Have you improved?

I've improved. Swam a 1:02.96 100 free LCM three years ago. Swam a :59.92 100 free LCM a year ago and I anticipate going :56-:57 this year. I've also lowered my 50 free, 100 fly, and 50 fly times. My times from 2006 were after a 20yr layoff from swimming. I believe my improvement so far has been part conditioning, but more from technique improvement. I don't swim near as much as I did 23 years ago (between 25k-30k a week compared to 18k-22k now) and the intervals are slower. My best time in high school for a 100m free was around a :57 and change. I believe I will beat that time next year. I'm also motivated by foolishly trying to catch some of the more super-speedy folks who wind up in the top 10. :bliss:

I started in January (kind of in November, but I got serious in Jan). At my first meet on Jan. 31st, I did my first 100 free. I got a time of 1:19:92. A few months later, I beat that time in the first 100 of a 500 free, with a time of 1:17. My last official 100 free event time was 1:11.95. I haven't swam in two weeks, mainly due to the end of the team's season and the water polo team using our pool, but finally practices are starting back up again. Today, after being depressed as all hell b/c of being away from the pool for so long, I managed a 1:11 something on my first 100 free in my first practice in two weeks (and it was off the wall, not the block), narrowly beating a race time from almost a month and a half prior. I went to on average 3-4 practices a week, and made about 45 of the practices over the whole three and a half months. Maybe I should've gone to every single one of them, but I think I was right to take it easy in the beginning. Love the sport first, and all that. But now... one of my coaches wants me to train with him about 2-4 hours a day, six days a week for a whole year so I can come back next season and be a... what's the word? A contender. I am of course going to take him up on his offer. And I'll find a venue for that seventh day. ;) So, yeah, I think I've improved. :p

Since starting my 2nd swimming career in Masters back in Sep 07 I have progressed surprisingly well. Wish I had done some longer swims but as a sprinter returning to the pool, I was scared to swim more than 50s or 100s. 50 Free: Oct 07 - 24.98, now 23.10 100 Free: Oct 07 - 56.89, now 51.44 200 Free: Apr 08 - 2:07.73, now 2:01.64 50 Back: Feb 08 - 30.28, now 28.06 100 Back: Feb 08 - 1:04.14, May 08 - 1:02.77 50 ***: Oct 07 - 33.73, March 09 - 31.90 100 ***: Apr 08 - 1:12.71, now - 1:08.97 50 Fly: Oct 07 - 27.67, now - 25.76 100 Fly: didn't swim until this year 100 IM: Oct 07 - 1:04.54 - May 08 - 1:00.68 200 IM: didn't swim until this year Just goes to show you that any reasonably competent swimmer, even if woefully out of swim shape, can swim fast for short distances.

I'm always curious to see how these questions are answered. I wonder too is there a difference between sprinters, mid-dist, and distance swimmers and their improvements, be it life time best or masters bests? Do sprinters have a better chance at this? I don't know, throwing it out there. At 38, I am hoping that I am not yet done improving. I am getting closer to life best times, but not yet, at least not in the events that I like! I did do a life best 500 this year (the last time I did 5:40 I was 13!). But I hate freestyle (mostly b/c I'm not good at it :D ), so while it's fun to say I did a life best, it's not an event I really like. Most of my best times came as masters swimmer in my 20s. No college to speak of as they cut the program.

significantly slower over the last 2 years....

I'm always curious to see how these questions are answered. I wonder too is there a difference between sprinters, mid-dist, and distance swimmers and their improvements, be it life time best or masters bests? Do sprinters have a better chance at this? I don't know, throwing it out there. At 38, I am hoping that I am not yet done improving. I am getting closer to life best times, but not yet, at least not in the events that I like! I did do a life best 500 this year (the last time I did 5:40 I was 13!). But I hate freestyle (mostly b/c I'm not good at it :D ), so while it's fun to say I did a life best, it's not an event I really like. Most of my best times came as masters swimmer in my 20s. No college to speak of as they cut the program. But can you count them as lifetime bests if you swim them in a B70? :bolt: I apparently haven't improved. I've just bought tech suits. But I look pretty buff and could possibly punch out the Hulk.

I swam in high school (AAU) and as a walk-on at my state university junior and senior years. I was ok - but nothing special and I honestly don't clearly remember my times from that far back so I can only go by what I've done in the last year I;ve been swimming for my own amusement for the past 30 or so years and only started entering meets last year. In every single event (so far) I have seem great improvement. In the pool, I work harder and smarter than I used to and I'm not nearly as much of a flake as I used to be so I feel confident that I can get close to what I think some of those times were. I feel that I'm still improving and that I haven't hit the upper limit of what I can do - I'm shooting to go under a minute in the 100 free (which I know I did, just barely, in the past) and to go 1:10 or under in the 100 back. I;ve made a lot of progress so far - we'll see how long it takes me to get there!

Not anywhere close to lifetime bests in the freestyle, but about 2 years back I matched my 100 Br time, and went about a second faster in the 200 IM. Despite being in woeful shape compared to when I was half my current age.

But can you count them as lifetime bests if you swim them in a B70? :bolt: I apparently haven't improved. I've just bought tech suits. But I look pretty buff and could possibly punch out the Hulk. Girl, what ARE you talking about? For me, I don't think I would be swimming these times without the suit. And as soon as I get back to a decent weight, I will definitely see if I can do best times w/out a B70. Sounds fun. Pretty sure I can. BTW, would you wear the B70 to punch out the Hulk?

But I look pretty buff and could possibly punch out the Hulk. My knees tremble in fear :afraid: