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 think I can do this. I think I can automate it completely (using javascript, my weapon of choice).
Wow - that would be awesome! Who knew it was so complicated?
for what it's worth, I obviously agree with the folks that find these things useful. I've been using the original for a few years to measure my progress and it gives me concrete goals. Might sound silly, but every time I get a new best time, I can't wait to get home and see if I made it to another step. This also motivates me to work harder in practice (and I need all the motivation I can get because, as someone noted above, we're adults now and if we would prefer to sleep in or get out of the pool early or whatever, we can!). I haven't heard anyone here say it would demotivate them.. just some expressing vague concerns that it *might* demotivate someone. By that logic, we shouldn't be posting top 10 times or yearly rankings - or are there concerns about these things, too?
I think I can do this. I think I can automate it completely (using javascript, my weapon of choice).
Wow - that would be awesome! Who knew it was so complicated?
for what it's worth, I obviously agree with the folks that find these things useful. I've been using the original for a few years to measure my progress and it gives me concrete goals. Might sound silly, but every time I get a new best time, I can't wait to get home and see if I made it to another step. This also motivates me to work harder in practice (and I need all the motivation I can get because, as someone noted above, we're adults now and if we would prefer to sleep in or get out of the pool early or whatever, we can!). I haven't heard anyone here say it would demotivate them.. just some expressing vague concerns that it *might* demotivate someone. By that logic, we shouldn't be posting top 10 times or yearly rankings - or are there concerns about these things, too?
