Charlotte Grand Prix Conclusions

I took a day to reflect on my performances at the 2012 Charlotte Grand Prix.  I have mixed feelings about my swims.  I'll start with my successes.  My shaved and tapered times of 2009 in the 50m and 100m courses are now my unshaved/untapered times.  This is a great accomplishment and about where I would like to be considering I was a little run down at the beginning of this meet.  Some comparisions:

2009 Shaved/Tapered: 50m Back LCM - 26.64
2012 Unshaved/Untapered: 50m Back LCM - 26.73 (as low as 26.64)

2009 Shaved/Tapered: 100m Back LCM - 59.05
2012 Unshaved/Untapered: 100m Back LCM - 59.21 (as low as 58.02)

2009 Shaved/Tapered: 50m Fly LCM - 25.40
2012 Unshaved/Untapered: 50m Fly LCM - 25.24 (as low as 25.04)

2010 Shaved/Tapered: 100m Fly LCM - 59.87
2012 Unshaved/Untapered: 100m Fly LCM - 57.17 (as low as 56.31)

2009 Shaved/Tapered: 50m Free LCM - 23.97
2012 Unshaved/Untapered: 50m Back LCM - 24.15 (as low as 24.10)

I'm very proud of my time drops.  They clearly indicate improvements in my training.  With a taper, I'm confident I can lower all my lifetime bests in the 50/100 backstroke, 50/100 butterfly and 50/100 freestyle.  

These fantastic results still have me yearning for more performance.  This was my overall feeling from my swims this weekend:

I reached top 24 ranking twice during the meet.  This earned me second swims (in finals) which was a great honor.  The two events I placed well in was the 50m backstroke 26.73 and the 50m butterfly 25.24.  This meet taught me that I have respectable SPEED.  My speed is not off the start at all.  In fact looking at the videos, I get smoked off the blocks whether it's backstroke or butterfly.  I can't really say my speed is underwater either.  I surface behind other swimmers of equal rankings.  My speed is through the water.  This actually makes me quite proud.  Other swimmers can beat me off the blocks and underwater but in a few cases, I end up touching the wall at the same time as those same swimmers.  The whole game changes in my 100 meter races.  It's beyond frustrating how I can rank 10th place in the 50m backstroke in a high profile Grand Prix meet and then finish a very disapointing 35th place in the 100m race.  The same goes for my 50m Fly.  I finished 19th in a 50 meter race and 45th in the 100m Fly.

These facts bring me to the conclusion that just like every other time in my life, I have decent SPEED and pathetic endurance.  As much as I would love to be a 25 second 50m backstroker, I want to earn a second swim at a Grand Prix infinitely more.  On that same topic, I found myself pacing my 50 meter races.  Forgive me for this bold statement, but I feel as though I have the speed to be a 25.0 second backstroker.  That's a huge stretch considering that in the real world I am a 26.64 second backstroker.  Yet I fall apart at the 35 meter mark.  I can't maintain my speed for even a 50 meter race.  There is something drastically wrong with that situation.