Luxembourg
06/10/2022: A couple of months ago I registered to race at the 2022 meet of the Luxembourg Open Masters Swimming Championships, which would be held from 8th to the 9th of October at the fabulous Piscine Campus Geesseknäppchen. It’s Thursday and I’m sorting out my packing and swim bags, at the same time wondering whether I can still fit into my race jammers – better try them out first. Well, they fit; but one still annoying thing is that I’m full of a head cold which I’ve been carrying all week. At the moment breathing through my nose is a no-no. Fingers crossed that it’ll clear up by the weekend. I’m looking forward to this event with mixed feelings. The last time I swam in Luxembourg was in 2018, when I was a lot fitter and had been training regularly all year. I’m now into week 8 of training after the whole COVID palaver and an absence from international competition for nearly three years. I’m feeling somewhat apprehensive of swimming in an international meet so soon, with so little training km’s behind me and carrying a few more kg’s. The starts I’ve registered for Luxembourg are the 50m Breaststroke, 50m Backstroke, 100m Freestyle, 200m Individual Medley and the 100m Breaststroke. The 200m IM is giving me a bit of the jitters as I hadn’t swum this event competitively in over 4 years. So, I decided that I would have no expectations of times or performance; but use the meet to set some baseline times, to measure my progress going forward - and have some fun in doing so. Alexander Pope once wrote “Blessed is the man who expects nothing, for he shall never be disappointed” – I just hope he’s right!
07/10/2022: Today I’ll be driving down to the hotel in Luxembourg. Jackie (my techniques trainer and swim buddy) will be joining me. It’s a 5 hr. + journey; but the weather is excellent. Loaded up the car, said our farewells to our better halves and off we went. The drive down was fine, had a leg stretch and lunch break after about two and a half hours and arrived at the hotel in Luxembourg at around 16:50. Driving down to Luxembourg took us over some hills in the Ardennes region of Belgium. Because of my head cold, this played havoc with my ears, and I ended up not being able to clear them.
Luxembourg is a beautiful city in a wonderful setting. We decided that, after checking in, we would walk to the pool to see how long it would take us to get there. Google Maps showed that it was about 1.2 km away
and a 14-minute walk, which it was. As by this time
it was nearly 18:15 we decided to have a bite to eat
and have an early night to be well rested for the
upcoming exertions the following day. We had
pizza at Il Cilento, accompanied by suitable
spiritual refreshment, and made our way back to
the hotel. As soon as my head hit the pillow, I was
away in slumberland.
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08/10/2022: I was up early. The hope that my head cold and ear problem would have gone away did not materialize. I resigned myself to swim, set times and have fun. After a light breakfast we made our way to the pool.
It is an awesome 10-lane 50m pool.
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The 1500m series were well under way. My first start, the 50m Breaststroke was later that morning at 11:30. Time flies by when you’re enjoying yourself and after warming up in the 25m pool made my way to the start area. Earlier, Jackie had some a new meet record for her 50m Breaststroke. It was an even race but unfortunately mistimed my finish and touched on the half stroke, ending second. The first bling was in; but one thing concerned me – I could not generate any leg power in the last 10m. Unexpected, because in training leg work was going well. One positive was that although I swam a slow time, I still managed a qualifying time for the World Masters in Kyushu next year. The 50m Backstroke and 100m Freestyle awaited me in the afternoon. After a long lunch break, competition resumed with the 50m Backstroke.
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Jackie swam a great race and touched first. I had a great start and underwater and came out ahead; but again, I could not generate any leg power in the last metres and again mistimed my touch by a half stroke – déjà vu and second place again. The 100m Freestyle followed 15 minutes later. I was still recovering from the backstroke effort when I stepped up on the start block. I swam a slow race - in fact my slowest ever 100m Freestyle in any competition; but I was pleased with the start off the block, tumble turn and finish. To my surprise, I still made a qualifying time for Kyushu. Jackie also swam a slow (for her!) 100m. That was our last event for the day. We decided to get to the hotel, refresh and then walk around Luxembourg – which Jackie had never done during previous competitions.
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Luxembourg is a lovely city set in pastoral surroundings. The Golden Lady which is part of the War Memorial stood glowing in the evening sun. We took in the views and as we passed a wine shop the display caught our attention – Enoteca.lu.
An amazing place with over 3000 wines on display. We both bought some spiritual refreshment as ‘souvenirs’. As it was about dinner time by now, we decided to look for a suitable eating place; but it was Saturday evening and all the restaurants we stopped at were full. So, we decided to head back to Il Cilento close to our hotel. Having turned a corner, we spotted a ‘Pizza’ sign above a small entrance. We were starving and decided to have a look. To our surprise, the restaurant was amazingly designed and lit inside and, more importantly, not full. We discovered that the name of the eatery was Delirio Culinario. To those not familiar with the Italian language it translated into Culinary Delirium. Expectations rose sky high, and we weren’t disappointed. The pizzas were delicious and were accompanied by appropriate beverages.
Time to get back to the hotel and hit the sack. Falling asleep,
the 200m Individual Medley began to play on my mind. I was
feeling the effects of only 8 weeks’ training after a long absence
from regular training…and those powerless legs. I visualized the
race repeatedly until it faded into oblivion.
09/10/2022: This was the second day of the meet. I woke still
clogged up and quite tired. My head cold seemed to be getting
worse rather than better and I still couldn’t clear my ears.
I had two starts and Jackie, three starts. Fortunately, the 200m IM
was in the morning session at 11:30 and the 100m Breaststroke in the afternoon, around 14:35. After that we would head back to The Netherlands and home. Before I knew it, I was on the start block awaiting the starters orders for the 200m IM. I had already decided not to push it as I was the only one in my age group crazy enough swim it. I would focus on starts, turns, and underwaters and not get disqualified. I swam a steady, pace focusing more on technique than speed and finished on the stroke – so was pleased with it overall; but the time was unmentionable. I swam faster 200m medleys in training. After the lunch break, the 100m Breaststroke. I felt good off the start block and had a good underwater phase. I felt strong and quickly got into a good rhythm. In the next lane was a Spanish swimmer in my age group, Antonio Canales.
At 30m I was still ahead and feeling strong; but I could see that he was reeling me in. The turn was good; but I started to lose my lead and then I lost leg power again. It was as though I was kicking air. So, I focused on using my upper body power to see me to finish second again. Another slow time: but the finish was
good and strangely enough the same time
as my previous swim in this pool four years
ago.Even more unexpectedly, another
qualifying time for Kyushu. In total, four
silvers (50m and 100m Breaststroke, 50m
Backstroke and 100m Freestyle) and one
gold (200m Individual Medley) – unexpected!
Jackie ended up with six medals, one for
each event, three gold (50m and 100m
Breaststroke and 50m Butterfly) and three silver (50m and 100m Freestyle and 50m Backstroke). Swimmers from 61 clubs from 12 countries participated in this international event.
On the way home we stopped at a well-known fast food McChain restaurant and gorged ourselves on carbs. It was a great drive home – the weather was good all the way back and traffic ok except around Liege. Somehow driving home always seems faster. On reflection, an event which left me with mixed feelings. In hindsight, I felt I would swim faster times although the intention was to go to Luxembourg without any expectations. If Alexander Pope was still around, I could have told him the human mind isn’t that black and white! What definitely was not expected were the three qualifying times for the World Masters Championships next year. That left me with a positive feeling overall and motivated to continue on my journey.
