At this meet, I was testing a new approach to help me get into the zone for my races. I was focusing on paying attention to a minimum range of stimuli by letting the other swimmers look up to me.
I did have some success with it and had won 2 Gold and a silver medal going in the Sunday evening finals. In the medal races, I had reached a low level Flow, just nothing as deep as I had experienced before.
My last race was the 1500 free. I didn’t feel very keen on doing it, but it was too late to cancel the race, so I went along with it. Francis Roussel was leading pretty much the whole way. Behind me, the others were far behind. By the time I was at 1350 meters, Francis was almost 25 meters ahead of me. We were on a 1:06/1:07 per 100m pace.
In the 50 before the last 100, I realized that whether I got the silver or the gold, I was still going to be the male swimmer of the meet. However, I wondered if I went for it on my last 100, could I catch Francis and out touch him? I felt like I had nothing to lose. Even if I made a move and fell short of catching Francis, it would be a very exciting 100. So I built the last 15 meters and unleashed the beast off the turn.
I passed Francis with 15/20 meters to go. As I did, I heard him, first being surprised (where is he coming from?) and then heard him admit defeat (I can’t compete with that). I say I heard, but my ears were in the water with my cap on top of them.
I had gone 59 something on my last 100. The tired crowd, waiting for the last race to be over before leaving got excited and cheered on during that last 100.
0 Comments