Impressive.

I don't really have a lot of context to know how good that is, but it is a pretty quick time. How old was he?

---

Swimming Workout of the Day:

Favourite Swim Sets:

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

High school senior.

(aside: I swam Masters for that YMCA)

---

----------------------------------
"Go yell at an M&M"

I watched a HS girl do a 500 breast at a meet and we weren’t waiting for her to finish. That demonstrates some pain tolerance.

Solid time but this kid is a Junior in HS right now and the comparison is not even close. Have a look at his Backstroke times. They are NCAA D1 Finals type times.

https://www.collegeswimming.com/swimmer/404919/

---

Team Zoot Northeast

I didn't suggest that Josh is a national-class backstroker, unlike the kid you reference. I thought it was interesting to see a HS kid do a 500 back far faster than 95% of all triathletes who ever lived could do a 500 free.

---

----------------------------------
"Go yell at an M&M"

Understood and point taken.

I was just illustrating what’s possible. I’d love to see a kid like Destin bust out a 500 back.

---

Team Zoot Northeast

Probably around 4:45, given his 500free and 400IM times.

Dayum.

---

----------------------------------
"Go yell at an M&M"

That was fun to watch.

I have to imagine that it was pretty demoralizing to the other people in that race..... that he swam backstroke the whole time and blew them out of the water. It is kind of like when a college swimmer shows up at my community pool and effortlessly swims faster while warming up than I swim doing "race-pace" intervals ;-(

---

----------------------------
Jason
None of the secrets of success will work unless you do.

A friend of mine (4:32 500fr at Clemson back around 1980) wanted to do a 200back at a local Masters meet, but they didn't have one. So he asked me to pace him in the 200 free while he did it backstroke. We managed to submit seed times so we were in adjacent lanes. I had to work hard to keep ahead of him. Same guy almost caused a bunch of triathletes we swam with to quit the sport, after doing a set of 150s on about 2:05...one arm, due to the separated shoulder he had at the time.

F***ing fish.

---

----------------------------------
"Go yell at an M&M"

Your point is taken, but 95%? Try 99.99%. The only triathletes who can swim a 5:02 500 free are those who are fast pros or those with former high level swimming experience. A sub 6 minute 500 free shows good enough swim speed to come out top 5 in the water at typical yokel local triathlons if you know how to swim in open water.

I was being kind, sorry.

---

----------------------------------
"Go yell at an M&M"

Ha, no need to apologize (I assume you are being facetious), or be kind :). Sometimes its good to remind us trihackaletes how much we suck, lest we settle for swimming a lot slower than we could with enough hard work...I recall a thread awhile back where you talked about training with real swimmers, and how hard it was. I would venture the guys and gals who swim 5 minute 500 yard frees probably are swimming at least 40k a week with a lot of that at threshold and vo2max on a near daily basis. Even most pro triathletes dont swim more than 20-25k a week, with overall intensity probably somewhat lower. Most amateurs swim 2-3x per week with the majority of their swimming done at 75% in fins or with pull buoys...

I saw, with my own eyes, a high school senior girl swim 5:2x in a 500... backstroke. This was last year, in a HS dual meet... at ALTITUDE (5000'/1600m). I was working the timing system, so, while I don't remember the actual time to the second, I do know this was a legitimate time.

And there are many high school kids that run a 5k on grass faster than 95% of all triathletes who ever lived could on a perfect surface.

I think non-swimmers are enamored with this because the pool is so foreign to them. This in fact is relatively common. In the 90’s I frequently swam in high school against a guy that did this all the time just to get better competition. He was just an average NCAA D1 backstroker in College.

I had a high school teammate who did a 500 fly in a meet in under 5:00. Senior year at state, he won the 100 fly and the 500 free with ~ 13 minutes rest in between. Was an NCAA DI All American at ASU, and later got into triathlon. He was first-10 out of the water at Kona a couple times in the mid-90's.

---

"They're made of latex, not nitroglycerin"

Impressive time! For context, when I swam back in the day, I could have swam at a crappy D1 swim school with a 4:49 500 FREE PR....

Consider this: the national high school record in the 500yd free is a 4:12.87 (!) from Grant Shoults. Do the math on that.

I am being serious: I bet the kid is disappointed with his time.

He has gone 4:32 in the 500 and a 1:51 in the 2back.... I would have put him at 4:55 or so.

When were the 4:32 and 1:51’s though? The 5:02 looks like it was in-season, unsuited.

---

Swimming Workout of the Day:

Favourite Swim Sets:

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

General observation: kids swim a lot faster In season now a days. But fair point in general.

One of the most fun Slowtwitch threads in a while. Thanks for sharing! And wow – that's fast!

Depends how yokel - on my best day’s I might break 7 and that got me out first, third and third (or thereabouts) last summer. Sub-6 would be out of sight!

---

Aaron Bales
Lansing Triathlon Team

Are we talking 500m here or 500y?

Check the subject text of this thread.

---

----------------------------------
"Go yell at an M&M"