I like water. I drink it all the time. It's my favorite beverage. Drinking it isn't enough though, I have to fully immerse myself in it as often as I can. Fully immersing myself in it isn't enough either, though, so instead I race against others to see who can splash through this divine liquid faster. Racing others is apparently not enough either, as I feel the need to engage in the same sort of competition 6 times within the span of 20 hours.
This logic is precisely what found me in my car driving towards Calgary Saturday morning for a swim meet that afternoon.
Now Cow Town is an interesting city, roughly 270km south of Edmonton. It has marvelous things such as stampedes.
Ultra-right wing loonies.
And a sign with a cowboy hat on it.
None of this compares to Edmonton though, because we are clearly the better of the sister cities.
My races took place at the Calgary winter club, which is basically a place where rich people go to pretend to be athletic. I find no other explanation for their being leather chairs and TV's in the dressing rooms and obese people in the hot tub.
Now, as is usual at a swim meet, the races are rather compact* and it leaves little time for photos. I shall do my best to find internet images that best replicate how I looked.
*At this particular race, I had 5 races within the span of 3 and a half hours.
First up was the 400m free. The first swim race of the year always leaves you feeling a bit unprepared and with some kinks to work out. Therefore, this was how I felt during the 400m free.
Next was the 200m free. With the kinks worked out, I felt so smooth during the race. Every stroke in the water was like listening to the soothing music of an awesome jazz duet.
This time things went a bit better, and I walked away with a small 1.5 second pb.
The 50m and 100m followed, and neither were very remarkable - both being slower than my personal bests and feeling about as efficient as a slap chop in the kitchen.
The day ended with my 800m free. Distance is my strength in swimming, especially as I have terrible dive starts and usually flounder like a socially awkward shark for the first 50m until I settle into my rhythm. This was the race I was looking forward to. It started rather rough, my goggles slipped on the dive and I had to swim the entire race blearily staring through water stinging my eyes. This cost me some time as it makes performing flip turns about as easy as doing flying aerial acrobatics whilst blind.
I did find my rhythm though, and was quite satisfied with the race - finishing with a 2 second PB despite my issues.
After an exhausting day of swimming, I drove back to the land of freakishly tall, socially progressive mayors and settled into bed for the aquathlon the next morning.
Now, I'll be honest - these aquathlon races are good winter training and mostly for fun. Also it's been a few weeks since the race so I am a bit fuzzy and I'm not feeling overly chatty. Therefore, I will give a rush version of events.
There was a ton of people all diving into a pool to open water swim together in a packed circuit around buoys and a lot of thrashing occurred. One such area that was thrashed was my groin. Double O and 7 didn't manage to dodge a vicious kick.
This caused me to briefly come to a dead stop and I spent the rest of the swim trying to fight the twisted pain in my gut every man is all too familiar with whilst avoiding anymore dangerous kicks from my fellow bipeds.
The swim, consequently, was my worst ever and I was quite stiff and sore from racing 5 times the previous afternoon. The run was mediocre, but I finished with a bit of track hack so I at least know I pushed myself. All in all, it was a solid day and I had a glorious nap afterwards.
Well, that's all I have to say for the time being.
Toodles!
Bry-Bry
