I'm a male, 36. How well does a 1:20 in the 100 freestyle compare to others in the same age group? I'd like to know how far off I am from being able to hang in a masters meet. Never swam in school or had coaching, took up swimming as a religion in October.
Parents
Former Member
I swam my very first meet at age 40, and yes I did swim faster in the meet than in practice. For these reasons, in practice, I never push myself to the level of all out speed. So when I got to the meet, the competitive side of me did, and there was a significant decrease in times. I remember hoping I could go under 40 seconds on the 50 and did 33 with my goggles full of water and an open turn. The hundred was in the low 1:20's.
Now I am 42 and a veteran of 4 meets :) and am trying longer distances. I also have learned to push myself harder in practice. I tried a 400 IM in a meet last weekend and did 6:53. I was timed in practice off the blocks, going 6:42. Differences, throwing up last Saturday night probably did not help it. The people in my heat were way faster, so no one to try and keep up with to push me. However, my fastest 100 *** in practice was a 1:44 and I went 1:40, and know I can go faster because I was being cautious since I had been sick the night before.
BTW, going faster in practice is not restricted to us adult starters. My son has been swimming since age 7, and is now almost 16. There are certain freestyle races(200 and 500) that frustrate him because he has faster repeats in practice than he sometimes swims in meets. He knows he can do the time, and then falls flat at a meet. Eventually the time happens in a meet, because it is there, it just takes patience.
I swam my very first meet at age 40, and yes I did swim faster in the meet than in practice. For these reasons, in practice, I never push myself to the level of all out speed. So when I got to the meet, the competitive side of me did, and there was a significant decrease in times. I remember hoping I could go under 40 seconds on the 50 and did 33 with my goggles full of water and an open turn. The hundred was in the low 1:20's.
Now I am 42 and a veteran of 4 meets :) and am trying longer distances. I also have learned to push myself harder in practice. I tried a 400 IM in a meet last weekend and did 6:53. I was timed in practice off the blocks, going 6:42. Differences, throwing up last Saturday night probably did not help it. The people in my heat were way faster, so no one to try and keep up with to push me. However, my fastest 100 *** in practice was a 1:44 and I went 1:40, and know I can go faster because I was being cautious since I had been sick the night before.
BTW, going faster in practice is not restricted to us adult starters. My son has been swimming since age 7, and is now almost 16. There are certain freestyle races(200 and 500) that frustrate him because he has faster repeats in practice than he sometimes swims in meets. He knows he can do the time, and then falls flat at a meet. Eventually the time happens in a meet, because it is there, it just takes patience.
