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Breeze · 07-24-2012, 10:24 AM

Long Course State Championships

I probably should have logged on here before the races on Saturday to predict the results...but I didn't so I try to frame them in the context of the write ups below...

Bear

200 Free
I was hoping Bear would be able to maintain his times in the mid 2:50s.xx...but I did have some concerns. When he was swimming well a month or 6 weeks back, he was really working hard on his rowing machine, which had greatly increased his stamina. Unfortunately, he stopped the extra work, shortly after his PB in this event, and my fears that his lack of stamina would be a problem came into play. He swam a very poor 3:01.53 time. He was extremely disappointed. He also said after the race that he was trying to swim the way the coach framed the race....which was to build his effort every 50. This is a complete departure from Bear's normal practice of going out hard, resting on the 3rd 50, and then bringing it home best he can, and he didn't execute the style very well...

100 Back
Bear didn't have an official 100 Back Long Course time. He quaified for this event during short course season. So I didn't have a seed time to compare to. If I take his personal best from short course and run it through the swim tie conversion tool, he was supposed to be around a 1:38.xx (typically I find the conversions to be a bit faster than the kids actually swim). Also, due to an error on the part of the coach, Bear was in the fast heat for the back. The coach entered Bear's short course time without conversion into the meet registry and thus Bear was swimming against the best the state had to offer, and he wouldn't be able to keep up. As it turned out Bear did pretty well. He didn't get embarrassed in the event and his PB (of course it is a PB he had never swum the race before...) time was officially 1:36.73...also better than the conversion time (which I was proud of)

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Bailey

50 Breast
This was a real ugly race. Not sure what Bailey was doing but she clearly wasn't concentrating on her swim. At the begining she was busy looking around...and she actually looked like she was swimming a warm up lap...then she dropped into race mode and closed on the field...looking real strong in the process...but at the wall she started overworking the stroke and she lost the nice glide part, which cost her some time. Officially she swam a 52.46...a full 2 seconds slower than her PB

100 Back
Like Bear, Bailey was entered into this event with her Short Course time, and was in the fastest heat. I was concerned she'd get intimidated and shut down during the race...especially since her best long course time coming in 1:41.xx was a good 20 seconds slower than the best swimmers in the state. However, she looked good, worked hard and swam a solid 1:35.03. A huge improvement from just a couple weeks ago and a PB

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Brett

200 Breast
Brett has another anxiety attack...in fact, this one was before we ever left the house. Not sure why he's all of a sudden become so high strung about swimming, but it was painful trying to get him out the door. But we got him to Tech, and he went through warm ups. Once he started on our trip down to the pool, he settled in. Before the race he talked to his coach, who told him the goal was to improve by 3 seconds to he'd get his 12 year old state cut in the event. The race started and Brett did a great job keeping up with the kids around him. At the first turn he was tied with both swimmers to his inside...coming off the wall he was over a body length behind (gotta get a stronger pull-out). He closed on the two swimmers in the middle of the pool, only to again lose ground on the turn. This continued for most of the race, but Brett swam a strong...His 100 split was 1:45.29 (which by the way - would have been a personal best for the 100 Breast). This was such a strong effort in the beginning of the race, I was afraid he was going to fade bad, but I had faith because he has such a technically sound stroke that he'd be able to ride the glide portion a bit more on the back half to keep from fading too badly. In the back half he posted a 1:52.21...and overall he swam a 3:37.50 for a Personal Best, an improvement of 5.5 seconds and his 12 year old state cut... I was super proud of this effort (and so was he, which is the most important thing)...

07-24-2012, 10:24 AM	#120
Breeze Grizzled Veteran Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Northern Suburbs of ATL	Long Course State Championships I probably should have logged on here before the races on Saturday to predict the results...but I didn't so I try to frame them in the context of the write ups below... Bear *200 Free* I was hoping Bear would be able to maintain his times in the mid 2:50s.xx...but I did have some concerns. When he was swimming well a month or 6 weeks back, he was really working hard on his rowing machine, which had greatly increased his stamina. Unfortunately, he stopped the extra work, shortly after his PB in this event, and my fears that his lack of stamina would be a problem came into play. He swam a very poor 3:01.53 time. He was extremely disappointed. He also said after the race that he was trying to swim the way the coach framed the race....which was to build his effort every 50. This is a complete departure from Bear's normal practice of going out hard, resting on the 3rd 50, and then bringing it home best he can, and he didn't execute the style very well... *100 Back* Bear didn't have an official 100 Back Long Course time. He quaified for this event during short course season. So I didn't have a seed time to compare to. If I take his personal best from short course and run it through the swim tie conversion tool, he was supposed to be around a 1:38.xx (typically I find the conversions to be a bit faster than the kids actually swim). Also, due to an error on the part of the coach, Bear was in the fast heat for the back. The coach entered Bear's short course time without conversion into the meet registry and thus Bear was swimming against the best the state had to offer, and he wouldn't be able to keep up. As it turned out Bear did pretty well. He didn't get embarrassed in the event and his PB (of course it is a PB he had never swum the race before...) time was officially 1:36.73...also better than the conversion time (which I was proud of) -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Bailey *50 Breast* This was a real ugly race. Not sure what Bailey was doing but she clearly wasn't concentrating on her swim. At the begining she was busy looking around...and she actually looked like she was swimming a warm up lap...then she dropped into race mode and closed on the field...looking real strong in the process...but at the wall she started overworking the stroke and she lost the nice glide part, which cost her some time. Officially she swam a 52.46...a full 2 seconds slower than her PB *100 Back* Like Bear, Bailey was entered into this event with her Short Course time, and was in the fastest heat. I was concerned she'd get intimidated and shut down during the race...especially since her best long course time coming in 1:41.xx was a good 20 seconds slower than the best swimmers in the state. However, she looked good, worked hard and swam a solid 1:35.03. A huge improvement from just a couple weeks ago and a PB --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Brett *200 Breast* Brett has another anxiety attack...in fact, this one was before we ever left the house. Not sure why he's all of a sudden become so high strung about swimming, but it was painful trying to get him out the door. But we got him to Tech, and he went through warm ups. Once he started on our trip down to the pool, he settled in. Before the race he talked to his coach, who told him the goal was to improve by 3 seconds to he'd get his 12 year old state cut in the event. The race started and Brett did a great job keeping up with the kids around him. At the first turn he was tied with both swimmers to his inside...coming off the wall he was over a body length behind (gotta get a stronger pull-out). He closed on the two swimmers in the middle of the pool, only to again lose ground on the turn. This continued for most of the race, but Brett swam a strong...His 100 split was 1:45.29 (which by the way - would have been a personal best for the 100 Breast). This was such a strong effort in the beginning of the race, I was afraid he was going to fade bad, but I had faith because he has such a technically sound stroke that he'd be able to ride the glide portion a bit more on the back half to keep from fading too badly. In the back half he posted a 1:52.21...and overall he swam a 3:37.50 for a Personal Best, an improvement of 5.5 seconds and his 12 year old state cut... I was super proud of this effort (and so was he, which is the most important thing)...