Well, i am a student at Canisius College in Buffalo, NY that had the football team cut from the athletic program and instead had a swim team and a few other sports put in the program in its place. One day as i was working out in the gym this past september, the coach of the swim team saw me working out and asked me if i wanted to swim. He needed numbers more than anything since the collegiate competitive requirements are 11 participants a team. Mind you i am 5'7", 185 lbs, broad chest and shoulders with large legs. A running back figure. I have never swam before and i agreed to be on the swim team. The coach wants me to swim the 50 and 100 free and i like that for it is a fast twitch race more than slow twitch, and since i am a senior i don't really have time to increase my endurance and slow twitch. I was wondering if any of you had advice for me in my endeavour to become an excellent swimmer by february 2004, and hopefully win an event at the MAAC nationals. In my first meet on Oct. 11, i swam a 27.88 in the 50 free at Duquesne. If you couldn't tell by my hunting for a discussion ring and post, i am very intense and competitive, and am taking this very seriously. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you and hope to have some replies soon!
Former Member
That's not a bad time. Have you ever tried breaststoke-short and broad leg people sometimes have a natural breaststroke ability.
I think i read somewhere that i would want to bring it down to like 12 right? i'm gonna do some work tonight on keeping a long glide and work most definitely on catching water.
Originally posted by Ian
Since everybody else has provided positive points allow me to come at this from the perspective of reality. Your time (27.88) in the 50 would not even rank in the top 25 fastest time for 10-year-old girls, nor would it make Top Ten in the men’s 65-69 Masters bracket. But in one short season you expect drop over 6 seconds and go a high 21 to mid 22? There are many hard working and talented swimmers who have trained years who have never gone that fast.
But swimming a 27 second 50 for someone who has never swum before is pretty darn good. A 21 will be very difficult, but I don't think it's out of the realm of possibility.
Your number one emphasis needs to be on improving your technique. I'm sure you have plenty of strength. If you can direct that strength into propelling you forward and not wasting a lot of energy you could make tremendous strides.
Good luck!!
Just thought i'd say that having been swimming for 11 years and also seen Joey swim. It's very possible for him to do this. I had a swimmer on my team that did the 100fly the very first time at a 1:30 and by the end of the season was going 54. I know it's a different event, but same concept. No sweat Joe. you'll kick major ass.
Thanks for the pointers connie. Cynthis, i if i had more time to try other strokes i would but i have been working on free for about 3 weeks(working time) so i think that i should stick to it, but i do appreciate the opinion and thought! Ian, thank you for the realistic viewpoint, and i do wish that as well for it does put things in perspective and shows me just how hard i will have to focus, pay attention, practice, and push through A LOT of discomfort in obtaining my goal. Kirk, thanks for the positive reinforcement of the technique. In a few days i am gonna post a concise list of things that i feel i should really focus on, so that anyone can add or tell me what t hey think i should take out of my training. I do have a lot of strength(not to sound conceited), so i would like to put allthat strength to use. But i will post that and get further intothat in a few days. Thanks again to everyone!
I don't believe that a swimmer can drop from a 1:30 to a 54 in one season unless there was injury or something involved with the 1:30 swim.
I also do not think that it is possible to drop from a 27 to a 23 in one season, though I would love to see/hear about someone doing it! So do us all a favor and post you progress on this website. Best of luck!
Ian and Lefty, I agree that the task will be very difficult. In my first post I thought I tried to diplomatically aproach the subject. Not setting realistic goals leads to disappointment and sometimes withdrawal from the sport. It should be avoided. I was impressed with Joeys response, to use the comments those of us that doubt the ability of someone to drop that much time, as a motivator. It shows maturity. I live in the area (Western New York) and will follow developments in Joeys progress. His team mate also is very encouraging. In general terms I would tell you that the majority of students at this college (Canisius) are a highly intelligent and motivated group. But 22 seconds in the fifty free is a number that only very elite athletes can achieve after many years of training. If this young man can do it I am going to try to contact his coach to help train me. Heck I swam 25:88 at the last meet and my goal is to break 25 in the next year or two if ever. Good Luck Joey!
Just a few thoughts as a matter of contribution towards your efforts. Becoming a fifty yard specialist requires some very honed skills. This event is all about the start, the turn, and the finish. Training hard will get you one thing, but it takes much more than lap time to get fast. Ask your coach to do some time trials at least once or twice a week. Get up on those blocks as often as possible. The opportunity to get the feel of swimming fast and hard is only done by simulating race conditions. Learn from the experience of going all out and think about the following:
Did you get a clean single hole entry on the dive?
Did you nail the turn? Was your streamline tight off the wall?
And most importantly... did you drive hard into the finish? This is where the tenths of a second can be gained or lost.
Apparently you've got the determination to get fast. Just how much faster remains to be seen. Keep in mind that a 21-22 second freestyler can do 27 from a push-off like a walk in the park. Good luck in your efforts. And maybe you'll have to change your handle to joey-kicks some-butts.
Originally posted by lefty
I don't believe that a swimmer can drop from a 1:30 to a 54 in one season unless there was injury or something involved with the 1:30 swim.
Honest to god that he went from a 1:30 to a 54. He was a new swimmer and just had to learn how to swim the event. The kid is currently swimming a 50 in the 100 butterfly and a 1:48 in the 200 free. He was on my high school team, and went to college to swim for my now college coach. We can all vouche for him
Anyway, the American record I think for a 10 year old girl is 26.something, so a 27 might land you in the top 25 in that age group. This guy was called into swim on a college team. Personality I think the coach should have look for someone with swimming experiance but this young man was called in order to save a swim program. So, 27 isn't that bad for someone swimming for only 3 weeks. I know 30 something lap swimmers that don't do that. And the best I probably could have done in a 50 yard freestyle would as a teenager is 29 something. I knew a friend of mind that did a 25 something only swimming during the school year and in his home pool by his JR year of high schoool. A 21 or 22 year old guy has more upper-body strength and can drop to a 25 or 24 faster.
