Tiny Tot Tales: February Swim Meet

Today, the kids had their first swim since before Christmas. They all had been working really hard in the pool recently and I knew we had the potential to see some big improvements. Let me say this: I am so proud of them! Not only have they been working hard, their performances today showed how hard they had been working.

It was just a dual meet and we swam mixed heats to speed things up a bit. There was not a lot of choices of races because the meet was so small and the coach wanted the twins to swim some longer races, so they ended up swimming with the 9-10's in a few races.

Isabelle was up first in the 9-10 100 IM. This was her second time swimming this race and boy did she look good, really good. Her butterfly is looking so much better. When she came off the turn and went into the backstroke, she was looking amazing--her hips were going and she had great power. I wished I had a stop watch for that split! Then she came off that turn and looked amazing in the breast stroke.Unfortunately, she had to finish with the free, which is her weakest stroke, weirdly enough. But she had a great race and took over a second off her time from December.

Next up was the 8 & Under Back. All three kids were in this race. Gabriel swam first in the slowest heat. He was also the only five-year-old swimming today. He had an amazing race and looked really awesome. He shaved 5.7 seconds off his time and finished in 28.13. Really great swim. I was so excited for him. The twins were up in heat 5 of 6 and they both had the outside lanes, which means they had the two slowest seed times in that heat. Isabelle had been looking really strong in the back in practice, and I knew she could have a great race. I also knew Nathaniel could shave some time off. It was a really great race for both of them. Isabelle finished second in the heat with a time of 21.9, shaving 1.45 seconds off her PR set in December. Nathaniel also swam a PR of 23.92. Isabelle's time held up for 5th place overall in the race, so that was great.

Next up was the 8 & Under 50 Free. Gabriel was up first in the slow heat. His stroke looked amazing and effortless really and he ended up shaving almost 8 seconds off his time, swimming a 1:00.32. Nathaniel swam in the next heat and he looked good too. He shaved about 4 seconds off his time.

Next was the 8 & Under 25 fly. The coach wanted Nathaniel to swim this race because he has struggled with his fly of late. He actually looked really good in the race and had a really nice swim.

Next up was the 9-10 50 back. Nathaniel was up in the first heat. His stroke looked really good, but he lost a lot of time not doing a flip turn and in looking back to the wall before the finish. He still shaved 2 seconds off his time.

Isabelle was up next in the 9-10 100 breast stroke. She had never swum a 100 breast before, so she was nervous, but I thought she would do really well. I thought she could swim it in 2 minutes, which is by no means a fast time, but it was her first time trying it, so I did not think it was unreasonable. She looked really great the whole race. She hit the first 50 in 57 seconds, which was her PR from December, so that was really great. She finished up in 2:01.32 and I was really happy about that, but she was not. There was only one other heat of the 100, and then she had to be on the blocks for the 25 breast, so she had no time to recover.

Like I said, the 25 breast was up next. Gabriel swam in the second heat. His stroke looked good, but he got DQ'd, I think at the finish, which was a shame because he would have swum a PR. Nathaniel swam in the 4th of 5 heats. He looked great and I knew he would do a great time. He came in at 27.67, shaving 1.5 seconds off his time from December. Isabelle was up next in the fast heat with the third seed time. Two boys had faster seed times. But she had just laid everything out in that 100 just a couple of minutes (no more than 5 minutes recovery) before. Well, she had a great race, she looked good and it was really close. She and the top seeded boy were neck and neck the whole way and I really thought she would get him at the end. But he out-touched her and she got second place, with a PR time of 25.12, about a half second faster than December. I was so excited for her! She had another great race.

Next, and finally, Isabelle and Gabriel were swimming the 8 & Under 25 free. Isabelle had not swum this race this year, so she was seeded in the slow heat with last years time and swimming right next to Gabriel. I told her that she would have to make herself swim fast and that she would have to push herself in this one. She actually looked decent in this race and swam a PR time, coming in at 23 seconds in her last race with no one pushing her. Gabriel also looked good, and he swam PR by 1.62 seconds, finishing in 29.37. I was impressed with Gabriel holding it together through the meet. It is a long time to sit and wait and it was a very early morning to start.