Swimming Blogs - Joshua Baseheart

I have been terribly busy lately, and haven't had the time to write a new post in a while, but I've been meaning to... I had a meet a week ago, where I swam just the 50 and the 100 free. This was just a small meet at my home pool, so it was no big deal, right? Well, not really. Not that how I did this weekend is going to define my swimming career or anything, but this meet was pretty important. It was important, because I was using it as preparation for Olympic Trials, which is now less than five weeks away.

Now, at this meet, I wore a body suit, to get accustomed to wearing one before I get to Omaha. Putting on a fast suit always makes me feel like I should be taking my races very seriously, so I tried my best to. First I had the 50, which I did ok at. 23.85. Nothing special, not really any faster than I would go at a regular old meet like this. Then I had the 100 - beforehand, my coach asked me how I was going to swim it: like I am trying to go 51 or like I am trying to 49. In order to go 49, I'd have to be out at least as fast as I just went in the 50. I wasn't too sure how serious he was, so I just kind of decided I'd swim a good race - a good race for me usually involves about a 1.9 second fade from the first 50 to the second 50 - so if I were out in 25.0, I'd probably come back in about 26.9 to go 51.9. If I were going to race like I was going 49, I'd have to be out 24.0, at least, which was a pretty tall (and painful) order, considering I had just gone 23.85 all out, to the hand.

Now, the question remains: how should I swim the race? Well, I kind of disregarded the whole 49 suggestion, and just went for swimming a good race. Believe it or not, I was out in 25.0, and back in 26.9 to go 51.99. (You would not believe how consistent I can be, as far as splits and fades go...) Anyway, I was feeling pretty good about that. I had just raised my mid-season meet standard a little higher. Before this meet, I had never gone 51 at a meet where I wasn't shaved or tapered. So, I went to talk to my coach, expecting a lot of excitement. The first thing he said was "Well, I see you decided not to stick to our plan." Immediately, I was disappointed in myself. After thinking about this for a while, I realized that I hadn't really challenged myself during that race. I stuck with what was comfortable for me, and didn't allow myself to try and improve as an athlete. Basically, I felt like I had wasted a chance to really experiment before Trials. I know I can go 51. I've done it lots of times, and now I've done it in a small meet with no pressure. So what? All I've proved is that I can go 51.

So now I'm stuck, wondering which would have been a better way to approach that race: to swim it like I normally would swim it, where I know what I'm capable of, and most likely have a good race, or to have just gone all out the whole way, just to see what would happen... Now, I would like you, the reader, to stop at the end of this sentence, and think about what you would do, or what you think I should have done.

I guess when it comes down to it, I know what I should have done, and I know why. Four years ago, when I decided to keep swimming after college, I didn't know what the outcome was going to be - I didn't know if I was going to make any Trial cuts or not, if I was ever going to get any faster, or if it was all going to be worth the effort. But I did know one thing: if I didn't give it one more shot, I would have always wondered "what if...". And why should I change my attitude now? I should have used that race to answer one more "what if".

So next time, I'm going to try to challenge myself a bit, because that's why I'm doing this whole thing - not to show myself that I can do what I already know I can do, but to see what's possible if I challenge myself to become something better.

Now, I am just left to wonder how this will all translate into my performances at Trials... There's only one way to find out!