Friday, December 5, 2008

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.

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

good job on the 200free !
that's cool that you got to race beside Josh. and the message you left on his phone was pretty funny.

that pic of the two of you with the same cap sounds awesome. it doesn't sound like you were able to get a copy though?

and what a horrible time to have a wardrobe malfunction, right? it's a good thing you stayed focused.

looking forward to catching you race tonight (via swimroom)

LUCY said...

My co-workers and I were cheering for you this morning. We were monitoring your results on-line thru Omega timing. We were holding our breath, since we can't see you...it felt like an eternity waiting for the Final results. Good luck tonite!!! Garrett... try to keep your suit on!..HA,HA

Anonymous said...

Bravo!!! Very funny little message to get the ball rolling..nice...and that's another point to make don't sweat the small stuff...I'm stoked to see how your season will turn out.

I for one am proud to say in discus I broke my personal best. I had no clue that no American woman has won a gold at the Olympics I'm like well heck I wanna break that streak..I think that'd be awesome. So I have one more goal be the first woman to get a gold at the Olympics for shot put in 2012..Who knows what'll happen.

Also thanks 4 listening to my sport stuff although this is mainly about swimming.

Good luck with your training!

Mark Gale said...

Donna: A personal best is a very sweet thing. Congrats.
Your track friends might like the blog as well.

Lauren Brent said...

*hyperventalates* YOU DIDN'T TELL US IF YOU BEAT HIM OR NOT!!!!!!! GARRETT YOU CAN'T DO THAT TO ME!! *passes out*

This was a GREAT blog - seriously, I felt like I was there... only difference between reading about it and actually being there was I would know which one of you hit the wall first!! I'm glad you did so well - sorry about the wardrobe malfunction, but hey, it happens to the best of us (and Janet Jackson XD) Good luck, and keep us updated!!! :)

(AND TELL ME WHO WON!!!!.....please. :P)

Garrett said...

I'm glad to hear about your Olympic dream!

I ended up beating Josh by a couple seconds... haha sorry about forgetting that info...

Lauren Brent said...

AH! Congrats on that, then! :) Swimming it out and Lezak-ing it in the end, huh? That's great! lol.. thanks for letting me know... all is forgiven, just don't let it happen again. :P

Anonymous said...

while you were swimming, josh davis was talking in the live streamming (at swimnetwork), and said that he was saving your message for motivation.

your suit open again, sucks!

congrats for your 1:36!

Anonymous said...

Congrats on the 200 free! Sounds like you did pretty well even with a suit issue!

Good luck!

Anonymous said...

Thanks Mark and Garrett!! I love swimming and this is why I come here, but it's rare to find an Olympian like you who takes the time to do all this updating and keeping us in tune and listening to our stuff. It's really awesome. I think my track friends would like it, they are big fans of swimming anyway's.

To be honest your blog writings are inspirational to me and I can relate them to track. In order to keep a level head I come here and just read because sometimes I get in that mode wear what if this is just all a dream.

Thanks for being one of the inspirational/motivational people I am a fan of in my life.

Garrett said...

I did once again have a suit issue...I will blog about it later.

I'm really happy this blog can give insight and inspiration!

Anonymous said...

Sorry about that I didn't realize I had set my name to anonymous. I was setting up an blogger account on here...lol..


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