I want to swim longer...

Well the 50 free last night was not perfect, but it was in the range I wanted to go for this meet. I went 19.87. I wanted to go between 19.4 and 19.8. I can leave satisfied with that performance. I still feel pretty awkward in the water because I simply haven't worked on any speed thus far this season. When I finished the race all I wanted to do was swim a longer race. I half-way wished I had swum the 500 free instead of the 50.

The 200 free was this morning and I was really looking forward to it. Sitting on the deck before warm-up I was reading the heat sheet and noticed I was next to Josh Davis. I was pumped. Josh is a total legend in the sport of swimming, having won several Olympic medals at two Olympic games. Not to mention, Josh is a Texas boy...gotta love the Texas boys!

I immediately got on my phone and called Josh to find out if he was really at the meet??? I got his answering machine and left him a message that included,"I see you're entered in the 200 free at Nationals...I hope this is true cause I can't wait to spank you like a little baby hahahaha!" I've been great friends with Josh for about six years so he knows I'm joking:)

As I was warming up I saw Josh underneath the water coming up towards me. We both laughed and I told him we were next to each other in the 200 free. He was pumped to race with me too.

I made sure to do more in warm-up than I figured I needed to. Especially at this point of the season, you cannot warm-up too much. I've found through many years of swimming, weight-training and competing that generally our bodies are much tougher and resilient than our minds. As long as we're confident in what we're doing our bodies will support our decisions and perform.

As I was putting my suit on Josh came over and asked if I had an extra cap. I told him I did but it was a 'Weber-Gale' Texas cap. He said, "all the better." Josh and I were behind the blocks and one of the timers got a picture of us both wearing the same cap. I've never seen my name on someone else's cap before, but I must say, it looked pretty cool. I was super proud to have Josh wear my cap...seriously he is a legend that will always be respected and remembered!

As I dove off the block in the 200 free the zipper on the back of my suit popped open. It's amazing how much drag this adds. To say the least I wasn't thrilled but I was very careful to stay focused on what I was doing. I wasn't about to let this stupid problem get in the way of me swimming a good race. I was out in 47.0 and as I turned at the 100 I saw Josh a good bit ahead of me. In all honesty, I said to myself, "uh-0h I better pick it up...I'm not about to get beat by Josh, especially after I left that message on his phone haha..." Don't get me wrong, I respect Josh a ton but he no longer trains and I should be able to beat him. At about the 125 I started to really throw my kick in the mix. I consistently built every 50 and finished with pretty good force. I went 1:37.7. This was a great morning swim for me. I will look to go faster tonight, especially since in all likely-hood my suit won't be broken.