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.
I used to swim with a guy who won the 400IM (and something else) at NCAA Div III champs at some point in the 90s. He pretty much refused to compete as a masters swimmer, though he was still pretty quick.
-jeff
I'll do a meet every few years, though I train 12 months out of the year, and have had a smattering of entries in top 10, including 1 this year.
I seem to get much more satisfaction out of a good hard practice, than a meet.
If it was as simple as sending hytek meet results to them, then I could do that.
Ummm...it really is that simple, usually. Send them to your Top Ten Recorder.
If the pool is not in the database then the length will have to be verified. That only has to be done once. If the pool uses a movable bulkhead then it has to be measured after a session, but only in 3 lanes. The meet director should take care of it, you shouldn't have to. (All this applies to USMS meets too, you just don't usually have to worry about it.)
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.
this is my pretty much my take. for me to spend a whole weekend for a competition, when I got 3 kids involved in their own activities, plus job, wife, other things going on, is just too much hassle.
the other aspect was as a kid/college student, swimming was the one big factor in my life. I'd spend months training for some big end of season meet with little or no chance for distraction, there really wasn't anything else as important in my life (and I was an only child).
Now all it takes is work getting crazy the week before championships, a kid getting sick or having their own sporting even or dance recital come up. This has happened to me more than once, and I just got tired of the frustration of trying to train and taper for a meet, only to have it all fall apart last minute because of other priorities out of my control.
this is my pretty much my take. for me to spend a whole weekend for a competition, when I got 3 kids involved in their own activities, plus job, wife, other things going on, is just too much hassle.
Thats why I'll probably have to retire from competition at some point.
This is interesting. I wonder what the Top Ten would look like if everyone competed.
It would look very different. That is why we cannot get too full of ourselves. Nobody on this forum can say "I'm a fast swimmer" without adding the caveat, "for an old guy/girl."
I was happy with a 3rd place at World's a few years ago knowing there are probably 20 people my age in the Bay area alone that could beat me like a bad monkey in the 200 Back if they had any motivation to find one of their skanky old suits, battle California traffic, and drag their sorry, bloated a** down to Stanford.:bighug:
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.
Nah, not the most likely reason. Taking 10-20 years off gets rid of this burnout problem usually. What art z said is right. It's a huge headache just planning meet logistics with life/family etc. I've experienced the same frustration as art. My training always gets thrown off. That's why I don't taper too much or go to too many meets.
I'm sure there are many swimmers who could dominate, but don't compete. There are others who do compete, but not much. There are others who only swim a few events and could be ranked in others. Definitely better not to get too obsessed with rankings, as Kurt observes.
I compete mostly in USS meets and my times there would have ranked me in top 10 and would have set a few Ohio records. However, I do not really know the process of getting times approved from USS meets to be recognized in the masters listing. My guess is there would be forms to fill out and all that and probably to much of a hassel to do. If it was as simple as sending hytek meet results to them, then I could do that.
greg
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.
