2022 Provincials

Sunday April 22-24th was the Provincial Championship Weekend for Master's Swimming.

Due to family obligations and timing, I was only able to swim on the Sunday. Normally, you would space your 4 events out over the 3 days to get adequate rest, but if I was going to pay full price for 1 day, I wanted to get my money's worth!

I arrived nice and early to get in a good warm up. The pool at the Grandview Heights Aquatic Centre was super nice! 

My first event was the 800m free, I was questioning this event on the day. I was not sure if I was up for such a long swim to start things off. I decided to just swim nice and easy and enjoy the nice pool.

Having learned my lesson last time, I did not jump off the blocks to start. I opted for an in-water start and was off. 

I was keeping a good pace and keeping a close eye on my teammate in the next lane. She slowly started to pull ahead and I was tempted to try to keep up with her. I knew I had a long day ahead of me and did not want to gas out in my first event. 

At each turn I was able to get a glimpse at my splits on the board. I got so lost trying to figure out my splits versus my lap count, that I lost count of my laps. Luckily, the officials ring a bell to signal your last 50m. 

I heard the bell for my teammate and thought I still had 100m left. But once at the wall, I heard my bell! I had to look up to make sure it was in fact for me!

I pushed a little harder and finished 2nd my heat (just behind my teammate). 

Estimated Time: 15:30

Actual Time:15:10

Took Silver in my age Category and a NEW Personal Best! 

My next event was the 50m free. I got a great dive off the blocks and pushed hard to the wall. I had a great turn and saw I was racing yet another teammate in the next lane. 

The last 25m was a sprint finish between the 2 of us, but ultimately she beat me out by less than a second. 

Another teammate in the heat after me told me my time, but I did not believe it. 

Estimated Time: 0:40

Actual Time: 0:36

5th in my age Category and a NEW Personal Best! 

Next was an event I have never done in competition and had done only once in practice, the 100m Individual Medley.

I can swim freestyle, backstroke, and breast, but I was worried about butterfly. My strategy going in was to get a good jump off the blocks, dolphin kick as much as I could, and go as far as I could underwater. That way, it was less distance to actual have to swim. 

I climbed onto the block chanting, 'Butterfly, Back, Breast, Free' to remind myself of the correct order. 

The start sounded and I leapt off the block. I got some really good distance and hit the water. But then muscle memory took over and I could feel my hips prep for a flutter kick.

No!

I was able to override the instinct but it was too late! I was already at the surface and way too soon! I started the butterfly and saw how far I had to go. My plan was ruined. 

I muscled through what was most likely the ugliest butterfly stroke ever and made it to the wall. I touched with both hands and transitioned to backstroke.

Now it was just damage control. Keep the backstroke fast while trying to get my heartrate down. 

I touched the wall and transitioned to breaststroke. Even more damage control as I could still feel my heartrate climb. It's ok I can make up time at the end. 

I touched the wall with both hands and transitioned to front crawl, fully intending to sprint the final 50m. While it was not a sprint, I gave what I could to finish. 

No matter what, it was going to be a Personal Best. 

Estimated Time: 2:00

Actual Time: 2:01

5th in my age Category and a NEW Personal Best! 

Next was my final event, the 200m free. I was not looking forward to this event. I was already wiped from my other events. 

One of my teammates warned me that my lane was near a jet and there was a bit of a current near the wall. I would need to aim right when approaching and aim left when I pushed off the wall to compensate. 

I opted for an in-water start for my final event, just to keep thing under control. I kept a steady pace and did what I could. My lane way very close to the stands and I could hear/see the team cheering for me.

I ended up coming last in my heat, but ended up not doing too badly. 

Estimated Time: 3:20

Actual Time: 3:24

4th in my age Category 

With my day done, I stuck around to watch some of my teammates finish their day. Including Coach Stewart who crushed the 200m breaststroke.

 I also took a moment to go down the huge slide. 

And yes we did retain our overall team points title! 

Here is a link to the official Coach Stewart's blog entry for this event.

This will be the last swim meet I take part in for some time. I need to take my time and energy and focus on Ironman as spring/summer approaches. 

I am now finally caught up on all of my race reports and will try to update them as I finish. I let a few pile up so far this year. 

I have a few big races coming up and a few smaller races I am using for training. I am going to just focus on bringing you reports from the big races moving forward. I will include the smaller races in other reports as they will will be quick updates. 

Up next: Ironman 70.3 Victoria. My first 70.3 since July of 2019.

2022 Chilliwack March Madness Swim Meet

April 2, 2022 brought yet another Master's Swim meet and this time, I was in charge.

Well, not really in charge, the Coast Swim Team is pretty self sufficient. But when a scheduling conflict prevented Coach Stewart from attending, it was up to Coach Joseph to muster the troops. 

Before the meet, I organized the team conference call and relay assignments. There were only 6 of us going so not much logistics to plan out there.

Going into this meet, Coast was leading the small teams in overall points for the year and with 6 swimmers at the meet we were well placed to regain that title for a second year in a row.

I was swimming the 400m Individual Free, the 50m Individual Backstroke, the 25m Individual Backstroke, the 200 Medley Relay, the 200m Individual Free, and the 200 Free Relay. 

I arrived early to setup our teams area. I was able to get a decent warm up in as well, practicing my backstroke, breaststroke, and turns. I also did some practice starts off the block.

Soon the meet was underway.  

My first event was the 400m freestyle. As I walked up to the block, I began to question if starting off the block was necessary. How much would I gain over such a distance? I ignored it and climbed up. 

The start went off, I jumped in, and my goggled came off. I should have listened to my gut. I stopped at the end of the first length to put my goggles back on before proceeding. I could now see I had fallen way behind. Had I done an in water start, I would still be pacing with everyone else in the heat. 

But this was the first event and I had nothing to prove to the strangers in my heat. Just finish and get the points for our team. 

Despite the mishap, I still managed to swim under my estimated time and claim 2nd in my age group. 

Estimated time: 7:20

Actual time: 7:17

2nd Place in my age group

After watching a few more events, including our Coast Swim Team women's 200 Medley, it was time for my 50m backstroke. 

My start went very well. I was able to work on my underwater start and executed it well. I need to work on my breath timing. For a 50m or 25m back, I can just chug along, but if I ever want to do something longer I will have to really focus on timing. 

On the first 25m I missed the flags that signal you are close to the wall and ended up hitting teh wall with my arm. The shock was so great that I stopped. 

What are you doing!? Keep going!

I turned and continued on, missing the flags again at the other end and hitting the wall to finish the event. 

Estimated Time: 0:55

Actual Time: 1:00

2nd Place in my age group

After several more events and cheering on more of my teammates, it was time for my 25m back. 

It went pretty much the same as the 50m, minus the turn.

Estimated Time: 0:24

Actual Time: 0:24

1st Place in my age group


Next came the 200m Medley Relay. With so few of us there and with our points standings being so high, we all ventured out of our comfort zone to do some strokes we would not normally do. 

For this relay, I was swimming breaststroke. 

When it was time for my hand off, I climbed onto the block, waited for the wall touch, and was off!

I was told later that my dive off the block was so perfect that everyone around suddenly stopped what they were doing and stood in shock for a moment. I guess no one expected a guy of my size to be able to go so far and so smooth when diving. 

My stroke felt good and I made great time! Although I found out later that relay times do not count toward personal or team bests. 

Estimated Time: 1:20

Actual Time: 0:54

1st Place in our team division

The 200m Free was up next, but I was in heat 3. I had plenty of time to use the washroom before it was my time. 

When I came back to the pool deck, 2 of our teammates had missed their heats! Luckily, Liz was able to get a spot in my heat. 

My 200m felt good. I had a good start off the block (with no goggle mishaps). Although I kept a strong stroke, I was starting to feel the effects of the previous events. I was wiped.  

Estimated Time: 3:20

Actual Time: 2:25

2nd Place in my age group

After the 200m, I was finished with my individual events. Up next was the 200m Free Relay. 

This was my last event and since I was swimming anchor, I knew I had to push. When swimmer number 3 touched the wall, I had a great jump off the block and swam hard! Last event of the day and I gave it everything I had. 

Estimated Time: 0:40

Actual Time: 0:38

1st Place in our team division

I was very happy with my performance at this swim meet. I was very happy to be more comfortable jumping off the blocks to start as this was outside my comfort zone a few swim meets back. However, I will not be jumping off the blocks for anything over 200m moving forward. 

I will continue to focus on getting my backstroke more under control and maybe do some longer distances in that discipline in the future. 

Here is a link to the official Coach Stewart's blog entry for this event.

I'd love to get more familiar with the other strokes in general. This would have come in handy for when I went to Provincials (coming soon)