When it comes to Masters swimming in Sweden, it’s not fair to only share results based on the number of times one makes the podium.  My chances for getting a medal is 100% based on the number of swimmers that decide to show up.

I was not in Uppsala last fall, because of the distance/cost to get there, but also I was travelling a lot for work.  And looking at the results, it seems lots of others also skipped the meet.

In the spring of this year, I had not been able to workout and was travelling all the time, and didn’t know I was going to be able to swim until the Tuesday before, and it was the first time since 2007 when I started swimming Masters that I did not get a single medal. But even if I had been 100%, I still would not have stood on the podium. I still managed to land in the top 6 and helped my team get some points.

Since May, lots has happened, and even if I am slowly getting back to health, I am limited in how I can train and limited to how hard I am allowed to push myself during training.

So instead of bragging about five medals with five races, I am going to focus on my times from the weekend, and what I am hoping to change before 2017.

First race of the meet, the 100m backstroke.  My time of  1:23.05  is not a good time, not for Men 40-44.  But when I look at my previous times, it was only 0.28s over what I swam in 2014 but 2.26s over my 2013 time. So all things considered, this was not a bad race.  The first 50 felt ok, I was trying to hold back slightly, but around 80-85m I felt like my heart was going to jump out of my chest.  I started to get dizzy and then had to coast in to the wall.  At the time I was disappointed with my time, but now looking back, it was a good race.

Second race 20 minutes later, the 50m breast in a time of 37.79.  This was only 0.08s over my time from 2014, but a whopping 3.22s over my best time as a Masters from 2008.  Technically the best race of the weekend when it comes to times, but there was lots I could have done better at the start and finish. Next year I will be under 36 again.

After the way my heart felt during the 100 back, I was really close to scratching myself from the 200 breast.  But in the end I decided to just swim through it and work on my stroke rate and kick timing.  I finished in 3:06.22 which is 20.17s over my time from 2013, but I haven’t been the same since I broke my collar bone aug 2013. But I am still able to fine something about the race to make me see a positive.  My splits were 42.23 / 47.49 / 48.62 / 47.12,  I don’t think I have ever come home on the last 50 faster than the second or third. I might never get back down to 2:46, but I should be able to get under 2:50 again.

Not sure why I always sign up for backstroke, but its a way to get team points.  50 backstroke was 39.92, 1.58s slower than 2014, and 4.12s over my 2012 time. No reason to swim over 38, but I usually only swim backstroke for the points, not because I am good at it. 😉

I’ve got lots of room for improvement in the 100 breast.  Clocked a time of 1:24.55, which is 1.18s faster than my time from 2014, but 8.86s over my 2008 time.  It would be nice to get back under 1:20 next year.

Short course nationals are in March, and I am hoping to get the doctors OK to start training at 100% in December, giving me 3 months to gain back some speed.