Videos | Rob Aquatics Masters Swimming Blog

If You Swam at Santa Clarita Yesterday, Go Watch Yourself Swim Online!

Yesterday’s SCM meet hosted by the Santa Clarita Masters was livestreamed by LiveSwim.net which was pretty awesome… what makes it even better is that they have uploaded all that video to be watched again online!

Click here to search through yesterday’s events for the races you swam. It’s organized by event # and then by heat #. Chris and his guys did an excellent job out there, and if you want to you can purchase DVD’s of your swims (more details on that here).

Here’s video of my 50m free. Lane 8 is the lane closest to the camera, I’m in Lane 3 and my buddy Tony from the SCAQ blog is in Lane 6.

Video From My Swims in Mountain View

Luckily I wasn’t the only SPMA-er up at the meet yesterday in Mountain View. I set up my big blue pop up tent and it served as the unofficial SPMA embassy. Patrick and Kathleen from Rosebowl joined me under the tent for the day and Kathleen was nice enough to be my official Rob Aquatics filmographer for the day. She got video of my 50 free, 100 free, and 50 fly… she also got a partial cut of my 100 IM but my camera ran out of space on that one. I edited it all together into one video…

It’s always weird for me to watch myself swim freestyle, it just looks too casual on top of the water. I know I was trying really hard, I was there, but it doesn’t look like it at all! All you arm chair coaches out there feel free to pick me apart in the comments:)

Video of My 100m Free & 100m Fly from Zones

I had some technical difficulties between the magic of Windows Vista and bad hotel wi-fi internet connections over the weekend, but now that I’m home I managed to get my videos put together and uploaded. As usual, I am the fair sized bald guy in the Tracer Light. I’m in lane 3 for both races.

First up is my 100m Free from Saturday that was filmed for me by Kathleen from Rose Bowl. If you convert it to SCY this was a best time for me by 2 seconds. I swam a 1:05.60

The other race I got on video was the 100m fly that Julie from CSAM (who won all 7 of her individual events btw!!!) took for me. I swam a 1:09.33 which is a best time within the same second I’ve been swimming all season.

So there you have it. Feel free to pick me apart technically in the comments.

2009 USMS SW Zone Meet Day 2

**If you’re looking for results you can get them here

100 breaststroke action

Today was day 2 of the Zone meet in Thousand Oaks and my first day of racing. There were a ton of people at the pool today, all told it sounds like we were near 400 entries! And lots of first time masters meet swimmers which I think is super awesome. I hope to start seeing a lot of these new faces at more of the in season meets later this year. The meet ran slower than the timeline, but it was smoothly run and it seemed like everyone was having fun and swimming fast.

I started out with the 50m fly. I’ve been chasing a sub 30 second 50 all season and I keep just missing it. I was very determined to finally catch this time before we shift back to short course. I was in heat 10 of 12 in the outside lane. I got a good start and felt really good in the water. I finally managed to get my 29.9 which was my goal time exactly. I’m stoked with this time!

My next event was right after the 50 fly, the 4 x 100m free relay. I’m always excited to swim relays so I was definitly ready for this. I wasn’t excited about leading off the relay though since I just got out of the pool from my first event. Me and Julie switched places and I picked up the anchor spot instead. My relay was me, Julie who swims a lot of meets as well, a younger fast girl that was swimming her first masters meet and a guy in the same spot that I was in last year who just found his way back to competitive swimming. I haven’t swam the 100 free in long course before so I didn’t know what was really going to happen here. Last time I swam a 100 in SCY I went a 58 so I was expecting a 1:08 and was hoping for a 1:07. Much to my surprise I laid down a 1:05! I didn’t even believe it when everyone told me. That translates into like a 56 in SCY so this was a very big welcome surprise. I guess my work in Santa Maria with the masters group there is starting to pay off! I really think in this race I had one of the best starts I’ve ever had. I launched of the blocks and kicked like a madman. I had someone trying to overtake me in the next lane next through the whole 100 but I managed to hold him off. Our relay took 2nd place in the 100-119 age group, and seeing as I heard the team that beat us set a major record of some sort I cool with second on this one :)

My next event was the 100 freestyle… again. I really wanted to duplicate my time from earlier in the day in an official time kind of manner. I swam another 1:05 and I’m pleased with the effort. Kathleen from Rosebowl was nice enough to take some video of this race for me. I tried to upload it to YouTube and after like 2 hours of the progress bar moving incredibly slowly it ended in an error… boo. Anyways, I’ll get it posted when I get home.

I was supposed to swim the 200 IM but I wussed out. I was picked for the 100 fly leg in one of our medley relays and I just can’t do a 100 fly right after a 200 IM.

The 400m medley relay was fun. We had two super fast younger swimmers and then me and Julie again. I was honestly a little apprehensive about the swim because I was getting pretty tired from such a long day in the sun, but I felt smooth in the water. I tried to take it out easy so that I wouldn’t totally gas out on the finish. I managed to swim a 1:09 which has been my default time all season. I really want to get under that 1:09 tomorrow when I swim it as an individual event.

We wrapped the day up with an 800m freestyle relay… charming huh? It was a “take one for the team” kind of a race. We needed the points and there were an overwhelming number of CSA caps out there in this race. We were given the general guidance that it was cool to not go crazy trying to pop off a super fast time just don’t get DQ’d! I cruised to a 2:39 which isn’t great, but it was a good chance for me to feel out the distance since I’ve never done it in long course. We ended up winning first in the 120-159 age group which was pretty cool. Tomorrow I’m hoping to go substantially faster in the 200.

All told this has been an excellent meet. I’m swimming fast, my friends are swimming fast, and it seems like pretty much everybody is here. I’m stoked that things are going so well and I hope to keep it going tomorrow. I’ve been having a hard time with long course season but I seem to finally be making some breakthroughs.

Tony from SCAQ tackles the 200 Fly!

Coach Nancy out front in the 100 backstroke

Men’s 100m Backstroke Stroke Start

Found this guy at the hotel, apparently they call it the Conejo (rabbit) Valley for a reason

Rachel Maddow Breaks Down the Suit Debacle

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

I don’t think she grips the whole situation, but it’s interesting to see a non-swimmer’s perspective on the whole thing.

More from the 2009 Santa Clarita LCM Meet

I just got some video of yesterday’s meet courtesy of the McGinleys from Rosebowl.

50 Fly – I’m the large bald guy in lane 4. I finished 1st in 30.63

50 Breaststroke – I was 3rd in this heat with a 39.31

I make a cameo in some videos of Patrick, but I kind of come into and out of the screen. Here’s the 50 free (29.48), and the 50 back (36.98).

USMS Nationals Day 4

Today was the last day in the pool for USMS SCY Nationals, I wasn’t scheduled for any races but I dropped in for about an hour to hang out and swim a little bit. I got there just in time for the 100 freestyle. I got to watch Rowdy Gaines re-break his 100 freestyle national record, and I shot some video for 2 of my teammates.

Rowdy finishing the 100 free in record time

If you were out at the meet this weekend Floswimming did an awesome job of getting footage of hundreds of heats of swimming. Check out their Nationals Coverage page to look for your swims. Races are listed on the left side if you scroll down a little bit.

Here’s a different angle on my 100 fly. You can really see a lot more of my start and kicking from this vantage.

And a little more of my 50 free…

Tomorrow I’m doing the Millerton Mile which also happens to be the 1 mile open water championships this year. I keep hearing rumors that it’s pretty cold, hopefully it’s at least upper 60′s.

USMS Nationals Day 3 Meet Wrap Up

modeling my last place medal

Today was day 3 of nationals and day 2 for me. I got to the pool this morning around 8:30 and it was already hot out. It only got hotter from there so I decided to wrap myself in a black rubber suit, that’s an excellent idea right? I spent all day drinking water, Gatorade, Cytomax, and whatever else I could forage out of the Gold Medal Sponsor tent.

Once I got myself situated I went in search of my last place medal from yesterday’s 200 breaststroke. Thanks to the magic of Disqualification I got myself all the way up to 8th place, whoo! So there is my big medal from the meet. Next year my haul should hopefully be more substantial.

My first event today was the 50 free. When we stepped up on the blocks the dude in lane 8 took a tumble into the pool. I think the start from the other side of the course caught him off guard and he lost his balance. Once he got back up on the blocks they had us stand down and wait for the other course to start another heat. After 5 minutes of getting on and off the blocks we finally got started. I think I had a pretty good race. I took one breath out and 2 on the way back. I came in at a 25.39 which is a best time (dropped from 25.49). I wore my new B70 and it felt pretty good in this event. Heidi got some video from the race…

Up next was a couple hours of hanging out while waiting for my 100 fly. I got to see all kinds of people and watch a bunch of friends race. I baked in the sun, but I had a lot of fun watching 1600 people swim their brains out today. I also got to meet Rowdy Gaines and talk to him briefly. He’s sponsored by Blueseventy now and was set up back in their booth signing autographs and taking pictures. He was super nice and took the time to talk with everybody, not to mention extremely fast in the pool today! 50 free in a 21.3 today, smoking!

Eventually my magic moment arrived… the 100 fly. I have mixed feelings about this race. My time was decent, I swam a 59.30, but I wasn’t totally happy with my swim. I decided to wear the B70 for this race and I don’t think it was the right call. It felt like I had a gallon of water sloshing around in my suit dragging me down. I don’t know if it was just air in the suit and it felt like water, but whatever it was it felt like it was slowing me down. I think the suit may not be particularly compatible with me butterflying. It feels fine in freestyle, fly I’m not a fan so far. Anyways… I digress… I had a bunch of friends watching and cheering for me and that was pretty awesome. I got some video of this one too. Now that the SCY season is over I’m going to use this to start picking apart my stroke and figuring out what I can change to make me faster.

Tomorrow I’m not swimming anything but I decided to stay in Clovis until Monday when I do the 1 mile open water swim. I should be at the pool hanging out and swimming in the warm up pool for a while tomorrow.

Patrick and Me

Me and Ahelee

Joel and Me, apparently something happened over there —>

Me and Heidi

The CSAM Crew – Me, Nancy, Julie, Erin, & Peter in the back

Me and Rowdy Gaines

Rowdy signing Peter, why not?

Fat guy in a little suit

In the heighth of swim meet fashion

Pondering my impending 100 fly

…I almost forgot! I shaved my arms in the name of science Friday night. It felt super fast/weird in the warm up pool, but I didn’t feel a difference in my races since my mind was in other places. Growing all that hair back should be exciting… let the awkward itchiness begin.

USMS Nationals Day 2 Meet Wrap Up Continued…

FloSwimming has been taking video of pretty much everything at USMS Nationals in Clovis this weekend. Go to their Nationals Page and scroll down the left side of the site and see if you can find video of your races. They also have some interviews with some of the swimmers out at the pool. I embedded both of my races from Friday and an interview with Ahelee who has been busy winning everything and setting multiple national records along the way.

50 Fly – lane 6 – 26.79

200 Breaststroke -lane 3 – 2.43.31

2009 SPMA SCY Championships Wrap Up – Sunday

**UPDATE 28APR09: Results are now posted here.

Warm up around 7:30ish
This morning I woke up about 250 miles away from my swim meet the day prior, stumbled to the car, and made my way to pool at Mission Viejo. To say I was tired would be an understatement. I warmed up pretty much right when the pool opened and then proceeded to pass in and out of consciousness in my chair for the next half hour. Eventually I woke up enough and went out looking for familiar faces. I ran into Patrick and Kathleen from Rosebowl and as has become our tradition I set up my gear by them mooched some of their shade.

My first event was the 200 free and it was the first time I have raced it as an adult. I wasn’t really sure what to expect or how to race it. I’m told I swam it very smoothly, but I think it could have been a lot faster. I just couldn’t break all the way into a sprint at any point during the race. Saturday’s swims were still sitting heavy in my muscles. The good news is I can swim 1:01 without feeling like I am sprinting. I’m curious what my 100 time would be right now… the world may never know. But like I said I went out in 1:01 and I finished with a 2:09. Not great but about where I guessed. I entered a 2:10 and I predicted a 2:07 so I kind of split the difference. If I swim it again on purpose, I think I could drop upwards of 5-6 seconds in a fresher state.

Up next was the 50 breast which is kind of a “palate cleanser” for me. It’s an event I like to swim but I don’t really care about the outcome of. We had a bit of a delay on the start because one of the blocks was wobbly. Apparently they’re held steady with wood blocks and lane 8′s block had gone rogue right before my heat. After waiting an awkwardly long time for my heat to get going they finally called us back onto the blocks. I got a solid start and an excellent pull down. The sun was pretty much directly above us so I could watch my streamline via shadow on the bottom of the pool which was kind of cool. I popped up around mid-pool somewhere, pulled like crazy to get to the wall, and then did another pull down as big as I could. Most of the heat finished right on top of each other. I’m not sure where I finished in the heat, but I was within about 2 tenths of a second of my best time. I got some video courtesy of Kathleen below. I’m the guy that takes forever to surface in the black suit.

My last event of the day was the 50 free. Another re-match with Tony from the SCAQ Blog! We’ve gone back and forth this season. Today, he had my number. I was happy however to be back in the 25′s. I’ve had a few questionable 50 freestyles recently so it was nice to get in a decent one. Ahelee said that she has some video for us, so you may see that hit the blog sometime soon.

Besides racing today I did a whole bunch of talking! I got to see a bunch of my favorite swimmer friends and talk shop. I was parked with the Rosebowl crew, but I got to spend some time with Tony and Ahelee, and I got to meet a few new people. One guy that I had interacted with on the USMS Forums introduced himself to me, it was nice to put a face to the name. I also got a chance to talk to one of the guys from the Santa Maria masters group that I’ve been trying to find the time to drop in on.

The meet itself was well run and fairly mellow for a championship meet. You could tell a mix of Sunday meet fatigue and the fact that Nationals is only 2 weeks away had an impact on the overall number of people at the pool today. I didn’t have any super fantastic swims, but my plan was to be a little burnt out right now. Having the chance to catch up with people in person as opposed to via e-mail or Facebook made it worth the trip down. Now I need to start focusing on my races at Nationals… I’m excited for it!