Does anyone know a thread or a website where I could get a better idea of what older and not former competitively trained swimmers are doing time-wise?
It seems to always be the winning times which are posted. I was looking at the USA Swimming Times, at the oldest age (50) and the lowest category (B) and the guy was STILL doing a 20min 1650!!
I'm 58, 6'1" (6'4" arm span) 180lbs. And I'm forever stuck at a 29-30 minute mile.
I know that if I was training with Masters I would do better, but they are too far away. (Money is being raised for a YMCA, so that could change)
I'd love to know what average times older swimmers who have taken up swimming AFTER college (no previous team experience), but have a passion for the sport are achieving.
Thanks
A 70th percentile triathlon swimmer would find him/herself in the 30th percentile of the 1-hour postal swim. And he/she is still way faster than a fitness swimmer.
Looking at triathlon results might not be a bad place to start. Obviously you can't directly compare open water swimming times with pool times, but it's a start. The One Hour Postal results are also useful. There's a huge range of swimming speeds represented in that event.
For men 55-59 the top swimmer swam 5,395 yards and the 186th swimmer did 1,550 yards. The median swimmer was around 3,840 yards or 2.18 miles in one hour. This is 27.5 min/mile pace.
I'd love to know what average times older swimmers who have taken up swimming AFTER college (no previous team experience), but have a passion for the sport are achieving.
Thanks
Paul - I took up swimming 12 years ago at age 48. I did not swim competitively prior to that and my only swimming experience was the standard lessons as a kid and 1 triathlon in the early 80's (where I did most of the swim sidestroke).
So anyway these are the times I swam last year:
50 free - 27.1
100 free - 1:00.9
50 back - 33.1
100 back - 1:10.0
200 back - 2:35.3
50 fly - 31.3
I don't have any times for the mile in the pool but did a 28 min mile in open water and a 58 min 2 mile open water.
And I also did all of the postal swims last year:
1 hour - 4050 yards
5k 1:28
10k - 3:02
3000 yard - 43 min
6000 yard 1:28
Somewhere on this forum a man created a document that ranked times aaaa / aaa/ aa / a / b / c like usa swimming does for the age-groupers. Try searching the forum for this unofficial ranking. I think National cuts were generally aa or aaa times. I'd search for it for you but it's 12:15 a.m. and I have to be up at 6 a.m. for school. I'll look tomorrow night if you haven't found it.
It's here: Masters Motivational Times - U.S. Masters Swimming Discussion Forums
But I don't think the even the "B" times are Average Joe/Jane times.
Triathletes are a better representation of adult-onset swimmers than Masters swimmers. I swim with a lot of triathletes. Of the adult-onset triathlon swimmers I know, even those who are serious about improving (i.e. swims with a team, works with a coach, swims at least 3x/week) would be lucky to hit the B times in 3 years.
A 70th percentile triathlon swimmer would find him/herself in the 30th percentile of the 1-hour postal swim. And he/she is still way faster than a fitness swimmer.
Lots of friendly people and good advice on this forum, but I think it focuses more on fast swimmers than the average guy.
The swimsmooth.com site is geared to triathletes and focuses on people of varied speeds. Here's the page for beginner speeds.
I think at 30 minutes to a mile, you would be at the intermediate or advanced level.
Thank you all for the great feedback and links. Yes, I've been thinking that I need to compare my times with more general, "all purpose" triathlon swimmers.
"Adult-onset swimmers" hahaha I love it!
