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Re: For those of you back to swimming - how did you feel? [pabloarc] [ In reply to ]
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Slow, sluggish, awkward. But felt amazing to be back in the water.

My 2nd pool swim was this morning (2600 yds), did 2 open water swims at about 2000 yards prior to pools opening this week. That was after ~10 weeks of no swimming. It will come back I'm sure, but as swimming is such a technical endeavor, I know we have lost some of the crispness and efficiency that lets us glide through the water easily and powerfully. Just so happy to be back at it.
Last edited by: tanzbodeli: May 29, 20 19:57
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Re: For those of you back to swimming - how did you feel? [tanzbodeli] [ In reply to ]
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Well. Gave up racing after 2015 season due to back issues with Tri bike. Mostly gave up running as well and poured my time into rock climbing and biking. Just had a lumbar fusion 6/1/2020. Back to cycling very strongly. Should be back to running after the 3 month wait period for the "fusion" to occur on top of the screwed in spacer. Sooo.

Did my first swim workout in 6 years. Guess that's a pretty good "back to swimming" window. Felt great just to be back in the water swimming laps. Was in mid 90s yesterday and swam outside at local pool. Those are the best. I was plenty slow, winded and didn't get more than 160 yds without resting. But got 1500 yds in with surfer trunks and borrowed goggles (yeah, it had been that long). But I'm hooked.

Not quite what you were referring to. But we all have a path that life puts us on.

Brian

"We don't inherit the Earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children." --Chief Seattle
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Re: For those of you back to swimming - how did you feel? [jaretj] [ In reply to ]
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I've now been in the pool for two weeks and I'm about 10 sec/100 slower than last March.
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Re: For those of you back to swimming - how did you feel? [jaretj] [ In reply to ]
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Thank you for opening this subject. I came out of my 2nd swim after 3 month of only running and biking and I am a bit depressed. I am probably about 10-15s slower per 100m and it was good to see that I am not the only one suffering.

I also thought, this is probably the best time to hire a swimming coach to implement a better technique, since my body and mind would be more flexible and susceptible to new teachings.

So I did :D let's if it's money well spent

Tridad
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Re: For those of you back to swimming - how did you feel? [gillesgh] [ In reply to ]
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I started back in the pool about 4 weeks ago. I was definitely 10-15 secs slower per 100 and completely bummed out. Since then I've been getting in the water about 3-5 times a week usually swimming around 3000 yds. I started the first two weeks by just doing long/easy 500s. I then added harder/shorter intensity sets. Four weeks later I have dropped 5-10 secs per 100 from that first week. Still not back to where I was but I'm "slowly" getting there. During those first couple of weeks I was thinking I needed to get a coach or completely tear down my stroke and revamp it. All I can say is now that I have some yards under my speedo that my old stroke is coming back (it's not perfect but it works). I believe patience and pool time are the keys to getting back pre-covid!
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Re: For those of you back to swimming - how did you feel? [TJ56] [ In reply to ]
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a month off during march, and i began sneaking open water sessions in. 3 months in, and the pools just opened 2 weeks ago. my swim times are terrible, some days I am luck to break 2:00/yd in OWS..... but for some reason, I am 10-15s faster in the pool.... being I had more time in OWS, why is my pace so slow (used to be close to pool times)? I do open turns in pool fwiw . If anything it could be 5lb i lost, probably upper body muscle
Last edited by: synthetic: Jul 8, 20 13:13
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Re: For those of you back to swimming - how did you feel? [pabloarc] [ In reply to ]
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I was lucky enough to grab a Vasa trainer before this all went down and I've been using it 3ish times per week. Finally got back into the open water last weekend for two separate hour long swims and I felt great. I think my swim muscles might actually be stronger and I never felt awkward besides when I was looking down at the water from the dock.

Too old to go pro but doing it anyway
http://instagram.com/tgarvey4
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Re: For those of you back to swimming - how did you feel? [pabloarc] [ In reply to ]
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I’ve done 6 or 7 swims now, 3 in open water. It’s been really discouraging. I’m 64 and started swimming 51/2 years ago. I worked hard last year and got my sprint tri pace down to 1:47-1:49 / 100yd consistently. I know that is slow, but I was pleased.

Now I’m back up to 2:00/100yd. I just don’t know where I’ll find the motivation to train that hard again, especially since there isn’t any racing going on. I kept my cycling and running up, but none of that seemed to translate to swim fitness.

Greg
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Re: For those of you back to swimming - how did you feel? [twain] [ In reply to ]
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twain wrote:
lightheir wrote:
twain wrote:

Interesting notes:
- Have OWS at a place called Redwood Shores 9 times since shut down so 9 times in 11 weeks. The last time we ran in to a bunch of Jellyfish; gross and disturbing hitting them feels like a wet Nerf ball.


Hah - I just swam at Redshood shores (I posted earlier - has been my only water swim since COVID, but have been on a Vasa erg), and I was wondering what I hit in the water at one point. Really freaked me out, since it felt like a volley-ball sized pliable latex ball of some sort, but then I hit a few more of them. No stings of any sort, but I thought it was some fish that was aggressively trying to attack me! Glad it was 'just' jellyfish...

If you have any tips on best times (or times to NOT) go OWS at Redwood shores, give me a shout. I don't' get there barely at all, but I may try and go again a few more times if pools stay shut down.


Did some research; these are Moon Jellies and are supposed to not have stingers strong enough to pierce human skin. That said one of my team mates did get stung; she said it felt like a bee sting. She wasn't wearing a wet suit. We noticed a ton of jellies swimming by the building at the end of the channel, specifically, in the shadow of the building. I hit one then two then three within ~15 seconds. Third time I freaked out; overwhelmed! Turned on my back for a while.
In any case, they congregate as the water warms; late Spring/early Summer. So now is peak time. If you swim there, stay away from the shadows I guess.
There is a place nearby, Gull Park in Foster City which reportedly has a nice sandy beach and they treat the water with some blue green dye to make it look pretty or reduce algae blooms. Other teammates say that there are no Jellies there.
http://www.fostercityfun.com/gull-park-foster-city/
(The official site seems to be down right now for some reason.)

Also, the police patrol Gull Park a lot and have kicked out team mates for gathering.


In the weeks since have been primarily doing OWS in Redwood Shores with team mates. The jelly fish are getting worse! But it's funny how having someone else next to you makes it tolerable. I've been able to swim in a few local pools and have been averaging around 23:45 for the 1.5k, better than I would have thought. 1 min off normal swim conditioning shape but not a horrific drop (~4-5 seconds per 100 yards).
A bonus has been that by swimming less, I don't have "swimmer's elbow" - had modified my stroke prior to focus on longer reach but it resulted in pain at the elbow and, sometimes, even dropping things from the pain.

This said, trying to get reservation to swim at local pools has been increasingly difficult. To this end, today I swam at Gull Park in San Mateo for the first time; man made lagoon where they treat the water with blue dye to help prevent Algae bloom. Actually quite a nice setting but sort of repugnant how man-made and artificial it was. I actually prefer the other location in Redwood Shores, with the Jellies.

It's interesting how we adapt to the new normal. And how we took pool swimming for granted forever before.
*sigh*
Last edited by: twain: Jul 14, 20 0:58
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Re: For those of you back to swimming - how did you feel? [pabloarc] [ In reply to ]
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Just got back in the lake this morning, last swim of any kind was IMAZ back in November 2019.

Managed 1800m, about 10 secs per100 off my normal OWS pace
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Re: For those of you back to swimming - how did you feel? [devashish_paul] [ In reply to ]
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Been back in the pool for a month now after almost three months off and have managed to splash out 60k of mainly easy stuff with lots of weird drills using all the pool toys I have to keep me interested .I have replaced traditional "speedwork" with aquatic HIIT as part of each days session.I won't even think about doing any traditional speedwork sets until October after my solo "Epic Camp" to Cairns and back in Sept/Oct.

For my entire triathlon life it has always been "If I am swimming then I am training" and I am glad to be back at it.
Last edited by: ThailandUltras: Jul 14, 20 5:07
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