Hi, my name is Hercus, 39 year old male and I live in Cape Town, South Africa. I have never competed in swimming until 6 months ago. I have always been able to swim though but only started racing November last year as a biathlete. I race 100m freestyle. My first race I recorded a slow 1:24. Training twice a week for an hour I managed to bring my time down to 1:09s over a 100m. I managed to win a silver medal at our national biathlon championships but mostly thanks to me being an extremely strong runner. My question:
Taking into account the fact that I have only been training for 6 months, twice a week for an hour, mostly sprint sessions adding up to about between 1500 - 2000m per session. How much room for improvement is there for me? Would love to be able to get my time down to 1:03 per 100m.
Hercus, congratulations! You've made a lot of progress in a short period of time.
There is no way to give you a good answer. Everyone is different. There is a very wide range of natural swimming ability. The fact that you made such significant improvement to a good level in a short period of time would suggest that you have a significant amount of natural ability. My guess is that you could get down to 1:03 in time.
It will likely take time. You probably have made the obvious stroke adjustments. As you get faster, it gets harder to find ways to improve. But improve you likely will. I can only offer myself as an example.
I competed in my first ever swim meet at age 41. My first 50 yard free time was 29.01 at age 42. Last year at age 47, I went 24.17. Other strokes have shown similar improvement. (50 fly 31.14 to 26.29).
It just takes time and consistency. Trying out different things to see if they are faster or not. Sometimes you'll plateau for awhile and then make a big jump. Good luck
Thanks Rob. I suppose I am looking for motivation. It is encouraging to there is room to go faster. 1:03 would be amazing. Thats what I ll aim for then. Thanks and good luck with your swimming
Hercus, congratulations! You've made a lot of progress in a short period of time.
There is no way to give you a good answer. Everyone is different. There is a very wide range of natural swimming ability. The fact that you made such significant improvement to a good level in a short period of time would suggest that you have a significant amount of natural ability. My guess is that you could get down to 1:03 in time.
It will likely take time. You probably have made the obvious stroke adjustments. As you get faster, it gets harder to find ways to improve. But improve you likely will. I can only offer myself as an example.
I competed in my first ever swim meet at age 41. My first 50 yard free time was 29.01 at age 42. Last year at age 47, I went 24.17. Other strokes have shown similar improvement. (50 fly 31.14 to 26.29).
It just takes time and consistency. Trying out different things to see if they are faster or not. Sometimes you'll plateau for awhile and then make a big jump. Good luck
Thanks Rob. I suppose I am looking for motivation. It is encouraging to there is room to go faster. 1:03 would be amazing. Thats what I ll aim for then. Thanks and good luck with your swimming
