Beat Watch 2009!

The ever-likable swimming great and masters swimming historian Frank "Skip" Thompson left a message on my answering machine that appears to kibosh my hopes for a Top 10 in the 500 this year. I would have come in 10th at Nats, which might have squeaked me through, but it turns out that the legendary John Kinsella actually beat me in a meet that wasn't posted on the Top Times database. Thus...11th, 12th, or possibly even worse. In terms of the 100, I may be hanging on by a thread, but this looks bad, too. In the top times database before Nats, my CZ time (still unposted) would have put me in 7th place. At Nationals, my CZ time would have placed 6th: Event 41 Men 55-59 100 Yard Freestyle ================================================================== NATL: N 48.37 4/30/2000 RICHARD ABRAHAMS Name Age Team Seed Finals ================================================================== 1 Lemaistre, Charles 55 AAAA 49.28 49.93 23.82 49.93 (26.11) 2 Dodson, Phil 56 IM 51.26 50.45 24.36 50.45 (26.09) 3 Krauser, Larry 55 HMS 52.13 51.36 24.97 51.36 (26.39) 4 Fochios, Dean 55 ADMS 55.16 52.04 25.43 52.04 (26.61) 5 Gilchrist, Donald 55 NCMS 52.50 52.67 25.45 52.67 (27.22) Three of the above (Larry, Dean, and Donald) had not posted faster top times already, so they take their place ahead of me in line. That means that my 52.87 at CZ is now theoretically in 10th place in the 55-59 age group. But this assumes no other unposted results are out there waiting to jump in front of me, too. I don't know about you, but this seems awfully fast. And next year, it's only going to become ridiculously fast. None of these five guys are moving up in the age group. However, plenty of speed demons from below are are, including: 2 Groselle, Jack 54 O*H* 49.03 47.92N 23.31 47.92 (24.61) 9 Gandee, Brad 54 GMUP 51.05 51.11 25.04 51.11 (26.07) Plus god only knows how many other guys who are now 54 are going to start training with ridiculous rapacity at the prospect of next year... I don't know about the rest of you, but for me, a pattern is starting to emerge: the first year I age up, I have a chance to make some Top Ten SCY times. The second year, it becomes nearly impossible. And after that, lordy...

Huh? Tom, you must be talking to all guys! I assure you women have the same concerns. ! Yes Tom, who are you talking to? I got bumped from SCY TT about 2 weeks ago :( I held on with the 1000 free for 2 months. It would have been my first time ever in SCY TT. I have made it every year since 2002 (exception 2005 when I had a baby) in either SCM or LCM but never SCY.

Yes Tom, who are you talking to? I got bumped from SCY TT about 2 weeks ago :( I held on with the 1000 free for 2 months. It would have been my first time ever in SCY TT. Sorry to hear that. That is terrible!!! Thanks for letting me know that you are having these problems too!!! The worst is that in SCM and LCM, sometimes, all you have to do is finish the race!! Basically, I could have loafed the 200 LCM fly last summer and still made. But, in SCY, you have to be at the top of your game and you can still miss out.

Jim - I'm glad to see there are others doing these calculations. It looks like my 200 IM and 200 Back from Colonies Zones have each dropped to 11th over the weekend. John Feinstein wrote a good article about 11th place finishes a few years ago... I'm sure there are good examples in every age group, but here's one I noticed. Men's 55-59 100 Back - in 2007 there were no swims under 1:00, 2008 there were 3, and 2009, so far there are 8. Knowing some of the people moving up, It will probably take a 59.5 to get in top 10 next year. Maybe it's time for a separate non-B70 category.

Waitaminute! You dropped your 200 fly from 2:40 last year to 2:10??:applaud: Correct! I didn't do the 2:40 last year rest while the 2:10 was rested.

FYI, resting does not typically result in a 30 second drop in a 200. Perhaps you also worked your ass of this year.:cool: I think that if I swim it rested last year, I might have done a 2:35 or something. That is all I am saying. On the training part, I do at least 20K a week.

tom is really improving--amazing changes as he's been getting into great distance shape. rest, I think, does make a difference, especially on something like the 200 fly. Tom, what did you swim before last year's 200 fly? It seems like you are often doing the kind of combos that would kill us mortals: 1650, 200 ***, 200 back, 200 fly, all within a few hours.

tom is really improving--amazing changes as he's been getting into great distance shape. rest, I think, does make a difference, especially on something like the 200 fly. Tom, what did you swim before last year's 200 fly? It seems like you are often doing the kind of combos that would kill us mortals: As I remember, it was the annual pentathlon meet(2008) in my LMSC where I did the 400IM, 200 ***, and 200 back before the 200 fly. The 200 *** and 200 back weren't that bad at that meet but I had issues with the 400IM and 200 fly because I was in awful butterfly shape at the time. My main goal for that meet was to finish the race!

No Bloodbath in my 200 fly rankings! Event 39 Men 30-34 200 Yard Butterfly ================================================================== NATL: N 1:49.52 5/16/1994 PETER EGAN Name Age Team Seed Finals ================================================================== 1 Scalise, Erik 31 SNM 1:52.62 1:49.92 25.23 53.51 (28.28) 1:21.78 (28.27) 1:49.92 (28.14) 2 Olver, Brian 31 WH2O 1:56.35 1:55.51 25.73 54.99 (29.26) 1:24.98 (29.99) 1:55.51 (30.53) 3 Conway, Adam 30 TVM 1:57.00 1:58.01 25.57 56.08 (30.51) 1:27.93 (31.85) 1:58.01 (30.08) 4 Del Valle, Livny 31 RGSC 2:00.75 1:59.48 26.05 55.95 (29.90) 1:27.09 (31.14) 1:59.48 (32.39) 5 Polito, Chip 32 OREG 2:01.66 2:04.50 27.50 58.67 (31.17) 1:30.82 (32.15) 2:04.50 (33.68) 6 Stich, Darryl 33 WMAC 2:06.41 2:04.88 26.34 56.98 (30.64) 1:28.73 (31.75) 2:04.88 (36.15) 7 Graham, Nicholas 30 UCLA 2:13.00 2:08.13 I would have gotten 8th here with my "no recovery time after my 400 IM" time of 2:10 from Colonies Zones. I think that I will be around 16 and 17 when everything is said and done. Nice!! It beats the 5000th ranking that I got last year with the 2:40 that I did last year in the 200 fly. The guy who did a 1:49 is pretty amazing. :bow: Waitaminute! You dropped your 200 fly from 2:40 last year to 2:10??:applaud:

Correct! I didn't do the 2:40 last year rest while the 2:10 was rested. FYI, resting does not typically result in a 30 second drop in a 200. Perhaps you also worked your ass of this year.:cool: