Progress

Saturdays are "Race Pace" days.  For all practical purposes, we are presented with sets that mimic the pressure and physical strain of an actual meet.  Heats are stacked so we have competition in our given stroke and we're provided time to cool down after each swim.  We all fear these days but they consistently turn out to be good stories.  Today was a 100 pace day.  Although there are days I'm assigned Freestyle, today was Backstroke for me.

The set was comprised of 4 rounds of a short burst swim of 25-50 meters to warm yourself up to swim fast, then a few 50's all out.  The final round culminated with a fast 100 with fins and paddles.  The coach made it clear that he expected world records to be broken with these power adders at our disposal.  For my 100 backstroke, the world record is a 51.94 by the recently retired Aaron Piersol in 2009.  Thats a steep goal for me, even with fins and paddles.

The heat I was in was filled with 3 other skilled backstrokers, one of them was about my skill level, the other two held best times significantly faster than mine.  Through the first round I was coming in 3rd or 4th each time.  The times I did beat one of them, it wasn't by much.  Although I expected the results, I was feeling defeated.  I noticed myself looking over at the other swimmers during the race, not a good thing.  Each time I listened for the times, each time somebody had been a 28.5 or so, then a few 29's and I was almost always a 30.0. The second round was much the same, getting touched out each time but one of the other backstrokers had changed to a different stroke and therefore a different heat so we were down to 3 guys.  We moved onto the 3rd round and lost one other backstroker as he chose to switch to butterfly.  It was down to two backstrokers, myself and one of the fastest backstrokers on the team.  Admittedly, I let his times and ability get into my head and it was affecting my swimming.  It was then that coach Mike Bottom came over to my lane, right after I had gotten beat on the first swim of the 3rd round.  He pointed right at me and practically yelled "Kevin, you are better than you see yourself".  I didn't really know what to say, I was out of breath and a little disoriented.  He followed with "Don't let him beat you" as he pointed to the other swimmer who had started warming down.  He said a few other things that I can't recall but his overall message was that I was not elevating myself the way I needed to be.  The message was received.

We had two swims left, a 50m swim from a dive and a 100m swim from a push with fins and paddles.

I had only about a minute to process what the coach had told me but I was ready to give it another shot.  I was swimming against a backstroker I had never beat in a single swim, ever.  All things being equal, within the last year, he swam 4 seconds faster than me in the 100 backstroke, yet Mike Bottom says I can beat this guy.

I got to the other end of the pool and got ready to race.  I placed my feet on the gutter and took a deep breath.  The coach yelled "take your marks.... go", we both did backstroke starts in unison.  During the underwater kicking I caught a glimpse of the other swimmer in my peripheral vision we were dead even.  I knew I had a shot.  We raced to the other side but I refrained from looking over again during the race.  I finally saw the flags and took my big kick to the wall.  I heard the other swimmers time first... a 28.4.  Mine came next... a 27.8, the fastest time of the day for backstrokers!

Mike Bottom came right over, pointed at me and said "That's what I was talking about, elevate yourself!"

As we made our way down to the other end of the pool to warm down I had a smile on my face realizing what I had just accomplished.  I spent the next few minutes swimming and thinking about my final race coming up.  I was concerned that I see myself as a 50 backstroker but barely a 100 backstroker.  I've never had the endurance to get through an entire 100 backstroke all out.  The other variables were the fins and paddles, I lack the strength to utilize the additional surface area they add.  After I cooled down, I asked the coach if I could swim the 100 without equipment.  He shook his head "no" and replied, "the set was written that way for a reason, you need to wear fins and paddles.".  In hindsight, I was asking for two reasons, first because the equipment barely makes me faster, second because I knew I didn't have much of a chance against this other swimmer.  Regardless, I put on the equipment and jumped in the water to do a push start.

I watched the other swimmer to ensure we started at the same time.  We pushed off and I surfaced at 15 meters, he was slightly ahead of me and pushed it past 15 meters (we were told it was ok to do so).  I spun my arms, using my new backstroke techniques I had learned in the last few weeks to anchor my arms.  I saw the yellow rope pass by, the 25 meter mark, then the flags at the other end, the 45 meter mark.  I flipped and looked over to see myself about a half a second ahead of the other swimmer but I knew his second 50 would be where he shined.  I began my kicks underwater and watched him pass me up.  I had nothing to lose at that point, he was ahead and we had 30 meters left to swim.  I put everything I had into it, I was just whipping my arms over and over with maximum effort, careful not to let my stroke fall apart, I saw the flags and dove down into my finish to touch the wall in a 53.0, the other swimmer touched in a 53.6.

I said "good job" to the other swimmer, hopefully he knew that also meant "good job" on all the other 8 races he beat me in earlier in the set.  I walked away with a new found confidence in my abilities.  After the workout I passed Coach Mike Bottom again and had a brief exchange with him regarding training.  He said "good job today" as he sized me up from head to toe.  He followed with "you've got some potential here but you've got to change how you see yourself.  Go home and read some Superman Comics."  I laughed but he didn't.  He was serious.  He followed with "but we need to get some muscle on you and that takes time, you've gotta look into supplements.  Are you taking anything now?", I replied "no".  Supplements have always scared me a little because once in a great while, these simple suppliments turn up positive on drug tests.  That's just my worst fear, that somehow I get fast, then fail a drug test because I'm taking a stupid pill.  I know all good athletes take supplements, I'll be doing some research.

Overall, a great morning.  I got beat quite a few times, got a pep talk from one of the great minds in swimming, revved it up and swam faster in practice than ever before.