Amazing swim

Today was an interesting day. We were supposed to get hammered with snow overnight, up to a foot. Peaking out my window in the morning I was relieved to see that not a single flake had fallen! The storm went South and while it was cold, it was dry. For the first time this year we got lucky with the snow and it's about time.
Typically my Friday's are light, just an AM swim and maybe a light stretch or yoga. But this Friday was different. Two weeks ago I signed up for the Colorado State Master's Meet at the DU Pool. I decided to do the 1650 and then the 500 on Sunday. I wanted to do the 1000 as well, but it was scheduled for right after the 1650.
Having no thoughts of winning the meet I decided to still swim in the morning, but kept it to 2500 yards. It was light and easy and I felt good.
Then I had an appointment with Dr. Nick Studholme. It was my first visit to him and he came highly recommended. It's hard to say exactly what he specializes in, it's a mix of chiropractic, muscle imbalance, strength, flexibility and nutrition. In my 1 hour visit he tested my balance and strength and he had me do some 3 dimensional stretching, made some minor adjustments to my feet and re-tested me. The difference was phenomenal! He got some glute muscles firing and right away I felt better. The goal is to get my body to fire in a different sequence to be more stable and powerful. We ended up taping my feet to add support and help my calves, quads and glutes fire more clearly. I like his approach as it's not predicated on multiple visits a week and his goal is to get me to where I don't need to come in at all. I am excited to work with him as I love getting my body to work at it's optimum level.
After that I got really tired. Maybe it was the weather, cold and gray, but thankfully none of the 6-12 inches of snow we were slated to get. I answered a few emails and then took a 90 minute nap that I really needed. I woke up at 1 and left for the pool at 2:30. I got to the pool in the middle of the 5th heat, and I was in heat 7, so just enough time to get ready. I wasn't feeling into the swim mentally at all. There was no nervousness or anticipation at all. Even during the "fun" events I still have a few nerves usually.
As I watched the heat in the water progress I saw what I might consider to be the toughest, most impressive physical feat I have ever personally witnessed. The woman in lane 5 swam the entire 1650, one mile, BUTTERFLY!! As she hit the wall the last time everyone in the stands and on deck started clapping. My shoulders ached just thinking about doing that! If you're not a swimmer, or even if you are, try swimming fly for as long as you can to see how that might feel. I hope she has a good orthopedic surgeon!
Before I knew it I was on the blocks waiting to start. The gun went off and I hit the water clean. I started out conservative and just cruised to start. I still wasn't focused, and I didn't really feel like I was racing. If it weren't for the other people in the pool, the counters and timers, it felt like a normal easy swim. Around the 500 mark I began to focus a bit more when I realized that I wasn't getting any benefit from this swim. I started to think about pushing off the wall stronger, streamlining more and increasing my kick. My stroke felt good and long. When I counted my strokes I was at 18, right where I normally am. I was able to peak at my time at the half way point seeing 10:47. That was faster than I thought and motivated me more. As I have said before, I felt like I could go forever, but if I picked up the pace I would blow up in 10 minutes. I decided to nail the last 500. Working on using my lats and kick to finish strong I was able to go through the last 500 in 6:17, only 15 secs slower than my best open 500 time. My final time was 21:07, not too bad.
Overall it was a good time and something I would like to do again, with more motivation. The rest of the weekend is up in the air due to the weather. I am hoping to do a group ride on Saturday and Sunday rather than the bike race. With the cold and rain I think the conditions would be ripe for an accident or getting sick, something I don't need.