A Day in the Life: Kelly Reitz, Day 5

WEST LAFAYETTE, Indiana, December 2. WITH her fifth-and-final edition of her "A Day in the Life" series, William & Mary's Kelly Reitz checks in from the U.S. Open again. For the second day in a row, Reitz touched in with a personal best.

We'd like to thank Kelly for taking time out of her schedule to participate in this blog series as she prepared for the U.S. Open. Kelly, good luck with the rest of the season.

Friday, December 1, Day 5
I did not have an event, but I did have a time trial today. I warmed up right before my swim, so most of the swimmers had left the pool and I had so much space. It was glorious! I could warm up at my own pace without having to worry about getting into a traffic jam. I hopped out of the warm up pool and had just a little time to stretch before I was on the blocks. I had a clear mind before my race, 100 fly.

The start went off and I focused on quick dolphin kicks up to the surface. I didn't have a breathing pattern in mind and I only took breaths when it was necessary. I built into the first 35 meters, this is the same way I approached the 100 breaststroke. On the way home, I had a lot of energy. It was funny because I could see the timers in my lane and they stood up before the timers in the other lanes, so I knew I was ahead. Knowing I was in the lead gave me a burst of power to put my head down and finish hard into the wall. I was not willing to lose. I touched first with a personal-best time!

After climbing out of the competition pool, I walked over to the warm down pool and fell in. The first 200 warm down is always the hardest and hurts the most, but after that I started to feel normal.

Here is my warm-up and warm-down from the day:
1,000 swim
400 drill/swim
3 x 100 build
6 x 50 odd drill/even build
4 x 25 descend
200 easy
Warm Down: 700 swim/kick

No one from my team swam in the A flight this morning, so we got to sleep in! Well, for a little while anyway. I watched and cheered for my teammates swimming in the B flight. They all had good swims and came out of the pool with smiles on their faces. Once they were done, it was my turn to warm up.

My teammates who had finished swimming for the day went to a sandwich shop and picked up lunch for everyone. But, I still had to wait until after my event to eat my sandwich. I was so hungry by that time!

Once I swam my event I quickly changed, so that I could get back on the pool deck to support other teammates who had time trials. My teammate, Marina, swam the 800 meter freestyle, and I definitely wanted to be poolside to cheer for her. She dropped 23 seconds in her swim! Marina was the last swim of the morning at 4 p.m. again, so then we all piled in the cars to head back for a short respite at the hotel. It was a wonderful break.

Unfortunately, there weren't any trashy television shows available to watch. My roomies, Whitney and Meredith, and I were so bummed. We entertained ourselves by checking e-mails and Facebook instead. Around 5:15 p.m., our team headed back to the pool, but first we stopped by Moe's for dinner. I got a great burrito and some queso. I have a serious weakness for queso dip and chips!

We made it back to the pool right after the 100 backstroke events had been swum. But, we still got to see the 200 freestyle, 100 butterfly, and 400 IM. At first, I was worried that I wouldn't be able to see anything because the deck was so crowded and athletes weren't allowed upstairs in the stands because they were filled to maximum capacity. But, we scored a great spot right on the edge of the pool and next to the ready room! The Olympians and swimming stars walked right past me as they walked out for the A finals of their events. The competition was great to watch and I had fun hanging out with my teammates and discussing the races.

At the end of the finals session, we headed back to the hotel and caught some of the Polar Express movie before we went to sleep. I had a great day and I'm looking forward to the 200 breaststroke event tomorrow. I'm hoping for one more personal best before the end of the weekend!

Thank you for reading my A Day in the Life article and good luck in your own swimming careers!

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