Front Office Football Central - View Single Post - Swim Like A Champion (a real life journal)

Breeze · 02-27-2012, 08:03 AM

Georgia State Championships - 2/24-2/26 @ GaTech

Day 1

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Bailey

50 Breast
Bailey had 1 event on Saturday, the 50 Breast, and as I said in the preview section, her stroke is slightly off. I really didn't expect much from her here, but she did end up getting a personal best. It wasn't a huge improvement, about half a second, but still better than she's ever done before. She posted a 45.44, and finished 69th, an improvement over her seed coming in of 73rd...

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Brett

200 Breast
Brett's 200 Breast was on Saturday and he was very focused for it. To give you some reference I'll post his splits from his 2 previous swims...

Code:


Swim 1			Swim 2

47.02				44.11
1:38.37 (51.35)			1:34.16 (50.05)
2:28.60 (50.23)			2:26.04 (51.88)
3:18.94 (50.34)			3.14.71 (48.67)

He opened his race with a 44.13, the posted a strong second 50 as well, coming in at 1:34.70 (50.57). The 3rd 50, like the swim last week was off the pace of the first two quite a bit and he posted a 2:26.19 (51.49)...at this point he is almost exactly where he was in the last chance meet...but this time he didn't seem to have the energy to bring it home. He finished in a slow time of 51.34...and posted an official time of 3:17.53. This time is shy of the state qualifying time and we'll probably be fined $50 for allowing him to swim. I am disappointed he didn't get the cut, but allowing him to swim appears to have been the right call. He was very excited and motivated by being there. He also is talking about developing his "off strokes" so he'll be able to swim more events at the state meet in the future (we'll see if he sticks with that, but for now it should get us through long course season with good effort).

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Day 2

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Bailey

100 IM
Bailey's first event of the day was the 100 IM, and she did well. She opened with a good first 50 of 38.93, and he fly leg was very strong. She lost some time on the Breast, but held on through the fatigue of the Free to post a personal best time of 1:25.20...almost a full second improvement over her time coming in. She also finished 76th and was seeded 84th

50 Yard Butterfly
This is an event that Bailey hasn't raced in quite a while and I had high hopes for a significant improvement. Her form her looks really good and it also looked good in the IM early that morning. She goes out strong and doesn't disappoint swimming a time of 38.43 a full second faster than her seed time (and 1 second in a 50 is a good improvemment). She ended up 68th, she was seeded 94th coming in.

100 Yard Breaststroke
I didn't get a chance to talk with Bailey after the start of the meet through this race (her events were too close together and she wanted to watch her crew swim there events). I did get her attention from the stands and try to let her know she needed to explode the upper body into the reach/glide portion of the stroke. I felt she was just laying forward rather than really driving her upper body into the water. She apparently understood my signals because she appeared to do what I was trying to tell her and it worked. She posted almost a full second improvement in this race too...1:37.52. She finished 41st and came in seeded 54th...

100 Back
Fatigue and the inability to trust her counts going into the walls really hurt her in this race. She was a full second off her personal best time posting a 1:26.59. It wasn't a bad swim for Bailey, in fact, it was actually a bit comical as she went into the first wall in about 3rd in her heat, can came off the wall about 6th...she closed the gap on those that passed her but then lost ground again on the turn...this happened the whole race. Her turns are fine for everyday meets, but this event was all state level swimmers and ok turns don't cut it. It will be very interesting to see how she does in back in long course where the impact of a turn is minimized a bit...

--------------------

Bear

200 Yard Freestyle
Bear once again uses his adrenaline to post a big improvement in the first race of a major event. Just 1 week after swimming the 200 Free for the first time and posting a time good enough to make the state meet. Bear goes out and improves on that time by 4 seconds...He posted a 2:42.61...here are his splits and those from the last chance the week before...

Code:

37.84				37.25
1:20.15 (42.31)			1.21.50 (44.25)
2:02.53 (42.38)			2:05.04 (43.54)
2:42.61 (40.08)			2:26.15 (41.11)

I was extremely impressed with this effort, and he was very pumped up. Unfortunately...

50 Fly
As we have seen before...when he goes out and blows away a time to open a big event, he also tends to suffer from over expending his energy and he doesn't tend to improve in his other events. This was exactly the case in this race. He didn't get a personal best and infact cam in over half a second slower. Not terrible considering he is still working on the more classic approach to the stroke...official time is 40.39

100 Yard Backstroke
Bear again overworked the backstroke (like he did in the IM the previous week). The over working and the fatigue combined to pose a much slower time that his personal best. In fact, he came in 2.5 seconds off his best pace, posting a 1:29.07.

02-27-2012, 08:03 AM	#72
Breeze Grizzled Veteran Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Northern Suburbs of ATL	Georgia State Championships - 2/24-2/26 @ GaTech Day 1 --------------------- Bailey *50 Breast* Bailey had 1 event on Saturday, the 50 Breast, and as I said in the preview section, her stroke is slightly off. I really didn't expect much from her here, but she did end up getting a personal best. It wasn't a huge improvement, about half a second, but still better than she's ever done before. She posted a *45.44, and finished 69th, an improvement over her seed coming in of 73rd... --------------------- Brett* *200 Breast* Brett's 200 Breast was on Saturday and he was very focused for it. To give you some reference I'll post his splits from his 2 previous swims... Code: Swim 1 Swim 2 47.02 44.11 1:38.37 (51.35) 1:34.16 (50.05) 2:28.60 (50.23) 2:26.04 (51.88) 3:18.94 (50.34) 3.14.71 (48.67) He opened his race with a 44.13, the posted a strong second 50 as well, coming in at 1:34.70 (50.57). The 3rd 50, like the swim last week was off the pace of the first two quite a bit and he posted a 2:26.19 (51.49)...at this point he is almost exactly where he was in the last chance meet...but this time he didn't seem to have the energy to bring it home. He finished in a slow time of 51.34...and posted an official time of *3:17.53. This time is shy of the state qualifying time and we'll probably be fined $50 for allowing him to swim. I am disappointed he didn't get the cut, but allowing him to swim appears to have been the right call. He was very excited and motivated by being there. He also is talking about developing his "off strokes" so he'll be able to swim more events at the state meet in the future (we'll see if he sticks with that, but for now it should get us through long course season with good effort). ------------------- Day 2* ------------------- Bailey *100 IM* Bailey's first event of the day was the 100 IM, and she did well. She opened with a good first 50 of 38.93, and he fly leg was very strong. She lost some time on the Breast, but held on through the fatigue of the Free to post a personal best time of *1:25.20...almost a full second improvement over her time coming in. She also finished 76th and was seeded 84th 50 Yard Butterfly* This is an event that Bailey hasn't raced in quite a while and I had high hopes for a significant improvement. Her form her looks really good and it also looked good in the IM early that morning. She goes out strong and doesn't disappoint swimming a time of *38.43* a full second faster than her seed time (and 1 second in a 50 is a good improvemment). She ended up 68th, she was seeded 94th coming in. *100 Yard Breaststroke* I didn't get a chance to talk with Bailey after the start of the meet through this race (her events were too close together and she wanted to watch her crew swim there events). I did get her attention from the stands and try to let her know she needed to explode the upper body into the reach/glide portion of the stroke. I felt she was just laying forward rather than really driving her upper body into the water. She apparently understood my signals because she appeared to do what I was trying to tell her and it worked. She posted almost a full second improvement in this race too...1:37.52. She finished 41st and came in seeded 54th... *100 Back* Fatigue and the inability to trust her counts going into the walls really hurt her in this race. She was a full second off her personal best time posting a *1:26.59. It wasn't a bad swim for Bailey, in fact, it was actually a bit comical as she went into the first wall in about 3rd in her heat, can came off the wall about 6th...she closed the gap on those that passed her but then lost ground again on the turn...this happened the whole race. Her turns are fine for everyday meets, but this event was all state level swimmers and ok turns don't cut it. It will be very interesting to see how she does in back in long course where the impact of a turn is minimized a bit... -------------------- Bear* *200 Yard Freestyle* Bear once again uses his adrenaline to post a big improvement in the first race of a major event. Just 1 week after swimming the 200 Free for the first time and posting a time good enough to make the state meet. Bear goes out and improves on that time by 4 seconds...He posted a *2:42.61...here are his splits and those from the last chance the week before... Code: 37.84 37.25 1:20.15 (42.31) 1.21.50 (44.25) 2:02.53 (42.38) 2:05.04 (43.54) 2:42.61 (40.08) 2:26.15 (41.11) I was extremely impressed with this effort, and he was very pumped up. Unfortunately... 50 Fly* As we have seen before...when he goes out and blows away a time to open a big event, he also tends to suffer from over expending his energy and he doesn't tend to improve in his other events. This was exactly the case in this race. He didn't get a personal best and infact cam in over half a second slower. Not terrible considering he is still working on the more classic approach to the stroke...official time is *40.39* *100 Yard Backstroke* Bear again overworked the backstroke (like he did in the IM the previous week). The over working and the fatigue combined to pose a much slower time that his personal best. In fact, he came in 2.5 seconds off his best pace, posting a *1:29.07*.