As good as you once were?

It is very important!!! It is the essence of competition. It is why we are in the pool twice a day swimming our a$$e$ off. :2cents: Do not use the royal "we." It's not why I train and compete. I don't give a toss if I beat my high school times. The "essence" of competition for me is beating the current competition and/or beating my prior masters times. In fact, it's hard to even compare times accurately if (like me) one is wearing fancy tech suits now and wasn't in high school.

I am actually caving in on lifetime bests in my 30s since my age group times weren't that spectacular. Ugh! Oh, I actually got some lifetime bests in the 400, 800 and 1500 LCM free but I just started doing the long course version of the 1500 this past summer. I like the challenge of trying to get near lifetime best and you don't have to do 8,000 workouts everyday to do like I did as an age grouper.

Honestly coming back to this sport has been like regaining a piece of myself I had forgotten about. This is the best life long sport there is. Having my kids get to see me swim in a meet was priceless. So true! From a stats perspective, I've now gone faster in my sprint freestyles (50 & 100) than I did in HS or college, but I was a distance swimmer back then and hence didn't race the sprints much. I doubt I'll get back to my college times in my target events (500 to 1650 and 400 IM) and won't be able to train enough to get to my HS times in either the 1000 or 1650, but I am shooting to beat my HS time this year in the 500.

Ok i'll use the word "you" Quit whining...Why are you so angry? It is fun to compete against your PB's whether they were last week or in High School. I'm not whining. Or angry, lol. That's my abrasive east coast personality. ;) I just think it's rather silly to live in or dwell on the past. But if it rocks your boat, go right ahead. :)

I've only been swimming "with purpose" for about 2 years after swimming in a perfunctory way for about 30 years. I don't think I've hit the wall yet as far as how fast I'm going to go as a masters swimmer. I'm still improving my times by a pretty fair amount in most of my events. Will I ever hit my HS/College times? In freestyle, yes, I'm pretty certain that I will...in fact it's a goal - and a good one for me. In backstroke? Never! But I'm still taking time off so I'm happy with that! I don't even remember my old fly or *** times...

I am as fast in spints as I was as an age grouper / high school swimmer. It's not that hard to do if you grow 4 more inches and gain some actual muscle mass. I graduated high school at 5'6'' weighing 135 lbs. I still can't get anywhere near my 500 time though.

Thanks for the comments. I'm having a lot of fun regardless and it won't break my heart if I don't go as fast as high school. I just enjoy stats and crunching numbers... this is just a fun exercise. I'll be interested to see what happens when I get a full year under my belt. Honestly coming back to this sport has been like regaining a piece of myself I had forgotten about. This is the best life long sport there is. Having my kids get to see me swim in a meet was priceless.

Not a snowballs chance in hell I go anywhere close to what I was in HS or college. However, I'm complete content knowing that.:D

I was never good....

It is very important!!! It is the essence of competition. It is why we are in the pool twice a day swimming our a$$e$ off. :2cents: I agree with Fort. Don't give a rat's ass about beating my high school or college times. I train to race the best that I that I can on a given day. If I go slower in a race, so be it. If I go faster, so be it. I don't get worked up over times. Ask Blue Muppet. We talked about this very fact before a race. I don't put any pressure on myself to do a particular time. Lot's of people are enamored with best times, top ten times, rankings, etc. I am enamored with going to meets to swim with friends. I go to practice to swim with friends.