Getting out of my comfort zone

[Wahine]

My masters swim club is hosting the Oregon Association meet on the weekend of Aprl 13th. It's pretty exciting to have a big meet like this in our small town.

I've signed up for 6 events. The 1500, 800, 400 and 100 free. The 100 IM which I did for the first time last year, managed not to drown and was legal on all my turns and...

drum roll please...

the 200 IM

To say I'm a little nervous would be an under statement. Not only is it questionable that I can even complete the 50 m fly part of the IM, there are several different turns that you have to do that I've never done in competition before and most people get DQ'd on their first 200 IM because they screw up a turn.

So here I am, unabashedly asking for some positive TE energy to help to calm me over the next few days and to carry me through that 200 in the afternoon of Sunday April 15th.

TIA.

[salsabike]

It's yours, kiddo. You have more co*ones than most and they often take you far! Let us know how it goes.

[Bike Chick]

Good luck to you, Wahine! I know you will do great. I'm so impressed!! I can only swim well enough to get through the swim portion of a triathlon and then I'm one of the last ones out of the water.

[Veronica]

Of course you'll do the turns correctly. Good luck!

Veronica

[smittykitty]

Well, you're awsume, so you'll do just fine.

[Susan Otcenas]

Wow, you go girl! Kudos to you for getting out of your comfort zone!

My coach wants me to go to masters swim workouts and I refuse. I like my little comfort zone. Just the *thought* of swimming masters makes me feel like I can't breathe. Seriously.

I wish I had your bravery!

Susan

[gnat23]

YES! YOU GO, GIRL!

-- gnat!

[Wahine]

This evening after work is the start of the swim meet.

I'm supposed to swim the 1500 m, my best event. But I came down with a flu yesterday. My fever is gone, but I still feel beat up. I'm going to give it a try but it's not going to be pretty.

[Susan Otcenas]

Good Luck, Wahine!!!! No matter the end result on the clock, you faced down something that makes you uncomfortable, and that makes you a total winner.

[Wahine]

Thanks for the encouragement Susan!

I'm usually totally happy and in the zone on the 1500m. I'm just annoyed that I got sick just before it.

What freaks me out is the 200 IM on Sunday,. EEEEEEEEEEK.

[Susan Otcenas]

Thanks for the encouragement Susan!

I'm usually totally happy and in the zone on the 1500m. I'm just annoyed that I got sick just before it.

What freaks me out is the 200 IM on Sunday,. EEEEEEEEEEK.

I'm so impressed that you're doing an IM. Knowing all those strokes makes you such a well-rounded swimmer. I can fake the backstroke (can't be too awful, as my Garmin 910 recognizes it as backstroke) but butterfly and breaststroke are total mysteries to me.

You mentioned that the turns are different. How so? (I can barely manage a flip turn and most times just do open turns. Any time I don't get water up my nose, I consider it a successful turn. )

[solobiker]

Good Luck!!! You will do great.

[Bike Chick]

Good luck!
Can't wait to hear the report. I know you will do awesome.

[Wahine]

My 1500 m race report:

I had a flu/virus of some sort that had me feverish on Thursday. I didn't sleep well, but the fever broke during the night. Iwas quite congested when I woke up. But like many days when I'm congested in the spring, I started to feel better after being up for a while and clearing my sinuses and lungs.

So I "raced". The first 500 m were dead on pace then I couldn't catch my breath and I slowed waaaaaaay down. In the end, my time was 1 min slower than what I had expected.

I'm OK with having a bad race once in a while. I'm really OK with it if I understand why. In this case, I just wasn't well. But I woke up this morning much worse. I was supposed to swim the 100 IM at around 9 AM, I was on some relays and I had the 800 free this afternoon. But I'm not going to make it. I feel worse than yesterday and with this much breathing difficulty, there's no way I can sprint, let alone do a distance event.

I'm resting today and hopefully I'll be able to swim tomorrow, even if it's at half effort. It's disappointing because I've actually put a lot of time and effort into getting ready for this meet. It's in our home town too.

[Wahine]

I'm so impressed that you're doing an IM. Knowing all those strokes makes you such a well-rounded swimmer. I can fake the backstroke (can't be too awful, as my Garmin 910 recognizes it as backstroke) but butterfly and breaststroke are total mysteries to me.

You mentioned that the turns are different. How so? (I can barely manage a flip turn and most times just do open turns. Any time I don't get water up my nose, I consider it a successful turn. )

Susan, all the strokes, except for freestlye have very specific rules about how you start, legal turns and legal finishes. Butterfly and breaststroke require a 2 hand touch at the wall on the turns and the finishes. Back stroke requires you to finish on your back but you are allowed to turn over kind of at the last minute to do a flip turn.

So IM events require you to obey all the rules of that stroke during that segment. So on the 100 IM, you are do a fly start one length and a fly finish, into a backstroke start (which has to be on your back), so that becomes a special turn, 2 hand touch with a push-off onto your back. You don't do it anywhere else except in IM events. You sim your length of back stroke, have to finish on your back, then turn over during the turn to push-off on your stomach to make a legal "start" for breast stroke...

On a 200 IM the transition turns are the same as the 100 IM, but you also have to know how to do the legal turn for each individual stroke because now each stoke is a 50 with a turn in the middle.

Does that make any sense? It's kind of confusing when you first start trying it which is why I had to practice my turns so much, to make them more automatic.