What are the odds of getting back to your high school or college times? I'm 40 and just got back into it 7 months ago. I was an age group swimmer from 9yrs old till 18yrs old.
Right now my freestyle is off about a second per 50yd. My 100yd *** was my specialty in high school and I am still about 5 seconds off that time... although I don't swim it nearly enough in practice.
How far off is everyone else off? Is there hope of being as fast as you were as a teenager?
Former Member
I only took up swimming when I was 33, but I'm slightly faster at 40 than the 9 year old being discussed in another thread. :cheerleader:
Not yet but I'm kinda close.
High School times then:
100yd free :50.xx
100yd fly :54.52
100yd back 1:00.xx
Now:
100yd free :52.xx
100yd fly :58.xx
100yd back - no time
This is after about 3 years of practice getting back into things. I'm hoping I can continue to drop some more time.
:bliss:
I guess it boils down to you will always be a % slower than your best as you age. I just wish their was a formula that would let me know what to expect.
If it's a formula you're after, you can use Chris Stevenson's rating calculator. It can help you figure out whether your times are falling off faster or slower than those setting USMS records. It will only let you turn the clock back to age 19, though.
Another similar alternative is to use my attempt at motivational time standards to see how your current times in your current USMS age group stack up against your younger times in the appropriate USMS or USAS age group.
To answer the original question: I'm setting lifetime bests at age 41, but I quit swimming as an age-grouper when I was 14, so the bar was not too high.
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.
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.
We did not have a year-round program when I started swimming age 15. I was a walk-on 2 years in college and we had 5 workouts a week, probably 3000y each practice. I was still getting big time drops when I quit despite not getting enough yardage to swim the distance events. Title IX kicked in and the sport got too competitive for me so I was no longer earning points for my college team. With limited team resources and pool space, I reluctantly quit with no other opportunities to swim.
I started swimming Masters about 17 years later and made a run at my lifetime best times. Unfortunately I did not have my "old" college times recorded; and back then we were swimming the 400y free, not the 500y. Based on estimates I got very close on my 200y Free and went faster than the 500y Free on the few times I had swum it as a teenager. I also did not have a tapered+official 400y free time but was close on 500y splits.
The big deal for me about matching HS/college times for me was that feeling that I had never achieved what I was capable of doing. I always wanted to see how fast I really could go.
Im swimming faster now. At 41 Im doing 49s for the 100 scy free and my backstroke is rocking 1.04 lcm 100 back.
I was not a rocket in HS but did place at state in FL 5A... Played water polo in college so I don't have times.
Hello,
it all depends
I'm about as fast as I was at age 18 sr in high school (in sprints) but slower than I was at 23
event / 18 time / life best time / current
50 fr 22.0 20.4 21.4
100 fr 48.0 44.7 48.8
100 fl 52.0 48.8 51.8
200 im 1:56.4 1:51.4 1:58.3
it depends on
how much you trained
how long you trained
how good you were at your peak
how many years you took off
how bad of shape you let yourself get in
injuries
how you've been training recently
each persons story is different
I swim with a fellow who's 37 & he's swimming faster than he did in highschool and college
but maybe others can share their
high school times / peak times / & current times
What are the odds of getting back to your high school or college times? I'm 40 and just got back into it 7 months ago. I was an age group swimmer from 9yrs old till 18yrs old.
Right now my freestyle is off about a second per 50yd. My 100yd *** was my specialty in high school and I am still about 5 seconds off that time... although I don't swim it nearly enough in practice.
How far off is everyone else off? Is there hope of being as fast as you were as a teenager?
What are the odds of getting back to your high school or college times? I'm 40 and just got back into it 7 months ago. I was an age group swimmer from 9yrs old till 18yrs old.
Right now my freestyle is off about a second per 50yd. My 100yd *** was my specialty in high school and I am still about 5 seconds off that time... although I don't swim it nearly enough in practice.
How far off is everyone else off? Is there hope of being as fast as you were as a teenager?
I have never understood why this was of any importance ... Just be a masters swimmer ...
I'm close in the 50s, I guess.
What are the odds of getting back to your high school or college times? I'm 40 and just got back into it 7 months ago. I was an age group swimmer from 9yrs old till 18yrs old.
odds were pretty good for me.
i sucked in HS.
