PRs and avg improvement times

RE: PRs and avg improvement times

orca1946 — Tue, 28 Feb 2017 12:28:36 GMT

At starting point of 41 - you will not be burned out by 45.

RE: PRs and avg improvement times

RobH — Tue, 28 Feb 2017 08:38:26 GMT

RobH that's me too, but I would figure that others have taken a 5 year and 10 year list and made new PR's from that. The reason being is that no one is really going to be what they were in their teens. Well, if you didnt swim competitively as a youth, then you don't have teen times to compare to. In my case, my first swim meet was at age 41.

RE: PRs and avg improvement times

Nichollsvi — Tue, 28 Feb 2017 06:13:47 GMT

RE: PRs and avg improvement times

RobH — Tue, 28 Feb 2017 02:01:35 GMT

At starting point of 41 - you will not be burned out by 45. I'm not. Still having lots of fun getting faster and competing at nationals. Oh, and I'm now 48.

RE: PRs and avg improvement times

RobH — Mon, 27 Feb 2017 03:03:20 GMT

As an adult onset swimmer, I do have the privilege of having a realistic chance of setting new PRs each time I race. In terms of time improvements, much depends on when I last swam the event as well as the distance. I have had 100 yard races where I beat my previous best times by 6 seconds (free, back, and IM), but those were situations where I had not swum them in 2+ years. In contrast, I have nibbled down my 50 back time about a dozen times (raced fairly frequently) with more recent ones being maybe 0.15 second improvements. In between is my 50 fly where I recently knocked off 0.4 seconds or 50 free where I dropped 0.65 sec. As I'm getting faster, I know the gains will be harder to come by. But it is a lot of fun to continue to find ways to get faster and moving up the rankings.

RE: PRs and avg improvement times

Former Member — Thu, 23 Feb 2017 09:01:32 GMT

Any PR is a good PR ;)

RE: PRs and avg improvement times

Former Member — Mon, 20 Feb 2017 13:28:47 GMT

RE: PRs and avg improvement times

gobears — Mon, 20 Feb 2017 10:54:48 GMT

Yes I do. I'll take any thing from 50 free to 1650. Open water. I'm open to everything, that's why I asked. I'm just wanting to soak up whatever people offer. Yes but what about us? MP is way out of our league. I'd take you swam as a kid or not, you didn't do well at X stroke and did, anything. This is such a vague question it's difficult to answer. Some of us who are older and swam year-round through high school and college will likely not be able to even approach PR's in many events because we were at our absolute prime when we were young. Others may have all kinds of reasons they never were at their best when younger so they might be able to get very close/swim PR's - especially if they are younger. People who started swimming as adults will be much more likely to see PR's (big ones at first and then smaller as they get faster). But even these people can have age/health issues that affect their ability to improve down the road. As a general rule - the newer to swimming you are + the more/better you train = bigger PR's (depending on the event - many seconds down to tenths of seconds).

RE: PRs and avg improvement times

Nichollsvi — Mon, 20 Feb 2017 08:11:16 GMT

I'm still into celebrating that Sumorunner. I just want to see people focusing on goals of some sort to keep them in. Trying new things or attempting new tweaks in their technique. I understand everyone's point. I would expect that the PR's mentioned not be in the youth years but in your older years. Even if you did 30-39 and then 40-49, at least it gives you an idea of what people do. Since I've only swum one meet I can't say. But I can relate it to running. I started running seriously at 30, ran the best 200-400-800m and 1 mile times at 36-38, and best 5-10-15Km times at 40-41. Everything went downhill from that point, however, when I reached 60 I was suddenly thrust into medal position even through my run times were way, way off what I thought was competitive. I hadn't noticed how many people I competed against 20 years prior had fallen away. I think, likewise, the number or competitors in swimming drops way off after 60. I was one of only 3 in the 65-69 AG at the last swim meet.

RE: PRs and avg improvement times

Nichollsvi — Mon, 20 Feb 2017 08:07:26 GMT

This actually sounds the best I've heard of - PR for every 5 years. Do people even watch their PR's by years? I was thinking I'd wait until I was 55 and then start a new set of PR's. Or do people keep PR's for their life? I can't see why people would rank what they did at 60 with what they did as a 17 year old, for example. If a PR happens in your 5 year age group- great. As far as your lifetime, I don't count on those anymore. Every 5 years is a PR bracket I can live with.

RE: PRs and avg improvement times

Sumorunner — Mon, 20 Feb 2017 07:05:13 GMT

Since I've only swum one meet I can't say. But I can relate it to running. I started running seriously at 30, ran the best 200-400-800m and 1 mile times at 36-38, and best 5-10-15Km times at 40-41. Everything went downhill from that point, however, when I reached 60 I was suddenly thrust into medal position even through my run times were way, way off what I thought was competitive. I hadn't noticed how many people I competed against 20 years prior had fallen away. I think, likewise, the number or competitors in swimming drops way off after 60. I was one of only 3 in the 65-69 AG at the last swim meet.

RE: PRs and avg improvement times

orca1946 — Mon, 20 Feb 2017 05:55:02 GMT

If a PR happens in your 5 year age group- great. As far as your lifetime, I don't count on those anymore. Every 5 years is a PR bracket I can live with.

RE: PRs and avg improvement times

Elaine Krugman — Mon, 20 Feb 2017 01:11:48 GMT

RE: PRs and avg improvement times

Nichollsvi — Sun, 19 Feb 2017 10:16:06 GMT

RE: PRs and avg improvement times

Elaine Krugman — Sun, 19 Feb 2017 09:57:53 GMT

What do most people see as their PR's dropping in terms of times? It is a few seconds, more than 5, 10? Vic You do realize this depends on the length of race, right? Are you asking about a 50 yard breaststroke race or a 3K open water race (I compete in both)? Your question is way to broad to answer. Can you narrow it down just a tad? ;) Also, the slower you are, the more room there is to improve. Your time drops have been in huge chunks, whereas if you ask Michael Phelps about his PR's, the time drops probably came down to tiny fractions of a second.