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February 10, 2008
Welcome to the Hurt Box
I'm all giddy right now. First swim meet under the belt and I have to say - I could really get into those! I had a blast. (especially after I was done and not so incredibly nervous anymore! :)
So let's start from the beginning. I wanted to get to the meet in time to warmup in the pool before the first race started (this meet only had the 1650 but there were about 10 heats of it) so O and I got down to the pool around 7:30 (warmups started at 7:45) and of course were the first ones there. I'm like Marit and Jennifer (and probably most other people) in that I HATE being late.
We checked things out and then as people started showing up and getting in the water I got in for an easy 500 and some pickups. I wasn't swimming until the 4th heat (about 2 hours later). But O and I were VERY busy trying to figure things out. Number one on the list was the lap counters. Thank God I wasn't the one having to figure that thing out! Of course O was like a pro and figured it out right away but it was way confusing for me. After watching the first heat though we started to devise a plan. I wanted to know some kind of splits for the 500, 1000 and 1500 so O told me when he would be yelling them and all that. This swimming stuff is tricky. Runners can just figure it out themselves by looking at their watch. :)
Anyway, speaking of the first heat, what an awesome thing to watch! I'm really glad we got there early enough to watch it. I've just never really even WATCHED people swim fast. So to watch those guys and gals swimming around 17 minutes - I was really impressed. They all looked very smooth. Great learning.
So we watched a few more heats and then I started to get really nervous. Soon it would be my turn! I got into the diving well pool for some more warmup and more pickups and then before I knew it I was lining up for my first swim race. Oh boy - here we go!
I chickened out with diving off the blocks so I started in the water. Sort of embarrassing because everyone else in my heat went off the blocks. Oh well. O has also informed me that I was the only one in my heat not doing flip turns. Needless to say, I have a lot to learn yet!
Anyway, we get started and I feel good. But I want to make sure I don't go bonkers. I seeded myself with a 23:30 but was thinking I could probably swim faster. Maybe even break 23 minutes?
I get through 500 and hear O screaming that I'm "on pace". Not really too sure what that means because we had discussed several different paces and I wasn't sure which one he meant I was on. Regardless, the first 500 was somewhat comfortable so now it was time to ratchet up the pace some.
Now I'm through 1000 and I hear O yell 13:45. Okay - definitely faster than 1:25/100 yd pace because that would be 14:10. Still feeling pretty good so it's time to ratchet it up some more.
I get to around 1200 and now I'm starting to feel the effects of swimming hard for the past 16 minutes. I can feel the stroke getting a little ugly and I know, all of a sudden, that I'm about to enter the serious HURT BOX for the last 450 yds.
And a hurt box is was. I alternated between telling myself to relax so that my stroke would even out a little and GO GO GO so that I could just be done!! 150 to go and O is yelling like crazy. I want to cry. My shoulders want no more of it. I'm breathing every 2 strokes now.
50 to go and I'm sprinting as hard as I could. Oh boy - this is going to be over soon!! And I hit the wall and I look up on the big board and I see 22:44. Sweet!!
Of course now was the real hard part - getting out of the pool! I was just hanging on the wall for a bit until I realized that I needed to get out so they could get started on the next heat. I grabbed onto the blocks to try to pull myself out. Oh dear Lord - NOW we were entering the REAL hurt box! I was close to asking someone to help me out but I finally hurled my body onto the deck. That might have been harder than the last 50! :)
I went back to the other pool to do some easy cooldown and mull over my results. Faster than I thought and certainly faster than my seeded 23:30. After quite a bit of calculations (I am NOT good with math after I just swam hard) I figured it to be somewhere between 1:22 and 1:23 pace (my computer now tells me it was 1:22.7 pace). Good but I think I can do better.
This was a great starting point. And swimming hard in the pool in a race certainly helped me to realize that I CAN swim harder in open water. I just need to do it. Of course that's easier said than done. But next time I want to swim faster - under 22 minutes. 1:20 pace isn't that out of reach for me.
A glance at my splits revealed that I was incredibly consistent even though I felt like I was swimming harder for each 500. I won't bore you with all my 50 splits but my 500s were 6:50, 13:46 (6:56) and 20:42 (6:56). After the race I asked O if I looked like I was sprinting the last 150 and he was like "um, yeah...maybe?...sure...it looked like you were going harder" when I know he was thinking "um NO - you looked like you were going the same pace!" :) I was really trying though!
Overall it was SOOO fun. And a great learning expereince. And a great starting point. I've set a goal for each race that I have this year and I'm off to a good start! :)
And now, a list of our rookie moves (we are so not accustomed to the swim scene):
1) I only brought one towel. That one towel was soaking wet about 30 minutes into the morning. For the rest of the morning I still only had one SOAKING WET towel. Next time - 2 (or maybe 3) towels!
2) O wore jeans and didn't bring any change of clothes. I don't do flip turns so he didn't get AS wet as the lap counters whose swimmers did flip but still, he was wet. With no change of clothes. And there is about a negative 10 windchill going on outside so needless to say, he was a little chilly on the walk to the car. :)
3) Also of note was the fact that O wore jeans at all. Because it was about 10,000 degrees in the pool area and he should have been in shorts and a sleeveless shirt! :)
4) Not diving into the pool was really rookie. I promise I'll at least dive off the deck next time! :)
So there it is! O and I celebrated afterwards with burritos (my favorite - YUM!) at Qdoba and now I'm back at home trying to let said burrito digest before I do my ride. Unfortunately I'm a triathlete and I still have 2:30 on the bike today. :) And as mentioned previously there are gale force winds and blowing snow out there right now so it will be a 2:30 trainer ride.
But that's okay because it will give me some more time to think about my swimming and to watch some more Grey's Anatomy.
Of course I would be really remiss if I didn't thank all the people who encourage me on my blog to challenge myself with swimming and who inspire me with their own swimming. I don't think I would have done this meet had it not been for you guys and I'll have to say - it was worth it 100% and more. Thanks guys! And HUGE thanks to my (wet) lap counter O! I could hear his voice yelling each time I came through!!
Time to pedal!
Posted by beth at February 10, 2008 1:14 PM
Comments
A great big congrats! It must feel great to exceed your goal AND take on an entirely new (and scary) challenge! And if you dive off the blocks wont that immediately take off a second or so!
Posted by: Dawn at February 10, 2008 2:33 PM
Congratulations! It's great to see you making progress, pushing yourself, and gaining more confidence. I was going to be really impressed that O could yell loud enough for you to hear, but then I realized that it helps a lot that you don't do flip turns. When I have done any sort of counting or timing for P, I have a hard time getting his attention at all. I usually have to throw a kickboard at him or something.
Great job! It's so nice to see your hard work paying off.
Posted by: Alison at February 10, 2008 3:00 PM
YEAHHHAW Beth!
Nice job! I knew you'd rock it. It hurts, doesn't it? But, you faced your fears and did great! SUPER great!! Don't worry...the flip turns will come - and diving off the blocks, that will be simple after you practice it! Congrats, Beth!!! :))
Posted by: Jennifer Harrison at February 10, 2008 3:26 PM
WAY TO GO, BETH!!! I know that feeling of the last 150 when you are trying so hard...but only you seem to notice! Great splits. Consistency and pacing are so key in long distance and open water swimming and you've got that all worked out.
(You can tell O that no matter how many times I remind Andrew to bring a t-shirt and shorts to a meet to count for me, he always forgets and shows up in his business suit. He is the guy standing on the bulkhead in his undershirt with his suit pants rolled up to his knees, counter in one hand, belt-less pants held up with the other hand, and glasses covered with flip turn water... They must really love us, huh?!)
Good luck with the bike ride and way to go today!
-Danielle
Posted by: Danielle at February 10, 2008 3:43 PM
Congratulations, Beth! You did awesome!!
Posted by: Bri Gaal at February 10, 2008 4:52 PM
Oh I have chicken skin! My heart is pounding... You did great! A 22 something, INCREDIBLE! Hey, no shame in going off the blocks- truthfully no big deal! I am still shocked a runner, a pure and true runner and you still pull of a 22! What a good start to the season. I would be scared to see your time if you did dive and when you nail your flip turns... you are only going to get better!
Posted by: Bree at February 10, 2008 5:34 PM
:) Congratulations Beth!! I am so proud of you!! For reals!!
Posted by: Audrey at February 10, 2008 6:03 PM
That's pretty darn good, kid; your 1000y split is only 20s off my PR from last March.
A block start will earn you a few seconds, yeah, but not such a big deal in a 1650. Flip turns, on the other hand, are going to get you a second or two *every* *lap* over what you're on now. (And yeah, you were probably the fastest runner in the pool.)
My brother and I have a system to indicate pace with the lap counters (we usually count for each other) where we swing the counter side to side if the swimmer is ahead of pace (i.e. "slow down") and pump it up and down if they're behind (i.e. "pick it up.") He also usually tells me something like, "Don't even put it in the water until 300 or 400 yards in, because until then I won't care." With my brother, I usually spend the first part of the race swinging and the second part pumping; he still hasn't learned to calm down early in the race.
Posted by: pjm at February 10, 2008 7:06 PM
Hooray! You did GREAT!!!!!! You have inspired ME to go to a swim meet! We can be the two "runners" swimming the 1650. You ROCK!
And once you get those flip turns down... holy cow - you will fly!
Posted by: marit c-l at February 10, 2008 8:19 PM
Great job! I was thinking about you all weekend and could not wait for your post on the swim meet!
Keep up the great work and the fun posts!
Posted by: Andrea at February 10, 2008 8:59 PM
Beth - congratulations on conquering a new racing scene. And you've discovered one where hitting the wall at the end of the race is a GOOD thing!
Posted by: margaret at February 12, 2008 5:03 PM