Deep in the Heart of Texas

Date: Wednesday, March 14, 2012
Time: 2:30 p.m.
Location: Mansfield, TX
Short Course Yards
103 days to Olympic Trials

300 warmup

10x50 on 1:00
12.5 underwater/12.5 swim

10x75 on 1:20
25 back/25 breast/25 free

10x100 free aerobic on 1:30 (avg. 1:05)

8x15 breakouts on :45

50 easy

6x50 breast on 1:00 (avg. :32)

200 easy

4x25 breast on :35
odd: kick drill easy
even: double pullouts easy

Stretching

Total: 3,400 yards (70 minutes)

I didn't feel much like swimming hard today. I just wanted to do an aerobic workout, to get out the kinks of travel yesterday. Plus, I hadn't thought about what I was going to do for workout until about five minutes before I dove in. The only thing I had planned beforehand was the 6x50 breast at the end.

On that set, I had written down "Don't go over :34," thinking I would stay aerobic and work on stroke. After the first one going :32 didn't seem too difficult ... until number three. Based on what I saw on the pace clock, I was barely holding on to that 32-second pace on five and six, but I managed to do it. I was mentally forcing myself to not quit the set, knowing this would be a good mental and physical exercise. Plus, if I could make 10x100 with no desires to quit, I could make 300 yards of breaststroke.

My left leg didn't feel good today. I was having trouble with my hamstring, and was being real tentative on the pushoffs. I did a good dynamic stretching routine before I dove in today, but the muscle never felt loose. The tightness never developed into a cramp, but I was a little fearful of that during that set of 50s. Afterward, I did a lot of hamstring stretching, which was essentially holding the wall and extending my legs. It felt a little better after that.

I'm at the NCAA Division II swimming and diving championships, at a pool used by four high school teams in the area. It's the first time I've heard of a high school pool used for a major college meet, but it is a nice facility. The only issue is too little spectator seating, and the fact that Mansfield, Texas, is pretty much in the middle of nowhere.The few hotels here are taken by the college teams, so I'm at a hotel in Arlington 20 minutes away. If I wanted to do some sightseeing or whatever, most of the major attractions are 30 minutes away. Not that I want to see any sights. I've been to the Dallas-Fort Worth area many times, and there's not much that I want to see. Some of the sports information directors here were talking about visiting Dealey Plaza, where JFK was assassinated. I've been there, and it's eerie and somber.

No worries. I usually stay at the pool all day, and doing a 70-minute workout makes the time pass a little faster.

I want to publicly thank Bob Button, a local high school coach who made sure it was OK for me to get in a workout in the competition pool. I had a feeling it wouldn't be an issue to swim between prelims and finals while the diving competition was taking place in another part of the pool, but it was nice to have Bob's thumbs up! It will make jumping in the rest of the week a lot easier.