tyler's take

Yesterday morning I swam my first long course 200m butterfly since the 1980s. In the past 3 years (since my return to swimming) I had swum the race 4 times in short course pools (twice yards and twice meters), but long course is a different animal. Going into this race I was not quite sure what to expect, as all of my (admittedly old) memories of it were mostly memories of pure agony on the last 50 (and primarily the last 25).

I’m not sure if it was my recent 10k swim that made me tougher, or if it was just my using a different race strategy (that being to go out super easy on the first 100), but for the first time in my life I swam a long course 200m fly and it didn’t really hurt at all, and my last 50 was not my slowest. It was almost eerie. Of course, it was not a particularly fast 200 fly either. If you check out those results you’ll find me in 25th place with what is surely the most even splitting of this race in my life: 31, 36, 36, 36.

Going into this weekend I was signed up for 4 events, all 200s: 200 fly (friday), 200 free and 200 back (Saturday), and 200 IM (sunday). I had told myself that even if I made it into finals I was not going to swim any event twice, and of all the events I *certainly* wasn’t going to swim the 200 fly twice. Yet here I was having gone a virtually pain-free swim that was not nearly as fast as I had hoped to go, and I was first alternate, and I was actually thinking about swimming it again if anybody above me scratched. And lo and behold, one person did. So, against all odds I decided to come back in the evening to swim it again to see how fast I could go if I let it hurt a little.

Just before the start of evening finals, there was a very moving tribute to swim coaching legend Richard Quick, who was diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor only last November and, after a brief yet valiant struggle, passed away this last Wednesday here in Austin. Coach Quick was most currently the head swimming coach at Auburn (both men and women), and had previously been at the helm of the Stanford Lady Cardinal swimmers (1988-2005), Texas Longhorn Women’s swimming (1982 -1988), and Auburn (1978 – 1982), among others (the articles give more detail).

This past April, Richard became the first recipient of the College Swimming Coaches Association of America Lifetime Achievement award. Last night, the video commemorating this honor was played on the big screen at the swim center, and was followed by a silent moment of remembrance. To all of Richard’s friends and family, my thoughts and prayers are with you.

Once the meet was underway I did not have all that long to wait before my swim. I knew I needed to go out harder, and I did. This time around, my final 50 was my slowest of the swim (so nice to get back to normal), but it was not the slowest of the day (my third 50 from the morning was actually slower!). So I ended up with an almost respectable 2:16.56 and I split it 29, 34, 35, 36: not quite as even splitting as the morning swim, but much faster. So in the end, after not racing a single long course 200m fly in over 20 years I ended up swimming two in one day. And it was worth it.

This morning (Saturday) my races were 200 Freestyle and 200 Backstroke. I swam a really excellent Short Course Yard (SCY) 200 free in California last May, and building on that race I was hoping to break 2:00. Alas, though I split it very well and managed to win my heat, I did not make my goal time, nor did I make finals. After a swimdown and a short rest I raced the 200 back for the first time this year. Last year I went 2:17.2 and I was hoping to be faster this year. Alas, I went 2:19.4. In both swims I think I suffered a bit of the same early pacing problem that I experienced on the prelim 200 fly the day before. I did manage to final in 200 back, and again I’m breaking with my earlier plan and will be swimming it a second time tonight. Hopefully, I’ll be able to fight the typical performance fade that I experience in most multi-day meets, since I still have this race tonight and the 200 IM tomorrow morning. People who like me can feel free to send some good energy my way (I’ll probably need it).

Full meet results are available here.

Come tomorrow morning to the Texas Swim Center around 11:00-ish and watch me swim the Long Course Meter 200 Fly for the first time in about 25 years, and as a bonus stay a little longer and see something genuinely exciting: 5 time Olympian Dara Torres. Dara was swimming during my noon workout today (I coach) and she told me she would swim the 50 Free tomorrow. Cool!

On Monday morning Eddie Reese was asking me how well I was recovering from my most recent postal swim, and he mentioned the result of a study he had seen showing that runners took up to a week to fully replenish their glycogen stores after racing a 10k, regardless of any active remedial therapy they attempted. I told him that I was feeling better, and that it did take about a week to get back to normal. Just as our brief conversation was winding down, and we started walking in opposite directions on the pool deck, the most amazing thing occurred. Eddie stopped, turned back to me and said this:

“Your 10k was the most impressive swim that I’ve seen this summer.”

At dinner that evening, my friend David thoughtfully pointed out, “do you think he was serious? You know, technically summer hasn’t even started yet.” It’s true, when he said that there were still two weeks of spring, and I’m sure that Eddie has a lot of sufficiently more impressive swims yet to see this summer, but personally I’m ok being a little early, and I’m ok being first.

In nearly 20 years of knowing each other, I’ve received a number of observations from Eddie, but this one was by far the most impressive, and the best compliment that Eddie has ever bestowed upon me (or as he might say, the best two). I have to say, I think this may be my first time living in Austin when I wasn’t at all upset that summer came early.

On Saturday morning after swim practice I went to the gym for what will surely be my last core/FIT double for the spring (and likely for the month of June (and looking at how the 4th falls on the calendar, probably most of July too)), and it was also my first since I suckered Jon into going with me back in May; my reward? I’m now sore-to-the-core (well, technically it’s more in the glutes and tri’s) 5 days out from the start of the Senior Circuit swim meet this weekend at UT (where Ande, Todd, and I will be giving some real meaning to the leading adjective in the name). Oh well, since I’m planning a quick 3 day crash taper for this meet the sore thing is probably not going to be too big of a problem.

Every time I can work it into the schedule there always seems to be some element of the FIT class that makes the effort all worthwhile (or that just cracks me up) and this saturday was no exception. Fairly early into it a song with a salsa rhythm entered the mix, and with heavy weights in hand the class instructor encouraged everyone to exercise their obliques by stepping and swinging their hips to the beat, and she demonstrated the technique most impressively. At some point during the exercise she asked anyone in the class who salsa dances to raise a hand, and it seems like quite a few of the ladies did (I didn’t survey any of the dudes). My hand did not go up, primarily because the question was posed in the present tense (truth be told, these days I wouldn’t even know where to go). But pondering it *did* bring back some fond memories.

When I was in my last year of graduate school, and for part of the year afterwards, I shared a condo with my friend Ricardo who was finishing his PhD in exercise physiology at UT. Ricardo was born and raised in Madrid, and having lived most of his life in a foreign land gave him a unique (and typically humorous) perspective on all things american. Living with that guy was such a blast! (and he was an *amazingly* tolerant roommate … when he came back from a few weeks of winter break in spain to discover that I had gutted the kitchen down to concrete slab and wall studs he broke out his recently recharged mediterranean accent to casually ask, “uh, where do we cook now?” and when I excitedly demoed the temporary, yet elegant “new kitchen,” which consisted of an old microwave perched up on a rickety cabinet in the half-bath he said, “Whoa. Is my bread maker here somewhere? (he finds it) Ok, it’s good.” …. ah, Rico we miss you).

One of the many perks of living with Rico was that his graduate lab was equipped with all sorts of interesting things: VO2 monitors, gas chromatographs, large dewars of liquid nitrogen, and a high percentage of friendly, fun and sporty girls. These latter I remember as being very generous dance partners on more than one evening at Miguel’s La Bodega, which was a club on Colorado between 4th and 5th that had at least one or two Salsa and Merengue nights a week (these days I think that Miguel’s is gone, gone, gone). Regrettably, the number of times that I went could be counted on two hands, and so I think I was never in danger of being an expert salsa dancer (so sweetly confirmed for me one evening by an older Latina who did seem very expert!), but I do remember having lots of fun (and, given enough practice, I do tend to improve at almost everything that’s fun).

That was all many, many moons ago now, but the blast from the past in FIT was fun while it lasted. I imagine that I would go salsa dancing again someday, and if it did ever happen I imagine that it would be still be lots of fun (and then if anyone ever asked me about it I might be able to raise my hand). But that would require me finding two long missing somethings: 1) the modern replacement for Miguel’s, 2) a partner who likes to salsa *and* who likes me enough to let me salsa with her. Hmm, seems like I need help with at least one of those … let me see if I can find Rico’s email address, it’s gotta be around here somewhere …