Saturday I swam the 800m free. I was really nervous, having not been at a real swim meet since Ivy League Championships in 2005. It was all I could do to calm my nerves which is pretty unlike me. My best races always happen when I’m feeling overly confident, and I just know I’m going to be fast. I said before the race, my goal was to have fun, but 9:03.90 after I started I was pretty demoralized.
When I went to my coach to talk about it I was cut off by two of my teammates, Brian Davis (I’ll tell you how he did in a sec) and Peter Trahms who is the oldest non-has-been ever. “Dude, you got beat by a girl” Brian informed me. “Yeah, and dude, she’s 15.” Peter added.
Sunday I swam the 400 free (4:19) and the 200 IM (2:16), which was fast enough to win both events (And I whaled on Andie in both!). I also swam on the 200 free relay (26.08). Those were all pretty fun, so with a big smile on my face I was able to check off my goal for the weekend.
Brian Swam his 1500m Free on Sunday afternoon. He was shooting for a 16:06, which is ~1:04 pace, but about 300 into it he sank into the 1:05-1:06 range. He swam an excellent race, and the pacing seemed perfect for where he’s at right now, but not quite fast enough to qualify for open water nationals, he came in at 16:26. He is going to kick so much butt when he finally races open water.
If you’re not first, you’re last.