On Saturday Nov 14th I swam during the morning session of the 2009 edition of the Challenge Red-Fish in Neuchâtel. As every year, this meet is for most Swiss athletes the last occasion to compete before Short Course National Championships at the end of the month.
I mainly entered this meet for two reasons. First, it was about time that I got some racing done and found my way back on the blocks. As much as I enjoyed my coaching stint this summer in the Florida Keys, I was looking forward to this moment. I still enjoy swimming a lot and racing is just a big part of it. Second, as many other Swiss athletes I needed to know where I stand to lay out my plans for what’s to come.
With my swimming not being so consistent right now I really didn’t now what would happen and didn’t expect anything from this meet. I just wanted to take my focus away from school work for a day and have a good time with my team and friends. The only thing I really knew was that I didn’t feel as strong as I would in practice lately and my body was tired from all the late hours studying.
Still, I was excited for another reason this Saturday morning. With the shiny suits banned starting January 1st next year, swimming is going back to the “roots”. Most of you probably know that I was never a friend of any fast suits and I was happy to show off my Splish suits at this meet. Here’s a citation from an article over at SwimNews that I liked and couldn’t have expressed my feelings about this whole suit debate in a better way.
“If you can’t feel the water on your body, then you’re not really swimming.”
As expected I didn’t come up with a great performance but was still happy with my results. Compared to last year, I looked better with more than less optimal conditions. I’m taking this as a good sign but never the less I decided to pull out of this year’s Short Course National Championships at the end of the month.
Just below I included a video of my first race, the 100m fly, of the meet. Full results of the meet can be access through the Swim Rankings website. My personal results can be viewed by clicking here.
Please be patient as it will take a moment for the video to load before it will start to play.
Also feel free to download the video Challenge Red-Fish 2009 - 100m Fly (19945 downloads )