what age do you give up getting faster?

I will get faster as a masters swimmer over the next 2-4 years, as I return to a decent level of fitness. But I will never be as fast as I was in my 20s... :shakeshead:

The only people getting faster are those that did not exploit their talent when they were younger. I'm hoping I only partially exploited my talent when younger. In my case I swam but didn't run or lift in my teens, ran and did lots of push-ups from age 18-21 (but no swimming), then squandered the next 15 years chained to a desk with no real exercise program to speak of. I'm trying to locate some of my old times to get a better comparison, although I'll never know that I could have done during my non-swimming years.

What Kurt said, and others confirm for themselves: it was what it was. It does seem possible, OTOH, that modern swim techniques and conditioning regimens are enabling some swimmers to finally wring the last bit - or at least more - out of themselves, the part they couldn't access in earlier years. This morning I swam a PB in 25 yd and 200, after telling my coach I was too old for such pursuits. Still pretty slow, so no :woot: for me (nor will I make the Olympic trials, or cheat death), but. It's a grand game. I hate to burst anybody's bubble, but if you were a competitive swimmer at one time, then you are not getting faster than you were when you were in your twenties. VO2 max, muscle mass, max heart rate, etc. etc. plummet by the time you are in your 60s. ... The only people getting faster are those that did not exploit their talent when they were younger.

The way I look at it,every time I age up I get to set PB times in that age group.Then I have 5 yrs to try to break them.

I think we all agree that if you start your competitive experience as a novice you can get faster if your 90 years old. On the other hand, the experienced college swimmer, with nationally ranked times, will have a nearly impossible task trying to improve their times 10 years later (unless you're Torres). I think it's relatively easy to determine if you have room for improvement. I don't think many master swimmers would like to put in the time or commitment to achieve their "fastest" times. Those who've been at the top of their game don't want to go through that kind of pain again (ugh). I'll leave it to fond memories of the glory days. I'm having fun challenging myself to simply stay in shape. Coach T.

The way I look at it,every time I age up I get to set PB times in that age group.Then I have 5 yrs to try to break them. The way I look at it (at 65) a) I'll never improve on my times when I was 20 b) Since I only re-started swimming (i.e., swimming more or less a few times a week and not necessarily "training" and quit heavy smoking) some six years and 4strokes ---no, I'm not changing my name---ago, this is a new life and a new me. c) Given that every year we lose strength, muscle mass, speed, etc....., I believe that if I can equal last year's times this year, I've improved by the amount of yearly deterioration. d) And if I don't equal last year's times but achieve a start, swim and finish, then I'm still alive (and faster than I'd be any number of feet under).

There are many ways to improve beyond time-based validation. The new "game" is how long can you maintain. This will help to keep you young at heart.

I started swimming competitively at age 11, and by my teenage years I was a decent swimmer. Backstroke (100 and 200) is the one constant event from those years till today and I've noticed that even doing twice the yardage a week in my mid to late 30s, I could only equate my 100 back time from when I was 15 (58.0 scy). My 200 back time (which I did get a masters PB this past December at age 41) was about what I went when I was 16 (2:22 scm). Weekly yardage is roughly 40% MORE than I swam as a 16 year old. I am basically at the point of giving up the 100 alltogether, and just concentrate on 200 back, 200 IM, 400 IM, and maybe the 200 fly and/or free. I seem to enjoy those races now, something I did not as a youngun