March 2008 Karen's Top Tip: Counting your progress

One of the most important pieces of information for a swimmer are their PBs. Also known as personal best times, these are the fastest times that a swimmer has taken to swim an event previously. In knowing these times a swimmer is able to evaluate their performance in comparison with their previous swims. For swimmers, you should always ask the time keeper what time you swam after a race and a good time keeper will oblige in giving this information to the swimmer. Without this information a swimmer will have no goals, no direction and hence no enjoyment of their swimming. You can record your PBs in a number of ways in a small note book, or in a log book, on paper or on the computer, its really up to you. As a swimmer you should take responsibility for your own times and parents you can help with this. What times count? Every swim counts to your progress, but its really important that you compare like with like. For example long course times are not the same as short course times (as explained last month) and so they should be stored in a separate table. In relays, the first person can count their time as a PB (if it is), but all other swims in a relay are anticipated and so are faster. This means that they are not the same as a 'flat' (unanticipated) start and should not be compared with flat starts.

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