Swim meet!!!

I had a great swim meet yesterday!

The swim meet took place about an hour away from where I live. Warm-ups started at 7:00 in the morning, meaning I had to get up at 5:20 A.M. I was really excited to swim, however, because I havn't been to a swim meet for about 3 months!

The warm-up was very entertaining. I am the slowest swimmer on the whole swim team. I was also the slowest swimmer, I think, at the whole meet! This is partially because I suck at all sports. Another reason is because most of the swimmers have been swimming since they were five years old. I've only been swimming year-round for less than a year

Every single swimmer kept pummiling over me during the warm-up. My swim coach kept telling me to "stay to the right of the lane" so that I would not get myself injured! I also could not do flip turns, because every time I tried, I would end up running into someone comming from behind me.

This went on for about 45 minutes. I kept thinking to myself I hate being slow. This really pumped me up for the rest of the meet because I wanted to swim fast d%mn it!!!

I ended up swimming the following events:
100 backstroke (which took 1 minute and 52 seconds)
100 freestyle in 1:37
50 fly in 51 seconds
50 breast in 52 seconds

I normally only sign myself up for three events, but felt like doing four events this time. This was because I was only able to swim in one day of the meet. The meets run for three days, but I could not go to all three sessions since the meet was so far away. My parents refused to drive an hour each way three days in a row!

I was very tired at the end of the meet. I actually had to force myself to stay awake during the car trip home. The combination of the early start times and the number of events I was in made me exhausted!

I did end up swimming faster than I normally do. I wouldn't know it by my times because I was swimming in a longer pool than I normally do. This meant (ovbiously) that each event took longer to complete than it normally would.

My coach said I did well, however. On the 100 backstroke he told me "I never saw you swim that fast before." I was still last place in all my events, but it felt good to beat a lot of my previous times.

I also learned something intresting at this meet: Many times in practice, I have seen people wear two swim suits. I used to think it was some strange fashion statement. Now I know the reason they wear the two suits.

As explained to me by my coach, it is becuse swimming in two suits creates drag and makes you feel heavier in the water. When you wear two swimsuits, you eventually get used to swimming with this extra heaviness.

When you put on one, tight fitting suit for the swim meet you will feel blazing fast in the water. As told to me by my coach, you feel "like snot on a doorknob." This idea of intentionally creating extra drag in the water is similar to some walkers wearing ankle weights for extra resistance.

I tried the two swimsuit techinque while swimming laps at the health club today. I did feel a lot heavier near the middle of my body. Hopefully I will get used to the two suits, and when I take one off for my next swim meet, I will shatter my previous times!

Oh, and one additional announcement: I rode on the stationary bike at the health club for 35 minutes today after my swim! You are probably woundering what the big deal is. Anybody can ride a bike for 35 minutes!

The big deal is this: I actually got on the bicycle today instead of doing more swimming. Normally, I like to swim for over two hours at the health club. I may do triathlons, but swimming has always been my favorite sport out of the three.
Don't you agree that swimming is funner than bucycling and running?

Despite loving to swim, I need lots of work on my running and bicycling. I have many goals for myself that I would like to acheve by the end of summer. You may have read these goals in previous entries in this blog; however, I will say them again for clarification: I would like to run a half marathon, and do an olympic distance triathlon.

Crossing the finish line of my first triathlon gave me more satisfaction than any swim meet ever will. I LOVE swim meets, but there is just something about triathlons that competitive swimming will never have. This "something" would probably have to do with the endurance aspect of triathlons.

I have always loved endurance more than I have enjoyed speed. This is partially because I have no speed (insert laughter here:_________). The main reason, however, is because anybody can go fast (except me. Haha.). Not very many people can do endurace events.

Think about running a 100 mile ultramarathon or completing the Ironman triathlon. How many people can say they have done that? Just to let you know, all Ironman finishers and ultramarathoners have my strongest respect and admiration.

Another, larger reason I love endurance events or workouts are because they are so calming. Doing the same motions over and over again for hours on end without anything to distract you gives yplenty of time to be alone with your thoughts.

You can be alone with your thoughts while working out without becoming bored and anxious like you would if you were sitting still and doing nothing but thinking (how boring would that be?). I have thought of some of the best ideas and solutions to problens while out on long swims, bike rides, runs, etc.

I also love the way you feel after a long swim, bike ride, run, etc. You feel so calm and relaxed and have the hugest endorphin rush. You also feel on top of the world after conquering a distance onece thought unimaginable.

Like I said, I love swimming. I love the thrill of competing, the feel of the water, and the way you feel weightless. I would ,however, love to get into some longer events.

For swimming, the longest event (which I love, by the way) is the mile. The mile only takes about 30 minutes to swim. For some triathlons and running events, you can go for days if you want to (think: double Ironman).

I now realize I will not get better at running, or be able to do the bicycling I need to do for longer triathlons simply by swimming. With this realization, I looked through my training logs for this year.

These are the total amounts of each sport I have done so far this year:
Bike: 9 hours 23 minutes 51 seconds
Run: 22 hours 41 minutes 04 seconds
Swim: 122 hours 08 minutes

Notice the discrepancy?

If I did more biking and running throughout the year, I might have been able to achieve some of the goals I had set out for myself a lot sooner. I could have already ran my first half marathon and be setting out now to run a full marathon!

I need to get my butt on a bicycle and my feet in running shoes!

I am going to enjoy every moment of swim team for as long as I possibly can (and will definately sign up for a masters swim team when I get older) but this summer, I am hoping to stretch my limits and do all of the endurance stuff I love. Not just swimming!