Times for 50m freestyle (avg->good->great)?

I can speak as someone who began 2.5 years ago at age 20, so I'm in a bit of a unique position. My first 50 free SCY was in February 2009, one month after I started swimming competitively. It was 34 seconds. In the same month, that went down to 32.5, then 31.08 in March, then 30.08 in April. Then I didn't swim the 50 free for a year. When I came back to the event in May '10, I went 27.72. Last January, I put up a 26.35 which I have hovered around roughly since. That 26.35 converts to just a hair over 30 LCM, which is the number people keep throwing around in this thread. That took two years of hard work, jokes about sprinting and sprinters aside. It's been my own observation that for other young men my age who come to the pool completely new to competitive swimming, but essentially knowing how to swim for recreation, will put up around 34-35 seconds on their first 50 free in their first month of swimming. It has been impossible, however, to look at these same people over the span of two years and see how much they improve. Some aren't in it anymore, some are geographically elsewhere, some swim at different times, etc... Before last October, I was obsessed with figuring out how I stood in relation to other swimmers, especially other latebloomers. I wanted to figure out a field of valid comparison. I would scour swimming times databases looking for other people who seemed to start around my age, people who maybe started earlier but weren't as dedicated, etc... I didn't want to compare myself to people of the opposite sex, people in the elite ranks, Olympians, etc... I think this preoccupation is only an all-too-natural inclination when you're in a competitive sport. People who start earlier than later in life, in childhood, in age-group, have a universe of close comparisons, entire galleries of fellow swimmers to make nemeses and rivals, to either best or chase after time and again. Before last October, I always thought this was such a tremendous advantage that I didn't have. Last October, I had a disappointing meet after several months of very hard work. My times were all a second within my PBs. I don't know if my expectations were too high or if this is just normal for the beginning of a season (it was my first October meet ever, in retrospect). I started taking a different look at the swimmers around me, in the pool, in other pools, their times online, in other age-groups and clubs. I came to a very unexpected and quite-welcome realization... I am a fast swimmer. I am a great swimmer. I am top-range. I had done a lot of hard work in the last two years, I kept my nerve time and again, I never once thought about quitting. If you want to know how good your times are, decide for yourself after honest, reasonably truthful assessment. If you think you are fast, you are fast. If average, you are average. If slow, slow. If everyone on this forum did this, I'd say 100% you should come to the realization that you are fast, that you are good, because I've seen what hard workers you are, what sacrifices you make, what conditions you've prevailed against. And then, with that in mind, remember that there is always faster, better, greater. Back before October, I kept my vision narrow. I looked for people close to me and compared myself to them, tried to ask or probe when they started. This was a mistake. The fact that I didn't have a crowded field around me, obstructing my vision, is an advantage. It freed me up to look at the bigger picture. By all means, I started comparing myself to NCAA Div-1 college swimmers, to that one really fast guy on my team, to girls, to the Olympians. Two months later that December, after several months of being stuck on the plateau of a 1:03 100 free SCY, I finally broke the minute barrier with a time of 58.93. At the time, I talked about technique and being ever so slightly tapered, but I knew it then and I know it now, it was mental, it was the willingness to step back, be subjective instead of struggling in vain to be objective, and say I'm a fast swimmer and nobody's gonna change my mind.

I can speak as someone who began 2.5 years ago at age 20, so I'm in a bit of a unique position. My first 50 free SCY was in February 2009, one month after I started swimming competitively. It was 34 seconds. In the same month, that went down to 32.5, then 31.08 in March, then 30.08 in April. Then I didn't swim the 50 free for a year. When I came back to the event in May '10, I went 27.72. Last January, I put up a 26.35 which I have hovered around roughly since. That 26.35 converts to just a hair over 30 LCM, which is the number people keep throwing around in this thread. That took two years of hard work, jokes about sprinting and sprinters aside. It's been my own observation that for other young men my age who come to the pool completely new to competitive swimming, but essentially knowing how to swim for recreation, will put up around 34-35 seconds on their first 50 free in their first month of swimming. It has been impossible, however, to look at these same people over the span of two years and see how much they improve. Some aren't in it anymore, some are geographically elsewhere, some swim at different times, etc... Before last October, I was obsessed with figuring out how I stood in relation to other swimmers, especially other latebloomers. I wanted to figure out a field of valid comparison. I would scour swimming times databases looking for other people who seemed to start around my age, people who maybe started earlier but weren't as dedicated, etc... I didn't want to compare myself to people of the opposite sex, people in the elite ranks, Olympians, etc... I think this preoccupation is only an all-too-natural inclination when you're in a competitive sport. People who start earlier than later in life, in childhood, in age-group, have a universe of close comparisons, entire galleries of fellow swimmers to make nemeses and rivals, to either best or chase after time and again. Before last October, I always thought this was such a tremendous advantage that I didn't have. Last October, I had a disappointing meet after several months of very hard work. My times were all a second within my PBs. I don't know if my expectations were too high or if this is just normal for the beginning of a season (it was my first October meet ever, in retrospect). I started taking a different look at the swimmers around me, in the pool, in other pools, their times online, in other age-groups and clubs. I came to a very unexpected and quite-welcome realization... I am a fast swimmer. I am a great swimmer. I am top-range. I had done a lot of hard work in the last two years, I kept my nerve time and again, I never once thought about quitting. If you want to know how good your times are, decide for yourself after honest, reasonably truthful assessment. If you think you are fast, you are fast. If average, you are average. If slow, slow. If everyone on this forum did this, I'd say 100% you should come to the realization that you are fast, that you are good, because I've seen what hard workers you are, what sacrifices you make, what conditions you've prevailed against. And then, with that in mind, remember that there is always faster, better, greater. Back before October, I kept my vision narrow. I looked for people close to me and compared myself to them, tried to ask or probe when they started. This was a mistake. The fact that I didn't have a crowded field around me, obstructing my vision, is an advantage. It freed me up to look at the bigger picture. By all means, I started comparing myself to NCAA Div-1 college swimmers, to that one really fast guy on my team, to girls, to the Olympians. Two months later that December, after several months of being stuck on the plateau of a 1:03 100 free SCY, I finally broke the minute barrier with a time of 58.93. At the time, I talked about technique and being ever so slightly tapered, but I knew it then and I know it now, it was mental, it was the willingness to step back, be subjective instead of struggling in vain to be objective, and say I'm a fast swimmer and nobody's gonna change my mind.