Minnesota State Master's Swim Meet

I swam the Minnesota State Master's meet this past weekend, April 18th/19th. Had a pretty good time. I kept to freestyle/butterfly events to keep it fun. Last season was all about backstroke and so this year I wanted to try something different. Times and splits (per 50yards) are below.

200 yard free
Overall time: 1:46.66
Splits: 23.79 / 27.21 / 28.53 / 27.13

500 yard free
Overall time: 4:54.46
Splits: 24.27 / 28.05 / 29.04 / 29.83 / 30.34 / 30.53 / 30.74 / 30.90 / 31.14 / 29.62

100 yard butterfly
Overall time: 52.33
Splits: 24.18 / 28.15

200 yard butterfly
Overall time: 2:00.46
Splits: 25.75 / 30.62 / 32.00 / 32.09

This was the first time I ever raced in a Blue Seventy swimsuit. I must say it was very fast. It gave me the confidence to take my races out hard (maybe a little too hard in the case of the 500), because I felt like I had extra bouyancy which kept me from getting tired. I came within a second of my 200 free from last year, which is pretty good. This year, I'm swimming hard twice a week. Last year, I was swimming hard six times per week. So, it's amazing how little speed I have lost.

As you can tell by the splits, I took the 500 out waaayyy too fast. I told myself I would just swim my own race off the blocks and only look at the field at the 100. By that time it was too late; the damage had been done and the rest of the race was about damage control! Notice that in the back half, each 50yards was almost exactly two tenths slower than the previous 50. Ouch!!! Probably couldn't last any longer at that pace.

The 200 butterfly was within 10 minutes of finishing the 500. So it pretty much hurt from the get-go. Of course, did I learn from my mistake of going out too fast? Nope! I figured the 200fly would be a struggle to the finish anyway so I may as well take the first 50 out fast. By the time I got to the 150 I could barely get my arms out of the water. So, I tried a dumb move -- kick underwater further! The logic was sound - more underwater kicking meant less swimming. But when I came up I was literally gasping for air. Hindsight being 20/20, it would have been better to kick underwater earlier in the race rather than later.

The 100yard butterfly was a close race and a lot of fun. I had a great start, but for some reason couldn't get going on the first 25 (really spinning the arms, going nowhere). I don't have a lot of experience sprinting butterfly in a race, so that probably explains it. All of the sudden I hit a lower gear on the 2nd 25, and was able to really dig deep and speed up. Unfortunately, it didn't last as I ran out of gas at the 75 and had two other competitors closing in. I lucked out and had a perfect finish (in butterfly, the timing of the finish is EVERYTYHING) and out-touched 2 guys at the wall.

The 200yard free was the most uneventful of the four races. It was my last race of the day so I really poured everything I had in the last 50. If I was to do it all over I would have made the 3rd 50 a little faster, but it was still a fun race and a good time so I can't complain!