Some elite masters swimmers appear to be almost quasi "professional" in terms of the time and energy they devote to the sport and my impression is that there are more and more of such swimmers competing in masters now. At least in my two masters age groups to date, women's 40-44 and 45-49, there is a true professional swimmer (KPN), past Olympians swimming amazing times, professional triathletes and professional engine builders. (My spies tell me about their yardage.) Times across the board in my age group were much faster this year than last year. Not sure about the men's times or other women's times. Is it similar?
It seems like a massive amount of time is involved to put in all the yardage, weights, drylands, stretching, RC exercises, cross-training necessary and to go to all the PT, ART, orthopod and massage appointments. Their dedication is admirable. But I have difficulty fitting this all in. :violin: I'm sure most others must too. Life and kids definitely interfere with even getting to practice, wholly apart from a total devotion to swimming. So I can't out-train anyone.
Am I only imagining that masters swimming is getting more competitive? The phenoms are all just genetically talented swimmers? Thoughts anyone?
JUST TO BE PERFECTLY CLEAR, I AM NOT CRITICIZING ANYONE, JUST ASKING QUESTIONS.
Nah, you've just got to swim a real event instead of the 50 or 100 free!
Feisty's a sprinter.
And do you have to swim 20 x 100 on the 1:10 to make the top ten in a "real event?" :thhbbb: That's the question. I guess there are somewhat fewer people swimming these "real events," so maybe the odds are better.
Wish I could make that set. :applaud: Off to do my 1 x 50. :bouncing:
I've been trying for a day to figure out how to respond to this. Pretty much I feel like this is a "to each his/her own." If your family and job allows you to pursue a passion, then that's great. If your whole family is into the fitness thing, you can squeeze out a few more hours a week. Since both my wife and I try to get 6-9 hours of gym time in a week, the benefit is fewer hours to waste money at the mall.
Personally, if there are these semi-pro swimmers, I think it makes us all stronger as they pull us to faster times and a re-evaluation of our training.
Good luck with that!!
By the way, I'll probably be swimming at the SPMA championship meet at Mission Viejo in August since I don't think I'll make it to LC Nationals. Are you planning on swimming that meet?
Yep I definitely plan to swim at that meet. Would this be a challenge in the 400? I haven't decided on what events to focus on yet.
I realize that the odds are very much against me, but it sure would be fun to do.
Kevin
I've been trying for a day to figure out how to respond to this. Pretty much I feel like this is a "to each his/her own." If your family and job allows you to pursue a passion, then that's great. If your whole family is into the fitness thing, you can squeeze out a few more hours a week. Since both my wife and I try to get 6-9 hours of gym time in a week, the benefit is fewer hours to waste money at the mall.
Personally, if there are these semi-pro swimmers, I think it makes us all stronger as they pull us to faster times and a re-evaluation of our training.
It's somewhat hard to respond to because I wasn't asking a specific question really. I was really just musing over an observation. I feel like I know people that spend quite a lot of time training, whether it's swimmers, runners or triathletes. No doubt, the semi-pros stoke the urge to train harder and swim faster. For me, since I'm not a semi-pro, I constantly re-evaluate how to swim smarter with the time I've got. Right now, that means forgetting about breaststroke because I have other things to work on that are higher priorities.
Just a thought, if you don't want it to sound like sour grapes, don't accuse people of spending all their time training! I am not picking on you though, only identifying myself in your comments. I mean, alot of us know we could be swimming faster, and it is perfectly reasonable to look at those who do put in the training and be a little jealous. I know I am (and I will add that I don't know that Fort is jealous and certainly won't speak for others). There is no question that you give up other things if you choose to swim more than a few hours a week. Personally, though, I have a lot in my life that I could cut out, but choose not to...
For cripes sake, I didn't see an "accusation" anywhere in my posts, Lefty. I probably shouldn't have bothered to start the thread. It was just a random musing, after having missed another of my team practices. I've basically been training by myself since last December and it's getting frustrating. That's all. No hidden agenda or sour grapes. Why don't we go back to TFs and stupid lawyers or Amanda now. :thhbbb:
I can only speak for myself, I've got 3 kids, ages 9, 6 and 2. They have all of their activities going on which I attend, I work 40 - 50 hours a week, play in a band, etc. I still do whatever I can to make swimming a priority. If it means getting to work at 6 or 6:30 in the morning so I can get out by 3 or 4 to get to a workout, so be it. If it means I swim at 8 or 9pm at night, so be it. My wife is cool with it for the most part as it keeps her husband healthy and happy.
The funny thing is, I put it in all of this time and effort in the pool, yet I rarely compete. I haven't done a meet in two years, and I think the last zone meet I did was 4 years ago. I get much more satisfication after a long hard workout, where I turned in great repeats or whatever, than swimming a race. I guess thats the downside of getting older, I'm not getting any faster.
I think it's pretty natural when seeing an incredible swimmer to wonder what they're doing to allow them to swim so fast. Are they training more? Are they training the same or less than you, but just have natural talent? I think most of us, in our hearts, hope it's the former. That's a lot easier to swallow than the realization that no matter what you do you probably aren't going to beat these people.
Well, I'm a late bloomer. Never swam age group, HS, or college. Should I ever make the achievement of Top 10, possible but not probable, it will be quite an accomplishment. Truth be told, that is the last thing on my mind. Making little improvements here and there, personal bests, is enough to keep me in the water for quite some time (along with the health benefits of course).
You never know! You can be a late bloomer (MSwimming) (although do you really want to brag about this?!) or take 25 years off and still be ranked.
My own compulsion/desire to train even more is not driven by top tens, although I do love to compete. I just like to train. It makes me feel fit and healthy, and I am an endorphin junky. So I think you should carry on. You have a great attitude. I think Barb is also right that you don't want to miss the personal accomplishments along the way, however seemingly minor. I notice that people I know that have been swimming masters for a long time, have a long term view. When I get a chance, I enjoy sitting in the hottub with them, icing our shoulders, and gossiping about great swims or life in general.
On the whole, I don't think masters is getting appreciably more competitive.
I would have to disagree, but that might have something to do with the fact that Dennis Baker just moved into my age group.
Nah, you've just got to swim a real event instead of the 50 or 100 free!
oh Kirk, you're funny!
my times fall off terribly above 100... even going from a 50 to 100 is not pretty. alas, I don't train that much either...
Rich, if you could count higher than 6, I might be offended by your post...
personally, I like watching the races and times posted by those quasi-pro swimmers (and the non-quasi-pro-exceptionally-speedy ones like Fort). They are inspiring and give me hope that I still have years to improve! :)
