I am 60 and I will never be as fast as I was at 30,but that is irrelevant.I just want to be faster than last year when possible and get slower more slowly than my rivals/friends.The rule of thumb used to be athletic performance diminished 1%/yr after age 30.Masters swimmers have thrown that on it's ear.By that formula my 100M BR should have been over 1:36(1:14 at 30)instead at Nats I went a 1:16.83.Granted there have been rule changes in BR and I was in a LZR,but I was Faster than 1:36 the second 100 of my 200(1:30.24.) I'm not saying this for self aggrandizement,there are lots of post 50 Masters with more impressive swims for age than that.I'm just saying that swimming to compete "keeps me young".I can be sure that ,for myself anyway,if I was swimming only for fitness my 100M BR time would be closer to 1:36 than to 1:16 and my fitness would by proportional.I said on another thread that when I want to slack off I think"Bob Strand" to motivate myself.Without competition to motivate me I suspect I'd swim 1500 yd 3-4 X/wk at a leisurely pace,if I didn't have something better to do.
I am 60 and I will never be as fast as I was at 30,but that is irrelevant.I just want to be faster than last year when possible and get slower more slowly than my rivals/friends.The rule of thumb used to be athletic performance diminished 1%/yr after age 30.Masters swimmers have thrown that on it's ear.By that formula my 100M BR should have been over 1:36(1:14 at 30)instead at Nats I went a 1:16.83.Granted there have been rule changes in BR and I was in a LZR,but I was Faster than 1:36 the second 100 of my 200(1:30.24.) I'm not saying this for self aggrandizement,there are lots of post 50 Masters with more impressive swims for age than that.I'm just saying that swimming to compete "keeps me young".I can be sure that ,for myself anyway,if I was swimming only for fitness my 100M BR time would be closer to 1:36 than to 1:16 and my fitness would by proportional.I said on another thread that when I want to slack off I think"Bob Strand" to motivate myself.Without competition to motivate me I suspect I'd swim 1500 yd 3-4 X/wk at a leisurely pace,if I didn't have something better to do.
