So this is what drowning feels like...

A bunch of us from the English Bay Swim Club traveled a few kilometres west this morning to compete at the UBC Masters Swim Meet.

I love swim meets. Where else can you legitimately check out guys parading around in their speedos all day? When I was in high school, my friend Erin and I used the swim meets as an opportunity to pick up cute guys from other schools. Even though we never won any trophies or mustered up the courage to talk to those guys, we had lots of fun. Not much has changed since then.

But today, my attention was focused more on swimming, and less on guys. It was a bit of a scientific experiment. I wanted to see how I would do after cutting way back on my swimming this year.

I did the bare minimum in preparation for this meet. I’ve been swimming about four times a week since October. I’ve also been consuming a lot of alcohol and staying out way too late.

I figured I would either do horrible at the swim meet or do really well after having built up my endurance for Ironman. I was curious to see if lots of running and biking over the summer would translate into faster times in the pool. So it was a bit of a surprise to have smashed all of my personal records.

To be honest, it really hurt. My arms felt like lead, my lungs were burning and my legs didn’t seem to have any power. Plus, I always get so nervous when I’m up on the blocks that I feel like throwing up or passing out.

Here are my results:

1. 400 metres freestyle: 5:31.39, 1st place
   
2. 200 metres freestyle: 2:32.64, 1st place
   
3. 100 metres freestyle: 1:08.46, 1st place
   
4. 50 metres freestyle: 31.27, 1st place
   
5. 200 metres freestyle relay: 2:02.89, 2nd place