So I am new to Masters. Swam in HS and barely in college before getting burnt out. It has been about 10 years since then. I am 32 now.
I have been practicing for about 6 weeks for 3-4 evenings a week, and about 3000-3500 yrds per workout.
My high school personal best in the 50Y Free was 21.53. After only 2 weeks of workout, I did about 27-ish and in my recent meet this weekend, I went 25.41, so I have already improved somewhat, but I think getting down to 21s may take some time.
So I was just curious if anyone else had a similar story, how long did it take to get back to your HS times, if it was even possible for you? Years? Many Years?
-David
Former Member
It would be really neat if there was a site where you could track your race times over weeks/months/years and see a graph of % change, etc etc. Then after enough data was gathered, you could see averages by age group.
You can check your times against others in your age group here: www.usms.org/.../toptimes.php
And back to your earlier post, in due time your speed will be back. 32 years old is relatively young.
I started up again at age 41. After about 8 months of lap swimming I entered a meet.
My 1st 50 time was like a 24 low. (I had been :21.2 and :46.5 when I was 21.)
Some 5 year later I have clocked a few :22's. But I'm still looking for the elusive :21.
The weight room and push-ups just might make the difference this season.
mazzy,
I think the good news for you is that you will likely improve a lot with training and wont have old records to shadow you as you try to improve.
I think for someone who is almost completely new to the sport, close to a 30 in 50 free is pretty good, keep at it and work on your technique and I think you will see a lot of improvement. I am 6'1", but weigh 225-230, so if you are 144 at 6'0", you may need to build some muscle to improve your speed. Regular practicing will do this, but some swimmers like to introduce some weight training as well. I could not tell you the best weights exercises tho.
