Second fastest 50 meter backstroke in practice

The post grads took the time to switch the pool to Long Course Meters after our warm up.  Next up was a race pace set, commonly called "purple" pace.  My first round was a bit ugly with a 50 meter dive backstroke swim of 28.9.  I knew I could crank it up a bit more.  Coach Sam got right in my face afterward and told me, I had a 27 second swim in me today.  He was right because I believed it too.

My second round was much better with a relatively (for me) blazing time of 27.8 and it was darn smooth.  I was connected with a great stroke.  My rates were 1.15 to 1.20, it was ideal.

My third round was even better than the second.  We were supposed to put on fins and paddles.  I chose to swim without both, I had more to give before resorting to power adders.  I had a nearly perfect swim of 27.4 seconds.  I pushed it hard and it paid off.  Considering that after the first portion of each of the rounds (a 35m swim and another 35m swim) I think a mid 27 second swim in practice was a best case scenario.  Even with rest, I've never swum a 27.4 in practice.

To put it in perspective, my fastest first 50m of a 100 meter race was a 27.1.  I'm making progress.  The only faster swim in practice was on June 18th, 2011 when I swam a 27.0 but that was without a swim before it, meaning it was like a race, unlike today which was after 75 meters of hard swimming before it.