February 2016
After a brief jaunt to Florida, I'm back in the water
Although I was active, I took a few days off from the pool while in FL. The 50-60 degree weather made outdoor swimming not the most pleasant idea. I made it a priority to hit the water as soon as I got back. With the masters State and Nationals meets coming up, I'm motivated to perform well for the first time in a few years. I'm setting realistic goals and focusing primarily on Butterfly. I'll swim some backstroke but I'm finding that, as much as I don't want to admit it, butterfly simply comes easier to me. I train some backstroke but my race pace is butterfly.
I may attend a Long Course Meters time trial this coming Sunday. The 100 Fly is the only race I'll attempt due to the accellerated schedule of the time trial. The resulting time will be slow and will reveal some weak spots in my training. It will motivate me to train even harder once I know how pathetic my time is. If the time trial doesn't work out, I'll hit a local masters meet instead. I want to race as much as I can. Racing improves my times and motivates me to train.
Done with 22's
On sunday I swam the 50 Freestyle SCY in 22.25
I won't let that happen again. I'm done seeing 22's in the 50 free for the forseeable future. We all have standards for ourselves. It's all relative and personal. Some people set that standard at a 49 seond mark, others the 35 second mark, some people set it at a 20 second mark. It's different for everybody and that's ok. That's the beauty of swimming, it's just me vs the clock. I'm just saying: I'm not happy with a 22. 22's are below my ability level and that performance is an insult to me. I need to have this perspective to motivate myself. No more 22's for Kevin Doak.If 22's are your best time, I respect that. The American record was just broken on Feb 17th 2016 with an 18.23 by Caelib Dressel of the University of Florida. That guy would probably be insulted by a 20.xx swim. That's my only point. I'm setting my standard at "no more 22's".
Saginaw Valley University State University Masters Meet
I took a long drive up to Saginaw to compete in a Sunday morning SCY meet. It was the first year for the meet. I found that Saginaw Valley ran a great meet. It was a great facility with plentiful parking, attentive staff, nice locker rooms, and a smooth meet. It wasn't attended by as many people as I expected there to be, but it was the first year for the meet. Next year there will be more once people realize this is among the best pools Michigan Masters visits during the SCY season.
I had a decent meet. Nothing to write home about. I started with a good 50 Fly in 22.89, about a tenth faster than my recent performances. After that, it sorta went downhill. I have nothing to blame my performances on besides myself. The facility was above average and the competition was good. I need to train harder and lose weight, that's all it boils down to.
50 Fly SCY - 22.89
50 Back SCY - 24.01
50 Free SCY - 22.25
100 Back SCY - 53.00
That 100 Back was ugly. Good distance underwater but they were too slow. My only excuse is regarding my 50 Free time. I doubled out of the 50 Back with about 5 minutes rest, it simply wasn't enough rest for my current fitness level.
Focusing on Weight Loss
I've achieved a regular workout schedule. A big hurdle for me. Next up is a focus on weight loss. I'll continue to work on some burst swimming but I'm significantly over my target weight. A recent mini drop took me from 190lbs to 186lbs. Through a slightly improved diet and an extra workout per day will drop another 15lbs in the next few months. My best competitions occurred at 164lbs and 166lbs.
2016 Brighton Meet Results
Big changes for the Brighton meet. With the demolition of the old Brighton SCM/SCY pool, they recently opened a strictly SCY pool. Apparently they finally realized how short sighted the prospect of the metric system was after they built the original pool in 1985. This meet seemingly attracted less swimmers with the switch to SCY. A noticeable population of masters swimmers used to travel to Brighton from parts of Michigan, Ohio and Indiana for the meet because it was the international standard of Short Course Meters rather than the American standard Short Course Yards. The only benefit here was a shorter meet. I missed some friends from neighboring states that valued the meters course. I enjoyed seeing world records set in Brighton, we won't have that silly distraction going forward.
My swims felt good but my times were only slightly faster than the last few yards meets. Nothing really to write about. There weren't any stand out swims.
50 Fly SCY - 22.93
50 Free SCY - 21.99
100 Fly SCY - 51.49