Breaking 1:00 in the 100 free SCY for the 1st time

It's tough to break into competitive swimming as an adult, but not impossible. I do believe you are always playing catch-up, though.I definitely feel like I'm always trying to catch up. Swimming with ex High School and College swimmers can be frustrating. They make it look very easy. I try to be patient though. I've made vast improvements over the last 2 years and figure it will take another 2-3 years before I make a run at any top ten times.

I'm 40, and swam through college (small D1). On a similar note, I'm 0.2 away from my big barrier in the 50 free. I realize that I probably need to hit this goal in the next few years if I'm going to do it. IMO, what you could have going for you (I don't know your background) is if you did NOT swim in HS or college. Meaning, you haven't tried it all; used the entire spectrum of training methods, or stagnated after millions of repetitive armstrokes. In other words, you have more room for improvement than someone who has swum competetively for over 20 years. You are malleable. Again, I don't know your background, but if this is the case it is a positive one I think. This is a good thing for you and your goal. I, on the other hand, am running out of options and will struggle for 0.2. Good luck!

I swam 58.40 at age 40 in my first meet since I was 13. I'm pretty sure I didn't break 1:00 as and age grouper... I was very slow back then. Right now, I'm shooting for breaking 2:00 in the 200. I swam 2:11 back in February... maybe next year. I don't know about 2:00 but you should definitely be able to go faster than 2:11 as I went 2:12 in March and you were kicking my butt last week!

I had been swimming with masters groups since 1998, with no prior swimming experience...no kids groups, no high school, no college. To this date, my best 100 SCY free is 1:00.33 at a meet, 1:02 in practice. If you can do 1:02 in practice, I expect that with rest and a little luck, you will positively destroy the 1:00 barrier in a meet.

I don't know about 2:00 but you should definitely be able to go faster than 2:11 as I went 2:12 in March and you were kicking my butt last week!I don't know about kicking anyone's butt. Seems I was usually behind the swimmer next to me. And she had a bum shoulder. Looking back at my notes, I did have a bad 200. I botched two or three turns and it cost me. Might have been a 2:08 had I made cleaner turns. I think 2:00 is definitely possible but I'm going to have to have a good race and continue to improve over the next couple years.

I can never come close to race times in practice. I think my best time in practice is about 1:07 from a push, but that's just me alone and I can't harness the extra adrenalin. I always thought if I went under 1:05 or could do 50s under 30 I would be there. That's consistent with my experience. In the last year, my best 100 SCY free from a push in practice was 1:03. My best 50 free from a push in practice was :30. (Until I started messing with my stroke about 2 months ago I could go 1:05 from a push in practice pretty reliably when I set out to do a 100 free AFAP. Now the best I can do is about 1:08 - but in principle when I get this new stroke mastered I will be way faster - at least that is the plan.) In any case, over this same past year period, I hit :58-low in meets several times and :57-high once, (twice if you count converted SCM). So in summary, yes, if you can go :30 and 1:04 from a push in practice I would expect you to go well under 1:00 in a 100 in a meet. Keep training hard!

I was 15 when I went under 1:00 in the 100 yard freestyle for the first time which is fairly late for age group swimmers. Some 9 & 10 year olds, many 11 & 12 year olds and most 13 & 14 year olds can do it. If you REALLY want to accomplish going under 1:00 in the 100 yard freestyle for the first time, in addition to hearing from people who did it as Masters, I suggest you examine, how you: 1) have trained in the past few years & recently, vs 2) need to train to accomplish your goal. Look for low hanging fruit and pick it. you've told us you: 1) are 42 2) went 1:01.xx for the 2nd season in a row. 3) think you're going to do it, maybe next year & 4) aren't getting any younger BUT if you really want to DO IT and if you're asking us for help, we need more information about you, like: Tell us about how you've been training recently + times per week, + with a team or by yourself, + with coach or without, + with training partners or without + how far you swim per practice, + the type of sets you do at practice, + your times in the 50 & 200 free + whether you're lifting weights or exercising or not? Your height? your weight? Any injuries? what suit wore in your meet? did you shave? did you taper? Have you ever seen yourself swim? Do you have any videos of you swimming or racing? (put them on youtube) What sort of mental steps & training you've done? What are your swimming goals? What are your plans to reach your goals? How bad do you want to go under 1:00? Tell us about your work or life, what times you can budget to train please provide any other details about you that you think we should know in order to help you. There's long list of ways you can swim faster and there's a short list of the few that will give you the greatest results in the least amount of time. Figure it out and do it. Have you read Swim Faster Faster? Wish you the best, hope you accomplish your swimming goal. Please give us more info about you and we should be able to give you better suggestions on how to swim a 100 yard free under 1:00.

Sorry - not me. At 65 my 5 fast twitch fibers are not working like they used to !

I might add a couple hundred yards of kicking earlier in the season but end up abandoning it because it hurts so much I start to feel the returns are eventually negative. I need to strengthen my legs but that is the reality. kicking a 50 in a minute is my best and then I am sore. This is a big red flag to me. If you can improve your kicking you will get under a minute for a 100 free. 1:00 for a 50 kick is not good. Lots of people who are poor kickers end up giving up on it, but if you want to sprint you have to have a good kick, IMO. My advice is to really work on your legs. This will have the added benefit of helping your start (where you feel you go too deep and end up "dead in the water"). Use fins sometimes if you want, but don't start using them as a crutch. All that will happen then is you'll take them off and be a bad kicker again.

I broke 1:00 at SCY Nats last May with a 59.93. I wore a B70 rubber suit because I figured this was my one shot to do that (and to break 20:00 in the 1650, which I did with a 19:52). I was 44 at the time. I may never do that again, as I believe my time was suit-aided. And that's OK. Related question I've been curious about... has anyone that didn't swim competitively in high school or college ever swam a top ten USMS time? I never swam competitively as a kid and have a couple of SCM top 10 times. Came pretty close in LCM, but am still a ways away in SCY. My first masters meet was when I was 41. I've been recreationally swimming all my life, but learned flip turns and butterfly as an adult. It's tough to break into competitive swimming as an adult, but not impossible. I do believe you are always playing catch-up, though.