Feeling Good But Unfortunately Not Fast

Last practice before my first swim meet in many, many years. I’m swimming reasonably well for someone who’s just started his third month of serious training, but I’m still not really comfortable with trying to establish personal performance levels by actually racing. These apprehensions are reinforced by my speed work in practices. I’ve definitely slowed down a bit since taking up dedicated weight training (my cold has also had an effect) and it’s showing up everywhere in my training in the form of slower splits. This morning was no different as a series of easy 100 backs turned up times which wouldn’t have been out of place when I was swimming once a week back in August. A little disconcerting. Still, with the restricted swim season available to Master’s swimmers I have to start collecting some times and must ignore any possible damage to my pride. I need to look at my upcoming times as benchmarks for me to evaluate progress rather than definitive statements of my swimming ability. No, that’s not really true. Perhaps I’m not looking for great times but I am looking for indications of talent – a 100 back time, maybe not serious fast, but still fast for my age. So, despite my present conditioning, I have to admit I’m not pulling back from my target times. I’ve always performed my best under pressure and deep down I’m confident I’ll simply swim the times I want regardless of all the factors. One thing for sure; I’m going to find out. For this evening I’ve made the decision not to run and so rest my body that little bit more for the meet. I admit a certain amount of regret over this decision as I’m thinking a run to stretch me out and get the legs flowing again would feel really good.