Fastest 50m Kick to date

My morning started out a bit rough.  I worked through most of the night and by the time the alarm rang for morning practice I had only slept two hours.  I was really dragging.  I arrived at the pool and got ready to lift with the team.  I began with some leg press and leg extension exercises after a brief warmup.  As I headed over to begin my arm workout, I felt myself fall asleep while walking.  I knew I had pushed it too far.  I gathered my stuff and embarrassingly let the coach know I was too tired to safely lift heavy objects over my head.  I explained that I would get some rest and be back for evening practice.  Today I found my limit.

After a 4 hour nap (at what point is it just considered "sleeping"?), I was ready for a workout.  I swhoed up early to practice to finish up my weights workout.  To fully complete it I ended up missing some of the warmup, not a big deal.  I jumped in at the beginning of the kick set, a set I really didn't want to miss!  I felt pretty good during the kick set as usual. I especially enjoy the kicks sets because I see a lot of value in them as well as the fact that I excel in them compared to other swimmers.  Today had it all, 50's, 100's and 150's fast.  I really enjoyed it.  We ended the workout with a single fast 50 with a few minutes of rest before it.  Everyone kicked with a board, I heard a "33" and a "34" before a few "35" and so on, it was a good finish for the team after a long set.  A few of the butterfly/backstrokers were peer pressured into a 50m kick underwater long course.  Something I have never done before.  I agreed to it to challenge myself and keep a little pride.  I lined up against two of the fastest swimmes in the BIG10 along with teammate Wu Peng.  I knew how I would finish against these great swimmers and I was totally ok with it.  We climbed up on the blocks for a gun start from the coaches.  After a good start I had a chance to look sideways to see Wu Peng start cruising away from me as if I wasn't even trying.  The other swimmers were inching away as well.  I held back a little because I wasn't entirely sure I could make it 50 meters long course without a breath.  It was something I've done plenty of times with fins on but I don't think I've ever done it with no equipment.  I remember seeing the 25 meter mark thinking... "wow, I'm only half way and I'm out of air!".  I struggled that last 10 meters, it was really burning by then.  I made it the entire way and touched in a lifetime best time of 27.8!  It was about 2 seconds faster than ever before whether on top of the water or under.  A 27.8 is a pretty respectable time for a 50 meter swim regardless!  My teammates were all much faster, one was a 25.8, then a 25.6 and Wu Peng was a BLAZING 22.8.  A time I wouldn't have thought was possible, and that was after a full 6,000+ meter short interval practice.  Very impressive.

Training is going very well.  I keep dropping time!