Santa Clara Action

Today was another great day at the Santa Clara Invite! I competed in the 50 freestyle at the end of the morning preliminary session. I went a lifetime best time of 24.20 down from my best of 24.24. This small time drop was important to me because I'm very tired and the majority of the 50 freestylers went slower times than they were seeded at. I was seeded at 73rd and finished 59th out of 112 swimmers in the event. Although nothing to brag about placing wise, I'm proud that I lowered my time and got a lifetime best while being exhausted. It took a 23.60 to return in the evening final session, the Olympic Trial cut is 23.49. This is becoming a solid trend at this meet, it takes an olympic trial cut swim to make finals.

I decided to time trial the 50 backstroke to get used to swimming with the sun in my eyes. I'm really glad I did this because I realized it's not only the sun itself that is distracting, it's the fact that the sun refracts on every water droplet in the air when you're going fast. During my race I could see nothing but bright white water droplets, and not very much else including the lane line which I bumped twice. I still finished with a decent time of 26.95 which is close to my lifetime best of 26.75. I decided to "rent" a Speedo LZR for this race to try on a "Small Long" in the full body suit which was recommended to me. It turns out it was still too large and I'll need a "Small" if I choose to purchase one. Funny... at 6'3" I've never considered myself a "small" person. This meet was a good testing grounds for a few different reasons. It makes me glad I don't do outdoor meets. That black suit and black cap made overheat on the pool deck. The California sun certainly didn't help the situation.

I met a nice masters swimmer at the meet Paul Carter, he's 50 years old and still manages to haul in the 100 Fly. He wasn't very happy with his time of 59.58 but from the sounds of it, he was pretty tired as well. I really enjoyed discussing self training and methods of improving speed. He's trained under a few olympic coaches through the years and had plenty of helpful information!

I'm laying low this evening, I may go watch some of the finals tonight, but I'm in no rush. I want to rest up for the 100 backstroke tomorrow. I have to especially thank "Quality Auto Glass and Tinting" down the street from my hotel for the donation of some extra "50% tint"! I'm using auto glass tint to darken my goggles for the 100 Back tomorrow! Project time! Thanks for reading.