2011 Canada Cup Recap

My trip to Montreal was filled with smiles, new experiences, family and a few good swims.  I had some high hopes for my abilities after just 7 weeks with Club Wolverine.  I chose to shave and rest a little prior to the meet in hopes I would at worst earn a National cut and at best, an Olympic Trial cut in at least one event.  I knew they were steep expectations with so little training. 

100m Freestyle LCM:
I expected a lifetime best in this event through conditioning alone, I achieved that goal.  I dropped 1 full second in the event from a 54.8x to a 53.8x.  It was a 100% effort but I still have a lot of work to do on my stroke.

100m Backstroke LCM:
My benchmark was a 1:01.40 in the 100 Backstroke LCM exactly 3 months ago.  I would have to drop 3.11 seconds to get a National Cut and 3.81 seconds to achieve an Olympic Trial Cut.  I had a good race dispite some unfortunate pool variables and dropped 3.80 seconds to a 57.60.  I missed the Olympic Trial cut by 0.01 seconds.  I've never missed a goal or a win by so little before.  I feel the defeat and frustration of missing by so little, but also the strength I feel by dropping that much time in only 7 weeks of hard work.  I'm as motivated as ever to achieve my goal of an Olympic Trial cut.

50m Butterfly LCM:
I expected a lifetime best in this event and I did just that.  I dropped 0.36 seconds off my lifetime best of 25.40 swum two years ago to touch the wall in 25.04 in prelims and 25.09 in finals.  Both times were swum less than 15 mintues after my 100 Backstroke.  I really wanted to get a rested 50 Fly time but I will have to try at a masters meet sometime.

50m Freestyle LCM:
I'm still kind of at a loss on what happened to both my prelims and finals of this event.  During my 100 freestyle, I swam the first 50 in a 24.61 at a relatively smooth/easy pace and my split is representative of when my feet hit the wall.  I have to believe a flipturn is worth 0.30 seconds at minimum.  Other poorly executed aspects of the race lead me to believe that a 23 second swim was in the bag.  I'm not sure if the meet just wore me down or what the issue could have been.  I swam a 24.16 and a 24.4x on the last day of the meet, and I was pushing it hard.

50m Backstroke LCM:
Before seeing the pool, I expected a lifetime best in this event which would have been a 26.64 or faster.  After arriving and seeing the ceiling and the 1990 slippery Colorado pads, I lowered my expectations.  I was going to be happy with any 26 second swim.  Prelims was a 26.99 so legally I have to state that I'm happy.  However, I know I could have swum much faster with good pads and some straight lines on the ceiling.  Finals was an embarrassment, I hit the lane line hard and did my best to recover.  I still got 5th place at 27.33 but I could have placed much better with some straight swimming.  I truly believe I could have gone a LOW 26 second 50 back, if not faster.