May 2008

The Psych Sheet was released for the Swimvitational. The meet starts on June 5th:

2008 Mutual of Omaha Swimvitational Psych Sheet

I added more virtual tours to the previous post :)

Be sure to try the "full screen" version once the virtual tour window pops up. The button is found on the lower left hand corner of the virtual tour window. Left click the button you see in the example below:

Send me a message and let me know what you think of the Virtual Tour of the facility!

I looked at the 100 back final times again from this weekend, I'm really proud to say that I'm taking out the 100 back just as fast as some of the biggest names at the meet. I'm not saying I'm as fast as them, but it's a fact that the best 100 backstrokers at this meet had a 50 split in the high 26, low 27 second range, my prelim split was 27.34 which made me the 4th fastest leadoff split of prelims and the 9th fastest leadoff split of the day. Its my endurance that hits me on the 2nd 50 meters.

Well, I'm exhausted and it showed in the finals, I finished with a disappointing 26th place and a 59.53. I just felt lethargic through the whole race. I was tired as soon as I did my start. I didn't rest at all for this meet so I can't expect too much. I'm excited to get back to work in the pool tomorrow afternoon in Michigan. I feel I can do better at kicking in my races along with working on my distance per stroke. I watched the video from some of my races and I'm taking more strokes than other swimmers. This shows that I'm not catching as much water.

My goal since getting back into swimming was to get fast enough to swim against the best of the best. I thought that opportunity would only be at the Trials. Today I swim the 100 back against Michael Phelps, he's in lane 5, I'm in lane 2. I know how this will end, but I'm excited to be swimming against the best all around swimmer ever. More later!

Videos of yesterday are posted

What a great day of speculating swimming! I saw some great athletes swim some amazing times. Kara Lynn did great in her 100 free to finish 5th overall. Luke (actually James is his first name) didn't make it back in the 100 Breast but it was a very fast event, it took an Olympic trial cut to make the top 27. I swam twice for practice, I'm feeling very worn down, I feel like I'm allergic to something out here. I've sneezed so much my abs actually hurt. I have some allergy medicine I'll try for tomorrow.

I just finished practicing at the Santa Clara International Swim Center. I'm still feeling like I'm on Michigan time so I woke up way too early and decided to head over to the pool at 7am PST. I was the first one in the water (unbelievably good luck). Some things I've noticed about the facility and meet:

Psych Sheet for the 2008 Toyota Santa Clara Invitational

I've been reading up on the Olympic Team Selection process. It's very interesting. The document is available on the USA Swimming website. This link takes you to the 31 page information packet. Here are the cliff notes I found interesting:

It's been nice getting some messages from friends in California hoping to attend the meet. I've been following a post on the Masters forum regarding the meet itself. I was mentioned in the post which brought plenty of mixed feelings. I appreciate the supporters I've found on the forum. Unfortunately there are more than a few members making negative comments about my swimming. It's certainly a new dimension of masters swimming I believe only exists on the internet. My experience at actual masters meets has been the polar opposite, nothing but great positive people.

Thank you to Dan Strawser for writing a great article today in the Livingston Daily Press and Argus:

http://livingstondaily.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080511/SPORTS/805110331

I appreciate all the time he put into the research, thanks Dan

He took some amazing pictures, I'm lucky to be friends with such a talented photographer!

I rarely do it, but I'm gonna go ahead and toot my own horn here... (begin toot) I've analyzed a lot of backstroke starts, and not many have a perfect arch and entry into the water (end toot). I believe a perfect entry and reduced splash probably helps my speed, I really enjoy studying it and making it better.

Looking over the National Masters Meet results from this past weekend, there were some incredibly fast times! I've got some competition in the 50 Back yet again. My 50 Back National record (which I regained 2 weeks ago) was broken by William Liscinsky with a 22.89 (my time was a 23.01). I feel good about it though, records are meant to be broken. My 23.01 was swam tired and with a poor start. I'm confident that I'm a mid to low 22 with a little preparation, I look forward to proving it.

I just finished up with day 2 of the Bulldog Aquatic Meet at EMU. Overall I swam as expected for how worn out I feel. I didn't have much left to give today and it certainly showed. I'm proud of how I did because I know I'll swim much better with some rest. This was good Long Course practice, and finally swim at the Jones Natatorium in Long Course format. Special thanks to Krista, Barb, Kristen, Alex, Sarah, Dave, Judy, Scott, Derik, Karen and Cici who where there to support me.

Videos are encoding now, posted soon