Open up a CAN/AM of whoopass!

I should start off by apologizing for that title.  It sounded funnier in my head…
Anyway, I wanted to take a moment to quickly recap the CAN/AM meet from last weekend.  As I discussed in the previous post, there were two goals for the meet:

1.  Earn a selection to the World Championship Team
2.  Validate my recent training strategy of emphasizing weightlifting and power.

It was my hope to end up atop the world rankings and to prove to myself that my increased strength is helping my sprints while not harming my 400m free.  My times were as follows:
400m free 4:47
50m free 26.8
100m free 58.5

Considering these results, I would say that I am confident that I will have achieved both goals for the meet, just as soon as the World Championship Team is announced in the next few days.  My selection event will be the 100m free, in which I am ranked first in the world for this year so far.  That ought to be enough to earn a spot on the World’s team.

Also, looking at those times validates my recent approach, in my opinion.  Comparing these swims to the same meet last year, I believe that the 400 is nearly the same exact time, so no ground lost due to weight training.  I believe both the 50 and 100 are faster than last year, even despite significant crashing issues in the 50.  I believe 58.5 in the 100 is more than a full second faster than last year at this time, so I think that bodes well for the remainder of the season.

I come away from the CAN/AM with renewed vigor towards racing, and I am quite content to know that I’m on the right track for this season.  This week I took just a little break from the pool but got some great lifts in.  I look forward to getting back in the water tomorrow beginning a new season of focus on optimal performance in July!