Day 1: Recap

Day one of my CW Elite tryout.  It was exactly what I expected it to be.  It was very challenging.  Overall I felt like I held my own.  My only hope is that the coach understands that my current training is nowhere near what I did today.  At some point this week I want to make that clear to him and ensure we're on the same page regarding what my abilities are now, and what they could be with his help (and essentially what they were 3 years ago at Olympic Trials).

Today began with 45 minutes of dryland exercises.  I knew I would have my eyes opened regarding drills but there were some things I never expected to see.  When I joined the team in the workout area, a few people (weren't sure if they were swimmers) were boxing with gloves and padding.  I just assumed that I was either in the wrong place, or these were not swimmers.  I went to the other side of the extensive workout facility and found a few swimmers.  I introduced myself and inquired upon the dryland workout.  They were nice and directed me to the boxers on the other side.  Sure enough, boxing was part of the dryland workout.  It was a fairly laid back situation in that you could complete the workout at your own pace and order.  It was typed on a sheet of paper for reference.  I ended up doing about 1/2 the written workout and 1/2 my own workout while I watched some of the more complex exercises and took mental notes to be ready for next time.  I was feeling a little worn out after 45 minutes of this stuff.  We headed down to the pool afterward.

I stood around for a few minutes as each group seemed to scatter to different places in and around the natatorium.  Obviously there were different groups with different workouts.  After some pointing from the coach, I jumped in a lane and began a 1,000 meter workout.  I was stopped about 600 meters into it when the group I had joined was directed to start the pre-main set.  Up until that point, I had certainly been at par with every other swimmer.  I took it a little easy since this was going to be a longer than normal workout for me.  The first set was 16x50's on the :45.  That right there was beyond anything I had done in a long time.  I joined another swimmer when the coach reorganized the lanes.  He was a full time post-grad swimmer from England, he was helpful and I appreciated him helping me out with the complex workout later in the practice.  I seemed to do alright on the first set of 50's.  I did not excel, but I also wasn't the slowest in the pool.  We moved onto a 400 Dive-both-ends.  Meaning I dove in 8 times during a 400 meter swim.  I was tired after all the dives and full speed breakouts.  During #3, I unknowingly placed my foot on the "M" inscribed in the block (bad logo placement in my opinion).  The logo is entirely flat and offers no grip.  Obviously the rest of the block is very gritty, about a 40 grit sandpaper feel.  This slip caused me to falter into the water, leaving me with a slight gash in my left foot.  I stopped mid pool to check it out.  I was bleeding a bit but I wasn't about to get out of the water unless it was broken.  It hurt but I was determined to swim through it.  I finished up the set without issue.  I also learned to offset my foot to avoid this situation again.

We had a few other mini-sets before the main set of high intensity swimming.  The main set was what I was afraid of.  I knew it would be rough... and it was.  It wasn't unlike sets I had done at EMU but understand, I'm not coming from much of a training background lately.  It was 25's all out, then 50's all out, then 75's all out and culminating with a 100 all out with full equipment (short fins and paddles).  I held my own for the most part.  I was certainly among the slowest in the pool at this point.  Things got worse as the set progressed.  This was to be expected considering my recent training.  I finished the last half of the main set backstroke.  The coach seemed skeptical that I was switching from freestyle to backstroke (and understandably so).  I felt as though he assumed I had broken down so much physically I needed to switch things up.  Although there may be some truth to that, the real reason was that I want to focus on the 50 free and 100 back.  The shorter sets made more sense to do freestyle and the longer ones were a good fit for backstroke.  I pushed it as hard as I could but got beat by everybody except the breaststrokers.  I had a feeling that type of thing would happen.... hey, I'm new at this.

My last 100 was with full equipment.  Unfortunately I didn't have my equipment and had to borrow some for the day.  I was stuck with fins that didn't work very well for me and paddles that weren't setup for my hands.  This equaled some bad speed for the first 45 meters.  I canned the paddles and swam the rest with just the short fins.  I finished in a 1:00.7.  I know I could have done much better with equipment that fit.  I won't make that mistake again.  I will bring my own stuff.

The day ended with a little ambiguous feedback from coach Mike Bottom.  He gave some positive, negative and neutral feedback to quite a few swimmers.  When he got to me, he looked at me, paused and said "we're just starting out, aren't we...".  I replied, "Yes sir", in a respectful tone.  I would chalk that feedback up to:  Certainly not good, but not "don't come back".  I have a long way to earn my spot on this team.  Physically and timeline wise, the cards are stacked against me.  I need to get everything right this week to even have the slightest chance.

This team and this experience is what I need to improve.  I know I can hold my own on this team.  I hope I'm a good fit for the team.  This is something I want to be part of.  After that, I want to lead this team and be a positive influence on each other swimmer.  I know I can do it.  The only question is if I can demonstrate I have the potential the coach is looking for in under 7 days.

Longest post to date?  Check.