Girls Boulder County Championships

My girls swum at the Boulder County High School Champs this weekend. They were tired, sore, many were still sick, but it is amazing what a little excitement can do.

Many of the girls, especially Anna, Ailey and Melissa, have been very sick. Most were travelling over the Holiday break, so since then we have been going pretty hard. I had several ask me last minute for rest into the meet, because they were worried about how well they could swim tired.

A fundamental lesson that is usually learned somewhere along the way in swimming is that with the right motivation you can go really fast, really tired. However, since we talk so much of taper and rest and shaving, many swimmers do not realize this. It is a skill to swim fast tired. It is needed in college, where they will do 10-15 meets without any rest.

Back at BOCO, I was very impressed with our girls. They had fun, they smiled and they hung out and cheered for each other, across their High School lines. They battle through sickness, nerves and more than anything else, fatigue.

Anna Labozan won the 200 and 100 free after having missed much of the last two weeks with illness. Siobhan won the 50 and was second in the 100 free despite a monster 2 weeks of training. Lacey, Taylor, Gretchen, Amanda and Hannah posted lifetime bests in the middle of the season with little or no rest. Katherine, Ailey, Taryn and Alize were right at or under bests. However, the race of the meet might have been the Girls 100 breast.

Heather Shaver came to me on Thursday dead tired and looking at the edge of her rope. She begged to go 1000 easy and go home because she was tired and she didn't want to swim poorly at the meet. Instead we went easy for about 5k and worked on timing and form. I think we did something right. Early on in the meet Heather broke 55 in the 100 free to make it a 1-2-3-4 RACE heat. Then came the 100 Breast. I told Heather to go out without fear. I knew that as tired as she was, her back half would suffer no matter what, so we decided to go out fast. That she did, 30.8. It was awesome. She struggled home, was passed by a couple very good swimmers but managed to go another best time in 1:07.6. She swam without fear of losing and was rewarded with a great time and I could not have been prouder.

I would rather a swimmer lose and swim their best than ever win and swim ok. The best swim of your life should have nothing to do with anyone else. Those who get caught up in placings and ranking rarely achieve their personal greatness. It is better to be your very best and be middle of the pack (like I was) than be at the font of the group and not reach your potential.

Great job girls.