Zones Swim Meet

Friday Night:

1650 freestyle - 20:23.39 (1st place in age group, 3rd place overall)
My best masters time was 19:09 (I think that was from Indy in 2004, which I'm realizing was quite awhile ago). I knew going into the race that I would be 20 minutes and change since I haven't been swimming much. By "much," I mean I took a temporary hiatus from masters swimming and I've been swimming about once a week. I took the race out strong to try to keep up with the 22 year-old and the 41 year-old in the lanes next to me. I couldn't hang, and the young chick lapped me twice (19:10 - haha, one second slower than a 19:09). The other girl lapped me once. The 22 year-old mentioned that she had been a college swimmer like 3 times in the same sentence. I wanted to tell her I already knew since I Googled her (and PS Fast Nicole was faster than her, just sayin'), but I don't want people to know how creepy I really am. I asked Melissa about the other girl (Lynne Smith) who was from Tulsa, and it turns out she had swum the English Channel. More to come on that in a minute. Back to my race though... I was pleased that I held consistent 1:14's. Looking back on it, I think I could have really gotten after it and tried to keep up with the second place finisher (19:46), but it is hard to make it hurt that much in masters swimming. Do I sound like a pansy? Well I did have a 400 IM coming up.

400 IM - 5:30.53 (2nd place in age group, 4th overall)
In typical Nicole fashion, I got a spanking on the first half (1:22 fly, 1:26 back). I gained a little ground on the breaststroke (1:30), and I was happy with my freestyle split (1:11... at least I kicked it up a gear from my 1650 pace). Again, this was off my masters best time of 5:09, but I think I went 5:20ish last year at Nationals (when I was training consistently), so I can't complain.

Saturday Morning:
500 free - 5:53.74 (2nd place in age group, 4th overall)
The 22 year-old went 5:35, and the other chick in my age group duked it out with English Channel girl and both swam 5:41. I introduced myself to the English Channel girl before the race, and we talked for a bit. She was so awesome. I wish I had more time to talk to her (stupid swimming events got in the way). This was my best race of the day. It was a ways off my 5:35, but it was probably my best effort of the meet. My supervisor's supervisor (who is also the person who interviewed me for my job) and her daughter came to watch me swim. I thought that was really cool. I tried to show off, but 5:35 was just way out of reach.

100 IM - 1:14.63 (4th place in age group)
There isn't really much to say about this race. I love it because it's so short, and just when a stroke starts to hurt, you get to change it up. It was a ways off my master's best time of 1:11. Still love the event though. Too bad I'm not a sprinter and I stink at the first half of the IM. But hey, it's masters, and I do what I want :)

50 breast - 38.62 (4th place in age group)
ICK. This was my only best time last year at Nationals, where I finally broke 36 seconds. Adding 3 seconds in a 50 really takes a special talent :) I just couldn't get going, and my stroke was off. I was really starting to feel the aftermath of my other events on Friday and Saturday.

100 free - 1:04.30 (4th place in age group)
Wow, I have no speed. Out in 31.3, back in 32.9. This event was fun though, and it was the first time I had swum it at a masters meet. At least now I have a cruddy PR to beat!

200 breast - 2:55.43 (1st place in age group, 2nd overall)
I knew this event would hurt like a mother, and I was whining about it at the blocks with another girl. It was funny... the girl who won the event actually went and sat somewhere else because she was sick of hearing us whine. It's a great skill that I have perfected over the years. I did score first place team points! It was way off my masters best time of 2:40, but I actually called going a 2:50-something before the race. I'm like a masters swimming fortune teller.

Women's 400 Medley Relay - 1:24.96 butterfly (1st place in age group)
Wow, I must've been hurting! My fly split on the 400 IM was 1:22.

Mixed 400 Medley Relay - 1:24.27 butterfly (2nd place in age group)
Haha at least I was consistently horrible! The head coach of the Benbrook Barracudas (a rival of Water Works 2, the age group team I coach) ran me down on the butterfly. D'oh! He went a 56.10. Wowzers.

Meet Recap: It was great going into this meet with absolutely no expectations. It was like a big workout, I met some cool people, and talked up a storm. Masters swimming is really awesome, for those of who are thinking about giving it a try. It also gave me a little itch to get back in the water and start training hard again... but we'll see about that :)

Cliff came to watch the mile on Friday night, and then he came with Melissa on Saturday to watch the end of the meet (my 100 free, 200 breast, and two painful relays). We went to lunch afterwards at El Paseo in Keller, and Andrea met us there. Nothing kills the pain like an ice cold Miller Lite draft and some Mexican food!