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!
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.
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