RACE REPORT: Hammerhead Springfest Invitational Swim Meet

With my 3 Gold and 2 Silver medals

     Last Friday and Saturday I competed in my very first swim meet since college and let me tell you, it wasn't easy! Even with all the training I've been doing, it was difficult to force my body into 'sprin mode' when all I've been doing is training endurance. 

    Nevertheless, I think I turned out a few decent times and had a great time while doing it.  I also managed to make the USMS top times list in all of my races and will be ranked within the top 5 in the state for my distance races and within the top 10 for my other races. 


Race 1: 1000 Freestyle (Fri Night)
    I got to warm-up EXTREMELY NERVOUS.   
    I hadn't competed in a race in about 5yrs and although I knew I could make the distance, I feared that I wouldn't be able to hold a fast enough pace. I also hadn't done a race start since college but at least the start really doesn't matter that much in a race this long.
    The race went decently. My overall time wasn't as fast as I would've liked but I still managed to turn out a time that ranks me about 25th in my age group nationally (my highest rank of all my events).  I also split my race PERFECTLY and didn't feel all too wiped after the race which shows that, although my speed isn't there, my endurance training is really paying off. 


Race 2: 500 Freestyle (Sat Morn)
    Fortunately this race was only half as long as the race the night before...so I wasn't TOO worried. My boyfriend was nice enough to volunteer to count for my race which was nice. It was great to have an audience and to not feel bad about him being bored...like I usually feel at tri races.  
    In all, I swam a good time with a strong pace. I'm excited to see what type of splits I can turn out in open water now.


Race 3: 200 Freestyle (Sat Morn)
    This is a terrible race and I didn't enjoy it at all. I felt great the first 100 and then the lactic acid started to build up.  I hit the wall, hard, around the 150 mark and struggled into the wall on the final 50.  
But, it was either the 200 Free or the 200 Breast and I didn't think I could subject myself to the torture of 8 lengths of Breast. So, I swam the 200 Fr, came in second, and have no intention on swimming that race ever again.


Race 4: 100 Breastroke (Sat Morn)
    I was a bit nervous because I noticed that I was going to have to swim the 100 Breast and 200 IM with only one heat of the IM in between. So, I think I held myself back a little bit on the breast in order to still be able to make the IM (that 50 Fly was scaring me ALL DAY).  
    I felt strong in the water and my kick is a lot more powerful than it used to be (thank you bike trainer!).  I swam as fast as I did in high school and really enjoyed the race. I think breastroke is still my favorite stroke to swim and I would love to be able to race this again before the USMS swim season is up!


Race 5: 200 Individual Medley (Sat Morn)
    This was the only other race that I knew I'd have some competition. She beat me...but not by much. I KNOW that I would've been able to beat her had I not just had to race the 100 Breast. But, I'm over it. I made that 50 Fly (well, my like a 40 Fly because of the start), struggled though the Back, almost caught up on the Breast, and just tried to hold on on the Free.  


So, my times weren't all too bad (probably just as good, if not better than I swam in high school) so I'm pretty proud of myself.  I think I've also fallen back in love with swimming over the past couple of weeks. After 21 years of swimming, I still haven't quite had enough of it I guess!


Next Swim Meet: I haven't decided what my next swim meet is going to be.. There are about 3 meets in South Florida throughout the summer that I might register for. However, there is only one SCY meet left and there is no 1000Fr at that meet so debatable whether or not I'll be there. However, there is a LCM meet in Islamorada in June that I'm definitely going to register for...I just can't wait to race the mile long course! (Yeah, I know my love of long distance swimming is disgusting). 


Next Race Generally: I'm trying to squeeze in a triathlon before Ironman 70.3 Florida but can't seem to find a good race. Any suggestions? I'm considering the Spring Training Triathlon at Tradewinds later this month. However, it's the same day as Swim Miami and I'm also considering racing the 5K as an Ironman Swim training race. Hmmm...what to do?


To view the results from the Hammerhead Springfest Invitational,  CLICK HERE