The evening of the 16th February 2008 saw the second round of the Home Counties. Round 1, for those that remember it, was a slight disaster - our club having not trained for about 2 months, due to boiler problems, came last (6th) by 1 point.
Saturday saw some impressive swims from Bletchley. With Liam swimming a 58.4 in the 100 freestyle, and also the Mens Open 4x50m relay coming 4th with all splits sub 30.
My races swung both ways - they were dissapointing but also i was pleased with them. Let me explain.
In the 4x50m Medely Relay i was doing the Breaststroke leg. The swimmer in the lane next to me from Oxford had the lovely phrase 'Nationals 2007' printed accross his hat, not a good sign concidering i am just a County swimmer. Although Luke (my brother) swam hard in the 1st leg (the backstroke leg) he finished slightly behind the Oxford team. The National Oxford swimmer then had a slight headstart.
I dived in about 5 meters behind him, as i did my goggles half filled with water (Grrrrr). I could just make out where he was in the pool, and i pumped hard. Suprisingly i managed to keep up, he did not seem to be gaining on me. We got to the first turn at 25 meters, i pushed off and my the rest of my goggles filled with water. I was now swimming blind. I could only just make out the black line on the bottom of the pool, but that was all i could see. I have no idea how much further the Oxford swimmer got, but i know he did. I still swam by best, just dissapointed that i couldn't give it my all.
The Mens Open 100m Breaststroke was next for me. Sadly i had the same problem as i did in the relay. I dived in, and my goggles lifted and flooded with water. This was really starting to piss me off. I swam to 25 meters, turned, and my goggles moved up so the plastic was directly over my eyes. (in case you were wondering i wear oldschool goggles. Normal goggles have a rubber ring around the outside for suction and comfort. Mine dont. My goggles are just plastic. not comfortable but i find them better.) i tried shaking my head to get the goggles off, no luck.
On one of my breaststroke arm pulls i lifted my hand out of the water, ripped my goggles off, and threw them behind me - and kept on swimming. This was illigal. You cannot break the stroke in breaststroke and i did to remove my goggles. I then swam 70 meters blinded by water. Amazingly i swam a 1:20.00 which is 1 second off my PB, i was gobsmacked! How on earth did i mange that? The extra strength training must be paying off!
Anyway, overall out team came 5th out of 6. 1 place better than last time but this is a tough league. Final round is on the 29th March.
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