Swimmin'

On Sunday I 'competed' in my second swim meet - ever. I had an ambitious program, one that would make any Olympian proud: 400m free, 100m free, 50m free, 200m free and 800m free. And then one four x 50m relay, also free.

As with anything in life, it's important - I think - to jump into the deep end every once in a while and see what happens.

That approach comes from when I first moved to Vancouver in the mid 1990s; I didn't know anyone and somehow I found myself a member of an outdoor adventure group called Carpe Diem.

At that point in time I had no real athletic component to my life. As a kid I played either road hockey or put on skates and attempted to hammer the puck into the net, or I was fielding well hit pitches in centre field or trying to smash backhands cross court. I kept active but in hindsight I wasn't at all fit.

One of the first 'adventures' I did with Carpe Diem was a two-day race from Deep Cove to Whistler.  I had volunteered to do one of the easy mountain bike sections but by the time I made it to the pre-race meet-my-teammates meeting, we apparently had decided to complete the entire race - together. What the heck.

And so I held my first paddle moments before we launched from Cates Park to travel 19km up the Burrard Inlet. It wasn't pretty - it's fair to say it was ugly - but we weren't last out of the water either - OK, I think we were the last team out of the water but there was at least one individual behind us.

Completing that race - paddle, mountain bike, white water raft, mountain bike and mountain trail run - opened my mind. And I like to think each fresh adventure opens the door a little wider. I think it's unfortunate when good athletes lose the ability to take risks because that's what living means to me. My current personal best in Ironman came in 2004 and I have made that a target every race that I have since entered.

My first swim meet was two seasons ago. As best I recall, some 70 year old guy finished ahead of me in the 100m free. (At least I can say he was a former Olympian!) That meet was a great experience. It helped spur my motivation to swim a lot more.

And so I was looking forward to the UBC hosted event yesterday. We had Coach Roseline and a solid crew of Titans.

I hit the water for a warm up and I have to say that immediately I knew the next few hours were going to be challenging. It was as if I had lost an extra hour of sleep rather than having won it.

I have been swimming reasonably consistently the last two months though my main focus the last six weeks has been my preparation for the California International Marathon in early December.

So I didn't exactly taper for the swim meet, never even considered doing so. I know from triathlon that I can have a massive training day on a Saturday and still put in a strong performance at a sprint or Olympic distance event on the Sunday.

That's not what happened yesterday though. I ran or tried to run a hard 9km effort on Friday and then ran a steady 27km on Saturday. The Friday run was a bust but the Saturday run was superb. I felt fast, running felt effortless, it was pouring and yet my spirit was soaring.

I'm fortunate to have a good friend here who is a superb athlete, and a great target: Volker. He's an uber biker who runs three hour marathons and is becoming shark-like in the water too. Thank God he's not in my age group at Ironman Canada!

We lined up in lanes 7 and 8 for the 400m, the first event. We swam a very even first 25m and 50m and then he maintained his pace and I didn't - not for lack of effort on my part. I had nothing. This non pull buoy rule needs to be reassessed!

Needless to say that 400m wasn't an auspicious start to the meet for me. I never really felt like I found my rhythm. That's OK, I had some 'moments' to write home about. I had one speed, which worked in the 800m but that sort of was less helpful in the rest of my events :)

I shook my head a few times but racing is like that. There are days when you have it and days when you don't.

I'm not deterred though. I'm looking forward to the next meet in early February. I'll be in full triathlon training mode by that point and will be determined to sink the season benchmarks I set yesterday.

For now the focus shifts primarily to early December with a few strength sessions and some yoga practices too.