I feel good. I feel better than James Brown.

Today I went to the gym for weights, and apart from having to back off a little on the amount of weight, after not lifting for about 4 weeks, it felt great. Part of this is just feeling WELL--like I can push myself without paying for it for four days afterwards. Part of it is springtime, and how it is getting lighter in the morning, and I don't have to wear heavy fleece to practice. And of course working on getting stronger.

But another part of it is feeling like I had a good meet at the Dynamo St. Patrick's Day Invitational (detailed results here). It is amazing how much more pleasant Masters meets are than kids' meets. Not that I don't enjoy getting my ass smacked up and down the pool by teenagers, or being constantly reminded that my hips aren't 16 anymore. Those are great feeling all around.

But Masters meets are a blast. People are not in a big hurry all the time, because there is plenty of time to get out of the pool before the next heat. Some people dive from the blocks; some don't. Some people swim butterfly with a breaststroke kick. Some swim backstroke during the 500 free, and there is plenty of time for them to finish. Some people are so freaking fast it knocks you down, and some are just out for fun. Some people are ripped, some aren't. And on Saturday a woman beat the American record in the 50 free in the women's 80-84 age group, and on Sunday they made a big announcement, amidst much applause. How cool is that?

This was the PP's first meet in over a year, and he had 3 personal bests--in 50 FR, 100 FR, and 200 BR. I was really struck at this meet by how much stroke technique he has learned in the just 4 years that we have been swimming masters. Must be nice to be such a natural athlete. And despite much anxiety and gnashing of teeth on his part, he did not finish last in the 200 IM (and others of us did not even swim it...).

I had an OK meet. As I expected, my longer events were slow, and I think that was from being sick and so out of the pool so much in the last month and a half. But I had personal best times in the 100 IM and 50 BR, so that was exciting. Both were my last events on a day--had I saved up too much during the rest of the day? I had hoped for best times in the 50 FL and 100 BR, but in both I had some errors. For example, you are supposed to kick right after the start on butterfly, but Noooooooooo, I was coasting along as if it were a breaststroke start. I'm not sure how much time that cost me, but I do know that I missed a 2nd place in that event by .06 seconds!!!!! And I think I took out the first 50 of the 100 BR too slow: I noticed during the race that I was coasting a little too much, and sure enough my split for that 50 was about a second too long. As I keep re-learning, failure is feedback, and feedback is the breakfast of champions.

SATURDAY'S RESULTS
200 BR 2:57.93 (1st)
50 FL :33.36 (3rd)
50 BR :36.88 (2nd)

SUNDAY'S RESULTS
500 FR 7:02.31 (4th)
100 BR 1:20.55 (1st)
100 IM 1:16.80 (3rd)