The January results for GTD are now up: www.usms.org/.../gothedistance08
Once again, some absolutely astonishing distance totals. Carrie Kostopulos swam 212.41 miles. That's 373,842 yards or more than 12,000 yards per day (or about 11,000 meters if you prefer).
I see Kristina Ulveling swam 74.8 miles. If she kicks my butt in the 500 free I guess I'll know why :)
Something I've always found a little strange is how women seem to dominate the leaders in this event. In January, women accounted for 7 of the top 10 mileage totals. In 2007 women had 6 of the top 10, but the top four were all women. I'm not sure what to make of this. Are men just lazier?
Sorry Donna if I did, indeed, cast aspersions. I truly admire you guys who get up and swim before work, then swim after work, or even just one of the practices. I swim 3 evening practices a week, and sometimes a leisurely couple thousand on my own on one of the weekend days.
Our coach has the total yards per workout at the bottom of the practice sheet each practice, and GTD provides a nice little yardage tally-er in Excel you can download. It makes it really easy to keep track of how far you swim.
I'd been doing this on my own with a Lotus 1-2-3 spreadsheet (how this dates me, eh?)
I keep track of my average weekly miles for each year, along with my average weekly miles when I can make practice (i.e., not counting travel where I can't find a pool, or home sick type situations.)
I've done this since I was 46--I'm 55 now. You can definitely see how your times are affected by the amount practice you do. Sounds obvious, but the data is more impressive to me than the platitudes.
For example, in 2003, I averaged 7.92 miles a week and my 1650 time was 18:53
This year, I averaged 6.82 miles a week and my 1650 was 19:47. Granted, I've gone from 50 to 55 in that interlude, but I definitely believe the 15-16 percent decrease in practice yards made a difference, too.
Sorry Donna if I did, indeed, cast aspersions. I truly admire you guys who get up and swim before work, then swim after work, or even just one of the practices. I swim 3 evening practices a week, and sometimes a leisurely couple thousand on my own on one of the weekend days.
Our coach has the total yards per workout at the bottom of the practice sheet each practice, and GTD provides a nice little yardage tally-er in Excel you can download. It makes it really easy to keep track of how far you swim.
I'd been doing this on my own with a Lotus 1-2-3 spreadsheet (how this dates me, eh?)
I keep track of my average weekly miles for each year, along with my average weekly miles when I can make practice (i.e., not counting travel where I can't find a pool, or home sick type situations.)
I've done this since I was 46--I'm 55 now. You can definitely see how your times are affected by the amount practice you do. Sounds obvious, but the data is more impressive to me than the platitudes.
For example, in 2003, I averaged 7.92 miles a week and my 1650 time was 18:53
This year, I averaged 6.82 miles a week and my 1650 was 19:47. Granted, I've gone from 50 to 55 in that interlude, but I definitely believe the 15-16 percent decrease in practice yards made a difference, too.
