Did you ever lose in swimming to a female?

[Mollyk]

Sometimes it happens, we gals can outswim the guys.

[Swimmin]

Oh yeah quite a few times. Some women are really impressive. I like it when it happens too being a very competitive guy just beating the clock simply doesnt cut it every time...

Of course when I started swimming regularly less than 1 year ago they all lapped me constantly, even the older women. Now that I am in much better shape it still happens but really not that often. I'm also not competing, but instead just doing laps recreatively so maybe the really fast women are just not there when I swim.

This morning for instance, I had no competition
I did 2.5 km where the next may have done 1.5 km including men. The swimmers were doing something else today.

[dm106]

When I was on school swim team we never swam against the girls officially. Yes there were some fast girls (pardon the pun) but in messing around, yes I was beaten several times. Don't know if it is a generalization - girls can be faster for shorter distances but men seem to have more long-term stamina. Is that reality?

[Bede735]

That's a fairly meaningless concept because the differences between men an women only surface at an elite level.

[bikinis4me]

I'll never forget when I first started lap swimming. I was an avid cyclist already in pretty decent physical and cardio shape, but wanted to add some cross training to my regimen. A friend was recovering from knee surgery and couldn't ride, so convinced me to start doing some lap swimming with him. I actually started picking it up very quickly, but it would blow my mind when any random middle-aged, not particularly svelte, woman would be in the lane next to me just smoking me up and down the pool. I learned pretty quickly how much technique trumps raw fitness in the water, and I eventually got to the point where I was one of the faster swimmers and had one of the lowest stroke counts per lap at my local pool. And that's when my love for speedos took hold, too!

[Teamdiver]

Two weeks ago, the lady challenged me to a swim across the lake, about a quarter mile. She had got on me about smoking before the swim.

I knew I was in trouble when I surfaced after we dove in from the dock and found myself behind by at least five or six lengths. By the time we finished she was at least 15 lengths ahead of me.

When we floated out to the raft to sunbathe, heard nothing but giggling and there there, don't worry about your feelings. I was a pretty good swimmer for a guy on the high school dive team in my time. Of course this was coming from a former lifeguard and girls swim captain!!!

[Mollyk]

Originally Posted by Teamdiver

Two weeks ago, the lady challenged me to a swim across the lake, about a quarter mile. She had got on me about smoking before the swim.

I knew I was in trouble when I surfaced after we dove in from the dock and found myself behind by at least five or six lengths. By the time we finished she was at least 15 lengths ahead of me.

When we floated out to the raft to sunbathe, heard nothing but giggling and there there, don't worry about your feelings. I was a pretty good swimmer for a guy on the high school dive team in my time. Of course this was coming from a former lifeguard and girls swim captain!!!

We females can be as fast or faster than the guys. Think those baggy suits a lot of guys wear will also slow them down.

[Abram Jule]

Yes! I lost once in swimming to female swimmer. She was very good. She did this backstroke very stunningly. The way she moved her arms in the butterfly stroke was so mesmerizing. She was so fast that it shook me. She was though, very beautiful too.

[Yaebalmenyasosali]

I don't think it's something really bad to lose to female, especially in the beginning of the swimming career.

[Torchwatch]

At school our cross country and middle distance track squad would measure themselves against the UK Women's Ranking List. At age 16 if your times were comparable to the top ten women in the country you were doing well.
Fit women will leave unfit or old men and boys behind, while exceptional women will beat average men, but exceptional male sprinters and distance runners will always beat the best women.

We should all stop competing against women or men and start competing against ourselves whatever age or condition we are in to be the best that we can.