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How much I lost in 9 weeks of no swimming?
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So, in my country the pools are finally open and yesterday I went to a practice...

Usually I start my training with an easy 400m free as a part of warm up. I do it in 6:10-6:15 (50m pool)
Yesterday I swam 6:48, today 6:36. Give or take I've lost around 7-8sec per 100m for a shorter intervals (up to 800m). Right now I even can not imagine to swim 3 or 4km in one go, without stopping. I could do it, of course, but it would be a more than embarrassing time :)
For a reference, in a race I am usually 55-57min 3.8km swimmer (wetsuit)

PS I didn't do any of dry swim training in this past 9 weeks, so it was a zero "swim" period
Last edited by: bojan: May 19, 20 1:32
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Re: How much I lost in 9 weeks of no swimming? [bojan] [ In reply to ]
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Its going to be interesting, my pb is around 6.45 for 400m in a 25m pool (I can't tumble turn), I find that when I stop swimming most winters because I get lazy I fall to 8 for 400m but I will be around the 7 mark within a couple of weeks.

I'm not sure how my motivation to swim will be if I don't have any races coming up.
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Re: How much I lost in 9 weeks of no swimming? [bojan] [ In reply to ]
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With only 9 weeks off you will regain the speed really fast as the fitness losses will be pretty minimal. You would need to be off for more like 5-6 months before I would expect to see any large losses. Sure it will take a few sessions to get the feel of the water again and you always lose high end speed first but 9 weeks is a short off-season. Seven-8 seconds per hundred is like a year off training in my experience. My guess is it is more mental than physical at this stage in terms of 'easy' 400m.
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Re: How much I lost in 9 weeks of no swimming? [Simo429] [ In reply to ]
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I'm Similar to you.
I'm much better at longer distances as I don't have any 'top end speed', I'm a pure diesel!

1st swim since early March is coming this Saturday - OW is just restarting at a few venues in England this week (with restrictions).
I'll see how I go this weekend... suspect it's gonna be slow, but at the same time very enjoyable- definitely going to just take it for what it is and use the speed / times as a 'starting point' to build from.
(5 mile race to build up to in Sept IF it takes place).
Last edited by: BobAjobb: May 19, 20 6:38
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Re: How much I lost in 9 weeks of no swimming? [bojan] [ In reply to ]
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Itā€™ll be interesting if you report back after 3-4 weeks of swimming. Iā€™m betting youā€™ll be able to close that gap pretty quickly

Matt
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Re: How much I lost in 9 weeks of no swimming? [BobAjobb] [ In reply to ]
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I am having this crazy thought of trying a 200 fly, 400IM and 1500 free in my first swim back (the Brute) to see if its even doable after the current 11 week layoff and dryland stuff only, but I may get to open water before in which case I will have zero benchmarks (I don't even bother trying to understand how far I went in what time in open water, too many variables). My fitness is good as I have been doing 16-19 hrs per week mainly running, weights/core work, rowing machine and biking.

There is no line of sight where I live in Canada (Ontario) to pools opening up. So it may be a summer of open water in which case its mainly all freestyle
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Re: How much I lost in 9 weeks of no swimming? [bojan] [ In reply to ]
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You lost 9 weeks worth
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Re: How much I lost in 9 weeks of no swimming? [devashish_paul] [ In reply to ]
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No real idea for pools opening in the UK either.
A hint of a hint that it could be mid Aug with a big caveat of maybe and depending on how stuff pans out the next 2 months.

But I'll happily take OW - actually much prefer it.
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Re: How much I lost in 9 weeks of no swimming? [BobAjobb] [ In reply to ]
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You may need to go on a vacation to Italy to swim as they appear to be about to open them up. Did you guys kick yourself out of Europe yet or can you still slide into the EU?
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Re: How much I lost in 9 weeks of no swimming? [bojan] [ In reply to ]
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7-8 s/100 m and reduce endurance is not tragic. I swim about the same level as you, but I have a feeling I have lost a lot more. Pools are still closed here in Ontario, I am hoping open water swims will start soon but the water is still very cold.

I have also found that the 200-400 m pace during warm up at steady pace gives me an indication of my swimming fitness without having to do a formal painful full on flat out test.
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Re: How much I lost in 9 weeks of no swimming? [Engner66] [ In reply to ]
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I would speculate that I would have dropped 10 - 12s/100m. If I did 10 x 100 normally it would be between 1.20 - 1.22, now the first few would be 1.28, last few would be 1.32+ 4 weeks back to mid - high 1.20s, 8 weeks 1.20
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Re: How much I lost in 9 weeks of no swimming? [devashish_paul] [ In reply to ]
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Well... without getting too political, we're in the twilight zone. We have left... But not.
Thw UK still has to fully follow all EU laws during 2020 (during the 'transition period' that ends 31 Dec 2020... unless extended ! And key is any agreement to extend is a 1-shot event, for a1-2 years period, and that agreement has to be made before 1st July !!!!! Thats in the withdrawal agreement.
The meeejah have forgotten that, and the Gov are probably sticking their head in the sand about it).
But UK has no input to EU committees, parliament etc.

My European UK passport still gets me into Real Europe without charge until the end of 2020 at least (if only I could travel). Who knows WTF will happen after as sorting a 'deal' is way behind and not even on most political radars since the end of Feb.

I travel into Europe quite a lot for work (or I used to up to mid Feb !). I think the furthest I'll be travelling for the remainder of 2020 is Scotland... and that's only a 'maybe'.
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Re: How much I lost in 9 weeks of no swimming? [bojan] [ In reply to ]
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I GAINED a bunch more cycling fitness.

I was mildly surprised at just how little swim speed & endurance that I lost in the 4 weeks off.

I swim in a lake, darn near exclusively from April - October, so my "data" is with a wetsuit.

My first couple of swims were just exploratory swims, just to allow my body to adjust to the cold water, but it took me a total of 4 legit "across the lake" swims before I was within 90 seconds of my average time for the 1500 M.

Having such a meager return on my swim time in the pool investment has got me thinking about how I wanna spend my training time. At this point on my tri-career, fast times come second to fun times.

http://www.fitspeek.com the Fraser Valley's fitness, wellness, and endurance sports podcast
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Re: How much I lost in 9 weeks of no swimming? [bojan] [ In reply to ]
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https://forum.slowtwitch.com/.../?page=unread#unread is pretty much the same thread/topic.
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Re: How much I lost in 9 weeks of no swimming? [Chemist] [ In reply to ]
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Chemist wrote:
Itā€™ll be interesting if you report back after 3-4 weeks of swimming. Iā€™m betting youā€™ll be able to close that gap pretty quickly

Itā€™s not 3-4 weeks, but 4 swim sessions.
These are my times for 400m (50m pool) free, warmup. All easy, all same effort
From top to bottom mon/tue/thu/fri (today)
So, it seams that it's coming back. I did total of around 9000m for these 4 sessions, so nothing crazy, nothing long



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Re: How much I lost in 9 weeks of no swimming? [BobAjobb] [ In reply to ]
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BobAjobb wrote:
Well... without getting too political, we're in the twilight zone. We have left... But not.
Thw UK still has to fully follow all EU laws during 2020 (during the 'transition period' that ends 31 Dec 2020... unless extended ! And key is any agreement to extend is a 1-shot event, for a1-2 years period, and that agreement has to be made before 1st July !!!!! Thats in the withdrawal agreement.
The meeejah have forgotten that, and the Gov are probably sticking their head in the sand about it).
But UK has no input to EU committees, parliament etc.

My European UK passport still gets me into Real Europe without charge until the end of 2020 at least (if only I could travel). Who knows WTF will happen after as sorting a 'deal' is way behind and not even on most political radars since the end of Feb.

I travel into Europe quite a lot for work (or I used to up to mid Feb !). I think the furthest I'll be travelling for the remainder of 2020 is Scotland... and that's only a 'maybe'.

Hey maybe Sweden will be kind enough to let you in to go use some pools there LOL :-)

OK OK, back to serious stuff. Its going to be 25-28C here all weekend. I think by end of next week the outdoor water is swimmable with a wetsuit!!! I am going to check with the coach of my masters swim club as we are allowed outdoor groups of 5, so in theory we can have a few of us lead small groups of 5 while distanced but I think the outdoor limit will increase soon. In any case, I have to revive an old wetsuit as I cannot put my race wetsuit on myself (for whatever reason the rubber has too much flex that I can't get the zipper zipped up over my back and need someone else to zip it up for me which you can't do while staying distanced)
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Re: How much I lost in 9 weeks of no swimming? [devashish_paul] [ In reply to ]
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devashish_paul wrote:
BobAjobb wrote:
Well... without getting too political, we're in the twilight zone. We have left... But not.
Thw UK still has to fully follow all EU laws during 2020 (during the 'transition period' that ends 31 Dec 2020... unless extended ! And key is any agreement to extend is a 1-shot event, for a1-2 years period, and that agreement has to be made before 1st July !!!!! Thats in the withdrawal agreement.
The meeejah have forgotten that, and the Gov are probably sticking their head in the sand about it).
But UK has no input to EU committees, parliament etc.

My European UK passport still gets me into Real Europe without charge until the end of 2020 at least (if only I could travel). Who knows WTF will happen after as sorting a 'deal' is way behind and not even on most political radars since the end of Feb.

I travel into Europe quite a lot for work (or I used to up to mid Feb !). I think the furthest I'll be travelling for the remainder of 2020 is Scotland... and that's only a 'maybe'.


Hey maybe Sweden will be kind enough to let you in to go use some pools there LOL :-)

OK OK, back to serious stuff. Its going to be 25-28C here all weekend. I think by end of next week the outdoor water is swimmable with a wetsuit!!! I am going to check with the coach of my masters swim club as we are allowed outdoor groups of 5, so in theory we can have a few of us lead small groups of 5 while distanced but I think the outdoor limit will increase soon. In any case, I have to revive an old wetsuit as I cannot put my race wetsuit on myself (for whatever reason the rubber has too much flex that I can't get the zipper zipped up over my back and need someone else to zip it up for me which you can't do while staying distanced)

What's the water temp now?
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Re: How much I lost in 9 weeks of no swimming? [NAB777] [ In reply to ]
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Some friends swam today at 12C. Next fews days will be 25-29C air temp and days are longer so should jack water up by 4 degrees by next weekend, so may be able to get in before May 31
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Re: How much I lost in 9 weeks of no swimming? [devashish_paul] [ In reply to ]
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devashish_paul wrote:
Some friends swam today at 12C. Next fews days will be 25-29C air temp and days are longer so should jack water up by 4 degrees by next weekend, so may be able to get in before May 31

Nice. I mentioned on another thread, I swam in 13.5 a few days ago, so I nearly reckon you'd be able to get in if it's 25-29 & just cope with the first minute or so..?

Unfortunately our weather is going in the other direction to yours...and no sign of pool openings yet.
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Re: How much I lost in 9 weeks of no swimming? [NAB777] [ In reply to ]
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NAB777 wrote:
devashish_paul wrote:
Some friends swam today at 12C. Next fews days will be 25-29C air temp and days are longer so should jack water up by 4 degrees by next weekend, so may be able to get in before May 31


Nice. I mentioned on another thread, I swam in 13.5 a few days ago, so I nearly reckon you'd be able to get in if it's 25-29 & just cope with the first minute or so..?

Unfortunately our weather is going in the other direction to yours...and no sign of pool openings yet.

One day later & our state has just announced that pools are re-opening June 1st. Am I brave enough to get in the bay a couple of times this week..?
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Re: How much I lost in 9 weeks of no swimming? [NAB777] [ In reply to ]
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I say Go for it šŸ˜.

I got an OW swim in yesterday - 1st swim since early March (I avoided the gym / pool for a few weeks before they got closed down).

Only got 2.2k in, but it was really nice to get out there.
The site I went to had extra precautions, reduced the numbers swimming, etc. Really worked well. I think every one was just pleased to be in water so very chilled and careful etc (as most OW sites in the UK still closed - in fact only in England is it now permitted at all - still banned in Wales, NI and Scotland).

I found I wasn't too bad - A little slower (guessing at 10% slower) but defo could feel fatigue in my triceps after 2k (whereas I'd typically been doing 4-5k on one swim a week before + other shorter swims before the Cluster we are now all in). I've done feckall land based swim training - mainly biking and a bit of running.
I've a 5 1/4 mile event at the start of Sept (if it is on) - if it was today I'd do it but would be suffering like a dawg in the last couple of miles.
My directional control was garbage too - maybe to be expected as the 1st real OW since Oct last year.
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Re: How much I lost in 9 weeks of no swimming? [BobAjobb] [ In reply to ]
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BobAjobb wrote:
I say Go for it šŸ˜.

I got an OW swim in yesterday - 1st swim since early March (I avoided the gym / pool for a few weeks before they got closed down).

Only got 2.2k in, but it was really nice to get out there.
The site I went to had extra precautions, reduced the numbers swimming, etc. Really worked well. I think every one was just pleased to be in water so very chilled and careful etc (as most OW sites in the UK still closed - in fact only in England is it now permitted at all - still banned in Wales, NI and Scotland).

I found I wasn't too bad - A little slower (guessing at 10% slower) but defo could feel fatigue in my triceps after 2k (whereas I'd typically been doing 4-5k on one swim a week before + other shorter swims before the Cluster we are now all in). I've done feckall land based swim training - mainly biking and a bit of running.
I've a 5 1/4 mile event at the start of Sept (if it is on) - if it was today I'd do it but would be suffering like a dawg in the last couple of miles.
My directional control was garbage too - maybe to be expected as the 1st real OW since Oct last year.

Yep - took your advice... Getting cool.....
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