What's a good pace or performance? Are there aggregate performance stats anywhere?

P.S. Watch is still useless at judging what stroke I'm actually doing! Just as well that doesn't really matter to me :)

Ralph

P.S. Watch is still useless at judging what stroke I'm actually doing! Just as well that doesn't really matter to me :)

Ralph

I would bet a dollar or a donut that your stroke technique is off or otherwise inconsistent. I find that the only way I can get my GS to "misread" my stroke is to klutz-up my technique with extraneous gesticulations. I find that the "s-curve" that the average swimmer does at the end of their freestyle stroke is particularly effective at confusing the watch. Similarly, wildly flailing arms on backstroke also messes with the GS.

When I swim reasonably good technique... the GS gets the stroke right every time.

PS - to your original question, I'm 48, 6'2"(188cm) and 180lbs (82k) been swimming seriously for the past 18mo. I'm currently doing a 100yd pace of 1:08. This has improved significantly as... wait for it... I have worked on cleaning up my stroke technique. Visit swimsmooth.com for some good tips.

Ray

I would bet a dollar or a donut that your stroke technique is off or otherwise inconsistent. I find that the only way I can get my GS to "misread" my stroke is to klutz-up my technique with extraneous gesticulations. I find that the "s-curve" that the average swimmer does at the end of their freestyle stroke is particularly effective at confusing the watch. Similarly, wildly flailing arms on backstroke also messes with the GS.

When I swim reasonably good technique... the GS gets the stroke right every time.

PS - to your original question, I'm 48, 6'2"(188cm) and 180lbs (82k) been swimming seriously for the past 18mo. I'm currently doing a 100yd pace of 1:08. This has improved significantly as... wait for it... I have worked on cleaning up my stroke technique. Visit swimsmooth.com for some good tips.

Ray

Hi Ray

Appreciate the pointers. I'd like to think I have a pretty consistent stroke, but there's always room for improvement! I'll take a peek at those web pages and see if it makes a difference... though tbh I'm doubtful.

Still looking for anyone's insights or advice on performance metrics? What, I'm wondering, counts as a good pace for a 45 y.o. ??

Cheers

Ralph

Hi Ray

Appreciate the pointers. I'd like to think I have a pretty consistent stroke, but there's always room for improvement! I'll take a peek at those web pages and see if it makes a difference... though tbh I'm doubtful.

Still looking for anyone's insights or advice on performance metrics? What, I'm wondering, counts as a good pace for a 45 y.o. ??

Cheers

Ralph

Are you in a metric (25 meter) or imperial (25 yard) pool? It makes quite a difference.
26 seconds for 25 meters would put you at 1:44 per 100m and that's pretty close to where I'm at (at 48). That is fairly good for a recreational swimmer especially since you can hold it for 2 km, but I don't think it's anywhere near competitive against master's category swimmers of any age. Getting under 1:30 per 100m would put you (and me) closer to the pack.

RPurkis is right... swimsmooth has good pointers on technique and that is absolutely what going fast in a pool is all about. 1:08 in a 100 yard pool is about 1:15 in a 100 meter pool and that's a huge jump up even from 1:30...

Are you in a metric (25 meter) or imperial (25 yard) pool? It makes quite a difference.
26 seconds for 25 meters would put you at 1:44 per 100m and that's pretty close to where I'm at (at 48). That is fairly good for a recreational swimmer especially since you can hold it for 2 km, but I don't think it's anywhere near competitive against master's category swimmers of any age. Getting under 1:30 per 100m would put you (and me) closer to the pack.

RPurkis is right... swimsmooth has good pointers on technique and that is absolutely what going fast in a pool is all about. 1:08 in a 100 yard pool is about 1:15 in a 100 meter pool and that's a huge jump up even from 1:30...

Hi T

It's a 25 metre pool (almost all of them are in the UK).

Not too worried about competing with a master's category. Mainly because I don't know what it is? :)

But I am keen to get some sense of a measure of how I'm doing in terms of my daily routine. Since getting the Garmin Swim watch I've gone from doing 90 x 25m lengths (60 freestyle, 30 backstroke) perhaps three times a week, to doing 120 x 25m (80 freestyle, 40 backstroke) very nearly every day for the last 4 and a half months.

I'm aware that my speed's improved and my stamina. I've even lost 2 inches off the waistline. But there's very little in the way of performance metrics against age for non-competitive swimmers... or none I've found so far.

Cheers

Ralph

Hi T

It's a 25 metre pool (almost all of them are in the UK).

Not too worried about competing with a master's category. Mainly because I don't know what it is? :)

But I am keen to get some sense of a measure of how I'm doing in terms of my daily routine. Since getting the Garmin Swim watch I've gone from doing 90 x 25m lengths (60 freestyle, 30 backstroke) perhaps three times a week, to doing 120 x 25m (80 freestyle, 40 backstroke) very nearly every day for the last 4 and a half months.

I'm aware that my speed's improved and my stamina. I've even lost 2 inches off the waistline. But there's very little in the way of performance metrics against age for non-competitive swimmers... or none I've found so far.

Cheers

Ralph

I have no idea where in Scotland you are so this may be way out of your area:
http://www.glasgowwesternmasters.co.uk/
but it may give you some idea of what to look for. Swimming with others is a good way to improve at any level.

Hi Ralph, as you want reference, I believe that your average time for your age and the repetitive kind of session that you are practicing is really very good. I have to agree with the forum that reading a book like "swim smooth", get it from amazon, would definitely help you:
- to improve your stroke,
- to do different kind of sessions and drills, helping you progressing faster,
- and getting to know a parameter like your CSS speed
For sure, all of these will help you to surpass with ease that continous 1:44min/100m that you're swimming now and that I believe is very good because it's been done just by yourself.

If you want some others personal reference, I've passed from 1:58min/100 to my current 1:41min/100 in only 3 and a half months with the help of that book, and I still feel a have margin to improve!! ;-))

Regarding our watches in my opinion they're great showing 2 important parameters: strokes/length and SPM, really useful to monitor progress.
Hope this helps!

Cheers,

Jorge.

I believe that your average time for your age and the repetitive kind of session that you are practicing is really very good. I have to agree with the forum that reading a book like "swim smooth", get it from amazon, would definitely help you:
- to improve your stroke,
- to do different kind of sessions and drills, helping you progressing faster,
- and getting to know a parameter like your CSS speed
For sure, all of these will help you to surpass with ease that continous 1:44min/100m that you're swimming now and that I believe is very good because it's been done just by yourself.

If you want some others personal reference, I've passed from 1:58min/100 to my current 1:41min/100 in only 3 and a half months with the help of that book, and I still feel a have margin to improve!! ;-))

Hi Jorge

Thanks for the feedback.... really helpful. I've just ordered the Swim Smooth book (Play.com in the UK is cheapest with free delivery) and I've been watching a few of the videos on YouTube too.

My continuous pace (over the whole session of 120 lengths) seems to average at about 1:50min/100m. In shorter bursts for 10x 25m I can make that a lot faster but I am not keen on starting and stopping frequently.

Judging from what you have said, I can probably squeeze out some performance improvements by revisiting my stroke style, so that book may well give me some good tips on what I can do to improve.

My main motivation is to burn calories and lose some weight, whilst improving my overall fitness. However, after buying the Garmin Swim watch and having easy access to performance data for every swim, I do feel a strong urge to try and improve my pace. I have to keep reminding myself that this is not my top priority, but if I can improve whilst still burning the fat and getting fitter, why not!

Ideally, I would like to improve my technique and pace enough to know that I can reliably and consistently go up to 130x25m (86x freestyle, 44x backstroke) in or, better still, under one hour.

Cheers

Ralph

I started swimming breaststroke in january, my condition was below zero. In july i started training on freestyle and I have the same average as you on the 100 meters. Approx. 1/53 per 100m. So, for your age you are pretty good! Or i really suck :P (i'm 28)

I started swimming breaststroke in january, my condition was below zero. In july i started training on freestyle and I have the same average as you on the 100 meters. Approx. 1/53 per 100m. So, for your age you are pretty good! Or i really suck :P (i'm 28)

I 'think' that's a compliment... so thanks :)

Ralph