Here you go..Very timely.
https://forum.slowtwitch.com/...;;page=unread#unread

Why start at 1200?

In 2014, I came back to swimming after over 20 years out of the pool. Seriously, the only swimming I did in that time was at the occasional triathlon I did and about 2 months with a masters team in 2012.

No fitness, no endurance, just muscle memory from many years ago. But the nice thing about swimming in a pool is that if you need a break, you can take a bit of extra rest. Just sit out a 50, or grab a pullbuoy, or back off on the pace. First practice was probably a 3000m workout, same as what I do now, but I sat out a few 50’s when needed to get rid of leg cramps. It sucked for a couple of months but after that it was fine.

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Swimming Workout of the Day:

Favourite Swim Sets:

2020 National Masters Champion - M50-54 - 50m Butterfly

I get what your saying, but historically I don’t start to enjoy swimming until my form comes back. Going to the pool for an hour in my current state seems a bit miserable. Starting at 1200 and building up over a couple weeks is just a way to ease some anxiety and ensure I am in the right frame of mind to get training rolling.

My go-to workout when returning to the pool after any sort of layoff is:

-200 pull
-200 kick
-50's at a moderately brisk pace on an interval that will give me 20-25 seconds rest. Rest an interval when the pace falls off substantially, the effort to maintain it climbs considerably, and/or the stroke count per lap starts goes too high (subjective, here, but my "normal" is 16 per 25y. If I start hitting 18, and can't get it back without slowing/gliding, I know I'm at the edge of the performance cliff). Set is finished after your 3rd "failure" or 30 repeats, whichever comes first.
-Recovery set of 100 EZ backstroke with open turns, 100 EZ kick, 100 EZ pull.
-Total distance is what it is. Maybe I only get into the teens on the 50's set, or maybe I get all the way.


It's a USRPT derivative, but not at any specific race pace, and with less strict pace failure criteria. I might do it one or two workouts in a row, or for a couple weeks, depending how long I've been out. As I start feeling better, I'll do 4-8 x 50 as part of warmup, then start doing 75's or 100's for the main set. I don't even bother tying to do quality 200's or longer until I have a good month to 6 weeks of consistent work under my belt.

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"They're made of latex, not nitroglycerin"

12 x 100.

Yup, it is miserable and it sucks. The way I think of it is that I want to get the “this sucks” phase over as soon as possible. I feel like getting stuck right into the routine is the fastest way to get past “this sucks”.

Part of that is that I get very little meaningful work into just 1200m. By the time I’m warmed up properly, that’s 600-800m gone. 4x100 isn’t much of a main set.

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Swimming Workout of the Day:

Favourite Swim Sets:

2020 National Masters Champion - M50-54 - 50m Butterfly

Forgot to reply and say thank you for this. Extremely helpful and really appreciated.