Masters Motivational Times

Former Member
Former Member
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.
Parents
  • The records chart in the USMS rulebook shows no more decay of speed with age for the 50 than the 1500/1650 for men, in fact the curves are very close. Unless very old competitors prefer sprinting events, this reinforces the claim that you don't lose sprinting ability more than endurance with age. I posted the chart in post #52 (from work computer) but it appears to be in the wrong format.
Reply
  • The records chart in the USMS rulebook shows no more decay of speed with age for the 50 than the 1500/1650 for men, in fact the curves are very close. Unless very old competitors prefer sprinting events, this reinforces the claim that you don't lose sprinting ability more than endurance with age. I posted the chart in post #52 (from work computer) but it appears to be in the wrong format.
Children
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