2021 North Shore Master Swim Meet

It's been a while since I've competed in a swim meet, so when the opportunity came, I was sure to put my name down. So on October 16th, I signed up for the North Shore Masters Sprint Meet.

Each participant could choose 3 individual events to compete in as well as a few team relays. I opted for the 50m Freestyle, 100m Freestyle, and the 200m Freestyle. 

After a meeting with other swimmers from the Coast Swim Team (under Coach Stewart), I was put on 2 relays; The 200m Freestyle and the 200m Team Medley (swimming backstroke). 

We had an amazing turn out from our team and quickly claimed our spot on in the stands. The master list of heat starts was passed around frequently due to the high turn around between heats. The longest heats were 200m so time between heats was sparse. 

200 Meter Individual Freestyle

Soon it as time for my first event, the 200m Individual Freestyle. As we lined up at the blocks I cheered for my teammates who were in the heat before me. 

The officials noticed that everyone from Coast wore the same kit and were impressed with our numbers, not just in total, but also by how many of us there were in each heat/event.

I opted for an 'in water start' and was sure to get the specifics from the officials on how to proceed. I have never practiced starting off the blocks and did not want to add anything new to throw me off.

The start was sounded and we were off. I could see the advantage of started off the blocks in my periphery but knew I was a fast swimmer and could catch them. 

I found a good rhythm and stuck with it, slowly building speed as I went. 

150 meters in I could feel my heartrate start to climb. I switched to a 2-beat kick for the last 50 meters to keep my speed up but my heartrate down. 

I finished 3rd or 4th in my heat. After a round of fist bumps from my teammates, I waited in the water for the rest of my heat to finish, then climbed out.

One event done, time to stay warm and cheer on my teammates before my next event.

My official time was 3:25.79. This is possibly my personal best for a 200m swim AND it was enough to win my first place in my age group. I have never won my age group in anything before (and I don't dare look up how many were in my age group). 

100 Meter Individual Freestyle

Next up was the 100 meter freestyle. Once again I opted for an in water start. I put in a great effort and felt I could turn on the gas more knowing I only had 100 metes to swim. 

My heartrate went up after the first 50, but I knew I could push through!

I caught a glimpse at the other lanes when breathing and thought to myself, "Am I winning this heat?"

I waited for another breath to confirm, "I am winning this heat!"

This pushed me even harder and as I plowed into the wall for my finish I could just see the next swimmer touch after me. 

I felt fantastic, but did not want to show it. I did not want to boast or make others who worked just as hard or harder feel bad. I gave the second place heat finisher a thumbs up.

I gave the swimmers to my right and left fist mumps, then we all climbed out of the pool.

I was still riding the high of winning my heat, but again did not want to show it. The walk back to the stands went behind a water slide. Once concealed from view by the water slide, I beat my chest 3 times with my right arm. Them emerged to the cheering of my team.

My official time was 1:31.41. Only about 4 seconds off my personal best for a 100m swim. But it was enough to win my second place in my age group (once again I don't dare look up how many were in my age group). 

4 x 50 Meter Freestyle Relay 

For the 200m relay, I was the third swimmer in our group and the only one opting (once again) for an in water start. I had worked out the transition with the second position swimmer so there would be no confusion (and more importantly no collisions). 

I pushed off the wall as soon as I saw our second's hands touch. I pushed hard on this. My breathing rate was half of what I usually do and my kick rate was double. Despite the hard effort, I did manage to keep my form and technique. I did not want that to suffer. 

Not mush to say about a 50m sprint. Our team finished with a total time of 2:22.93 and my personal 50m time was 42.30. This gave us third place in our relay division. 

50 Meter Individual Freestyle

Not much to say on the penultimate event. I did however step outside my comfort zone and decided to start of the blocks this time!  I made sure my goggles were on super tight. There was a little jostle as I entered the water, but they stayed on!

I did this 50 meters pretty much the same as the 50 meters in the relay, but the start of the blocks got me an extra few seconds.

My official time was 0:40.00 and it was enough to win my third place in my age group (once again I don't dare look up how many were in my age group). 

4 × 50m Team Medley (Mixed)

Next was the event I was looking forward to, the 4 × 50m Team Medley. I was assigned the backstroke and had spent an hour in the pool the night before practicing all the things I needed to practice to not get disqualified. 

Backstroke in an in water start regardless so nothing new here. Plus I had practiced my starts and turns the night before. 

I got a good push off the wall and felt very stable for the first 25 meters. I had counted how many strokes it was from the flags to the wall in my training session the night before, so there was little danger of running into the wall.

I was at the flags much sooner than I thought, I counted my strokes and executed the turn. I did get some water up my nose but knew I had to push through. Next time I may wear a nose plug.

I made it top the wall and saw the next teammate leap over me into the pool. 

Our team finished with a total time of 3:20.18 and my personal 50m backstroke time was 01:04.13. This gave us third place in our relay division. 

I enjoyed swimming a new stroke in competition and may start to venture out of my freestyle comfort zone on the next meet. 

You can read the Coast Swim Team's official blog entry of this event here.

2021 North Shore Triathlon

The end of 2021 has become a whirlwind of racing and life in general. That being said, these next few race reports may be lacking the level of detail you have come to expect from me.

On October 11, 2021 I race the North Shore Triathlon (Sprint).

I got up super early to make the drive to North Vancouver. After finding parking and grabbing all my gear, I made my way to transition.

I picked a spot near what looked like bike in/out. After carefully setting up my transition area, I took a walk around the pool building to try and scope out what transition would be like. 

I found the finish line around the back and then found the route from the pool to transition. It was on a trail up a hill. As soon as my mind thought, "That will kill our feet!" I saw volunteers laying a carpet down the hill. Whew!

After a last minute trip to the washroom, all the athletes waited in the parking lot for their starts to be called. There was some confusion as the race announcer was just saying "Ok, if you are in the fast group, head inside!" Well, what was the fast group? What are the times? Everyone in the parking lot looked to have the same questions. I walked up to the race announcer and asked if he could call out times too. After that, the call outs went smoother. 

I decided to seed myself in the front of the 10:00-10:30 minute group. The swim was only 444 meters (weird pool size I know). My group was called, and we headed inside. We took off our warm layer of clothes, put it in our drop off bag, and lined up. We all self-seeded based on our times. 

They let us out of our holding area 8 at a time. We went back outside and in through another door right into the pool area. We lined up against a wall and waited for out start. 

The Swim

After dropping our masks into the trash, we would wait for the official, drop in, and go. 

The official warned me that the water was shallow. I dropped in not realizing it was only 2 feet deep. This threw me off and I did not get a good push off the wall. 

Another wrench in the works was that the shallow side was the same side where you swam under the ropes to enter the next lane. Usually (like at UBC) I would push off the wall and go under the ropes on the push off. But the water was so shallow, I could never get the timing right. 

As I continued on the swim, I ended up passing several people. I was careful to only pass at the wall, or if no one was coming the other way. I even had to dodge head on collisions from a few swimmers going the wrong way. 

I should have have seeded myself in the wave ahead of me. And based on the number of people I was passing, some of them should have seeded differently too. But this is how it goes with a pool swim. I did my best not to get frustrated and just kept swimming. 

At the last length, I was going to pass the swimmer in front of me but then changed my mind. The effort put forth in a surge for the last 30 meters would not be worth it. I knew I'd have to truck up a hill in the October cold once out of the pool. So I just drafted until the end of the swim. 

I climbed up the steps and made my way out of the pool area and outside. It was cold. I went up the hill, found my bike and took my time drying off. 

I had packed a pair of thermal leggings and a thermal long-sleeved, but opted for just arm warmers instead. The main reason being I just didn't want to deal with putting all that on. And if I got hot, they are not easily removed. 

I took my time getting ready for the bike and it was soon time to go. 

The Bike

The start of the bike was a gradual uphill to the main road. The bike was feeling sluggish and I could not tell if it was me, the hill, or a flat tire. I jumped off the bike and checked. Nope, tire was good, let's get it! 

After a right turn onto the main road I enjoyed a slight downhill. This was short lived however as a climb started soon after. I could see by my power numbers that I was pushing too hard, too soon. I reigned it in and continued on.

The first lap of the 4 lap course was all about easing in and reconnaissance. During the second lap I continued to take it easy on the climbs, but laid the power down on the descents. Lap 3 and 4 got even faster respectively. I spent more and more time on the aero bars as the race went on. 

Soon, I was turning left to head back to transition and start the run.

The Run

The run started out on a nice trail through a wooded area. I was able to hold an ok pace until the trail started going uphill toward the road. I walked up the hill, but started to run again once I hit the road. 

I ran on the main road (the same as the bike) for a bit until the course took me into a local neighborhood. Then it was back on the main road for an out-and-back.

I was running up and down the same hills I had previously cycled on and did my best to hold pace going up. By the end, I was walking up the hills and running down them.

When I reached the top of the last hill, I upped my pace, knowing that I was almost done.

I ran past transition and back into to wooded area at the start of the run. I picked up even more speed now as I could hear the sounds of the finish line. Maybe a little too much speed as I tripped and almost bailed on a tree root. Luckily I was able to steady myself and continue on to the finish. 

This was yet another race I normally do not get to do because of work. Yet another reason I am glad I switched companies. For the amount of training I was able (or not able) to do, I feel good about my performance and hope do this again in the future. 

Swim:   00:09:48 (0.44k) 

Bike:     00:48:14 (17.6k)

Run:     00:42:54 (5k)

Total:    01:40:56