The months preceding the Pacific Masters Short Course Championships included knee surgery, gum surgery, gum infection and strep throat. In spite of all that, I thought I was fit to compete. I ultimately proved myself very wrong.
My expectations were fueled in part by my surprisingly speedy swim in the relay earlier in 2010. My 1:00.09 split in a 50 meter pool translates to between 58.35 and 59:29 for the same distance in a 25 meter. [1][2][3]
My only event on Saturday was the 100 meter freestyle. I guessed it would take place before midday but it didn't get going until after 1pm. As a result, I hadn't eaten since breakfast (around 7am) and hoped (in vain) that Gatorade would be enough to sustain me.
The pool was outdoors but I stuck to the sparse shade. This worked fine until about 20 minutes before my heat began; a senior female competitor decided to hang out in the same area and badmouth my coach (among other things). In hindsight, I should have diplomatically asked her to get f**ked, but I listened politely while my positive energy drained away.
When it came time to race, I felt rushed and under-prepared. My dive was a too deep; my turns were poor, the halfway flip was terrible - I got much too close to the wall; my stroke felt sloppy; I ran out of steam on the last length and my finishing touch wasn't clean. I was bitterly disappointed to look up and see my time at 1:01.48, roughly three seconds slower than the equivalent distance in July. (My splits were 27.97 and 33.51).
Given my performance and since transport logistics (aka Sunday BART service) meant that I might miss the 200 meter freestyle on Sunday morning, I decided to throw in the towel.
PS Walnut Creek Masters' achievement board claims they won the Long Course Championships but USF beat them 2,777 points to 1,019.
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