I know that I have seen others talk about "how good am I if I swim the 200 in this time", or "if my mile is 17min".
and then the responses are typically, look at results from previous meets, or last years top 10 time.
But does anyone try to take into account how many actually swim that event/distance? Is one a good swimmer merely because only 12 people swim the 400 IM.
I looked at the 2007 top 10 SCM for Men 30-34. for *** and IM I would have been top 10 in 3 of 6 events/distances.
50 br 33.37 outside of top 10
100br 1:14.08 (10)
200br 2:42.20 (7)
400 IM 5:19.71 (7)
but how many 30-34 competed in those events in 2007? I would guess that more people competed in 2006 at the World Championships in Cali.
In Sweden I have top 10 times in nearly everything but 50-100 free, but that is only because it's not too often that there are more than 10-12 swimmers in my age grupp. I know of 4-6 swimmers that will be 35-39 in 2010 and all of them are significanly faster than me, just not sure swimming at the Worlds is something they plan on doing.
I recently looked at a German time standard, since they had one for every year 11-18 and then an open I used the open table. The table was scaled to 1-20. 20 being the fastest. something simliar to the US AAAA standards but with more divisions. I was at best 6 of a possible 20 in Breaststroke. and not even 1 in Back and Fly. and between 1-2 for Free and IM. to me that seems more like a realistic measurement of my ability.
I think you misunderstood my point, or perhaps I didn't present it well. Obviously if you are not swimming that fast in the meet, it doesn't matter. I was just addressing the fact that everyone jumped on that person for mentioning fast swimmers that don't compete with allegations that she was lying. If you swim super fast in practice and choke in a meet, then you aren't as good a performer as the guy who doesn't. Personally, I think swimming a 25.28 50m fly when the record is 24.98 is pretty good.
I've been hanging around here for about 3 1/2 years. Pretty regularly, someone new jumps on and posts that they swim a 50 (somehow, it's always a 50) of x stroke in x time. Almost invariably, it's a time that would land them in the Top 10 for their age group in the stated course. Always invariably, the time turns out to be mythical, or in the wrong course, or using a sticking pace clock, or insert your excuse here.
I've been to three Nationals, and have witnessed first hand record breaking swims. I've worked my ass off to shave precious tenths here and there. I'm not that slow. And I am a few light years away from cracking the Top 10 in my admittedly brutal 45-49 age group. I have nothing but respect for the swimmers whose names I see atop those lists year after year, and there is simply no way some hitherto unknown is knocking out record breaking swims at practice. Jeff Commings, yes. I saw him swim at Federal Way, and now that he's working his way through his phobia of modern technology and is wearing suits made in the last half century, I have no difficulty believing that he can do record-setting swims in practice. Look at Ande's blog, and how much effort he puts into fast swims in practice. He's one of the best swimmers in my age group, and he's not setting record times in practice -- but if he did, I'd buy into it. Dennis Baker, Roque Santos, Josh Davis, sure, I'll buy it.
It's not that people are being deliberately harsh, it's just that many of us have seen and heard this tired routine before. Swimming fast takes hard work, dedication, skill, guts, determination, and effort; and a national record setting swim requires quantum increases in each.
Whether it's the roll starts, leaving a second early, or a coach with a generous watch click, I somehow always feel much faster in practice than I turn out to be in meets. But the clock doesn't lie. Take a look at the recent Auburn relay practice on floswim. Why do you suppose they went to all the trouble to set up the horn and pads for a simple practice?
Until a swimmer has entered a meet, stepped onto the blocks, gone at the horn, not been deked, and hit the pad, I can't believe in an alleged national record setting time.
I think you misunderstood my point, or perhaps I didn't present it well. Obviously if you are not swimming that fast in the meet, it doesn't matter. I was just addressing the fact that everyone jumped on that person for mentioning fast swimmers that don't compete with allegations that she was lying. If you swim super fast in practice and choke in a meet, then you aren't as good a performer as the guy who doesn't. Personally, I think swimming a 25.28 50m fly when the record is 24.98 is pretty good.
I've been hanging around here for about 3 1/2 years. Pretty regularly, someone new jumps on and posts that they swim a 50 (somehow, it's always a 50) of x stroke in x time. Almost invariably, it's a time that would land them in the Top 10 for their age group in the stated course. Always invariably, the time turns out to be mythical, or in the wrong course, or using a sticking pace clock, or insert your excuse here.
I've been to three Nationals, and have witnessed first hand record breaking swims. I've worked my ass off to shave precious tenths here and there. I'm not that slow. And I am a few light years away from cracking the Top 10 in my admittedly brutal 45-49 age group. I have nothing but respect for the swimmers whose names I see atop those lists year after year, and there is simply no way some hitherto unknown is knocking out record breaking swims at practice. Jeff Commings, yes. I saw him swim at Federal Way, and now that he's working his way through his phobia of modern technology and is wearing suits made in the last half century, I have no difficulty believing that he can do record-setting swims in practice. Look at Ande's blog, and how much effort he puts into fast swims in practice. He's one of the best swimmers in my age group, and he's not setting record times in practice -- but if he did, I'd buy into it. Dennis Baker, Roque Santos, Josh Davis, sure, I'll buy it.
It's not that people are being deliberately harsh, it's just that many of us have seen and heard this tired routine before. Swimming fast takes hard work, dedication, skill, guts, determination, and effort; and a national record setting swim requires quantum increases in each.
Whether it's the roll starts, leaving a second early, or a coach with a generous watch click, I somehow always feel much faster in practice than I turn out to be in meets. But the clock doesn't lie. Take a look at the recent Auburn relay practice on floswim. Why do you suppose they went to all the trouble to set up the horn and pads for a simple practice?
Until a swimmer has entered a meet, stepped onto the blocks, gone at the horn, not been deked, and hit the pad, I can't believe in an alleged national record setting time.
