SCM Shave-and-taper Meet

2021 NE-LMSC & Colonies Zone Short Course Meters Championships

Another Colonies Zone SCM Championships in the books. This one was about as expected, not as good as had hoped. Everything ended up being about middle-of-the road for me, in terms of lifetime slate of times, so it definitely could have been worse. The shorter than usual days at the pool were nice, since we obviously were wearing masks when not actively swimming. I'm sure the condensed timelines, masks, ongoing work chaos, and my currently horrifically low iron counts all added up to making this a less than ideal meet, but it sure was nice to be back at WPI. Worcester Area Masters runs a great meet at a fast pool, and it's such an easy trip to make each year.

Getting back to the usual routine of heading north to WPI and noshing at all our favorite Massachusetts restaurants was certainly a highlight of the weekend, and dragging along our newest not-so-secret relay weapon for her first shave and taper meet was a blast. And it's always fun to take home the 1st place team award, even if we're still in the small team division.

As for my races, here goes:

THE GOOD - My 200 back (2:29.32) was only about a second off my hoped-for seed time, so this was definitely a good race. Especially when looking back at the trainwreck that was my 200 back at LCM nationals in October. I was also happy with my 50 free (28.78), which was faster than my seed time. The 100 free (1:01.37) wasn't terrible, but I think the 4 races on day 1 of the meet took more out of me than I realized (thankfully this was race #1 on Sunday, and I had a youngster to race). Also, no backstroke wedge debacle this year (across 4 backstroke races)!

THE BAD - 50 back (with wedges this week)- 33.50.  Didn't have any get-up-and-go on this one, but at least it was faster than last week's swim.

THE UGLY - Ending the meet with the 100 back (1:10.36) was painful. This was, without a doubt, my most disappointing race of the weekend. Luckily, I had caved into positive-peer pressure and agreed to lead off the 400 Mixed Medley Relay on Saturday and did a split request. Getting to race one of my younger teammates was definitely a good idea, because I had a faster time on the relay (1:09.92).

All in all, these times will all make USMS Top Ten for the year, and the 100 free +100/200 back will most likely land on the FINA Top Ten lists for 2021. That's all I could have hoped for coming out of 17 months without a coach on deck and just the general malaise that the pandemic has wrought.

Onwards and upwards to San Antonio!