It's been decades since I've "competed" in a swim meet. I must've been about 10 years old. I remember diving off the block, trying to swim fast, Coach Pickering yelling "Pull, Sally, pull!" from the side of the pool as the other swimmers pulled ahead of me. I always finished last or next to last. But, hey, they gave ribbons for 5th and 6th place back then, so I was happy.
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| Look who showed up |
I was having flashbacks to those days during the Colonies Zone Swim Meet at George Mason U. Team Z had taken over the long course portion of the meet--the Z green was everywhere!
I had gone to Dominic's dive start and flip turn clinic a month before and was nervous about diving off the block (flip turns were out of the question). But by the time of my heat--the last one--I decided to go for it.
I was sooo glad I did because the diving start shaved about 10 seconds off my first lap! I went all out, going for the faster turnover and the more streamlined open turns swim coach Mark had taught me. I really pushed it -- it was "only" 1,650 yards, after all, a fraction of the thousands I was used to swimming!
After 66 laps, I was done in 33:38, winning my heat and taking first place in my age group. I averaged 1:01:23 per lap (chart below), swimming my first lap in 51.84, thanks to the diving in thing. It's still not as fast as I want to be, but I'll take it for now.
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