Greetings,
This is my first post so here goes.
Where can I obtain time standards for masters events? A link would be great. I've searched and searched and found nothing except individual meet results.
I am thinking about competing again but would like to see how I'm doing relative to others my age (I'm 29, almost 30).
I've been swimming a mile 4 times a week for 9 months doing 3x 500 yard and 1x 300 yard sets. Currently I swim a 500 yard set in 7:00. My goal is to get down to 6:00.
While there are no official standards, a forumite put some together on the basis of the standards used by USA-S. Here's the thread that discusses them: Masters Motivational Times - U.S. Masters Swimming Discussion Forums
Masters does have time standards for USMS Nationals, but they also allow entry to national in 3 events without making time standards to encourage participation. To swim additional events (upto 6 total), you need to enter with times below the standards.
You can find the USMS NQT for upcoming SCY National at:
www.usms.org/.../nationals.php
In addition, FINA sets times standards for Worlds:
www.2010finamasters.org/.../Browse.jsp
Hope that helps,
Anthony Thompson
You can look at the top ten times for your events to see how your times compare to your age group http://www.usms.org/comp/tt/
Those swimmers are the best, but not necessarily in your area.
There is also a rankings for all results. You can look to see where your time falls compared to all other swimmers in your age group for your event www.usms.org/.../toptimes.php
Hope this helps.
You can go to the LSC bar at the top of the main page and click on your state or area. Most club/area web sites have meet results available. Just check them out and see how you would do in your area.
The National Meet and Top Ten Times list is very competitive. If you aren't fast enough to do well in those you can still go to local meets, have fun, and who knows you may even win some events! Have Fun!
