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.
I still remember the patches and stars that kids in my area wore on their sweats to indicate A/AA times that they've achieved (five stars total, one for each stroke + IM, different color stars for A and AA times).
my mom still has my warmup top that she sewed all of the AA, then AAA and then AAAA (quad A) patches on from when i was 10.
i think my top was as much patch as it was real material. oh the great memories.
we dont need any such thing in masters. heck if you dont like the workout you change it. if you dont like the intervaul, you change it.
heck if the water it too cold .... let's go to starbucks!
one of my biggest motivations is my HDL and triglycerides. maybe because i never stopped eating like i did when i was 18.
i'm on a seefood diet.
i see food
i eat it
what diet?
steve
I still remember the patches and stars that kids in my area wore on their sweats to indicate A/AA times that they've achieved (five stars total, one for each stroke + IM, different color stars for A and AA times).
my mom still has my warmup top that she sewed all of the AA, then AAA and then AAAA (quad A) patches on from when i was 10.
i think my top was as much patch as it was real material. oh the great memories.
we dont need any such thing in masters. heck if you dont like the workout you change it. if you dont like the intervaul, you change it.
heck if the water it too cold .... let's go to starbucks!
one of my biggest motivations is my HDL and triglycerides. maybe because i never stopped eating like i did when i was 18.
i'm on a seefood diet.
i see food
i eat it
what diet?
steve
