2006 LCM Zones Trip
Submitted by rmayall on Tuesday, August 29, 2006.
Scotty and I left Friday night from Rochester for Lancaster Pennsylvania, arrived at 10pm, visited with family and went to sleep at 11pm. We got up at 7am and had first breakfast headed out to the meet. By 8:30am we were shopping for second breakfast at Perkins because I promised Scott if we saw one we would stop and get Eggs Benedict.
We arrived at the hotel at 11:30am and met my mom there. She came from Massachusetts to watch the meet. I did a quick shave and we were leaving for the meet at 12:15pm. The directions were a little off, there was construction and it was a good think my mother got there a day early to scope things out. Now that we have been there once though this will not be a problem. The destination address brings you into university drive and really you need to keep going to the next intersection and go two lights to enter the campus from the other side.
I was very impressed with the pool. Registration was simple. Name, here is a program. Go down the stairs to the locker room and family/guest could sit up stair or downstairs. So, scott and my mother joined me down on deck after the warm-ups were over.
Warm-ups started at 1pm and ended at 2pm.
As usual my nerves were getting me going. The pool was beautiful. There is a giant score board and if I could see I would be able to see my time while I am swimming the Freestyle events. The pool temperature in the stands and on deck is very comfortable for spectators and swimmers. I wore shirt and eventually got a thin coat to stay warm. Yes, Dana, I wore my socks and sandals.
So far I have met Neill, Glenn, Emeric and Jodie.
Neill and Emeric beat me in the 50Free. I was in the fast heat (Lane 8). Just made it in. Emeric went to worlds and swam on a Masters Team Rawdy Gains coached 10 years ago.
Glenn and I swam next to each other in the 200 Free. We were talking before hand and I was saying I wanted to go under 2:15 and he was hoping to do around his seat time. I went 2:13.41. It was a great race for me. I went out controlled and really brought it home on the last 50. I split it 30, 34, 35, 33. It felt great. So now onto the rest of the day. I swam 5 events today. My first three events were back to back and I recovered successfully for each event.
The 50 back was next, I felt recovered after the 200Free and ready to go and I swam about the same time as Empires. 34.16. That was good enough for 1st.
The 200Breast was next, (Bruce I got it in before the years was over). I was very surprised in this event. For a few reasons: I have my weird seating rules which is take my best time ever and add 6 seconds the first time I swim a race I use to swim. And again this seemed to work out. The best time had done at 18 was 2:57. So, that put me at 3:03. I was kind worried because this put me into one heat before the fastest group. Anyway, I went 3:05.53 and split it 41, 47, 48, 48. My legs were burning a bit so I warmed down a little more to prepare for the 50free. Anyway I got first and 3rd over all within the All Master's guys that were competing and first in my age group.
The 50Free was next and I felt good. Kept my breathing which I have been working on and did a 26.88. That is pretty good for me 26.52 is my fasted. I think, I am in the same boat I was in during Nationals and tomorrow I will be going faster.
The 50Breast was my last event and I can't believe how well I did. I did not get tired. Halfway down I felt like I have more to give so I pushed harder and I ended up with a 33.70 almost a second off my previous 34.51 that I did at Masters. So, I am looking forward to tomorrow's 100Free. This is my first Niagara Record for this meet, yea.
We went back to the hotel which is only 4 miles away from the swimming complex, went to dinner. The interesting thing about malls out here is there are a lot of trees around them. And there are a lot of trees around everything here. So, finding things is not as easy as driving down Jefferson Rd and seeing there is a Boston Market, Kinko, etc. You need to know the roads and directions to make it there or you could be right next to McDonalds and you will not see it. (Little tid-bit from the trip.)
Day-2 (Zones 2006)
Got up and I was tired. Headed for the pool and did my warm-up. Met all the same people from yesterday and some new friends from the Adirondack Masters Swim Club (Bill, etc.) The fun part of the day was talking with people and yes swimming in my events.
I hit it off with the 100Free where I had a great race. I went out in a 28 and came back in a 29 for an overall time of 57.87. That was way better than I was expecting to do. It was almost 1 second better that I did at Empires where I went 58.83. Glenn came over and said great job.
After this, I was not able to rest much and even when I got rest for the 400 I was not able to kick it into gear. This is the big BUT, I liked swimming all of the events I swam. I want to enjoy as much as I can (Carpe diem - seize the day).
Note to self and everyone else sleep and rest are key to performing.
Don't forget to bring sweat pants; you will need them, especially at this pool.
The Summary For Randy:
Gold: 5
Silver: 4
Bronze: 1
Two Niagara Records: 50M Breast / 100M Free
And a change at placing in the Top-10 in the 40-44 Age Group for the 50M Breast / 100M Free.
All in all I have a wonderful time. I scored 184 or 200 possible points in my 10 events that I swam in. I enjoyed meeting Emeric, Glenn, Bill, Neill and Jodie.
Bill is just starting to swim again and is loving every minute of it.
Jodie is a great breaststroker and IMer. She swam the 200 Breaststroke and then swam the 400IM in the next event.
Glenn and Neill are great back strokers. Neill is an awesome 50Free Sprinter and Glenn and I were closely matched in the 200Free.
Emeric is great at butterfly and freestyle.
I saw some awesome swims and a world record was set in the 100 Back Stroke.
Don't forget that the pool is beautiful and we need some more people to come next year. So, we can win a team high score aware. They do lots of relays each day and they way the team scoring goes teams <8 is one group 8-14 is the next and >14 is the last grouping.
That resulted in 40 teams in the <8 grouping, 2 in 8-14 grouping and only one team in the >14 team size.
Related Topics: Colonies Zone Championships | Meets