My name is Miriama and I am 33 years old, living in UK. As a kid and during my teenage years I was competitive swimmer in Slovakia. Since then I have stopped swimming, but I miss it so much.
Recently I have joined masters swimming club, .....I have been training with them for over two months and I love it, .....I can feel that I am getting stronger and faster each week ( I swim 5 times per week), as my son is back in school now I have time to go to gym (2 times a week) as well as have my swimming sessions.
My question is
- Is it possible with the right training to swim faster now (33 years old) then when I was 17 y.o.?????? My personal best are -
100m freestyle - 1:03
200m freestyle - 2:14
400m freestyle - 4:42
800m freestyle - 9:42 Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks a lot in advance,
Dara Torres was still winning medals in the Olympics at age 41 - AND breaking records.
en.wikipedia.org/.../Dara_Torres
Here is a link to the top ten lists... type in your age group and events and see what others are doing. (not sure this years meter records are listed, so try last years date - 2012)
www.usms.org/.../toptenlist.php
I'm 46 and got back into swimming last year. I too am trying to get beat my old PRs. I still have a ways to go, but making significant gains with every meet.
The short answer to your question is yes, but it's not easy.
And it's not just people who may not have swum seriously in their youth. For example, Steve West qualified for U.S. Olympic Trials last year. At age 40 who swam faster in the 100 *** than he did at 1992 Trials!
WOW there are great times and but I am wondering are these times swimmer personal best ( whom ever holds them) or just they swim slower now but still very fast ( for me) ???? .... if you know what I mean ;-)I am 47 and last month swam the fastest 50 LC free I have ever done.
But I started from scratch at 41
33 is young, here are the respective LC USMS World times, 30 - 34:
54.59
1:58.92
4:17.52
8:46.22
WOW there are great times and but I am wondering are these times swimmer personal best ( whom ever holds them) or just they swim slower now but still very fast ( for me) ???? .... if you know what I mean ;-)
Oh yes,I was faster in my 30s than in college.
Thank you. I feel like I can do it, is just my brain is telling "surely you can not be better then when you were young ! I have trained 17- 20 hours per week at that time, which I am not able to do it now ;-(
There are a lot more people than you think who have had lifetime best swims or better than college swims not only after 30, but after 40, 50 and even 60!
As Diana Nyad recently said, " Never give up".
Hi Miriama, its great to hear that you are back into swimming and loving it! There are a lot of factors that will determine how fast your times can be. With the proper approach to swimming - and the right amount of training - it is certainly possible to come close to your lifetime bests. Even if you don't achieve this specific goal, however, sometimes the journey is more important. You can take pride in being a competitive swimmer again and staying fit and healthy while enjoying the sport at the same time!
I wrote an article on finding the motivation to train and how to approach your training as a comeback swimmer. Here is the link- hope it might be helpful for you! www.swimspire.com/.../
Good luck and keep in touch!
Julia Galan
www.swimspire.com
Thank you so much ! Yes, indeed, you are right - the journey is much more important ....... since I am back in the water I am more positive person, happy and of course fitter and healthier as well. My overall attitude about swimming is so different from when I was 17, I feel like I have got a second chance to do what I love :-) I am first in the water and last one out and even if the session is hard I am still smiling and asking for more. I have my first meet on Saturday (21/09) - I will swim 200m freestyle, I can not wait to see my time. PS : Anyway I have started my little training blog ( as you have also suggested - 3. Keep track of your progress. ) slovakia1980.blogspot.co.uk/ ;-)
That's a great blog! Keeping track of your progress is definitely the way to go. Also, I noticed that you mentioned to another commenter that you were interested in participating in international competitions. I organize an international swim competition that takes place in a different country each year and it is open to swimmers of all ages and levels. So we have swimmers between the ages of 7 - 50 yrs! This year the competition will be in Tallinn, Estonia from 9-10 November and registration is still open. You can check out the website here: http://www.euswim.org
Julia Galan
http://www.swimspire.com
