I was just wondering if anyone out there knows of masters swimmers who don’t compete and that have achieved Top Ten Times, American Records, World Records, etc. in practice. I know that stories have circulated around about swimmers like Mark Spitz who have done this (although I think he did compete :)). I was just wondering if there are similar stories in the masters ranks. It seems to me that it would be highly probable in masters swimming because so many of its members do not actually swim at meets. Therefore, I would think there are people out there who achieve these (unofficial) times during a practice session and are relatively unknown. If you’ve got a story to share, please do.
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Former Member
the real question is why dont they compete???
Mostly it is becuase they still view swim meets as those endless ordeals that we all went through as age groupers or as the high pressure world of big time college/national swimming. Either way it left a bad taste and they walked away.
I think we call them workout swimmers. Folks who can drop 10 X100 faster than all get out but will never show at a meet.
I'm a proud workout swimmer. It's not that meets left a bad taste in my mouth, its more a matter of them being painfully boring. I'd much rather gauge my progress by doing a set of 10 x 200's.
Marriage, kids in sports, home improvement projects, etc pretty much dictate that if I don't swim first thing in the morning, its not going to happen.
I try to swim in 2-3 open water events per season, otherwise it is gut-check sets and peer pressure with the group I work out with.
the real question is why dont they compete???
Mostly it is becuase they still view swim meets as those endless ordeals that we all went through as age groupers or as the high pressure world of big time college/national swimming. Either way it left a bad taste and they walked away.
I think we call them workout swimmers. Folks who can drop 10 X100 faster than all get out but will never show at a meet.
I'm a proud workout swimmer. It's not that meets left a bad taste in my mouth, its more a matter of them being painfully boring. I'd much rather gauge my progress by doing a set of 10 x 200's.
Marriage, kids in sports, home improvement projects, etc pretty much dictate that if I don't swim first thing in the morning, its not going to happen.
I try to swim in 2-3 open water events per season, otherwise it is gut-check sets and peer pressure with the group I work out with.
