I'm signed up for the USMS Fall Fitness challenge. Can someone explain what exactly I'm supposed to do? The rules/direction aren't really clear to me. Just swim a mile??? Am I suppose to time myself. Report my results to anyone?
Dan
I'm primarily a recreational swimmer, but did join a coached masters team last year. I have attempted to keep up with the workouts but at 70 I can sometimes only complete half what the others (30 & 40-somethings) are doing. It has given me less incentive to enter meets, knowing I would finish poorly even if I did my best. But a self-regulated thing such as this where I compare me to only me, does have an appeal.
At 70, why are you comparing yourself to swimmers half your age? At meets, you would compete in the 70-74 age group. The way to know how you would finish compared to your own age group is to time yourself in practice "races," and then look up how your time would compare to others in your age group. You can check them out in the Event Rankings on this site at www.usms.org/.../eventrank.php , Here, for example, is a sampling of the 2017-2918 results for the 1650 Freestyle in your age group: #1- 21:46.42, Last (#49) 40:36.58, and the middle of the pack came in at 28:54.45. Time yourself on a 1650 and see where you would rank.
I would like to suggest, too, that if you only think of meets in regards to how you would perform, you are missing out on A LOT! There are so many more benefits to participating in swim meets than just how you finish in a race. :agree:
I'm primarily a recreational swimmer, but did join a coached masters team last year. I have attempted to keep up with the workouts but at 70 I can sometimes only complete half what the others (30 & 40-somethings) are doing. It has given me less incentive to enter meets, knowing I would finish poorly even if I did my best. But a self-regulated thing such as this where I compare me to only me, does have an appeal.
At 70, why are you comparing yourself to swimmers half your age? At meets, you would compete in the 70-74 age group. The way to know how you would finish compared to your own age group is to time yourself in practice "races," and then look up how your time would compare to others in your age group. You can check them out in the Event Rankings on this site at www.usms.org/.../eventrank.php , Here, for example, is a sampling of the 2017-2918 results for the 1650 Freestyle in your age group: #1- 21:46.42, Last (#49) 40:36.58, and the middle of the pack came in at 28:54.45. Time yourself on a 1650 and see where you would rank.
I would like to suggest, too, that if you only think of meets in regards to how you would perform, you are missing out on A LOT! There are so many more benefits to participating in swim meets than just how you finish in a race. :agree:
