Suited for sprint or distance - how to tell?

It is pretty easy, actually. I've been swimming competitively for almost 40 years and have come up with a pretty foolproof detection system. Forget about fast-twitch, slow-twitch or any of that; it is all about attitude. Do you preen? When you drop a measly 0.1 sec from a swim, do you carry on like you just won Olympic gold? Do you go easy throughout an entire set only to come roaring back on the last rep, passing (and pissing off) everyone in your lane? Do you use a lot of equipment? Are you high maintenance? Then you're a sprinter. Are you a plodder? Do you look down your nose at swimmers who spend less than 120 min (and 7K) in the water for one workout? Does your taper last only 3 days? Is your reaction time off the blocks measured in seconds, rather than tenths? Do you have just one speed? Are your legs little toothpicks and your kick nonexistent? Do you have permanent racoon eyes due to your goggles? Then you're a distance swimmer. Do you have perspective in life? Can you swim any and all events and distances? Can you relate to a sprinter's eccentricities but still hang with distance swimmers occasionally on one of their godawful mega-workouts? Are you a man that other men want to be and that other women want to be with? Are you a swimming god? Then you're a middle-distance swimmer. Best. Definitions. Ever. Still laughing over this one! :D

Didn't Doc Councilman do some research on the relationship of red and white blood cell counts to sprinters and distance swimmers?

How do you determine whether you would be better off training and racing sprints or distance events? You need an aerobic base to train seriously for any of them, and while you are building that base you will figure out what you like to swim and what you like to swim will probably be influenced by what you are good at. If it is not, who cares, this is masters, you enjoyment comes first and you can always change your mind. The last year I've had a lot of fun just setting a goal to swim every event at least once in a meet. The variety is great and it helps to ensure you don't get into a rut in training or practice. In high school & college, I was sadistically focused on distance only (where, FYI, Qbrain, ALL the cool intellectually vibrant people hang out). I've had loads of fun, though, with sprint events as a Masters' swimmer. As you experiment with events, you'll find ones to focus more on and you also might find fun focusing on different events different seasons/years/age groups. The key is to make Masters fun.

The dirty little secret of swimming and life is this: Deep down, everyone wants to be a sprinter. Anyone who says otherwise is just trying to convince themselves so they can sleep better at night. The guy with the honda civic may brag he can go 600 miles on a tank, but he secretly envies the guy with the 400 hp corvette. The next step is to realize that breaststroke is the greatest test of a swimmers mettle. So if you can sprint a fast 50/100 ***, welcome to the ranks of swimmings elite. Ignore your teammates who say otherwise; it's just jealousy. (Disclaimer: I can't swim a fast 500 to save my life, so I may be biased. But seriously, be a sprinter. All the cool kids are doing it....)

( But seriously, be a sprinter. All the cool kids are doing it....) archie and jughead are considered "cool" in their own little world. (just sayin')

For getting back in shape, train middle distance or distance. It is quicker to build endurance than speed and volume burns more calories, so the combination of those two should provide the most rewarding return to swimming. You should see steady improvement. As for what you are suited too, I could make all kinds of derogatory comments about how boring distances swimmers are, and how lazy sprinters are, and how awesome middle distance swimmers are, but I won't. Instead, just don't worry about it. You need an aerobic base to train seriously for any of them, and while you are building that base you will figure out what you like to swim and what you like to swim will probably be influenced by what you are good at. If it is not, who cares, this is masters, you enjoyment comes first and you can always change your mind.

Just provide me with few times for the same stroke and I'll tell you. There's some robust formula that allows to get an individual sprint/distance index (which I can not reveal at this time, but certainly later I will). Ideally, I'd need two points sufficiently far apart (e.g. PB over 50m and PB over 400 or 800m).

So? I am using the points to compare one event to another. Entering an age of 8 works just as well as 32, what matters is that I use the same age for all my comparisons. The number by itself is rather meaningless to me. What age do you use? I'd be inclined to choose something like 20/21 to compare myself with my fastest-ever-age.

So? I am using the points to compare one event to another. Entering an age of 8 works just as well as 32, what matters is that I use the same age for all my comparisons. The number by itself is rather meaningless to me. The "problem" -- if you want to call it that -- is that their scoring system is skewed to USA-swimming standards and they train a lot more than the typical masters swimmer. Based on my competitiveness at USA-S meets I am better at the shorter races, while compared to masters I am better at longer races. For me, since my level of training is closer to USMS than USAS, I'd probably rather use a masters-based rating system. I seem to remember in Dara Torres' book "Age is Just a Number" that she mentioned some research that seemed to show that one's sprinting ability seemed to regress more slowly with age than distance swimming. But it may be an affect of having less time to train (or being more prone to injuries if one tries to train with the same volume).

The "problem" -- if you want to call it that -- is that their scoring system is skewed to USA-swimming standards and they train a lot more than the typical masters swimmer. Based on my competitiveness at USA-S meets I am better at the shorter races, while compared to masters I am better at longer races. For me, since my level of training is closer to USMS than USAS, I'd probably rather use a masters-based rating system. Thanks for this link, it is helpful. I found that my current times plugged into the USAS calculator all gave me the same point ranking: 1.