Hey guys, thread below on attaining a 24s 50m free got me wondering on time ranges for 50m freestyle.
Amongst masters swimmers, can you give me the rough ranges for what is considered beginner, decent/competitive, and top range? (Age is 30, if it helps). Broad ranges are fine.
Even though I'm not training for the clock, I realized I'm operating in a vacuum in this regard and it'd be very interesting to see.
Thanks!
The op didn't specify that they wanted times -v- meet swimmers, I think they said for masters swimmers.
There's probably just a handful of swimmers on my team who could swim a 50 LCM free under 30 sec, less than 10% for sure. And among all masters swimmers, I'd guess a similar percentage.
Apparently you don't understand how this works. It's not about how you view the world, it is about reported times, which obviously means meet swimmers. A sub 30 50 LCM is fast, but nothing special, hence it gets an A time. That's kind of how it shapes up in USS also.
I think the time charts very accurately reflect what I've seen at meets and knowing some very fast swimmers. If 50% could throw down a :30 it wouldn't be very fast, and certainly not an "A" time.
The OP asked for "the rough ranges for what is considered beginner, decent/competitive, and top range." The motivational times won't tell you that -- it is certainly not the case that just because someone fails to make even a B time that they are a "beginner."
I swim with a large group, typically 35-40 swimmers at practice, and I'm usually in the 2nd or 3rd fastest lane (occasionally the fastest). I don't come anywhere near NQT's for any events, let alone top 10 times. In the chart referenced above, I'd be lucky to be in the B range.
Maybe I just swim with slow swimmers, but my experiences have been similar when I've swum with other teams. I think those charts are just a bit aggressive.
Those charts target meet swimmers. If you aren't swimming meets regularly, I don't think they offer much guidance.
Lane position is determined by a combination of aerobic capacity and speed, not speed alone and a lot of fast swimmers train on their own.
Finally, those charts are built off percentages, not percentiles so the B cut is 40% slower than what it would take to make the top ten (roughly), so they can't be aggressive, your age group is just fast.
I'm not sure what one would want... C,D,E,...,Y,Z groups that go up to 10 minutes for a 50 just to be able to classify everyone in a group for the sake of inclusivity?
