celebration!
I know there is something unseemly about bragging about ones swimming times. I think for many masters swimmers, a sense of personal accomplishment is best savored inwardly. John Wayne, were he to have taken up masters swimming, certainly would never have jumped up and down in giddy pride over a personal record. Nor, I suspect, would Clint Eastwood.
Having said this, I would just like to take a moment to jump up and down in shameless giddly pride over a recent swim I had!!!
At Y nationals in Ft. Lauderdale a couple weeks ago, at the age of 49, I swam the best 200 yard freestyle of my life--a 1:55.11, which beat my high school and college time by nearly a full second. I realize this may actually say a lot more about my former mediocrity that it does about my current prowesss, but the fact remains that as I near semi-centenarian status, I was able to whoop my teenage self!!! (Sorry about that, youngster Jim; you just didn't know how to race smart back then.)
I went into the race hoping just to break two minutes; I had never before broken 1:56, and this didn't even enter my consciousness as a possibility. When I finished the race--splitting 57 and 58 respectively--I wasn't even all that exhausted. I looked over, saw my time on the big board, and I have been ludicrously, bumptiously proud of myself ever since.
Anyhow, I'm hoping that rather than annoying my fellow masters swimmers who may read this post, this exercise in self-congratulations/aggrandizment will encourage others to pen their own moments of personal satisfaction. Where better to celebrate than here, where your fellow swimmers actually know about swimming times and (unlike the world at large) conceivably even care?
Fisch:
I'll reply to your question of "Who else is getting faster as they got older?" in the hope of giving others a little assistance in goal setting.
I swam for a year and a half in high school and through 4 years of college. 1967 to 1972 inclusive. Approximate best times for scy swims versus current best times as a 50-52 year old are as follows:
Event - Then (all college) - Now (Hawaii02)
500 fr --- 5:12ish----- 4:58.94
1000 fr--- 11:15ish--- 10:23.50
1650 fr--- 18:08ish --- 17.15.00
200 im --- 2:14+ ------ 2:10.00 (Indy2K)
400 im --- 4:33.5 ----- 4:32.85
200 br --- 2:23+------ 2:22.98
200 fly --- 2:02+ ----- 2:10.13
My shorter distance times all approach what I did 30 years ago but the above (with the exception of the fly) still kind of "blow my mind". A 30 year old goal of breaking 5 minutes in the 500 achieved.:cool:
Now, for the last 3 years, I've trained year round. In college it was a different regimen. My first year back, I averaged 24000 yds/wk. After establishing that base, I've pretty much been able to scale it back to an average of around 18000 with ups and downs depending on competition schedule. I generally compete in ALL meets (pool). This seems to get me the intense quality effort required for speed. 5 events one day, all 100% effort.
I've also discovered that a 3 week taper works better along with arriving at the major competition sites a day or two in advance to rest, check in and mentally prepare.
The last thing (but probably most important) is the program. Our head coach, Brian Stack, and his assistants truly make the effort to put together a quality program for the varied levels of swimmers that we train with. It also certainly helps to have the fast training partners that we get to swim with on a daily basis.
Jim Clemmons
Manatee Aquatic Masters
Oakland CA (Mills College)
Fisch:
I'll reply to your question of "Who else is getting faster as they got older?" in the hope of giving others a little assistance in goal setting.
I swam for a year and a half in high school and through 4 years of college. 1967 to 1972 inclusive. Approximate best times for scy swims versus current best times as a 50-52 year old are as follows:
Event - Then (all college) - Now (Hawaii02)
500 fr --- 5:12ish----- 4:58.94
1000 fr--- 11:15ish--- 10:23.50
1650 fr--- 18:08ish --- 17.15.00
200 im --- 2:14+ ------ 2:10.00 (Indy2K)
400 im --- 4:33.5 ----- 4:32.85
200 br --- 2:23+------ 2:22.98
200 fly --- 2:02+ ----- 2:10.13
My shorter distance times all approach what I did 30 years ago but the above (with the exception of the fly) still kind of "blow my mind". A 30 year old goal of breaking 5 minutes in the 500 achieved.:cool:
Now, for the last 3 years, I've trained year round. In college it was a different regimen. My first year back, I averaged 24000 yds/wk. After establishing that base, I've pretty much been able to scale it back to an average of around 18000 with ups and downs depending on competition schedule. I generally compete in ALL meets (pool). This seems to get me the intense quality effort required for speed. 5 events one day, all 100% effort.
I've also discovered that a 3 week taper works better along with arriving at the major competition sites a day or two in advance to rest, check in and mentally prepare.
The last thing (but probably most important) is the program. Our head coach, Brian Stack, and his assistants truly make the effort to put together a quality program for the varied levels of swimmers that we train with. It also certainly helps to have the fast training partners that we get to swim with on a daily basis.
Jim Clemmons
Manatee Aquatic Masters
Oakland CA (Mills College)
