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!
I realize these posts are fairly dated, but I was curious also whether I have a decent sprint time for a casual swimmer who is 41. I have only swam for fun in small pools and never raced against others or took lessons. Now I finally got to swim in a 50M (I guess it's called a long course by swimmers) for the 1st time. I swam in 29.5 without diving in to start (wasn't my best lap, just my wife happened to be there to time me), but was comparing it to the world record of under 21 seconds and thought it was a terrible time. Then, I looked up some top meet times for my age and read that a dive takes 2 seconds off the time. I figured I could pretty easily get to a 27 time . Is that unusual for no training or racing ever at my age? I know I have no olympic hopes, but I was wondering if I could do ok if I decide to try meets, with some training. Thank you!
Here's how to gauge progression: are you getting faster?
Absolutely.
The great thing about masters swimming is that it gives the opportunity of racing to people that haven't necessarily swum their whole life. If you measure yourself against people that spent their entire lives in a pool from 5 to college and even beyond, you are on a hiding to nothing. The advice to focus on getting faster is good advice whether you are a beginner or a world-class swimmer.
Hi!
I definitely agree with @knelson... Your time is VERY good. I am 40, I train regularly and it is really hard for me to go below my current time of 30.00.00 without diving.
Just start training and participating in meets; you'll do great!
I realize these posts are fairly dated, but I was curious also whether I have a decent sprint time for a casual swimmer who is 41. I have only swam for fun in small pools and never raced against others or took lessons. Now I finally got to swim in a 50M (I guess it's called a long course by swimmers) for the 1st time. I swam in 29.5 without diving in to start (wasn't my best lap, just my wife happened to be there to time me), but was comparing it to the world record of under 21 seconds and thought it was a terrible time. Then, I looked up some top meet times for my age and read that a dive takes 2 seconds off the time. I figured I could pretty easily get to a 27 time . Is that unusual for no training or racing ever at my age? I know I have no olympic hopes, but I was wondering if I could do ok if I decide to try meets, with some training. Thank you!
