Race Pace Saturday

Today we did race pace work.  A set we cycled through 4 times consisted of a 50, a 35 and two 25's, all with between 20 and 60 seconds rest.  It was challenging yet fun.  The sprints are short enough that it doesn't hurt for very long.  The first two rounds I swam freestyle and did quite well.  I held my own against the other swimmers.  I won about half the heats and really started feeling good about my abilities.  At one point was singled out and praised by the coach for what he saw as a strong effort to win the heats.  I felt like this was the first day that I could really show the other swimmers that I was approaching their ability level.  Up until now, I've been struggling to keep up however still making the intervals.  Today I raced, and it showed.  I'm noticing I'm nowhere near as good of an underwater kicker as I need to be.  At least two other sprinters pull a BODY LENGTH on me off the start, and I'm not losing to them in reaction speed or dive distance.  They just power away from me once we hit the water.

The last two rounds of the set were not as good as the first.  The coach had me switch to backstroke.  This set was with fins on.  We started in the water, with the fins sticking in the gutter.  I just couldn't seem to swim fast with the fins on.  I just wasn't being very efficient, I was only in the middle of the pack regarding times.  The last set was butterfly with paddles.  I chose not to swim with paddles since I typically lose them during butterfly.  It was a choice that probably cost me the last few races.  Since we don't dive in with paddles, we started on the wall.  We got a "ready.... go" from the coach.  When I heard the "go" I started.  I was the last one off the wall by at least a second.  Through the set I was corrected that I should go under when I hear "ready".  For this, and other reasons, I finished last on all 4 of the butterfly races though I had a few variables against me.  The other guys were going 25 meters underwater, they were wearing paddles and also starting on time.  Regardless, these guys were beating me underwater and perhaps nowhere else in the pool.  As soon as they came up, they were not pulling away from me, unfortunately, by the time they came up, they had a body length or more lead on me.

Overall, I was very pleased with my performances today.  I've made some changes to my freestyle and backstroke that I'm excited to try in a race.

I also learned a lesson through somebody else's mistake today.  A team rule (not university backed) is that if you show up late to practice on Saturday, you have to swim a 200 Long Course Butterfly at the end of the workout.  Let me tell ya, I've never seen a more painful 200 Fly in my life.  This guy was barely moving by the 125m mark.  I'm confident he will show up on time next week!