Zone Championships at Mission Viejo: 3 Days of Swimming Fun

I'm home from my 3-day swim meet adventure at the Southern Pacific Masters Zone/Regional Championships in Mission Viejo, California. It was such a great time and the meet really helped me to gain some perspective and put my goals in check for Nationals (which is now just 11 days away from my first event there - woah!).

I headed down to Mission Viejo on Friday morning, arriving a little earlier than I had planned, and so I checked into my hotel, grabbed a quick snack, changed into my suit and then buzzed over to the pool. My only event on Friday was the 100 Freestyle and despite taking it out a little faster than I had planned - in a 27.70 (I was feeling good, so decided to just go for it). I did have some serious lactic acid kick in on that second 50, but I finished at a 58.83 - almost the exact time I did a few weeks back at the UC Irvine meet. This was a good way to get my feet wet (no pun intended) and tune in for the next two days of competition.

On Saturday morning, I was stoked to have Steve there with me (a big thanks to his boss, Grey, for letting him come down to support me that day - I really appreciate it!) and we headed over early so I could warm up for the 500 Freestyle (this race is 20 laps, baby), which was the first event of the day. I have only swam this once during my time in Masters Swimming, during my very first meet back, when I had only been training for about 5 weeks. That first time hurt big-time, because of my lack of preparedness and stamina, and so I have been avoiding it ever since. But my coach, Ahelee, talked me into entering it a few weeks back and I'm so glad that she did.

My plan with this one was to just keep it strong and steady; work on my turns and streamlines; and keep a consistent pace. I feel like it came together just like I had hoped, as I finished in a 5:42.69 - splitting: 

• 1:05.6
• 1:09.7
• 1:09.8
• 1:09.1
• 1:08.4

Now that I have a good feel for how to swim it, I am looking forward to giving it another go next SCY season. I really appreciate Ahelee and Cokie's help and advice on how to swim this race - it helped tremendously.
 
Next up on Saturday I had the 100 IM (Individual Medley - which is one lap of each stroke: butterfly, backstroke, breaststroke, freestyle). I have really been working hard on little things in each stroke to try and whittle this time down and was so happy with my drop on this one. I had previously swam a 1:11.28 back at the Cal Tech Pentathlon and this time around dropped it to a 1:07.44. It felt really smooth and solid and I'm stoked to be swimming it at Nationals.
 
After Saturday's events, Steve and I caught a delicious meal at our beloved restaurant, The Native, and then got back to the hotel early to relax, check emails, and sneak in some extra sleep to prepare for Sunday.
 
I was feeling a little tired on Sunday morning. Probably just the effects of the third day of the meet, the sun, and the stress; but I had a nice long warm-up and was excited to be the Freestyle leg of the 400 Medley Relay for CVMM. Brad led off on the backstroke leg, Ahelee swam breaststroke, Rob tackled the fly, and I finished up with the freestyle. I split a 58.3 and was happy with squeaking it down a little from Friday's swim; while our overall time was a 4:15.79. This was a fantastic team of people to get to swim a relay with - so motivating and fast - and it was really fun to sneak in some relay practice for Nationals too.
 
Following the relay, I had two events left - the 50 Freestyle and the 50 Backstroke. I have been a bit frustrated with my sprinting capabilities in the last few meets and while I've made steady improvements, I always feel like I just can't kick it into sprint gear. So my goal in the 50 Free was to get under a 27. and lo-and-behold I snuck it in, finishing with a 26.70.

I had a similar goal with the 50 Back - hoping to get below a 32. and was so happy to squeak out a 31.88 in that one. The 50s are challenging for me. They sound so fun (and are fun)... but sprinting is HARD and I'm slowly learning how to get my body moving during that short period of time I've got to give it a-go. Little-by-little these things are coming together and teaching me new tricks and strategies for each future swim.

A fun bonus for the weekend was that I ended up finishing 1st place in four of my events and got 2nd place in the fifth. Because you earn points with each event's place, the points are tallied up at the end, and while I had no idea I would even be in the running, I ended up being the High Point Award Winner for my age group (35-39). I got a big, fluffy towel in the Mission Viejo Nadadores blue/yellow team colors as a prize. What a super surprise!
 
Now it's time to buckle down and start focusing on Nationals. We leave for Atlanta in just nine days. I can't believe it's almost here and am really excited to have the opportunity to swim there. I sure had a wonderful weekend getting to be around so many inspiring people and coaches. I learn so much at each competition and love having the chance to meet so many cool people in the USMS family. I really never dreamed that when I signed up for a 24-Hour Fitness membership last December with intentions of occasionally using their pool, that I would be so enthralled with the sport six months later. It's changed my life and my perspective in so many ways and I'm really thrilled to be a part of it all!