Results from World Champs

http://www.durbanworldcup.co.za/
The Durban World Cup site has great articles about each night of finals from the world cup...and a picture of me attempting to swim breaststroke! I have taken so many photos that I would love to share with everyone but the computer that I am using right now looks like the first computer my family ever owned! I think it is running Windows 95...and there is absolutely nothing resembling a USB port to upload photos...the only imput is a 3 1/2 floppy disk! So I guess I will keep on snapping photos of the area...and just upload upon my return to G-ville in December. Erica was awesome and took pictures on my camera while I was swimming in the 5K yesterday...she's got a GREAT one of my finish...thanks to Erica...I get to pay her back while she swims the 10 and 25!
http://www.fina.org/FinaWorldOpenWaterChampionships3rd_resultsW5k.html
Here are just the simple time results of the women's 5K finish. It doesn't tell you much so I'm going to give a race report. There were 22 women in the race and we started 10 minutes after the men. During the race there were a ton of boats on the course so we were constantly breathing diesel fumes...always fun. The start wasn't very eventful...there was to much room an too few swimmers for it to be rough. We got to the first turn buoys in a large pack, there was quite a bit of hitting and kicking around those buoys. The rest of the first lap was calm with a lot of jockeying for position (drafting position). When we came back by the start/finish area (one lap completed, one to go) the two Russian swimmers broke away from the pack. Unfortunatly I did not see them until they had built quite a lead over the rest of the pack. (I have a ton of excuses but I just didn't see them!:) Going around the first turn buoys on the second lap, I noticed that there were some swimmers that we were not catching (they must not be guys from the men's race...we had been catching a few stragglers). I realized that no one in the main pack was going to go after them so I did it my self...I spent the entire 2nd lap pulling the rest of the group to try and catch the breakaways...but no one in my group was going to help! I was SOOO mad...and the one girl on my feet, making me do all the work...was Britta (GER). But I gave it my best shot...unfortunatly, we let the Russians get to far ahead and as we we nearing the finish I knew that I had run out of room to catch them. I stopped swimming and checked who was still on my feet...only Britta. So I mad her go ahead of me and started drafting off her to get some rest (all of on minute to catch my breath). And then it was finish time...and I sure wasn't going to give the one medal left to someone who had made me do all the work...so I turned on some rocket legs (thats for you mom) and went right by her in the last 200m. It was a great race...the Russian girls swam very smart and very fast...and I got a really cool bronze medal! The rest of the USA team did good...the men finished 17th and 22nd and Beth finished 17th in the womens race.
About 30 minutes after the race they did a beautiful awards ceremonly at the race site. I do want to mention that the Aussie who won the men's race, Grant, swam a great race! We met at the New Jersey 10k and he also swam at the Tiburon mile in San Fran where he got 2nd to Chad Carvin. This was the end of his swimming career becasue he is going home to get married in 3 weeks...but her sure went out on top as a World Champion!
Speaking of World Champions...we still only have one of them in the McLarty household...that's Dustin (Aquathlon, 2001).
After returning to the hotel and taking a well deserved shower...the river is not a clean as it looks...team USA headed down for dinner and then we all took taxies to the GOLD MARKET! That place was insane...I didn't even know that jewlery existed in the world...we only covered about 1/8th of the place and my eyes couldn't take looking at any more sparkley stuff...and I'm pretty sure all of it was real...becasue they were selling it at insane prices! Definitely did NOT get any shopping done...until Chris spotted one rug/scarf store in the middle of all the gold and diamonds...and we were all over that one!
Got about 12 hours of sleep last night...I think it was well deserved...and enjoyed the feeling of everyone else going off to swim practice at 8 this morning and me: just doing nothing! But (MOM) I promise that I will get something accomplished while I am here...it's not the best place to go outside the hotel and go for a jog...buth they've got a workout room upstairs with a treadmill!
I think this post is reaching it's limit...I wish that I had some photos on here for you all!

Hi from the Middle East!

Am a currently typing this in a internet cafe in Dubai, UAE. There are guys sitting on couches all around me smoking on those big pipes that you see in the movies, serious! Its a little hazzy in here and I'm going to make it quick because it's hard to beathe! This is a pretty cool country, I'm more a fan of the SA country: lots of wildlife and green areas. This is mostly concrete followed by more concrete. I arrived yesterday morning on a flight from Jo-burg. It was pretty long, about 10 hours (but with the 2 hours that we sat on the runway in Jo-burg becasue something was wrong with the front wheel...it was more like 12 hours). I got more stamps in my passport...this one is pretty cool. I exchanged some money for Dirham...it's about 3.5 to one dollar. When I collected my bags from the belt, I noticed that one of the zippers was sort of open so I looked into that pocket in the bag and there was a pair of smelly, old sneakers that I had never seen before! All my stuff was still in the bag but I took out the shoes and left them on the floor...yucky! There was a guy waiting outside with my name on a sign and they drove me to the hotel, checked in, ate some breakfast and fell asleep for 4 hours. When I woke up, I put on a bikini and went up to the pool on the roof and fell asleep again! Later in my room, I got a call from one of the race directors saying that a van was going to a 50m pool for some swimming. We left at about 4pm...45 minute drive to the pool, I swam about 4500m, and then we headed back to the hotel. I saw a little of the area on the drive, but most of the time I was sleeping! Back at the hotel I ordered some room service dinner (first time doing that) and ate a huge steak and salad and fruit dinner! Then guess what...I fell asleep again!
I just realized that I haven't wrote about the great time I had in SA after the meet was over...and why when I arrived in the UAE I was so darn tired! That will have to be in another post because I will need some fresh air soon...this room is terrible!
This morning I knew that there was a van going back to the pool around 9am...I was waiting with the British guys for it to arrive...we waited and waited...no show. But guess who did show...the rest of the USA team! They got in around 9:30. When I was chillin' with them in the lobby...we got a phone call that a van was coming to take us to the pool...so I split and went with the british guys to the pool. I swam a little bit, 2500m, but mostly sat on the wall and talked with the Brtish guys (I've got to figure out their names so I don't have to write 'British guys' again!). The vans took us back to the hotel and I met the USA team eating lunch.
That's pretty much been the story so far...in a hour there is suposed to be a van taking me to the beach (the USA team is going to the pool but I've had enough of that)!
I'm off to find some fresh air...later!

long time, no see

Hey everyone, well whoever bothers to come and see what i'm up to...hi from South Africa. it's sure been a long weekend...but i've had a lot of fun and now it's time to fill you all in on what the trip has been like so far! it's kinda gonna be in a list format so that i can get this written fast (i've got to go collect my $$$).damn, that flight was LONG!! there was a lot of space on the flight from atlanta to jo-burg...but i wasn't one of the lucky ones that got 4 seats to themselves, i only managed 2 seats to myself, but i couldn't really stretch out too much! but i met some cool people on the plane. we landed on some island halfway through to refuel, but it was dark and you couldn't get off the plane so i didn't really see too much! we got to jo-burg- did the customs thing and got on another flight to durban. got to durban at 2pm and the swimming people were right at the airport to drive us to the hotel. beautiful hotel right on the beach, like Darien promised. then we headed over to the pool to have a little 'swim out the flight' swim. that was fun. but the pool is really cool, nice outdoor pool for warm up and cool down. the only negative might be the pigeons that live in the rafters and drop feathers, eggs, and poo into the pool! got back to the hotel, grabbed some dinner and fell fast asleep. friday morning, the meet starts, at 10 so we get to sleep in. all the meals are in the huge resturant in the hotel lobby, all you can eat, really good food too! after breakfast we headed to the pool, i just got in to swim a warm up because both my 400im and 800 free were in the finals. i was looking throught the heatsheet to see when the other USA people were swimming and noticed that there was a Sara McLarty entered in the 200 backstroke. hum...wonder how that happened. so, i didin't even have a race suit, got up there and attempted a backstroke start and swam a descent 200 back. made sure that i scratched the finals. at night i swam great, won the 400im with a 4:35 (faster than NCAAs) and won the 800 with a 8:25...nice time. total for the day $3000!day two was the BIG day. three events: 200 fly, 200 free, and 200IM. the last two were only separated by the men's 50 free! made finals in all 3...and took a nice long nap to get ready for that one! at night, i swam really well in everything, 3rd in the 200 fly and the 200 free (1:58) warmed down for like 5 minutes and got back on the block to race right to the finish wall in the 200 im, got 2nd by like 1 tenth!this morning was painful becasue i didn't really warm down last night because of the lightning storm that came right after the 200 im! so i swam a long warmup and a really slow 400 free in prelims: 4:12. there was going to be stiff competition in from the french girl that won the 200 free...but i got to finals and she scratched...but the stiff competition was still there from Melissa from SA. we raced to the wall...4:05s and i only won by a touch. in between prelims and finals today, we all went across the street to the market and broused the beautiful african art and spent a few rand on some souveniers. yep...i've got some presents! so now...i'm going to go get in the line to pick up my money (i'll just tell you that it's a nice $6500!!)and then i've got to go rush up stairs, shower, get dressed and head out for the world cup post-meet PARTY!alrighty everyone...i hope that i will have better luck in Dubai writing on here so that i can keep you posted!

Leavin'...on a jet plane

The alarm is set...you don't really want to know what time it's set for...thanks to Darien, it's an hour earlier than it should be. He owes me breakfast in Atlanta!
There might be a problem, when I carried my bag down to the car...I'm pretty sure that it is over 70 pounds (the limit on Delta for a bag or you have to pay extra). I can't imagine what is so heavy, clothes aren't heavy, swimsuits don't weigh much. I guess the problem is that I have crammed enough of everything into this huge bag that I could live out of it for a few months! Oh well, I have an extra hour at the G-ville airport in case I need to leave a few things in the car.
Speaking of the car...I'm a little nervous to be leaving it with my semi-responsible brother for over 2 weeks. At least this time there isn't a racing bike in the back that someone could steal when dumb Dustin leaves a window completely down!
The bus just drove by with the Gators returning from FSU where they kicked butt. Dustin swam a great 1000 free, 200 back and 200IM. Their next meet is the US Open in Texas, starting on December 2nd. Since I'm returning to G-ville on the 4th...I guess that means I won't be seeing my lil'bro for quite a long time!
Next post will be from South Africa!

Darien & I at the UF pool...tomorrow we head to Durban, SA. 

I'm Done Done DONE

YEA! Pretty much finished up my 2 1/2 classes yesterday. Coaching swimming...like that class has ever been hard; Telecom...I finished my documentary, the class viewed it, like it, and I turned in a copy to be graded; EnviroSci...gave my exciting presentation on saltwater intrusion, it was short & sweet, fell asleep through everyone else's presentation.
Last minute details - got a photo of Darien & myself to give to Aston in Durban, SA. The box of USA gear for the open water arrived last night - suits, caps, shirts, etc. I'm off to the bank today to get some travelers checks and the grocery store to get munchies (15 hours in a plane is a long time!).
By the way...it's like freezing in G-ville. Try walking from the indoor pool to the locker rooms, soaking wet, when it's 50 degrees out (okay, I'm not walking, I'm running as fast as I can)!

FunDay Sunday!

Surprise, surprise...the Gator Football team beat South Carolina yesterday. Since that was the last home game of the year, I guess that was my last football game as an athlete...which means no more free tickets and good seats on the 50 yard line! If I ever want to see a game in the Swamp now...I either have to buy tickets, or donate a HUGE sum of money to the F-Club:)! It was a night game, 7pm kick off, so it was nice and cool with a slight breeze in the stadium...much better than a 100 degree game at 12noon!
My attempts at packing for SA & UAE are very slow. I've got some clothes in the bag...but I've got a long way to go until I get on the plane Wednesday morning. Not much packing today since I spent most of the day at the mall with Dustin. Spent a little $$, had a little fun. Our attempt to go see a movie afterwards was unsuccessful because there is nothing in the theaters right now! Ocean's 12 is coming out really soon, I finally saw a preview for it on TV after they showed Ocean's 11, of course. That will be top on my list of things to do post-traveling.
USA swimming called and said that tomorrow I should get a package in the mail with my USA team gear for the open water world champs. Great, just what I need, more stuff to pack!
I'm trying to think of as many fun things to take on the airplanes as possible. I've got books, cards, UNO cards, crossword puzzles...any ideas? 40 hours on a plane...I need something to pass the time.
This morning I spent 2 hours in the computer lab working on my documentary for telecom class. I think I'm done...well, I am 'C' project done, at least. We will see in class tomorrow what Tim thinks of it. After telecom class I am giving a presentation with my partner in Environmental Science lab. It's about salt water intrusion in the Burdiken Delta in Australia...considering I really don't know that much about the topic...we'll see how the presentation goes!

Gator Swimming

Damn! Gators are pretty fast in the pool! Check out the swimming results from today's meets at gatorzone.com. The women swam first at 10am against South Carolina. After starting off with a Gator 1-2 in the medely relay and a 1-2-3 in the 1000 freestyle, the Lady Gators had the meet in the bag...but they didn't let up and swam great times the whole way through!
The men's meet started at 1pm, it was a tri-meet against Texas and South Carolina. There were two heats of every event (by the end, I was a little tired of being at the pool). Lil'D swam the 200IM and 200 Back with two more best times and a 4th and 5th place...way to go Dustin!
I headed to swim practice this morning at 8am...before the meets...and Coach Troy actually asked me what I needed to do! I was in shock! The shock continued when I told him I needed to do 400 IM pace...and he told me to do 4 x 400IMs broken @ RACE PACE and a toatal of 7000m! I was thinking more along the lines of meet warm up, pace, cool down...I guess he was thinking more like practice from hell!
After the meets, Dustin and I got a little family time. The parents wanted to see my Majik documentary (what I have done so far on the documentary) so we went to the computer lab and played it...they were impressed, but they are family so their opinion doesn't count! It was off to Friday's for some chow time, yummy. Then it was party time in my apartment while Dad and Dustin took apart my huge entertainment center to take home and store until Dustin needs it when he moves off campus into an apartment or house next year...at least he's got one piece of furniture!
Just a note...I sure accumulated a lot of STUFF during 4.5 years in college! I can't believe how much junk I've got and now I am trying to go through it all and decide what is important (reason: I'm graduating soon). If anyone needs something, like a cooking pan, an empty notebook, a Swiffer thingy...let me know, you can have mine:)

Drawing a Blank

I've got nothing! Unless you want to hear, in detail, how to make a documentary for RTV class or how a cogeneration steam & electricity plant works...I have nothing else to say! The present is so bleak compared to the future.
Oh, I thought of something exciting...on Friday there are two swim meets at the O'dome. First the Lady Gators swim South Carolina and then the men swim South Carolina and Texas (neither one will be much of a threat)!
Where will you find me on Friday? In the computer lab working on my project? Hell no! I will be at the pool, cheering! Earlier today, I bought stuff to bake cookies as a 'good luck' to the ladies...I seem to have eaten most of it already, oops.
Oh, got something else exciting. Posted below is the race map for the World Champs. Not a very exciting race course...boring rectangle...but I'm sure the race will be exciting!


5k Open Water World Champ race map...we are swimming in the Dubai Creek (not the Persian Gulf as mentioned earlier)

South Africa

I did a great research blog on the UAE earlier...so now it's time to find out a little about SA. I am arriving in SA first. I have included a beautiful picture of the pool below. They've got a lot of pictures of it on the World Cup website: http://www.durbanworldcup.co.za/photogallery.asp?job=gallery&id=250. (There's an out-door pool, very important for getting sun!)


Kings Park pool in Durban, SA...it's a beauty!

Want to know what a small world it is...I just found out today that my Academic Advisor, Tim, is friends with the Marshall family...as in Peter Marshall...as in one of the other USA swimmers going to SA with Coach Steve and I. Weird. And it's Tim's fault for not getting Peter to be a Gator (5 years ago)!
More small world...one of the Majik guys from SA (Majik: the skydivers I'm making my documentary about for Telecom class) is from Durban, he has family there, he has contacted them, and they have invited me to stay at their place and show me the sights after the swim meet!
Back to info on SA...according to Darien...(a Durban native who is currently swimming for the Gators and also attending the World Cup meet)...the hotel we stay in is ON the beach and just a quick walk away from the pool. Speaking of the pool, I will be swimming my '6-special' events. They are my '6-special' because I swim these 6 at every meet, they are my best events, and I really can't swim anything else (unless they include the mile, but thank goodness they didn't do that here)! 200, 400, & 800 freestyles, 200 & 400 IMs, and the 200 fly.
Now thinking about racing in the World Cup, I have started to realize that it's about time to start tapering. Did I start today? Nope! What did I do? Ummm...a mere 9600 this morning, all free, in a 85 degree SAUNA that they call the outdoor pool! (I'm still trying to drink water to replace what I lost during that 2+ hour practice). Oh yeah, I also swam 300 flys for time all afternoon at practice! But I'm not complaining...I love to train with the Gators, and I will miss it terribly when it is over...which is pretty soon, 9 days to be exact!
While talking on the phone last night with Coach Mom, she said that she is going to start writing a training plan for my re-started triathlon carrer. The lovely thing she mentioned was and idea about sending me up to swim with the Gators during CHRISTMAS TRAINING! AAAAHHHH! to be contiuned...

The beach in Durban, SA...if you couldn't figure that out on your own:)! 

MAP of the KwaZulu-Natal Kingdom of South Africa...Durban is the largest city.

Observation

Ever notice that when you have something really important to do that you tend to get a lot of cleaning done? For example, I have a BIG project due soon, but all I have accomplished is washing my dishes, doing the laundry, and cleaning my room. It is just me?

Art Show

It's the weekend of Gainesville's Art Show. I love wandering the streets looking at all the beautiful art work...wishing I had a HUGE house to put it all in! My roomie, Rachel, and I are heading down there right now. It sure is perfect weather right now. We had a huge cold front come down to Florida on Thursday night and in about 12 hours it went from 90 degrees to 70! (and that is COLD for those of us with thin blood!) I get to pull out the sweaters and scarves from the back of the closet now! Oh yeah, and running in and out of the out-door pool is tons of fun! Had to do that this morning for AM practice, which was so easy! I LOVE TAPER!
After visiting the art show it will be time to head over to the pool to watch the Florida State High School swim meet. My club coach, Steve Lochte is here with Creek/Daytona swimmers...time for me to do a little cheering. I know that there will be NO one from my high school so I might as well cheer for someone!

Taper Time

The countdown begins...less than 2 weeks 'til the World Cup meet. Although UF swim practices are not going to be getting easier/shorter any time soon...mine will!! Today was a good way to start. Instead of going to morning swim practice, sleep in and go for a 25 minute jog...then take a nap after that!
Don't think I didn't get anything accomplished...I checked e-mails, ate lunch, oh...ordered my cap and gown for graduation! Some how, no one mailed me the information on when and where to reserve the stuff, so I was stuck with a late fee because the deadline was last month! But I will be sitting on the stage in a cap and gown (light blue tassel).
The men swimmers left this morning for Purdue for an invitational meet. Dustin calls home from the Jacksonville airport to tell us that he left his cell phone in his room! It's only his first 'away' meet...it'll take a while until he gets the hang of packing everything...we didn't ask if he remembered his toothbrush!
I'm on a mission to find some kind of small Gator/USA souvenir, like a pin or pen or keychain, so that I can take a bunch to South Africa and Dubai. It wont hurt to have a physical 'thank you' for all the people that help when I get lost in a foreign counrty! The trouble is, in Gator Country...they charge an arm & leg for anything with orange & blue!
Tonight I logged 2 hours in the editing room working on my documentary. I think managed to put down 10 seconds of black...fading into the title...fading into one skydive...and then I drew a blank, gave up and went home to eat dinner! This is going to take a little longer than I thought.
It's 11pm and I want to get a ride in the morning before it gets too damn hot...so good night to all!

SPLISH

http://www.splishwear.com/

One of many fun swimsuits designed by SPLISH!

Graduation

According to the mail I received yesterday, I will be graduating on December 18th at 2pm in the O'Connell Center. Now all I have to do is finish the classes that I'm taking and get decent grades. Grades are funny, as a freshman...they were the most important thing to me. By last year, I cared so little about them that I don't even remember what I ended up with!
I've got one project that is taking up most of my free time right now, my documentary on the DeLand Majik skydiving team. Some how I have to sift through 5 hours of footage and make an 8 minute (or less) final movie. I will be spending the every moment of the next two weekends in the editing room at the college of Journalism...got to get it done before departing for South Africa.
Speaking of SA...14 days 'til departure on November 17th. I talked to Darien yesterday (he's a freshman on the swim team and is also participating in the Durban World Cup) and he said that we're probably on the same flight. He also mentioned that the jet lag from the 15hour flight hits you on the second and third day after arrival...which will be right in the middle of the swim meet!
Here is a link to the Durban World Cup web site: http://www.durbanworldcup.co.za/

Team Majik in freefall...make you want to make a skydive, huh! 

Swimming

It's time to include a swim practice (in detail). I'm including this one: mainly because it was HARD, partly because I made it, and a little bit because it's one of the last crazy pool practices for me! Total: 9000 yards; all freestyle; 8 guys & 1 girl on this interval; descend each set of 3 and each set of 2; the singles are just all-out!
3x500 @ 6:00
3x400 @ 5:00
3x300 @ 3:30
3x200 @ 2:10
3x100 @ 1:00
2 minutes rest
2x500 @ 5:30
2x400 @ 4:20
2x300 @ 3:10
2x200 @ 2:00
2x100 @ :55
2 minutes rest
1x500 @ 5:00
1x400 @ 4:10
1x300 @ 3:20
1x200 @ 2:30
1x100 @ from a dive