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.
So far, so good! Thanks very much! I appreciate it!
Gosh, nobody asked, “Where does 4.45% come from?”
In the National Qualifying Times FAQ, USMS wrote,
SCY times are calculated as follows: 10th place + 15% for sprints and 10th place + 10% for events 200 yards and up … if there are no 10th place times in at least two of the previous three years, we use 5th + 20% for sprints and 5th + 15% for 200+ events.
So, in some sense, USMS is saying that for sprints, the 10th place time +15% is the same as the 5th place time +20%, and for 200+, the 10th place time +10% is the same as the 5th place time +15%. That is, for sprints,
1.15 * T10 = 1.20 * T05
T10 = (1.20/1.15) * T05
T10 = 1.0435 * T05
and for 200+,
1.10 * T10 = 1.15 * T05
T10 = (1.15/1.10) * T05
T10 = 1.0455 * T05
and 1.0445 (that is, 4.45%) is midway between 1.0435 and 1.0455.
That’s why when methods C and D are used, Columns AA and AAA are a little off from the NQTs.
So far, so good! Thanks very much! I appreciate it!
Gosh, nobody asked, “Where does 4.45% come from?”
In the National Qualifying Times FAQ, USMS wrote,
SCY times are calculated as follows: 10th place + 15% for sprints and 10th place + 10% for events 200 yards and up … if there are no 10th place times in at least two of the previous three years, we use 5th + 20% for sprints and 5th + 15% for 200+ events.
So, in some sense, USMS is saying that for sprints, the 10th place time +15% is the same as the 5th place time +20%, and for 200+, the 10th place time +10% is the same as the 5th place time +15%. That is, for sprints,
1.15 * T10 = 1.20 * T05
T10 = (1.20/1.15) * T05
T10 = 1.0435 * T05
and for 200+,
1.10 * T10 = 1.15 * T05
T10 = (1.15/1.10) * T05
T10 = 1.0455 * T05
and 1.0445 (that is, 4.45%) is midway between 1.0435 and 1.0455.
That’s why when methods C and D are used, Columns AA and AAA are a little off from the NQTs.
