Here's a picture of reporter Paul Tenorio from September with fins on his hands, which he described in yesterday's blog. Told you it was silly. (Photo by Jeff King/Curl-Burke)
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Tomorrow is the November Open, a meet that months ago was the finish line for my project and was some distant idea — the weekend I would hopefully showcase the results of some great turnaround.
Now, it’s become a bit more and a bit less.
It’s less because while certainly this meet is important to me, I don’t consider it the end anymore. I’ll still be going to train with Jeff King and the group, and as far as this blog goes — well, that I’ll have to discuss with my editors and with Jeff. I’d definitely like to take some time to write something longer about this whole journey overall…at some point soon.
My feelings going into this weekend, though, are much different than they were in October. Those nervous butterflies are not nearly as strong as they were three weeks ago. I kind of know what to expect now in the meet, and I understand what I’m going to feel like when I get up on the blocks.
It’s more though, because I know that the nerves will be back tomorrow when I stand up and my family is there. Obviously I’ll want to do well swimming in front of them for the first time, or least just not embarrass myself.
But overall I feel pretty good going into tomorrow and I’m just ready to have fun with it. It’s something that was emphasized to me today and really, I didn’t really feel overly nervous or serious at all. I just want to have fun and perform well.
Today’s practice was actually a great workout. I felt like I got everything I needed out of it.
Here’s how it broke down, on 2:15 intervals:
100 swim (one breath on last 25)
50 fast
Two 100s swim (one breath last 25)
Two 50s fast
Three 100s swim (one breath last 25)
Three 50s fast
Four 100s swim (one breath last 25)
Four 50s fast
The breath control was definitely a challenge (though not as much as those in the group doing zero breath) and I really had to push myself to get through it. The 50s sprint gave me a chance to feel the water when I was tired, and I was staying pretty consistently at about 30-32 seconds throughout the whole thing. If I can do that on the back end of my 100 I should be able to top my 100 time from October. My main thing was on those final 50s when I was exhausted, I really pushed through the water, and to come in on something like a 16 is already better than what I did in the final 25 in October.
I’m definitely feeling ready to go. I was happier with my starts and my turns are coming along. I feel like I can go best time tomorrow and that’s the goal. It’s only been three weeks since my last race, but I think I can do it.
We’ll see tomorrow and I’ll have the results for you on Monday.
Washington Post reporter Paul Tenorio will train with a swim club over the next few months and chronicle his journey as he attempts to transform from regular guy/sports reporter to competitive swimmer — everything from his waistline to his best times.
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