Thursday:
There is always a lot of pressure on Thursday. It is
the first day of the meet and the momentum of the entire weekend is
riding on one swim. The 1000 is an interesting race to start off with
because there are many different way to attack the event, but I decided
I was going to go all out from the start and hope for the best. Coaches
never advise this, but I thought that maybe, I would still be able to
close hard after going out really hard. I was wrong. As soon as I hit
the water, all my nerves went away. The first few strokes you take
determine how the rest of the race will go. I went out hard. My first
100 was a 58.9 and my first 200 was a 2:03.2, a best time. I was
looking strong and feeling good as I reached the 250. A quarter of the
way into my first race of the weekend and I was leading the heat. 250
yards later I was at 5:22.46, another best time, and I had reached the
half way mark. At this point, I was exhausted. I wanted to stop, rest,
and drink some water, but instead I had another 500 to swim. I was
dying. I thought maybe it would be okay, if I took the next 100 a
little easier, stretch out my stroke a little. Ah, it felt so good. I
tried to pick up my pace for the next 300, but my arms just wouldn’t do
it. I maintained the pace of my 6th 100, for the rest of the way. With
four laps to go in this deathly event, I was still leading; however, I
finished fourth, when I hit the wall. . I had been passed by three
people, all in the span of 1:05:39. My time was a 10:58, which was a
best time, but I knew I could do better. I’ve never felt so dizzy after
a race than I did then. Clearly, I had taken it out too hard and my
strategy had not worked. I would later learn that this meet was all
about teaching me the perfect medium in distance freestyle and this
race was just a learning experience.
Friday:
Friday
is always the most fun day of the meet. I get to swim the 100 fly and
the 400 IM, two of my favorite events. The 100 fly is a sprint and I
love swimming it. I get to race, hard, and it only consists of four
laps; what could be better? The thing that gets me most psyched up to
swim the 100 fly is when my coach tells me I am not a sprinter. I enjoy
proving people wrong and if somebody tells me I can’t do something, my
goal is to prove that I can. The top 16 in each event get to come back
and swim the race again in finals. While this may not sound like much
fun, it is a reward to get a second swim and is the goal at a meet like
this. I wanted to make finals in the 100 fly, but I knew I would have
to drop at least two seconds, not an easy thing to do in a 100. When I
got up to the blocks, I was focused, but excited. I knew this would be
fun. The first two laps felt great, as they always do, and the third
25, was all about kicking harder than the first two laps. The last 25,
nothing ever feels right and today was no exception. My arms were on
autopilot and I was just doing what I had been trained to do. Finishes
are important and I smashed my hands so hard into the wall, and then
immediately looked at the clock. 1:03:24! A new sectional cut! I was
thrilled, but I didn’t have much time to celebrate before I had to
warm-up for my next race, the 400 IM. In this race, I would start off
swimming the 100 fly again, followed by the 100 back, 100 breaststroke
and 100 freestyle. I got to race one of my teammates, Claire L., in
this race and that always makes me go faster. After the butterfly, I
was at a 1:05:88 which was a pretty good time for me. I have to go out
hard in the fly because my middle 200 isn’t as strong. The backstroke
was all about trying to catch my breath and go as fast as possible
while doing so. People say that breaststroke is the “make it or break
it” stroke in the 400 IM, but for me it is all about surviving. The
freestyle is where I shine. I was not able to pass as many people as I
had hoped in the free, because I had gotten passed in the breaststroke,
but I still brought it back strong enough to drop 7 seconds and get my
sectional cut. After the 400 IM, I was very exhausted, but I was only
halfway done with my brutal meet schedule.
Saturday:
Saturday
was a very interesting day. It started out with the 200 fly, which was
my worst event of the weekend. I never enjoy swimming this event and my
heat was fast, which makes it even more discouraging. I was in pain the
entire time, and couldn’t wait for it to end. I ended up adding just
under a second, but I was not too disappointed. The second event that
day was the 500 free. I had swum the 500 free every week for my high
school team and still had problems with it. Despite the fact that the
race requires a counter, it is a sprint, all 20 laps of it. I was
nervous, but I knew I could at least go a 5:22, because that’s what I
had got out in the 1000. When I starter beeped, I took off, and started
strong. I felt good, but I had no idea what my splits were. The race
went by pretty fast and produced a lot less pain that the 1000. When I
touched the wall, I was satisfied with my 5:22.12 and felt
accomplished. After talking to my coach, I learned that this time was
good enough to make it back for finals. Finals are later in the evening
and only the top 16 in each event are invited back. You get to swim
your event again with the hopes of dropping and placing higher than you
did in the morning (prelims.) In my case, it meant swimming the 500
free all over again. After my race, I got home as fast as I could, so I
would be able to get the most rest possible. I watched movies and laid
down for a while before I had to come back to the pool. I came to
warm-ups late because I was the last event of the night and I would
have plenty of time to warm-up on my own. I did several 100’s trying to
hold 500 pace. I was feeling pretty good, but I wouldn’t really know
how good I was feeling until I dove in for the first 50. I was in what
is called the “B” final, with all the people who placed between 9th and
16th place. I was seeded 12th, which meant that the fastest seed would
be swimming right next to me. The fastest seed was actually my teammate
and good friend Claire F., who I swam many distance events with. I
always enjoyed racing her, because she made me push myself and this
race would be no different. The starter called us up to the blocks, we
took our marks and then we were off. I tried to take it out long but
strong, a combination I been working on for the last few weeks. I
flipped in first place after the first 100, 200 and 300, but Claire was
not giving up easily. We raced hard the fourth hundred and she flipped
.12 ahead of me with one 100 to go. In my head, I had been winning the
whole time and I did not want to lose. I sprinted the last hundred and
closed in a low 1:03. I slammed my hand into wall as fast as I could,
and luckily it was fast enough. I finished with a 5:16:06, a solid 6
second drop from this morning, putting me in 9th place overall and
first place in the B Final. I had found the perfect medium. My stroke
felt good and I was feeling happy and confident. That was the swim I
needed going into Sunday’s big race. I was pumped and ready.
Sunday:
Sunday
morning I had to swim the 50 free as part of the 200 freestyle B relay.
This relay was in the morning, so I had to be at the pool by 6:30 and
ready to race by 8. Although I hate to admit it, I was not focused on
this 50 free like I should I have been. I was in a completely different
zone. All I could think about was the mile tonight and this 50 free was
just something I had to get over with. My mental attitude towards the
short 50 was reflected in my performance. I was the lead off swimmer
for my relay but I did not give my team the start they needed. When I
finished, the clock read 27.68, almost a full second slower than my
best time and by far the slowest time of my relay. The next three girls
swam great and we finished 7th, two seconds under our seed time, but no
thanks to me. After the relay, I changed into dry clothes and went back
home to rest. I had six hours before the biggest race of my life.
During the next six hours, I had to make a very important decision;
what should I eat? I settled on a whole wheat bagel with peanut butter,
a fruit smoothie with protein and strawberries, plus lots of water. I
arrived at the pool one hour before warm-ups started. I was going crazy
and pacing in the house and I had to go. Once I got to the pool, I felt
a lot better, because I knew I wouldn’t be late. The 1O &Under
swimmers were swimming at this time, so I watched some of their races,
and tried not to think about mine. My coach seemed confident that I
could drop, but I wasn’t so sure. The last time I had swam the mile, I
had a great race, competing side by side with one of my teammates, much
like the 500 on Saturday. Swimming the mile was bad enough, but adding
in it just made it worse and that was my biggest fear. My goal going
into the race was to get a medal. The top eight swimmers would receive
one, and I was seeded sixth. Earlier that morning, the third seed had
scratched, declaring that she would not be racing. This bumped me up to
fifth, and in contention for Select Camp, which was a special camp for
the top five in each event. I was getting more and more nervous. With
minutes to spare before the race, the officials were trying to decide
if we would be “walking out” or just starting behind the blocks.
“Walking Out” means that the heat gets to march from behind the back
pool towards the blocks following a sign with music playing in the
background. They eventually decided that we would be walking and that
we should go sit in the chairs behind the back pool. Dressed in my suit
and a parka, I joined the rest of my heat in our designated chairs. We
were all nervous. It was a mile and so many things could go wrong.
Every single person sitting with me wished it was just 50 yards, but we
knew it would be 33 times that amount. We began to talk about the worst
case scenarios and what we would do if something went wrong. I wanted
to know if it was legal to stop and fix my goggles or cap if it fell
off, since it would be hard to swim blind for 66 laps. My teammate
Hannah, said that she thought it was legal as long as I didn’t push off
the bottom. That is the last thing I remember before we were called up
to the blocks, the song “Sandstorm” playing in the background.
In
a mile, the first three strokes set the tone of the entire race. I can
usually tell after the first 100 if I am going to add or drop. When the
starter told us to take our marks, I gripped the block hard, and when I
heard the beep, I was off. The first 100 felt good and that was a
reassuring sign. I had settled in to what I hoped was a strong pace. I
knew that if I beat 3 people in my heat, I would make Select Camp but I
couldn’t tell what place I was in. I kept pace with the girl to the
left of me for the first 200, but then increased my pace and edged in
front. I was feeling good, and the coaches looked happy, but the
counter read 15, which meant I wasn’t even a quarter of the way there.
If the person counting for you holds the counter, it means keep the
pace, but if they shake it, then you need to go faster. My counter was
held for 99% of the race, but every once in a while it would shake. I
wasn’t sure what was going on, but I knew my coach had a plan for me. I
could tell that I was ahead of both the girls next to me, and I was
assuming somebody else, so I was guessing I was in fifth. At lap 51, I
wanted the race to be over, not because I was dying, but because I
didn’t want to be passed. The water felt cool and my stroke felt
smooth, but it was a hard smooth and the sooner it was over, the
better. When the counter said 63 I smiled. The next time I would see
it, the white square would show two red blocks, meaning “last 25.” When
I flipped at the wall, I knew I had only 4 laps to go. I could hear the
bell ringing signaling that there was only one more 50 for the lead
swimmer. This meant that she had laped me, but I had expected that to
happen so it was okay. I raced the last 100 all out, because I was
trying to lap the girl on the other side of me. I touched the wall as
fast as I could, and saw that I had beaten her to the wall. Satisfied,
I looked at the scoreboard to see my time and place. I was third with a
17:58! I had broken the eighteen minute mark and I would get to stand
on the podium! Nothing could ever replace the feeling of knowing I had
achieved the one major goal I set this season. I hoped out of the pool,
tired but overjoyed, and immediately went to congratulate the other
swimmers. We talked about the race and how we pushed each other, and it
was so cool to be included in this group of incredible distance
swimmers. The medal ceremony began by announcing 8th place, then 7th
and so on. I had never won a medal in year round swimmer before this
moment and it is not something I will forget. My name was called along
with the names of the fastest milers in the state and the feeling of
standing on the third place spot on the podium was indescribable. I
have won other things in my life, triathlons, summer league races, and
so on, but I have never felt more proud than I did that night on the
third place block. I had found a new stroke that night and everything
was better than I had ever imagined.
