The 1650

I've never done one--until now. I feel complete.

Actually, that's a lie. I don't feel complete, (really, who ever does???) but I'm glad I got a one mile TT under mile belt! The first half of the Masters Short Course Yards Championship was held at Blodgett Pool at Harvard University this weekend.

I have to confess. I almost missed the whole thing because of a brain fart.

I had it in my mind that check in for my event was at 12:39. It wasn't. That was when the event was to START. Check in was at 11:39.
I realized my error at 11:06. I was still in Westwood, more than a 1/2 hour away.

I'm not a speeder, but yesterday I was. I dodged in it out of cars like I was racing the Indy 500. (Actually, do cars dodge in and out in the Indy 500? Uncle Nick?) Anyway. I did close to 80 the whole way (relax, mostly highway) and then I tapped my foot and pulled my hair when I got into town and hit a few lights.

Half way there I realized I had brought my swim bag, but not my purse.
Purse = money.
You can't park unless you have money. Damn!

I looked through the change drawer of Andy's car (which I was driving) and to my dismay realized he only had about 4 bucks in change. He usually has so much more than that, but I had cleaned him out just a few weeks before when I forgot my purse when out with Jordan, and decided we needed to get burritos. Double Damn!  I would have to park on the street.

Luckily for me, I know that area well because my good friend's husband went to the B-School at Harvard many years ago. I attended many a party there, and I know places to park on the street for free.  Unfortunately, none of these places are right in front of the pool building. None. Further, the closest parking spaces to the pool were naturally already taken by other swimmers. Triple Damn!

I found a place on Western Ave, which is one block over from the pool. I leaped out of my car. It was 12:38. I had on flip-flops and was carrying a huge swim bag. Time for some bare-foot running! I tore off my flip-flops and began to run on the pebbly pavement. I wove through parking lots, hit barbed wires fences, turned around, ran more. Finally I made it to the entrance. I was sweating like a hog. It was 12:42. I dashed into the building, ran down to the deck, and with sweat pouring off my brow I gasped, Am I too late?

As I stood there I heard the announcer over the microphone, "Last call to sign in for the Women's 1650."  Sigh of relief.
I found my name on the list and checked it off, and then I limped off to the locker room, dripping with sweat, but very relieved.

I didn't have to swim for another few hours, of course. That's the way swim meets work. The men's 1000 was finishing up, and I was in the third heat of eight for the 1650. Each of the first heats of the 1650 would take a minimum 24 minutes, so I had a while before I even had to warm up. (The later heats take less time, because at meets, unlike triathlon, they seed according to time, not age, from slowest to fastest swimmers.)

I was excited to wear my new X-Terra skin suit. It's designed for the open water, and so it's slightly thicker than a regular skin suit and only extends to just above the knee. Still, it's skin tight (hard to zip those suckers, I must say) and there is NO DOUBT it helps with speed. That would be why they are being made illegal, of course.....

After changing I found my Maine peeps (reminder: I am in denial of the fact that I live in Boston, and hence I swim for Maine Masters.)  I also found my friend Sheryl, who had counted for Melissa who did the 1000 in the morning. She let me know that Melissa had done awesomely well and had conquered her first foray into the world of Masters swimming.

I warmed up with my friend Katie, and then sat to watch the rest of the men and the first heats of the women. My friend Kristi (the most enthusiastic Masters swimmer I have ever known) agreed to count for me. She was a SUPERSTAR counter--placing the numbers just to my right so I could both see and flip (I flip to my right) and also screaming into my ear as I turned. She was awesome.

I admit I was concerned about diving from the blocks. Because I hadn't been there for the early morning warm-up, I wasn't able to test the blocks at this pool to make sure my goggles were all perfect and tight and not going to flip off my face as I entered the water. My method of dealing with this was to make them super tight. I had goggle marks on my face into the night....

My friend Son sat with me before I swam, keeping my calm and peppering me with questions so I wouldn't freak out. And then I was on the blocks, and then I was plunging into the shock of the cold water. And then I was swimming!

Jen and I have been battling about data (and my reliance on it). She is VERY into getting me to learn my body so that I can train and race by feel rather than having the numbers dictate how I feel about a given session. Well, she certainly got her way with this! There is NO way to gauge how fast or slow you are swimming except by feel in the 1650. You can't exactly start your watch when diving off the blocks, and even if you could, you wouldn't want to break your streamline off the wall in order to CHECK the watch (though I do do this when I train). You just swim.

Here is what is amazing.
Check out my splits: 

Holt-Wilson, Mary         39 Maine Masters-NE     22:05.74   13  
 

34.39               1:13.50 (39.11)     1:54.04 (40.54)     2:35.84 (41.80)
        3:16.84 (41.00)     3:57.73 (40.89)     4:38.66 (40.93)     5:19.53 (40.87)
        6:00.26 (40.73)     6:40.94 (40.68)     7:21.34 (40.40)     8:01.97 (40.63)
        8:42.41 (40.44)     9:23.12 (40.71)    10:03.47 (40.35)    10:43.90 (40.43)
       11:24.51 (40.61)    12:04.93 (40.42)    12:45.23 (40.30)    13:25.49 (40.26)
       14:05.95 (40.46)    14:46.16 (40.21)    15:26.19 (40.03)    16:06.26 (40.07)
       16:46.20 (39.94)    17:26.26 (40.06)    18:06.56 (40.30)    18:46.60 (40.04)
       19:27.03 (40.43)    20:06.81 (39.78)    20:46.88 (40.07)    21:27.21 (40.33)
       22:05.74 (38.53)

It appears it took me about 300 yards to get my pace down, but once I did it is amazing how even I was. What's funny is that MOST swimmers (including Melissa, I will add) had the same pattern. About 300 yards, and then BAM, locked into a particular pace. Could it be that we hit a pace that our bodies intuitively know we can hold indefinitely--a very hard, but doable pace? And why isn't it this way in running? Well, actually, I know that for running we are victim to the terrain and the elements, and that affects pace. But I wonder if our EFFORT becomes sustained? That we automatically slow and speed up according to a pace our body knows it will be able to hold for the distance we've asked it to complete?

I felt super for the first.... 400 yards. It flew by. I couldn't believe when I looked up and saw 17 on the counting board. Really? Already? Unfortunately, by about 39 lengths I was freaking TIRED! I kept trying to translate lengths to yards in my head... okay... 39 lengths --that's almost 40, that's almost 1000.... It was like my brain wouldn't really work. I had a hard time figuring it out! Meanwhile, Kristi was screaming, I was taking a breath every stroke...
The 1650 ain't short. I'll say that.

There was one girl ahead of me in my heat. She had bounded off those blocks and within about 200 yards she had almost lapped me. My goal became to keep her in the exact same spot--to NOT let her ever lap me. And I did it! The others in my heat must have been much slower than their seed times because I lapped most of them several times.

And then I heard the loud bell signaling that the first swimmer had only 50 to go. Sweet! Only 75 for me! I started really kicking... I was so close!

And then I was slamming the pads. I was stunned to see the clock. I had seeded myself at 23:30, thinking it would be great if I could hold 1:25 100s. I had held 1:20s! Wow!

On the way back to the car I was sort of stunned at how far I had apparently run in my bare-feet. It took me four minutes to get from my car to the pool deck on the way in. It took me 15 minutes to get back to my car after the meet. As I walked to the car I thought about how funny it is that sometimes improvement sneaks up on us when we least expect it. I've been very focused on improving my bike. I've been grumpy about it, and frustrated about it... and overall just obsessed with it in an annoying way. (Just ask Jen.) I haven't thought a bit about my swim or run in months. And then BAM! I improve in my swimming! Just last spring I swam a 400 all out in the beginning of a sprint tri, and I averaged 1:20 100s--and then yesterday I managed to swim 16 and 1/2 100s on 1:20.

Funny how that is. I'm pretty sure there is a lesson in it.... ;)