Swimming at Barton Springs in Austin, TX

Still in Austin...and this morning I had a wonderful and refreshing swim at the Barton Springs Pool. I swam the length of the pool four times and the water temperature was absolutely perfect. The air temperature, not so perfect. It feels like your average July day back home in DC...hot & humid! I highly recommend this pool as a fabulous place to swim in Austin. It's just nice not being confined by the lane lines and walls for once!

Sometimes it just doesn't matter what you are wearing...

I'm in Austin for the Capital Of Texas Triathlon. We've got a team of TNT triathletes here from all across the country and we'll be working all weekend to make sure that they have a safe and happy weekend. Brad Davison, the Cap Tex Race Director, invited Brandon and I to the race dinner. We frequently get to go to these dinners on event weekend so neither one of us had paid enough attention to the invitation. In the elevator, Brandon noticed some people dressed really nice going up to the top floor ballroom. He asked if they were going to the dinner (since neither one of us knew exactly where the dinner was taking place) and they said that they were. Oops! It apparently said Coat & Tie on the invitation.

After a drink at the hotel bar, and a long conversation about what we should do since we didn't have "Coat & Tie" apparel, we ended up going up to the dinner. Brad greeted us as if we were the most important people there and when we mentioned that we weren't dressed appropriately, he said "Ah, no problem, just go on in and grab a drink and some food." Turns out that it was in fact pretty casual and our fears were calmed.

Since neither one of us had read the invitation carefully, we had no idea what we were about to experience. They were honoring 16 people who were being inducted into the "Triathlon Legends of Austin" Hall of Fame. It was a small gathering and Brandon and I were the only two in the room who weren't associated with one of the inductees. We hears a lot of stories of the early days of triathlon and met some people who have these incredible accomplishments, many of whom are still competing in sports today!

I have learned a lot already during my 12 hours in Austin. It is a completely different experience then when I was here three weeks ago. First, as I was putting on my t-shirt from nationals today, I looked in the mirror and it really hit me that I won my first event at my very first nationals. I swam really well here at nationals and deserve to be really proud of myself. I have been incredibly hard on myself for not having another meet like I did this past December at Rutgers. I have learned that life isn't always as perfect as it was that weekend. Not many people have a meet like that and I am fortunate that I did. I am a National Champion. No one can ever take that away from me.

I already knew this next part, but seemed to have forgotten recently. I learned tonight that athletics is more than just about the next event. It is a healthy lifestyle and the lessons learned in athletics carry over to life in general. You can't win every race, but you can always give it everything you have. When things don't go your way, don't dwell on it. Move past it and keep giving 110%.

I'm headed back to the pool tomorrow.

USMS Nationals Results

Here are my times and places in my age group:

1650 Free: 19:24.58 Age Group Place: 1
200 Back: 2:23.76 Age Group Place: 8
500 Free: 5:36.62 Age Group Place: 6
100 Back: 1:05.64 Age Group Place: 8
200 Free: 2:11.75 Age Group Place: 14
50 Back: 30.58 Age Group Place: 11

I'm not going to go through each race, rather give my overall thoughts on the meet. I went to Austin feeling like I was ready to have the best meet of my life, but what I forgot to think about is that there is life after Austin. I had placed so much emphasis on this one swim meet that I had forgotten that I am human and that I am capable of getting nervous. Nerved kicked in on the plane on the way there and I ever little thing made me feel jittery. I got way too worked up before my 1650 and suffered the effects of the nerves well into the next day.

I did swim well. I was only 2 seconds off my best time in the 1650 free, 3 seconds under in the 500 and only half a second off in 100 back. If I had gone down there and swam best times in all of my events, I definitely wouldn't have learned as much. After all, it is only swimming, that thing that we all do for fun!

Next time I go to nationals, or any big meet, I'm going to try to stay calm and just focus on swimming my best, not on my times. The best that I have swim in the last year was at a time that was totally unexpected. Probably becuase nerved didn't get in my way.

Next up, the Bay Swim 1-miler and Chris Greene Lake 1 & 2 miles swims. Not sure about swim meets, but we're not going to LC Nationals in Oregon this year. First though, I need to get back in the pool!