When I started swimming masters a few years ago, I soon found myself wanting some time standards to compare myself against. Sure, tracking my own PRs is motivating, but I also wanted some sort of objective mark to measure myself against.
There is the Top 10 list, of course, but I'm not close enough to those times for them to serve as realistic motivation. Nationals qualifying times provide a slightly lower bar, but these are still out of many masters' reach. It seems like there should be some sort of time standards that are more widely applicable -- like the A, AA, ... motivational times in kids' age group swimming.
I did use those USA Swimming motivational times for a while, but I got tired of comparing myself to 12-year-olds. Eventually I decided to create my own masters' motivational time standards, using the same method that is used for the kids.
I have really enjoyed using these motivational times over the past couple of years, and I'm guessing they might be useful to others as well. Especially for those, like me, who are competitive enough to be motivated by a quantitative benchmark, but not fast enough to aspire to the Top 10 list.
I have just updated the SCY list, and figured I would post it here for others to use.
Please enjoy. I'd also love to hear any feedback.
David, I was just joking around. I know that Australia is a big place. Our regular poster here, Chicken of the Sea, is from the Sydney area, and she tells me that there is quite a bit of consternation in your country these days since Russia issued a ban on kangaroo meat importation.
You have my sympathy!
If you do happen to run into Ian Thorpe, could you run a money-making idea by him? I would like to license his feet, take molds of these, and then produce a line of latex Ian Thorpe replica feet-fins.
The average swimmer, such as myself, could order anywhere from a size 6 to a size 12 Ian Thorpe latex pair of feet fins, then see what it would be like to be able to race with such large feet. I suspect my times would definitely improve. Perhaps I could then license some Jason Lezak hand paddles.
Tell Ian I might be willing to pay up to 1 cent US for every pair of Ian Thorpedo Fins I can sell.
In the meantime, best of luck with the Australian masters movement!
David, I was just joking around. I know that Australia is a big place. Our regular poster here, Chicken of the Sea, is from the Sydney area, and she tells me that there is quite a bit of consternation in your country these days since Russia issued a ban on kangaroo meat importation.
You have my sympathy!
If you do happen to run into Ian Thorpe, could you run a money-making idea by him? I would like to license his feet, take molds of these, and then produce a line of latex Ian Thorpe replica feet-fins.
The average swimmer, such as myself, could order anywhere from a size 6 to a size 12 Ian Thorpe latex pair of feet fins, then see what it would be like to be able to race with such large feet. I suspect my times would definitely improve. Perhaps I could then license some Jason Lezak hand paddles.
Tell Ian I might be willing to pay up to 1 cent US for every pair of Ian Thorpedo Fins I can sell.
In the meantime, best of luck with the Australian masters movement!
