important; ensuring all swimmers who wanted to be on a relay was the key.
–An original approach to awards — top team placements, top short and long pentathalon finishers as well as over all winners of the longest events offered (500 free, 400 IM) received discounted swim lessons, restaurant gift cards and stroke technique DVDs, respectively.

Again, I have to say a heart-felt “well done.”

As for me, my times were about where they should be for the beginning of the season, so I can’t complain. More so because I didn’t really “attack” any event today. Instead, it was all about getting into a racing mode again and identifying what needs work.

Certainly, I need to get some swim lessons for myself to work on breaststroke. I just did the 50, but it felt so slow and awkward. My 100 fly felt o.k. — just need to build endurance/speed back up as I was thinking “I don’t think I’m ready for a 200 yet” during the last 25.

My 100 back was unintentionally hilarious. After entering the water, the gun didn’t work (the gun vs electronic beep helped me out today — instead of my usual “sticky feet” I felt so of “startled off” the block). After crusing around the water to stay warm (did I mention it was 30 degrees here today and snowing?!?) we were called back to the blocks. I was in a loose crouch when I heard the gun go off. At first I thought it was a test start, but no, swimmers on my left and right were stroking away. What an age-grouper move! I swear, I never heard the “take your mark…”

The last event of the day for me was the 500 free. Honestly, because of the weather, I was proud of myself for just sticking around and swimming it. Lame, I know. Plus, I didn’t really attack it like I would at States. Today I approached it more as a distance event vs sprint (it’s only 5×100 after all. I’ve learned that if you don’t take it out right away and hang on to that pace, you’re done).

In all though, it was a good day. Times weren’t scary-bad-depressing, I had fun, and I’ve identified what to work on before the next meet in one month.

Until next time,
Rebecca, swim evangelist

p.s. While in the locker room today I was asked who I swim for as I was listed as “Sqiud” but none of the ladies on that team had seen me before. After explaining my “swim on every team” this year approach, they tahnked me for bringing in a lot of team points. Maybe my experiment won’t be as under the radar as I assumed….

Before I begin today’s post, a moment to address my recent slacker-posting, as in “none for two weeks.”

I’ve been busy!

And truly, a lot of it has been swim-related. First, I was at USAS; since being home I’ve been thrashing around trying to broker pool time in the a.m. Both are worthy actitivies that merit their own posts. So more on each soon.

Right now, however, more on today’s swim epiphany. It all began earlier today when I signed up for my first meet since April — I’m lost when I get to the “affiliation” box. After a few years of watching my team slowly fall apart, a year of swimming everywhere* searching for 90-minute pool time and taking a break from training/competition this summer, I no longer feel part of any local group.

Yes, the whole thing has been wearing down on me (i.e. “summer break” reference above.) Suddenly it occured to me: if I am mostly on my own for now, why not make the most of it? Once I was in that frame of mind, an idea quickly came to me: I like creating weird challenges for myself, so why not see how many different groups I can “swim with” in one year on the local meet circuit?

Absolutely, I can’t mess with this at the national level. I am registered as CMS and that is the banner I swim under on the national/international level. But locally, designating a “workout group” at little dual meets only matters for team points, relays, etc. And at most fun meets, no-one keeps score, etc.

My plan to date is to favor who ever is the host. If they don’t want a renegade swimmer, I’ll ask around before signing up. I’m curious to see what my total is after one year — we have a lot of local workout groups!

But the real question for now is: will anyone (who hasn’t read this post) notice?

Until next time,
Rebecca, swim evangelist

*and I still lack consistent pool locale/time

This morning, before heading off to work, my a.m. goal was to fill out the entry form for an annual local LC meet and get it into the mail since the deadline is this Saturday.

Normally, filling out a meet sheet takes me just a few minutes — most of them dedicated to looking up my previous times. This morning however, I sat and rumminated and sat and rumminated.

At first I was bogged down by the typical issues that determine my physical condition at any time. This morning’s concerns included “hhmmm…I usually feel like trash at this meet because it’s peak allergy season” and “I yakked up 1/10 of my body weight less than two weeks ago due to the flu — did I lose a lot of conditioning as well?”

From there, it was just a mental hop skip and jump away to “well, my training hasn’t been very consistent this past year, maybe I should just sign up for a bunch of distance stuff and make it a ‘training day’.”

Ultimately, I went for a weird mix: 100 back (“warm up event”) 200 IM (“just for fun”) and 1500 free (“get some meters in”). Even after I dropped the envelope in the mailbox, I was still questioning if I was satisfied with my choices.

It wasn’t until I was driving to work that I realized what was really going on with my dithering (and let’s not forget my waffling and subsequent last minute event switching for States in April) — for the first time in years I lack clear swim goals.

Certainly, I could cite a lot of the typical factors such as a life in transition, a few virus set-backs, etc. for my current lack of focus. But it’s more than that. Swimming has always been the “anchor” in my life — practice time was the one thing that was consistent, in regards to both time and place. I got my “grrr” out during challenging 90-minute workouts with super talented teammates that pushed and encouraged me. I always had goals because because I was always motivated.

But I realized today that the past several months of rocky, constantly shifting training conditions has taken a greater toll on me than I’ve previously admitted to myself: I am tired of fighting for pool time, let alone pool time with a team. I miss my team and the tough a.m. practices we did when we had 90 or even 75 minutes. It’s depressesing each time to hear of yet one more person who’s quitting because they can’t stand the conditions anymore.

Although I love swimming too much to ever give it up, I now realize that I need to stop trying to shove a square peg into a round hole. 2009 is now officially declared as an “off year” for me. It’s time to stop seething over current conditions, put competition on the back burner, and focus on finding training solutions that suit me.

Until next time,
Rebecca,
swim evangelist

I’ve noticed this before, but as with many trends, they tend to be more easily spotted at bigger meets like the recent States: swimmers leaving their caps on for the ENTIRE day.

I understand if you’re transitioning from the warm up pool to the blocks and stop along the way to chat, get a drink of water, stretch, whatever. After all, if you’ve spent all that time in the warm up pool fussing with your cap (and goggles) to get it just-so for racing, go ahead — leave it on. Heck, leave ‘em both on until your race is over.

But I’m talking about the people who leave it on in between their events, as they sit through 50+ heats in the stands. Seriously, doesn’t it give you a too-tight headache? Or make your head really hot?

Maybe it’s a save-the-hair thing. Perhaps swimmers are slathering on one of the new high-tech hair products that protect crowning glories from rough elements like sun, wind, salt and chlorine. Hey, maybe product+cap+heat is the lastest multi-tasking, do-it-yourself-spa-treatement trend: compete all day and give your hair a hot-oil treatment.

Or, perhaps it’s a nerves thing, i.e. someone feels that cap-wrangling is too risky to do per event, so once they get right, they don’t have to worry about it for the rest of the day. I guess it simply could be spacey-ness too: they can’t feel the cap for whatever reason so they forget about it until shower time.

Just wondering…

Until next time,
Rebecca, swim evangelist

If you’ve been following along this past fall/winter, I’m sure that you know by now that our team has slowly been splintering apart due to changes beyond our control.

Months of less pool time and coaching is catching up with us: many teamamtes recently have said that they are unmotivated for States, the biggest local meet of the year, held in our home pool even.

I struggled with State sign up too — part of my waffling over event selection included a “just forget the whole thing this year” phase, prompted in part by the lack of team-ish feelings. When I had a strong desire to change my events from “just swim through” to the ones I find most challenging and fun, I was kind of pleased with myself — I was getting into the spirit of things!

The recent relay snafu however, has made me realized that my attitude towards my current team situation has not really improved as much as I thought.

When I signed up, I didn’t list a team, assuming it didn’t matter as all the local workout groups or “teams” are really one team on the national registrar. And, sans head coach, were we even going to have relays?

But overall “team” standing are tracked at States as swimmers rack up individual and relay points. So what began as a statement of protest about the current state of affairs of our team has turned out to hurt my team further. What kind of swim evangelist am I if I don’t support swimming and my team any way I can?

I did try to change my status after my change of heart, but it didn’t go through — I am listed as “unattached” on the meet roster now. My apologies then to my teammates: I will think through my actions more carefully before I commit them to entry form from now on.

Until next time,
Rebecca, swim evangelist

Normally I’m pretty good about meet entry. I note the deadline in my calendar and then build in some rumination time about meet goals which naturally guides event selection. Then I go back to practice with an “upcoming event” focus. This system has worked well for me over the years, decades even.

But this week I’ve done something that I’ve never done before concerning meet sign up — I asked if I could change my events for States past deadline.

I am to blame for part of my lack of clear vision this season: I read the sheets, but not closely enough to note that the “real” deadline was much earlier than in past years. Instead, I wrote the “must be accompanied by a late fee” deadline in my calendar. So of course I felt out of sorts and rushed when I signed up — I didn’t have my usual rumination time; my focus was on getting the thing in a mailbox before pick up time.

Now that I feel better health-wise, I also realize that my thinking was not exactly the sharpest that day. What was I thinking? Half distance events and half sprint? I don’t like 50s except for when on relays. What can I say? Coughing vs sleeping addles my brain.

The other factor I’ve identified is sad and scary to admit: “unmotivated.” If you’ve been reading regularly, you know it’s been a rocky year for my team. I don’t feel super ready for any meet at the moment after scrambling around all fall and winter looking for pool time, space and coaching. Constantly changing my schedule to accomodate each new cut back has left me feeling really isolated and not a “team member.”

Which brings me to my final point. My first inclination was to suck it up and swim the goofy combo of events I originally signed up for — chalk the whole thing up to “it’s been that kind of year.” But this weekend I remembered that it’s supposed to be fun. And what would be lost in trying to change my events? Nothing. So I’ve dropped the 50s and swapped in the 500 free, 200 IM and 100 fly, as well as hopefully an improved approach to the meet…

Until next time,
Rebecca, swim evangelist

I was caught totally unaware late afternoon yesterday.

Up until then, I’d been (wrongfully, as it turns out) assuming that I had at least another two weeks before State Meet entry deadline. I still like my way better — a deadline two weeks from now would allow me to assess how I feel in the water after being out for a week+ by now with some stupid virus-cold-modern-day-plague thingy before commiting to events.

But no, entry forms are due MONDAY, NO LATER THAN 5 p.m. Which meant I had to scramble to get it in a mailbox this morning.

Before I go any futher, a shout out to Terry Heggy, Foothills coach, for being very coach-ly and sending his swimmers an email reminder. (Lucky for me that I am on their list just because I like to keep up with as many teams as possible while I serve as our region’s newsletter editor!)

So there I was at 6:30 a.m. this morning, scanning the sheets. My original plan was to see what I could sc for once and go in healthy with a new fastskin on: I’d sign up for the Brute Squad (1650, 400 IM, 200 fly) and earn a snappy T-shirt as well as a new PR or two hopefully.

But that plan has sort of fallen apart by now — I am not 100% healthy and I have yet to find a fastskin on sale in my size on line.

My next idea? Make a game of it and challenge myself to swim one event per distance. That kind of fell apart as well — the event schedule (and my unwillingness to swim a 200 breast) isn’t favoring that approach.

Before a third plan came to mind, I realized I wasn’t super motivated for States. Certainly, I don’t feel my best right now, so I’m not overly enthusiastic about much at the moment. But I think the forced randomness of training this past fall/winter due to cutbacks and the lack of a team-feeling (i.e. are we even going to have relays with no head coach to organize them?) is taking a toll.

Ultimately, I sucked it up and signed up for four events because I’m betting that in one month from now, I’ll feel better and won’t want to miss the meet. This year I am totally splitting the difference — 1650, 400 IM, then on “Fun-50s Sunday” I have the 50 back and fly. Random — I know. Maybe next year I’ll be healthy, suited up and feeling well trained!

p.s. Another shout out, this one to the math savant — you need to email me EARLIER, as in before I mail the entry form, with event suggestions! I must give credit where it is due though — your line up for me (1650/500 free, 400/200 IM, 200/100 fly and treat the whole thing like a workout) would have been better for me and makes more sense!

Tomorrow I am swimming through a local short course indoor meet (“off events” for me [100 back, breast, fly, IM] since no distance ones are offered). I’ve just packed my bag, so I thought it might be interesting to take a peek:

–Stadium jacket: I usually bring this to all meets since it can be freezing inside due to AC or freezing outside in the a.m.s

–Two suits, two pairs of goggles, two caps: “doubling-up” on the essentials is based on the “you never know” premise. And, sometimes it’s nice to change into a dry suit if you have awhile until your next race.

–Deck wear: sweatsuit*, short-sleeved t-shirt*, flip flops. The ability to layer to meet shifting temperatures is key!

–Two towels: one stays on deck for in between races, the other is saved in a locker for the shower. There’s just something about having a clean, dry towel at the end of a meet day.

–Chamois: Used for a quick post-swim self-mops, it’s small but goes a long way towards minimizing that “sitting around in soaking wet” feeling.

–Insulated lunch bag with cool shark on the outside: These quick little local meets require bite-sized snacks/gulps of fluid here and there to stay fueled and hydrated. I didn’t buy anything special for this meet, I just packed whatever I had on hand that seemed good: nuts, veggie sticks, applesauce, fruit, accelerade, power bars, water.

–Shower stuff: I don’t think this needs further explanation other than it’s essential to get that chlorine off!

–Padlock from my high school days: It still works, I haven’t forgotten the combination, and it’s always good to lighten the load by stashing things you don’t need until the meet is over in a locker if they are available.

–Notebook and pen: no writer worth her salt goes anywhere with tools of the trade. You just never know when a story idea will hit you…

Until next time,
Rebecca, swim evangelist

*Non-matching; some day I might actually gear up and get something that was sold as a set…
**From prior swim meet, of course