PB vs winning

Good post. Well, both are important to me but I will take a PB over winning if I had to choose. When I set preseason goals, they are always time-based; you can't control how fast others will go. Last weekend I lost a race to Mike Ross but dropped 1.5 seconds off my PB in doing so. I was thrilled with the time, and I doubt I would have had that drop without him there. So I am happy that he was in the race. He also had a pretty good time drop and I hope that I helped push him to it, even if just a little bit. Not only that, but having someone to chase (the Mike Shaffers, Jeff Irwins, Erik Hochsteins, Mike Rosses, etc) helps motivate me in practice. Competition is a good thing to spur us on, to bring out our best. But true competition means the possibility of losing every once in awhile.

Right now I'm under the naive assumption that I can still improve upon my personal best times, so I view the aspect of having faster competition as a good thing. It keeps me honest and makes sure I get to the pool and apply the best effort possible. If I swim my best and get beat, so be it. But if I get beat because I backed off or had some technical difficulty then that bugs me considerably. :bliss:

Well, both are important to me but I will take a PB over winning if I had to choose. When I set preseason goals, they are always time-based; you can't control how fast others will go. Ditto. I was thrilled with my recent 100 IM at Zones and I came in second. :) As Puff would say, swimming a fast time in a fast pool in a fast suit is like doing crack. lol However, I don't know many people who compete who aren't checking the event rankings and TTs and other external indicia of competitive success. And I know that, however whiney it is, I am bummed that FINA apparently will not recognize IGLA meet results. Although someone setting a world record there did say to me, "I still know what I swam." That's the best attitude, I think.

Last weekend I lost a race to Mike Ross but dropped 1.5 seconds off my PB in doing so. I was thrilled with the time, and I doubt I would have had that drop without him there. So I am happy that he was in the race. He also had a pretty good time drop and I hope that I helped push him to it, even if just a little bit. I lost the same race to both of you, had a crappy time (not even in my masters top 5) but got 1st place in my age group. I'd've taken a better time - even a half second faster than I went - any day over beating you two or the medal. The people so focused on winning don't realize that when they come in second but still have a PB, the whole experience is a debbie downer - not only for them, but their teammates and friends, since we all have to listen to them bizzatch about it. Appreciate what you have - cause you don't know what you got 'till it's gone! Great post Allen!

If I happened to be at the Olympics I could see wanting a gold medal even if I did not achieve a PB. Having said that, this is master's swimming. You are not going to achieve fame or fortune by winning any particular event, nor are you most likely the fastest person out there in that event (except perhaps in your own age group). Most of us want to primarily stay healthy and fit (especially us "ex-agegroupers whose appetites never slowed down after 12th grade), and use competitions to motivate oursleves to stay in the water.

I share the same and at the same time reverse opinion as Chris...both are important but for me racing (not necessarily winning/placing)is far more important than times. Last summer in Portland was a good example, most of the heavy hitters in my age group didn't attend and although I won my events...as bad as it sounds i was bored. Even my 100 fly at 57.6 the fastest I've swam in masters wasn't the same for me as having a great race and winning...or even losing. Case in point was Austin in the 50 free...having John on the blocks next to raises the bar...I blew the start he won and I enjoyed that far more than winning the 200 free and not having a "race".

I share the same and at the same time reverse opinion as Chris...both are important but for me racing (not necessarily winning/placing)is far more important than times. Last summer in Portland was a good example, most of the heavy hitters in my age group didn't attend and although I won my events...as bad as it sounds i was bored. Even my 100 fly at 57.6 the fastest I've swam in masters wasn't the same for me as having a great race and winning...or even losing. Case in point was Austin in the 50 free...having John on the blocks next to raises the bar...I blew the start he won and I enjoyed that far more than winning the 200 free and not having a "race". Racing is pure fun too. But you can't always be assured of a good race or gridge ... A lot of USMS "racing" is virtual.

Racing is pure fun too. But you can't always be assured of a good race or gridge ... A lot of USMS "racing" is virtual. Part of the reason I usually prefer the zone meets over nationals because the seeding is open vs. by age...almost always a good race to be had!

While I also love to race, I much prefer to PB rather than win. Case in point was Austin Nats. I think my best finish in my age group was 11th in 50 back (cause everyone had to catch a plane) and my average finish was in the mid to high 20's but I PBed in 5 of 6 events so it was a wildly successful event. As I try to make sure my daughter understands, you can't control how fast the other swimmers are, you only control how fast you are.

... swimming a fast time in a fast pool in a fast suit is like doing crack. Yep, it sure is. One of my most memorable swims ever was my second place to Jim McConica in the 500 in Hawaii, 2002, 4:58.94. First and only time (so far) in my life I broke five minutes. I would take that over having beaten him with a 5:05 any time. I'd been shooting for that goal thirty years earlier and never came close.