This may have been covered before; I'm new here, so I apologize in advance.
I've been cycling rather than swimming for the past 10 years, and I recently got back in the pool as end-of-season cross training. Which of course got me curious about masters programs. I checked out the Masters Nationals psyche sheets and I was really surprised at the lack of depth of the competition.
So heres the question: why do so few swimmers choose to compete after college? In comparison to cycling, or running, it seems there are hardly any swimmers competing at a high level over the age of 22 or so. For example, the mens 30-34 100 m free nationals psyche sheet shows 10 people, ranging from :56 to 1:03! 10 people? Is that because most people don't pre-register? Or are there really only a handful of 30-34 men out there who can go under a minute in the 100m free??
Check the different age groups. Sounds like you are under 30, there's a big jump in competition the older you get. People often come back to the pool round about 30 - 35.
On the other hand, it seems like there was a clump of fast people who are aing and not *entirely* being replaced by the younger folks. Last week in sandpoint the two front groups were full of guys over 40, mostly anyway.
Check the different age groups. Sounds like you are under 30, there's a big jump in competition the older you get. People often come back to the pool round about 30 - 35.
On the other hand, it seems like there was a clump of fast people who are aing and not *entirely* being replaced by the younger folks. Last week in sandpoint the two front groups were full of guys over 40, mostly anyway.
