2014 FINA World Championships - 50 Back LCM

We'll I'm certainly not proud of this one!

I finished up the 100 Back on Friday in 5th place, it was a respectable ranking.  I wanted to feel better about my 50 Back and perhaps even rank higher.  Therefore I put in a maximum preparation effort leading up to the race.  I ate well, I relaxed, I stretched, I checked my start time, I got to bed early, woke up, shaved down (including my face!), and took my daily subway ride over to the pool.  I arrived on schedule and warmed up a 500m.  I dried off and stretched as I waited to hear the occasional announcment of the heats being marshalled.  I waited, and waited.  After a few minutes, I walked over to the tent to find.... nothing.  There were no heats being marshalled.  I was confused, especially since there was an event even after mine.  I walked over to the information table and inquired.  I asked "Shouldn't the 50 back be in the water?" The woman looked just as confused, she replied "it's already over, it ran ahead of schedule".  I was blown away.  There wasn't a single event (that I saw) all week that ran ahead of schedule.  There was a 1.5 hour delay on relays in fact.  I was disapointed and mad at myself.   I stayed a whole extra day and was looking forward to this race the most out of all the events, and yet I dropped the ball.  I sat down on the deck to reflect on my error for a few minutes.  I've never made a mistake like this before.  I let myself be angry for a few minutes, it was ok to feel this way.  I considered requesting a time trial, all I really wanted was a time.  Yet, the pool was calm, the timers and officals were taking a break, it seemed pointless and rude to ask.  I'm certainly not the only swimmer out of 6,000 who would have liked a time trial.  I opted to not even ask.  I headed for the locker room to shower.  As I stood there in the cold shower (a hot one would have been great), I reflected on all the important races I was on time for.  Although this is a big meet, I was not trained and tapered for this meet.  I can forgive myself for this error.  I could have missed the 2008 Olympic Trials 100 backstroke, or the 2012 Masters Long Course Nationals 50 Back.  Missing either of those would have devistated me.  Today was certainly an error, but a forgiveable one.  The upside is that I am 100% rested for my 10 hour drive home!

I would later learn that 12 out of 24 swimmers missed the event, a 58% increase over other events.  It helps a bit to know I'm not alone in my miscalculation.

I'm done at the meet, thank you Montreal!