Colonies Zone 1000 SCY: race report

Swimming is still a language I don't quite understand.

I finally figured out how to do flipturns back in December.  The math is starting to make sense - I can do a 500 yard TT and I don't need a calculator and a notepad to figure out the pace.  But I signed up for this swim meet with Allison and suddenly there are all kinds of new things to figure out - scratch and heat and counting.


We signed up for the SCY (see?  WTF does that mean?  Short course yards.) meet a few weeks ago.  By the time I got around to registering, the mile had filled, so I signed up to race the 1000.  I had no idea how to seed myself so I ambiguously chose 15 minutes when I registered without really doing any math.  On Friday afternoon when I remembered that this was happening, I went back through Training Peaks and found that the last time I did a 1000 yard TT (January), it was 15:35.  I've been swimming fairly consistently under 1:30 pace in the pool for shorter distance TTs in the past few weeks, so I decided (again, rather ambiguously) that I'd like to try to finish in under 15 minutes.  I tapered for the race by losing my job, skipping my long run and spending 12 hours inside a beer bottle.  Allison and I prepared for the race by hanging out with my puppies and having pizza for a very late lunch.

We got there early enough to warm-up and scope out all the sexy men in speedos other athletes.  Watching the first heat of the mile was pretty exciting, and the first and second place men in the heat finished about a tenth of a second apart.  We also spent some time trying to spook our competition.

Our heats were far enough apart that we would be able to count for each other, and I was pleasantly surprised to discover that I didn't have to count on my fingers but instead would get a neato flip-board of numbers to show Allison underwater while she was swimming.

Once Allison finished her swim (huge PR, go read about it), I headed over to line up.  The first thing I did was explain to the stop-watch boys that I would not be diving off the blocks.  I practiced diving off the side of the pool once during the warm-up and thought that would be just fine.  There was a horn or a whistle or a something noisy and we went.

Of course, my goggles stayed on but filled with water.  I swam 50 yards and then popped my head up and tried to restick them to my face.  It didn't work, so I just decided I would swim with them that way and ignore it, but after another 200ish yards both sides were completely filled with water.  So I flipped off of the wall and stayed on my back for a second, pulled them off my face and stuck them back on, then flipped back over and kept going.  

That worked for one side but not the other.  I made it about another 100 yards or so and then did the same thing - flip, pull, drain, push.  I know that I should probably be able to just swim through it but it was driving me absolutely nuts.  

Once I had situated my goggles I was almost halfway done with the race.  I was in the outside lane, and when I looked inside to see where the other swimmers were, it was crazy.  The girl in the lane next to me, who had also seeded herself with 15 minutes, was almost 2 entire laps ahead of me (note: she ended up swimming a 12:xx) and I started to feel panicky that I had lost a lot of time dicking around with my goggles.  Since I was in the outside lane, I could see the times up on the wall when I breathed and started doing math.  When I breathed after the 800 mark and could see that the time had just flipped over to 12 minutes, I realized that I would probably be safely under 15 minutes.  I just tried to stay consistent and hold good form with each stroke, pulling hard and long all the way into the wall.  I was almost the last one done in my heat but was still incredibly pumped about my time: 14:36.16, for roughly a 1:27 pace.  

I can pretty easily see the splits where I was fussing with my goggles, because they are the only splits slower than a :44.x.  I also only swam a :39 on my last 50, which tells me that I really didn't empty the tank on this one, but I'm okay with that.  I had a blast racing in the pool for the very first time, and I can't wait for the chance to go back and crush this time.  That hot mess also managed to land me third in my AG, and Allison broke through with 2nd.

We celebrated with huge bowls of pasta and frozen yogurt, which made for a pretty perfect Friday night.  How was your weekend?  Do you have lots of photos of your ass to post on the internet after it like I do?