IVP Swimming Day 1

Today was the 1st day of the Inter Varsity and Polytechnics Swim Meet. The mood was surprisingly relaxed and it was pretty cool seeing old faces in new schools in and around the pool.

Ming Kun, Weiming and I after a quick "Warm-Up" swim in the Freezing pool

I was down for the 200 m Breast Stroke. My event was the 3rd event of the meet and scheduled immediately after the Girls' 200 m Breast and Guys' 1500 m swim. I must admit that I was pretty impressed by Jon's 1500 swim and Sandy's stellar performance in the 200 m Breast. I guess their hard work and training really did pay off in the end.

Me making acquaintance with slow and pain

Anyway, my event was up next and I was in heat 2. After watching the 1st heat swim their race and gaping in horror at the number of disqualifications, I made a mental note to myself to try NOT to make any of the mistakes they made during my swim. After that small mental-note-taking session, I made my way to the plunging board and at the sound of the start signal was off on my 200 m journey.

The swim went surprisingly well (by my standards anyway) and I think given the rather disappointing amount of time and effort I put into it, I did a rather decent job of finishing the race. I clocked a dismal yet to-be-expected time of 3 min 18 secs for my 200 m breast, a far cry from what I used to clock during the RI days. The race officials thought other wise and DQed me over for "performing another downward butterfly kick." On hindsight, I guess they were probably right. This butterfly kick thingy after a plunge and kick-off for breast stroke is rather new for me and I most probably botched it up somewhere during my swim. Lesson learnt I guess.

Guys' Team :)

Watching the rest of the swimmers giving their all during this meet really got me thinking about my goals and objectives in the upcoming biathlon sporting season. I make great plans and grand dreams but I never seem to be able to hold the course and realize them. That grit and focus I found in myself during my inaugural Ironman race in Switzerland... I need to get it back. I need to get my priorities right and decide what its is I really want in time to come. Fast Cars, Easy money and a "Cool" social life? I think I'll give those a miss for the time being. Let's start talking about that sub-40 10km run or that 20 min 1.5 km swim :)