The trip to Biloxi, to the Mississippi Senior Olympics swim meet, had begun a year earlier when I swam six events winning five and finishing second in one. At my age, to be able to compete at all is a treat and to have a chance to win is a big deal. It's fun and it provides my life with some structure, purpose, a reason to go to the pool and gym and put in some hard that relieves stress, burns calories, and improves my health.
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| The beautiful Biloxi Natatorium, the scene of our Mississippi State Senior Olympics swim meet |
I had trained all year since the 2021 swim meet with the eye on coming back and doing better, swimming faster, having more fun. I had run, bicycled, lifted weights, and swum. Around December, I picked up a training partner which gave my training a shot in the arm. We pushed each other always to do a little more.
With the Senior Olympics coming up in April, in January I started increasing my weekly yardage. With Tyler to push me in the pool and in the gym, I was getting really fit. Then in mid-March I was stricken with tendonitis in my right shoulder. It was bad enough that I swam not a stroke for five straight days and when I swam on the sixth day, it was only for 900 yards with no freestyle whatsoever. I could breast stroke and backstroke but the front crawl was too painful. For five straight weeks my training was severely limited in volume, intensity, and stroke selection. But I did what I could to maintain some fitness. Did I do enough? Only the 500 would tell me for sure.
The week before the swim meet, I had improved enough that I put in a good week in terms of volume. I swam 12,747 meters. Despite the yardage, however, the quality was absent. I did not trust my body enough to do the tough sets needed to swim really well. So with race week being a taper week, we made the drive to Biloxi with me honestly not knowing how much my fitness had been impacted by the reduction in training. I had continued to run. I had lifted weights. I knew I had not lost everything, but exactly where my racing fitness in the water was was a mystery to me.
I was signed up the 200 free, the 50 breast, the 50 back, the 50 free, the 100 free, and the 500 free. The 200 was my first race of the meet, and although I won, it hurt bad, real bad. Remember Buff Dude from last year? I now know that his name is Edmond Lee, he is 61 so not in my age group, and he is a pretty good swimmer. He was in my 200 heat and he pushed me hard. If you look at the shot of the Leader Board below, you will see that I beat him by a mere nine seconds. My time was good, 2:51.87, for me, but the way it hurt me left me thinking that I might be doomed. Besides the 500, the other races were short enough that I could get through them. But the 500 had me worried.
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| Photo credit, Vickie Jee |
Next up for me was the 50 breast. The breast is not a good stroke for me, but I purposed to swim it to try to broaden myself as an athlete. In 2021, I added two backstroke events and won one of them and finished second in the other. Now I am thinking I will do something new at each meet, keep trying to be a more well-rounded swimmer. There were five of us in the heat. Not at all to my surprise, I got my butt handed to me. I finished last, and I was not even close to fourth place. But I did it and I don't regret doing it. I got beat, but I am still alive, still happy, and my wife still loves me. Yehaa!
Later, on the table where they put out our medals, I found one with my name on it that said, Second place, 50 breast. Huh? I asked one of the race officials, and he said that the awards go to Mississippi residents, that three of the four who beat me were from out of state so I got the silver. Yehaa. At one point before the race, from my anxiety over my fitness and looking at the seed times in the events I was signed up for, I was thinking it was possible I might not even win a single race or medal at all. Now things were looking up: two races, two medals.
My next race was the 50 back. There were only two of us in the heat, and I came in second. But just like with the breast, he was an out-of-stater so I won the gold. Then came the 50 free. I dove off the blocks but went too deep. Deep is good if you are a world-class swimmer with a strong dolphin kick. I don't have a strong dolphin kick so when I surfaced, I was a half body length behind the other competitors. I won the 50 free at the last two meets and could have this time, but when I looked at the leader board, it had a second by my name that quickly changed to third. Huh? Turns out that I tied for third but got the silver again as I was the second Mississippian to the wall.
In the 100 free, there was only one other guy in my heat. I chatted him up before the race and found out he was starting off the deck so I decided I would also. Starting off the blocks brings the risk of the googles coming off which happened to me in the breaststroke race. So we went off the deck, and I beat him to the first wall. After that, I admit that I did not push it too hard since I was still worried about the 500. I won collecting my third gold of the day.
Finally, the 500 arrived. I was still apprehensive, but I wanted to win this one very bad. To lose here would really hurt my feelings. Two other men were in my heat. One went off the blocks. I and the guy next to me went off the deck. By the first wall I was even with the guy next to me. Since I was in the outside lane and the man in the other outside lane started off the blocks, I pulled my head up after my flip turn to look for him. I did not see him. Was I really ahead of him already? To make a short story long, I lapped the guy next to me two times and won by two minutes and forty-five seconds. My time, however, was seven seconds slower than last year, but still not bad. Amazingly, although I pushed it hard, I did not suffer like I did in the 200.
So what did I learn? During my injury, I did what I could, mostly swimming breast and backstroke. Apparently, I did not lose too much fitness. Why was the 200 so hard on me? I now think that I did not warmup enough. Usually I try to swim 1,000 yards. Because my training was sketchy, I only swam 550 for a warmup trying to save some energy. I thought that would be sufficient. Not so.
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| Penny and Vickie at Friday night dinner |
All in all it was a nice trip for us. Penny and I had a good supper the night before with Vickie Jee and Penny's friend, Denise Harvey, who lives in Ocean Springs. We did a little shopping and just enjoyed being on the coast. The water, the sand, and the palm trees give the area a different vibe than the one we experience here in the Delta. It was nice to get away. It was nicer to come home, to our little spot of earth. Thank you, Jesus, for a good meet, a good trip, and a good wife to enjoy it all with.
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| Penny's friend from the coast who met us for dinner |
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