|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
Federal Way Kings gather together to participate in the USMS 2005 One Hour postal swim. Saturday morning, January 29th, several Federal Way Kings swimmers got together to compete in the annual USMS 2005 One Hour Postal event. We met at the City of Tukwila pool, which Malcolm Neely was kind enough to open for us. Each swimmer had a counter to take splits and count yards. There was a lot of camaraderie on deck as swimmers found that misery loves company. The rules are pretty easy. Swim as far as you can in one hour. That is where the easy stops. Not only do you deal with trying to hold a pace for the duration of an hour, you also have to keep mentally determined to keep focused for an hour as well. Runners talk about "hitting the wall" but when you swim an hour in 25 yard pool, you hit as many as 200 of them. This is an event for people whose hero is the Tortoise, not the Hare. Strong and steady. It is also a good opportunity to set a benchmark and look forward to seeing whether it can be beat next year. This is also a good event for those who have never competed in an organized masters event. Even though it may seem like a long time, it is more like what a normal workout is then a 50 yard freestyle. I found that when I swam this year's hour event (I swam it earlier in the month), the first 1800 yards seemed smooth, then the fatigue comes and then you look at the clock and realize you still have 2/3 of the swim to go. As you press pass this disappointment you realize that you are still maintaining pace, and the thought of keeping this pace for 40 more minutes doesn't seem so daunting. When a half and hour goes by, there is minor comfort in the half way point, but you doubt that the second half can be anywhere near the first half. When 45 minutes goes by you begin to allow yourself to think about the finish. Though you try to pick up speed your splits don't seem to get faster. Then comes five minutes to go and it finally begins to feel "downhill". This year I only increased 15 yards over last year. At first it was disappointing to swim for a whole hour just to gain 15 yards, but then I was thankful that any increase is a good increase. It was fun to see so many come out this year and encourage one another to swim this event. It brings a great sense of accomplishment to know that you can not only complete the hour, but do it well. Remember what the Tortoise says, "It is not how you start out, but how you finish that matters". The individuals and the swims are listed below. When results are posted from USMS, this will be updated with the national places.
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Copyright (c) 2007 Federal Way Masters.
|
