Race Report: ILMSA State Swim Meet

This past weekend I swam in the ILMSA State Masters Swim Meet at the RecPlex Aqua Arena in Pleasent Prairie, Wisconsin. I love swimming so much and I love swimming competitions. When the coach of the Swedish Fish (that's the name of my swim team, isn't that fun?) asked me if I wanted to participate in the meet, I didn't even flinch. Of course! My teammates and I have been working hard to prepare and I felt like I was back in high school the week leading up to the meet because I was so darn excited to swim.

Friday afternoon the meet started with the 1000 yard freestyle. This is the longest event of the meet (40 lengths of the pool) and is what I would describe as the slow burn race. It's definitely not a sprint, and it is definitely not something that you can jump into without training. I'm a sucker for any long distance event and so when I decided I would swim this meet, I knew I wanted to swim the 1000 for sure.

My dear aunt Carol (she's the best, seriously) offered to drive up to Pleasant Prairie, Wisconsin with me. "It'll be a road trip!" she told me. We're known in our family for doing slightly crazy things together, so it seemed like the perfect idea. I left my students 45 minutes early (I have the best co-workers) and made it out to the suburbs to meet Carol and we made our way to the meet. It was apparent as we arrived that this was quite a facility and while I'm sure the pictures do not do it justice, you can probably tell it was quite impressive.

I quickly got in the pool for warm up and immediately fell into the wonderful calm I feel when I swim. I love everything about the feeling...the smell of chlorine, the breathing pattern, the cool water, I could go on and on.

I jumped out of the pool when warm-ups ended and then I looked at what is called the heat sheet. This is where swimmers find out what heat and lane they will be in. When I signed up for the meet, I had to enter a seed time. For most people, this is simply writing down your personal best time and moving on. Well, I haven't swam the 1000...um, ever, so I just guessed using some estimates. What I learned upon finding the heat sheets was that I was in heat number 11. Shoot. It was going to be a while before I swam.

Being in heat 11 meant that 10 groups of people would swim the 1000 freestyle and the heats are ranked slowest to fastest. The first heats were about 20 minutes long and all of a sudden it was already 6pm. I knew doing some simple math that it would be 7:30 before I swam. I kept looking up in the stands at Carol and offered several times that she didn't have to stay, I could find my own way home. But my awesome aunt? She told me she was just fine and read her book while I chatted with my teammates down on the deck.

Finally it was time to swim the 1000 and I have to admit, my nerves kind of went away. The idea of 40 lengths was exciting in that I wouldn't have to sprint until at least the last 100-200 yards. My coach told me to build gradually through the race and one of my teammates told me to just add a little more pep as I went. Perfect advice.

I found my lane, waved to Carol...

Hi Carol!

...and before I knew it, we were off. I had a fantastic high school coach who used to tell me to repeat to myself "smooth, strong, long" with every stroke. That mantra popped into my head the moment I hit the water and carried me through to at least the 600 mark. At that point, I started to notice another swimmer to my left. Early on in the race he started to pull ahead of me and I had let that go. My coach told me to focus on myself and "stay in my lane" and I was...until there were about 300 yards left and I was gaining on this swimmer.

I'm really not a very competitive person, but when there are just a few minutes left and a possibility of scoring some points for my team? I'm ready. I pushed and pushed. I could see one of my teammates pointing to the other swimmer and motioning that we were close. The cards at the end of the pool flashed 37 and then red to indicate that I was on my last length. Push, push, push. I hit the wall and immediately looked up at the timer. She told me my time, 13:27.39, but I kept asking, did I get him? A very kind teammate was standing behind her and was able to answer my question. Yes, you got him. Small victories are the best, aren't they?

While touching out my neighbor in the pool was great, the important part for me team was scoring points for the team, which are given based on age group. There is a lot of competition in my age group because there are a lot of young swimmers who are quite speedy, but I managed to place fourth in my age group which was a good thing for my Swedish Fish.

After my swim, I quickly changed and Carol and I headed straight for Mexican food (so good) and then home.

The meet continued Saturday and my team rocked as they scored many, many points while I was back in Chicago doing other fun things with family and friends. By Sunday morning I could hardly wait to get back to that pool and keep swimming.

My amazing friend Kylene has recently joined the swim team but wasn't quite ready to swim in a meet this year (next year, Kylene!). But, because she's so wonderful, offered to drive up with me and cheer on our team as well as be a counter for the 500. Isn't she cute?

Sunday was a blast of swimming many races: 500 freestyle, 100 freestyle, 200 mixed free relay, and 200 mixed medley relay. It was fun to swim personally and meet some personal goals, but it was also a big honor to swim with such a gracious team. I joined in January and have felt a part of the team from day one. My coaches and teammates are there for the right reason-- to enjoy a sport that we all love, to encourage one another in some friendly competion, and to just have fun. 

We placed 5th over all which is a huge victory for our team and our wonderful coach received Coach of the Year from ILMSA. Way to go, Swedish Fish! I am proud to be a part of the team.

I loved every minute of the experience. I can't wait for next year. Happy swimming!