I was trying to come up with good SCY goal times for my 200IM and 400IM this year (because I will only be able to swim at altitude) and checked the conversion charts.
I had remembered from college that there was an altitude adjustment for NCAA cuts for altitudes above 3,000 feet and that altitude adjusted time would qualify you for NCAAs. There is a larger adjustment above around 4,200 feet. Someone was telling me that NCAA track has similar adjustments. I think the adjustment for Denver is .1 seconds for a 100, 1.2 seconds for a 200, and 5 seconds for a 400 or 500. Obviously, the NCAA must feel pretty comfortable with the altitude adjustment to recognize it to NCAA cuts for multiple sports.
The altitude adjustment does not appear to be recognized by USMS. Given that the Top Ten is a virtual championship, is there a reason? I assume too much admin for the limited number of people and the people who generally care go to nationals anyway. I can see that maybe the record shouldn't be broken via an altitude adjustment, but why isn't it recognized for other purposes?
I will make my own adjustments for comparison purposes to last year, but for all the fuss about tech suit benefits I would much rather have a recognized altitude adjustment by USMS.
Tim
I was trying to come up with good SCY goal times for my 200IM and 400IM this year (because I will only be able to swim at altitude) and checked the conversion charts.
I had remembered from college that there was an altitude adjustment for NCAA cuts for altitudes above 3,000 feet and that altitude adjusted time would qualify you for NCAAs. There is a larger adjustment above around 4,200 feet. Someone was telling me that NCAA track has similar adjustments. I think the adjustment for Denver is .1 seconds for a 100, 1.2 seconds for a 200, and 5 seconds for a 400 or 500. Obviously, the NCAA must feel pretty comfortable with the altitude adjustment to recognize it to NCAA cuts for multiple sports.
The altitude adjustment does not appear to be recognized by USMS. Given that the Top Ten is a virtual championship, is there a reason? I assume too much admin for the limited number of people and the people who generally care go to nationals anyway. I can see that maybe the record shouldn't be broken via an altitude adjustment, but why isn't it recognized for other purposes?
I will make my own adjustments for comparison purposes to last year, but for all the fuss about tech suit benefits I would much rather have a recognized altitude adjustment by USMS.
Tim
There is an altitude adjustment factor...for the NQT's for Short Course and Long Course Nationals (see Appendix B, page 135 of the rule book). There is no adjustment factor for Top 10 or records.
Consider your examples. These are adjustment factors for qualifying for competitions where you have to achieve a particular standard. Why doesn't the NCAA allow altitude adjustment factors to be used when applying for records? Why doesn't USA Swimming allow the use of altitude adjustment for its records or National Age Group Top 10 times? (infer from 207.10.4(2))
The difference is that top 10 and records are solely based on performances in the pool, and not based on calculations which may or may not hold true in a particular situation. It's the same reason that course conversion isn't allowed for records or Top 10 and why the pool must meet the length requirements...even if it's a fraction beyond the tolerance too short.
On the other hand, allowing a correction or conversion for a qualifying time merely lets the swimmer into the meet in question. The swimmer still has to swim fast in the pool in which all of his or her other competitions will also be swimming to bring home hardware.
Now perhaps you have a point. You're up in Denver, and a simple physics equation will tell you that the air pressure is lower up there, and thus the oxygen concentration is less. It puts you at a disadvantage with respect to most everyone else (for example, I am at about 450 feet above sea level). That being said, how much advantage do I have over you? Is it really what those conversion tables say it is? Does it differ in different strokes? Do different people get a different advantage at different altitudes? When you're seperating who gets what position or what record by hundredths of a second, these questions do matter.
Patrick King
Tim,
Even thought it might seem like we should have a sufficient understanding of altitude asjustments, there is such wide variation among people that such an understanding would be wiped out by the human factor.
The reason why we do allow it (and in U.S. Masters Swimming it took a while to get it in place) is that by allowing someone to compete in our National Championship meets simply provides an opportunity for that person to become the champion having competed under conditions that are identical for all competitors. The asjustment does not directly affect the outcome.
Leo
Patrick,
Thanks. I learned a little about the rules for USMS and USA Swimming. That is what I suspected, but it seems like a bigger exception to allow someone to qualify for NCAAs, Junior nationals, senior nationals, or I guess Olympic trials based on an altitude adjustment than to allow an adjustment for USMS top ten. It must be fairly well studied to have adjustments down to a hundreth too. USMS time standards are not exactly burdensome and you can go to even nationals without making time cuts so the altitude adjustment seems almost pointless in the USMS rules.
Anyway, I am aging up so making the top ten even at altitude shouldn't be a problem in the 400IM unless the age group gets considerably faster or I go on a big eating binge. I will make my own adjustment to see if I made any improvement over the last year.
Looking forward to joining you low-landers eventually for a competition.
Tim
