Comparing oneself to others

I was intrigued today while reading friend of the blog, WaterGirl's post about her best stroke. She includes a link to Masters Motivational Times, sets of times one can use as motivation. The times are divided into grades, B (slowest) up to AAAA (fastest). 

Much like WaterGirl, I'm not near any of the times. On my best day in 2005 (the last time I had access to a "standard" pool), I missed the B time for 100 SCM free by 10 seconds. Even using my recent 200y and 400y times (when computing my CSS), I'm way off the B times. Jeez Louise. Unsure where author Steve Stuart got these times, but yikes, they're hard. 

I have my own standards. I've spoken before in this blog about my 1997 Navy PT test, where I swam 500 yards in 9:33 at the age of 30. Fast forward 14 years and I swam the same distance in 7:55. So as far as PRs go, I'm improving. But, apparently I need to get a coach soon so that I can drop my times closer to these motivational times.

Or find the chart with the "C" times. 

Comments

[Katie]

One thing about those times: they're based on a percentage from the Top 10. They're not a percentile. So a B is 25% slower than a Top 10 (AAAA) time (I think), but it doesn't mean that 25% of swimmers are faster.

I think we're doing pretty well. :D

[IronMike]

So would a fictional C be 30% slower than a Top 10?