This evening I was registered for the 1650 yd Freestyle. My goal was low 21. My personal record I set earlier this spring at 21:09. I didn't think I was going to be able to beat that because I haven't been doing much distance training. My main sets have been shorter (200-600 yards max). I haven't swam 1000 yards straight or even a mile straight in a long time.
I was nervous all day long. I shaved the sides of my head (which were already short thanks to my halloween costume a couple weeks ago) and my arms and ankles. Don't need to shave my legs because of the legskins I have. Anyway, I was feeling ill prepared for the 1650 this time and wasn't setting my expectations very high. I didn't think a PR was possible.
I ranked 4th in the field in the 3rd heat which was the last one. I was swimming next to James Jonnson. He swam the Deer Creek 10 mile this year and was ahead of me. I've never beat James. When we started the race the guy to my right went all out. I knew that pace wasn't going to last and within 100 yards I passed him. I ended up lapping that guy twice over the 1650. James on my left inched his way ahead the whole time and ended up lapping me at around the 800. My goal was to not let him lap me twice before ending. "Lap me once, shame on you. Lap me twice, shame on me." haha.
I also had a goal to bilateral breathe at least the first 1000 yards. I ended up only going 250 yards before going to just my right side. I just wasn't feeling comfortable going at race pace with bilateral. I'm glad I switched because I was able to feel much more comfortable with my pace and kept it up. I didn't get split times, but I'm hoping that I'll get a copy tomorrow.
My 1650 finish time came in at 20:59.20 I beat my PR by 10 seconds. Not very much considering the distance, but at least its a new PR and I wasn't even thinking I'd come close to it. Plus I was hoping to get under 21 minutes since the last meet. Now I've set a new bar. No more getting 21 something in the 1650. Now it's got to be in the 20 minute range. Wouldn't it be great to get into the 19 minute range some day?
Today's race sure was a confidence booster. Plus I'm thinking with the training I've been doing with Coach JaGal, I'm more prepared for tomorrow's sprinting events anyway, so tomorrow afternoon I should be a happy dude, even more so than today.
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