2012 USMS State Meet - Day 1 expectations met!

I'm proud to say that I only had 1/2 a day of rest for this meet and definitely met my goals for day 1!  Since a Long Course Meters meet at Purdue is next weekend, I didn't want to put too much effort/rest into this meet.  My focus remains U.S. Olympic Trials and therefore long course meets.  I skipped Saturday training to swim at the 2012 USMS Michigan State Meet.  I just love masters meets.  The people are really friendly and it's just a really warm environment where everybody is supported.  I make new friends each time I swim a meet!

Day 1 went really well.  I purposefully didn't prepare much for this meet.  I lifted on Friday morning (not very hard) along with some purple swimming.  Thursday was no walk in the park either with two back to back kick sets.  I arrived at the meet Saturday morning a little sore from training and tired from a 1.5 hour drive.  My relatively ambitious meet outlook held strong though.  I wanted a 45 second 100y freestyle, a lifetime best in the 50y Fly and a 22 second 50y back.  I had a chance to swim the 50 free in a relay which is a good thing since I skipped the individual event.  I wanted to be a 20.x in that event.  EVERYTHING went to plan.  I met all of my goals for the day:

100 Free SCY - 45.79
50 Fly SCY - 22.25 (Lifetime best!)
50 Free SCY - 20.92
50 Back SCY - 22.64
50 Fly SCY (Relay) - Not sure, probably a 22.x 

I could definitely feel how tired I was in even the short races.  I just wasn't as sharp as I could have been if I wasn't worn out.  I fell apart a little in my last 25 yards of my 100 free, I was breathing way too much.  I actually had quite a sub par 50 Fly.  My underwaters weren't great and my turn was very slow.  Yet with those errors I was still the fastest I've ever been in my life at a 22.25!  I find the key is not breathing at all.  If I can pull that off, it's a great 50 fly.  My 50 free was pretty good, definitely the fastest I've ever been without some rest or a taper.  My time of 20.6x a few months ago at EMU is still my fastest but my time of 20.92 today is the second fastest time of my life!  I really think it's just kicking.  My legs have improved a little lately and I think that makes all the difference.  I used to be a consistent 21.5 or 21.low at these types of meets and now I'm a consistent 20.x or at worst a 21.flat.  For some reason I find a 20.x in the 50 free to be very satisfying.  The "splash and dash" has been the event I've done at almost every meet of my life, even moreso than backstroke.  I was always mediocre in it through high school and college but I'm definitely improving.  As a consistent 20.x I'm definitely the fastest freestyler I've ever been.  The 50 back went pretty well.  I finished the race and saw a "22.90" which would have been respectable in itself, among the fastest of my life.  Yet when I checked the results later I saw a "22.64", a time significantly faster than the time on the board.  I respectfully inquired upon the timing staff to look into the issue.  My concern being that I didn't want a time faster than (or different at all) than I earned.  The staff was very helpful.  I got a quick tutorial on how the system might have averaged a "plunger (hand) time" with the touchpad in a situation of significant discrepency.  They also showed me the hand times of "22.54 and 22.89".  Honestly I'm not sure which time I deserve.  In the end it doesn't matter much, neither the board time or the official time is a record.  Although the official time of 22.64 ties my EMU masters meet time from a few months ago, a very good sign!  The fact that I can swim the same time with less rest is a positive indicator of progress. At the end of the day I was put into a relay swimming butterfly.  I knew some of the people on the STRAY team but wasn't sure who was in my relay. I showed up to the correct heat but the wrong lane.  As the race was beginning I definitely looked like an idiot.  I shuffled over one lane and met the correct relay team, just in time to get up on the blocks.  I didn't get to see the split but with a relay start and some good underwaters I'm confident it was a 22 second swim.  Relays are always a blast.  Your individual performance all of a sudden legitimately earns support and cheering right behind your lane.  I'll always sign up for any relay, they're far more exciting than an individual race!

Day 2 will be a little tougher than this morning with the 100 Fly, 50 Back (as part of a relay), 100 Back and 100 IM.  I might get put in another 200 Free relay as well.  I should mention that I really appreciated my free relay today letting me swim first to get a flat start time, that was very nice!  Some goals for tomorrow:

100 Fly SCY: 50.5 (A 49 second swim is a bit aggressive, I'll be happy with a 50.x)
50 Back SCY: 22.5 (I want an even better swim!)
100 Back SCY: 49.5 (I want to break my own pool record!) 
100 IM SCY: 51.x (I think with some improved fly and back combined with a new breaststroke and solid free, I can drop a second off my 52.64)
50 Free SCY: whatever (If I have a chance to lead off again, another 20.x would be great but I'll be pretty run down)

Looking forward to another great day!