Our masters season is about to start up in a few weeks, and I’m considering some goals.
My background:
Adult onset swimmer. I have very little sprint training, and seem to favour the 200-400. Currently, my fastest 100 is 1:10, scm, from a push, in the middle of practice. 30min HIM, 1:02min IM times.
I’d like to switch up from boring old triathlon focused swimming and see how low I can get my 100, and maybe try something really stupid, like race the 200IM.
Is that a reasonable amount to drop in a season? Or are my sights set too high? What should I be focusing on to help achieve this goal?
I haven’t swam much this summer, so I won’t be starting from 1:10/100m speed.
Are you trying to hit sub 1 off a push? How are your underwaters aka dolphin kicks? Can you make the entire 15m underwater that is allowed? How are your turns?
Are you trying to hit sub 1 off a push? How are your underwaters aka dolphin kicks? Can you make the entire 15m underwater that is allowed? How are your turns?
I want to hit 1:00 in a lcm meet. So, tapered and everything.
My turns and underwaters are good. I usually make up time on the people next to me on turns. Not saying they couldn’t be better, but, it doesn’t seem to be my weak point when compared to other swimmers.
Breaking a minute in a 100 LCM is hard, really freakin’ hard.
Especially for adult onset swimmers.
I’m nearly entirely a SCY swimmer. That converts to 52.6. While not even all that good for high school sprinters; it’s really fast for most of the world.
A good dive vs push is probably worth about 1.5 to 2 seconds. Adult onset swimmers do not typically have good dives. Your 1:10 (converts to 1:01.6 SCY) in the middle of a workout probably means you were well warmed up and can’t expect much faster.
I’d WAG that you could get to 1:05 to 1:07. Breaking a minute is probably years away.
I do look in awe at the sub 1:00 crowd at practice. They seem to be moving much, much quicker then that!
I swam 1:10 last year, on my typical swimming diet of 2 masters classes a week. I figure if I train a bit more, focus on sprinting workouts more then the endurance stuff (sometimes we get a choice), maybe I could get there.
The 1:10 I did swim was at the end of a hard set, so, I was warmed up, but I was also pretty gassed.
I guess we will see how low things can get this year! It’s not a hard and fast goal, I was just curious if it was even remotely possible as something to shoot for.
As a lifelong swimmer, I’d have to say sub 1:00 100LCM will be almost impossible. But I’d love to come back to this thread an be proven wrong!
I swim HIM 24:XX and IM at 53:## and for me at least getting under 1 minute on a hundred would be just about impossible too. It’s a different strength and anaerobic ability needed to keep the stroke turnover that high while maintaining great form. Then you factor in the turn and the underwater work…elite pool swimmers can really take this to a higher level…for me I face a choice: execute a great turn and underwater dolphin kick but surface totally exhausted so that I burn out by 20m into the second length OR much less underwater work but give up the speed.
GET ON THIS AND DO IT…would love to see someone improve like this!
I think it will be hard. Very hard. For comparison, 59.89 is the current AAA standard for 13-14 boys. That’s good, and will get you to Zones, but is not close to elite. You still have 5 seconds to drop to get to just the 13-14 boys A standard which is 1:05.29.
There is a world of difference between A and AAA swimmers. That said, don’t be discouraged. It’s an admirable goal and you should go for it. Never know, you might be a adult onset prodigy like Klehner.
As a lifelong swimmer, I’d have to say sub 1:00 100LCM will be almost impossible. But I’d love to come back to this thread an be proven wrong!
I swim HIM 24:XX and IM at 53:## and for me at least getting under 1 minute on a hundred would be just about impossible too. It’s a different strength and anaerobic ability needed to keep the stroke turnover that high while maintaining great form. Then you factor in the turn and the underwater work…elite pool swimmers can really take this to a higher level…for me I face a choice: execute a great turn and underwater dolphin kick but surface totally exhausted so that I burn out by 20m into the second length OR much less underwater work but give up the speed.
GET ON THIS AND DO IT…would love to see someone improve like this!
Would sub 60 seconds 100m swim be on par with a sub 50 second 400m run on the track in terms of how elite it would be?
Would sub 60 seconds 100m swim be on par with a sub 50 second 400m run on the track in terms of how elite it would be?
It’s definitely hard. You really need to be able to go 26-27s for 50m long course to have a shot at sub min.
A guy at my old swim club was painstakingly close, going just a touch over 1min, his 50s were around 27, he was a breastroker though. A guy i work with now went sub 2min for 200m, but i think he was around a 24s 50m swimmer and played water polo with the under 17 national squad.
As a lifelong swimmer, I’d have to say sub 1:00 100LCM will be almost impossible. But I’d love to come back to this thread an be proven wrong!
I swim HIM 24:XX and IM at 53:## and for me at least getting under 1 minute on a hundred would be just about impossible too. It’s a different strength and anaerobic ability needed to keep the stroke turnover that high while maintaining great form. Then you factor in the turn and the underwater work…elite pool swimmers can really take this to a higher level…for me I face a choice: execute a great turn and underwater dolphin kick but surface totally exhausted so that I burn out by 20m into the second length OR much less underwater work but give up the speed.
GET ON THIS AND DO IT…would love to see someone improve like this!
Would sub 60 seconds 100m swim be on par with a sub 50 second 400m run on the track in terms of how elite it would be?
Look two posts above. There are lots of 14 year old boy swimmers going sub 1:00 min in 100 lcm free. Are there lots of 14 year old boys running sub 400m track times? A quick Google seems like sub 50 on a track is a lot harder at a younger age. The world record for men’s 100 lcm is 46.9, so about 4 seconds difference to comparable world records. The 10 second differential should be less, for equal elite status.
As a lifelong swimmer, I’d have to say sub 1:00 100LCM will be almost impossible. But I’d love to come back to this thread an be proven wrong!
I swim HIM 24:XX and IM at 53:## and for me at least getting under 1 minute on a hundred would be just about impossible too. It’s a different strength and anaerobic ability needed to keep the stroke turnover that high while maintaining great form. Then you factor in the turn and the underwater work…elite pool swimmers can really take this to a higher level…for me I face a choice: execute a great turn and underwater dolphin kick but surface totally exhausted so that I burn out by 20m into the second length OR much less underwater work but give up the speed.
GET ON THIS AND DO IT…would love to see someone improve like this!
Would sub 60 seconds 100m swim be on par with a sub 50 second 400m run on the track in terms of how elite it would be?
Look two posts above. There are lots of 14 year old boy swimmers going sub 1:00 min in 100 lcm free. Are there lots of 14 year old boys running sub 400m track times? A quick Google seems like sub 50 on a track is a lot harder at a younger age.
I don’t think you can compare young swimmers to your runners. Due to being supported by water, there is a completely different dynamic. I think you need to compared 17-18 year old 100m swimmers going sub 60 to 17-18 year old runners going sub 50 …at least wait till the running physiology has matured to compare.
Also 400m track world record is 43.03. Swim is 46. But I don’t think that 60 secound 100m is around 56 400m run…it’s harder than 56 100m…maybe not 52.
The comparisons to age group swimmers isn’t really a good one because youngsters can make up for strength with a technique. BigNoles son will be 11 next year and will probably be able to hang with the front pack of an ITU race by then. No 11 year old can do that on the bike or run.
The world records are 4 seconds apart for males. 10 seconds to the swimmer makes the swim time too soft and the run time too fast. I grew up swimming. A 1 minute 100 lcm male swimmer would be considered just ok in any high school meet, but not considered fast, by any measure, and most likely not getting in the top three in any typical small town high school dual swim meet. They would be considered slow and not fast enough for any but the least competitive college level swim teams. Basically, nearly every healthy male that has been swimming competitively as a youth, should be sub 1 minute by college age.
As a lifelong swimmer, I’d have to say sub 1:00 100LCM will be almost impossible. But I’d love to come back to this thread an be proven wrong!
I swim HIM 24:XX and IM at 53:## and for me at least getting under 1 minute on a hundred would be just about impossible too. It’s a different strength and anaerobic ability needed to keep the stroke turnover that high while maintaining great form. Then you factor in the turn and the underwater work…elite pool swimmers can really take this to a higher level…for me I face a choice: execute a great turn and underwater dolphin kick but surface totally exhausted so that I burn out by 20m into the second length OR much less underwater work but give up the speed.
GET ON THIS AND DO IT…would love to see someone improve like this!
Would sub 60 seconds 100m swim be on par with a sub 50 second 400m run on the track in terms of how elite it would be?
No. A sub-50 400m run is very, very fast. It’s very fast in masters, it’s fast in college, and it’s very fast in high school. A sub-60 100m swim is just not that fast (and I wouldn’t use the word “elite” in the same sentence as “sub-60 100m swim”) at any level (11-12 years old through 55-59 or so).
My best scy 100 converts to a :58.7 lcm (according to the swimswam converter), and I would likely have been faster since my turns really stunk. That was when I was about 32 years old. My best 400m, done while on the college track team (in a decathlon, but still) was around :54 or so. I doubt we had 10 guys who could break :50 when I was there.
I don’t know that it’s gonna happen in a season, but I bet a dedicated year would do it. See what you can do in a season and go from there.
My personal opinion, worth what you paid, is that also focusing on the 200 I.M. can only help. It’s pretty sprinty-turnovery and makes you really sharpen up your pull in the water.