If he was JasonInPhilly, maybe?

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"What's your claim?" - Ben Gravy
"Your best work is the work you're excited about" - Rick Rubin

I was wondering about this, so I just did an exercise to look up the FINA points for all the USMS LCM records in M45-49

Softest record - 200 Back (590 points)

Toughest record - 200 Fly (726 points)

400 IM and 200 IM are pretty much even (602 and 603 points, respectively).

Softest freestyle record - 800 free (613 points)

Toughest free record - 400 free (688 points)

This methodology does make the assumption that the open WR's are all equivalent difficulty (1000 points each) and that we age "gracefully", IOW, we lose ability in all strokes / distances at the same rate.

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Swimming Workout of the Day:

Favourite Swim Sets:

2020 National Masters Champion - M50-54 - 50m Butterfly

I disagree about swimming being too hard. It's like triathlon, or running, only as hard as you make it.

It's more about facilities, culture, a disconnect between outsiders perspectives of the nature of the sport and the actual nature of the sport, typically less flexibility in training, and people are initially intimidated by the prospect of swimming that far in practice.

i.e. people perceive swimming to be far harder than it is.

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Swimming Workout of the Day:

Favourite Swim Sets:

2020 National Masters Champion - M50-54 - 50m Butterfly

In terms of "hard" to sustain at age, biking is the easiest to match your youth, second is swimming, last of course is running...all for obvious reason.

To kind of answer your question, you are too old and you're not too old. The reality is that you MUST be too old because if you were not, guys your age would still be winning the olympic games and THEY ARE NOT.

At a personal level you can beat your youthful times by more optimized training, science, better technique and rest, but this might be because you never optimized your times at youth....in drive by brag territory, I ran my half marathon personal best at age 44. It was 1:21.09. BUT I actually posted my fastest half marathon time in the opening half of a marathon when I ran 1:19 which I did at age 25. That was 5 weeks after my first IM so I was barely recovered....I relatively blew up and ran the second half in 1:31....but if I actually raced some half marathons at 25, I have no doubt, I could have done a 1:15ish range based on my 10K times in the same period. So yes, I set a PB at age 44, but its cause I never really tried to properly race a half marathon when I was young and running fast.

I think to set some swim PB's for races in the 5 minute range or less at age you have to get in the weight room and do a lot of hard sets. You have a lifetime of volume and technique, but a 1-4 min race has a massive anaerboic component that you lose with age. Endurance you will lose less. Love her or hate her, look at the variety of training Dara Torres was doing to go to the Olympics in the 50 free at 40. She was competing at a world level, but even for what you want to do, you have to work the anaerobic system because that is what you lose and in the range of duration for your events, this is what will help you or hurt you.

College me: terrible diet (like most college kids), chronically overtrained, tendinitis in both shoulders, knee injury, the old style flat start w/ pike entry, S-pull, head too high, regular speedo, etc. Hell, I never even raced with a cap! free speed, right there.....

so with better technique, smarter training, and MUCH better diet, better use of time in the weight room (did a lot of stuff back then that I wouldn't bother with now), that might help get closer to current potential. Then the new suits / faster pools, better starting blocks are worth a little bit of time on top of the technique / diet / training.

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Swimming Workout of the Day:

Favourite Swim Sets:

2020 National Masters Champion - M50-54 - 50m Butterfly

Last night at masters i was struggling mightily. I was wondering if I had forgotten how to swim.....

Then I remembered that I had popped a couple of Benadryl during the day - i was eaten by mosquitoes the other night, so itchy. Benadryl is definitely NOT a PED, ended up going to bed 2 hours before my normal bedtime. Normally I avoid taking any medications unless absolutely necessary. This was necessary, I was scratching the bites so much that I was bleeding through my khaki's. Not a good look.

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Swimming Workout of the Day:

Favourite Swim Sets:

2020 National Masters Champion - M50-54 - 50m Butterfly

You might as well try. Everything you've written here says that you desperately want to.

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maybe she's born with it, maybe it's chlorine
If you're injured and need some sympathy, PM me and I'm very happy to write back.
disclaimer: PhD not MD

Well, time waits for no one.

The train has probably left the station, but if I run really hard I might be able to do a flying leap and catch the railing in the caboose. Whereas when you are young, PBs are more like buying a ticket and walking up the steps. Still have to make the effort to get to the train station, but not nearly as challenging.

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Swimming Workout of the Day:

Favourite Swim Sets:

2020 National Masters Champion - M50-54 - 50m Butterfly

What swimming specific weight training are you doing now?

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Let food be thy medicine...

This is exactly how my bike splits at all distance at 50 are faster than at 21. I took none of the free speed at 21. I think you have a good shot in that case. Go do it.

Unrelated question. Between 100m free and 100 fly, what should be my delta in percent. I see world records are 10% or so different, but at an age group adult onset swimmer perspective, what can I get to?

Lets run some numbers you provided in Freestyle.....

your young self did 1:56 200M SC
the world record at the time was 1:47 200m SC

that means you were 8.4% over the WR of the time

your 48 year old self did 2:04 200M SC
the age group world record for 45-49 is 1:52 200M SC

that means you are currently 10.74 % over the WR at this time



if you would swim on par with your younger self factoring in the effects of age you would swim 2.3 % faster than your current time that gets you to:

2:01.....that leaves :05 you have to pick up in the 200 through smarter training, nutrition, technique.

Its a very tough ask.....

I challenge to you a short term goal to beat and your "age graded younger" self and swim under 2:01 in the 200 Meter Free Short course. You have to drop :03. There is your next challenge.

I swim distances now that I never swam while younger. So, I solved that problem!

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Proud member of FISHTWITCH: doing a bit more than fish exercise now.

Actually, it's more of a general strength training program, but eliminating the bodybuilding type isolation exercises, focussing on gross movements instead. Back to basics, so to speak

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Swimming Workout of the Day:

Favourite Swim Sets:

2020 National Masters Champion - M50-54 - 50m Butterfly

Not that my voice in any of this matters, but I wanted to chime in to offer moral support.
As a pretty-much AOS, I have no idea how much of a challenge this will be for you (but as a former sorta track guy, I know at age 53 I will never run that quickly again)....

If your heart and head are both going in the same direction, you have as much chance as you could hope to have. You have at least one old western-Canadian cheering for ya :)

Ryan Lochte is going to the Olympics and he's apparently 53 years old. There's hope for me yet..

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Swimming Workout of the Day:

Favourite Swim Sets:

2020 National Masters Champion - M50-54 - 50m Butterfly

That is just stupid. I'll bet 20 yrs from now he'll be going the other way, trying to get his hair back to brown with no gray. Dying your hair gray when your 30/31 and have no gray just shows his ignorance of the changes in front of him as he gets older. Absolutely no need to go gray before you have to.

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"Anyone can be who they want to be IF they have the HUNGER and the DRIVE."

It's just hair. Not like it's permanent or anything.

Anyway, it's actually light blue, not grey, according to lochte and the girl who did it. And I'm pretty sure he knows that his hair will either go gray or fall out as he gets older al on its own..

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Swimming Workout of the Day:

Favourite Swim Sets:

2020 National Masters Champion - M50-54 - 50m Butterfly

Well, it looks gray to me and, while you're no doubt technically correct that he knows he'll get gray and/or bald-ish in future yrs, it still looks stupid to me, just IMO.

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"Anyone can be who they want to be IF they have the HUNGER and the DRIVE."

I am 60, and am biking and swimming faster than I ever have (sprint and olympic distances). In running, no recent PRs (unless you count my first half marathon this year, 1:34), but I did run a 20-year PR in a 5K last year. I'm nowhere near your swimming ability in any sport, never swam or biked competitively until triathlons, and didn't participate in any college athletics. But I am still improving...

Others seem to be going for PRs later in life. Here's a local running store's newsletter, going for a marathon PR at age 58:

http://us2.campaign-archive2.com/...a67&e=48a25fe4a4

http://us2.campaign-archive1.com/...9e0&e=48a25fe4a4

Well, I showed the pic to my wife to get her reaction. "He's hot"

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Swimming Workout of the Day:

Favourite Swim Sets:

2020 National Masters Champion - M50-54 - 50m Butterfly

Hater gone hate.