Who knows I’ll tell you when I’m able to get back in a pool...

From dismal to non existent!

There is actually a local Olympic distance triathlon in 3 weeks that I am considering. I’m just worried I won’t be able to have any quality swim training before the event.

I am in the other camp... I am swimming my fastest ever. My pool was closed for about 8 weeks. I do 45 minute lane reservations now, so it is a shorter workout. But for whatever reason, I am faster,

I was concussed end of August (3rd time since 2017) so am mainly just swimming easy. My easy pace is pretty much the same as my moderate pace was - I am focusing on my stroke and trying to be relaxed as possible rather than 'fighting' the water. Going 'easier' seems to be making me faster.

I missed three months out of the water, and then starting in early June I put in 6 weeks open water (and was quickly up to 20-25km per week). Even with that, when I got back in the pool I was 10-15 seconds slower on 200's and 20-30 seconds on 400's (both free or done as IM). I was just slower on all front.

Fast forward 2.5 months in the pool swimming 20K-30K per week it now appears that I am faster than pre Covid19. Because the swim slots are 60 min at a time of which I barely swim 45-55 min depending on when I get there, I am doing several days of doubles per week, and this means higher intensity per session than when I did 70-90 min every swim. So I think I am just going faster by returning to volume and breaking it up in doubles which are harder. My form is equally bad or good compared to before.

The pool I use now currently operates a slot system of 2 hours (with the exception of 06:30 - 09:00 session) with one booking per day (while walk-ins are accepted if there is still space left). My current situation is so bad that I can no longer keep my effectiveness after 45 minutes and have to leave. In last winter I usually did 1.5 - 2 hours of training each time.

One of the pool I used during winter time has been demolished this year and now I am worried that I will no longer have cold-water pool access for a few weeks between January and February while the other pool I use is under annual maintenance, making my speed deteriorate again by then.

Covid mentally impacted my swim training initially and then I switched to open water options and swam more long steady swims vs sets for the majority of the spring. Probably didn't lose a ton of speed, but maybe a bit. Then cracked ribs took me out of swimming for the entire summer and just getting back to it. Tons of swim speed loss. Feel like a sloth with no muscular endurance or flexibility in my shoulders. Just getting back to it this week. Will take 2-3 weeks to see if I recover those muscles and any indication of swim speed. Our pool at the University here has every other lane open providing you wear a mask to your pool lane and wear one on the way put. About 16 lanes at 25yds and usually isn't crowded depending when you show up.

Schrodingers swim.

Still no access to a pool where I am, found and joined an open water squad but timing is difficult, still managed a couple of sessions.

While its difficult to really gauge, I am for sure slower - but not as dismal as I feared. I can still swim and over a shorter distance probably not much slower than I was. However I can tell from how beat up I feel after an hour of training that my "swim muscles" have atrophied a lot so endurance is for sure a problem now.

I haven't really lost anything. Between the Vasa and then being in a place with access to a private lap pool for a few months things are going well.

Same. Last swim was in March. My pool (the community college) doesn't plan to reopen until spring of 2021. I haven't decided what to do yet.

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"...the street finds its own uses for things"

It is really sad to see all these pools closed. And I am not seeing that for those of us who are fairly fit athletes. I am saying this for many seniors who rely on the pool daily to get relief and be an environment where they don't need to fight gravity with various aches and pains.

Where I live in the city of Ottawa Canada, the pools have been open for 2.5 months with zero cases of community transmission recorded at the pools and even the change rooms from what the city has recorded. The data is pointing roughly to what many of us hypothesized....the chlorine will kill the virus, and your minimal time on deck and going through change rooms is insufficient exposure to contract this because there is motion involved (even if indoors). At least there is enough data emerging to show that pools are a safe environment (relatively). Probably more safe than the inside of a bus or commuter train for example, but in a post logic world, we are stuck accepting things being done without hard data to back it. There are for sure lots of risky things that I am not for, but pools are turning out to be way low on the totem pole. I hope yours can open at some point.

My pool closed mid March and opened mid June, with 45 minute session/day limit My weekly yardage dropped from ~14k/week to 10k/week. My pace per 100 yards is still about 4 seconds slower across most distances/intervals I also had stopped my 3x/week weight sessions in March when gym closed.

I don’t think I can get much faster without getting back to 14k/week.

The redeeming feature is my cycling mileage is up since March and was able to do a 40k PR last week.

No open water swimming options unless I were to drive 90 miles to the nearest lake (Eastern NM). And then there'd be no swimming from the State Park beaches. No pools were open from March-May. The second week of June, our city pool 3 miles from my house opened. Yea! But it's the only pool that has opened within 100 miles (admittedly, there are only about 150,000 people living within this 100 mile radius). Throw in limited operating hours, restrictions on the number of swimmers allowed at any one time, seniors getting in their water walking, young people/high school swim clubs, and a few other older swimmers, and it's tough to get in regular training sessions. I'm keeping things ticking over, but I'm not where I'd normally be.

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"Human existence is based upon two pillars: Compassion and knowledge. Compassion without knowledge is ineffective; Knowledge without compassion is inhuman." Victor Weisskopf.

I did three 800 yard lake swims this summer as part of solo tris. That's the only swimming I've done since March. I've been running and doing push-ups and pull-ups daily since then. I was encouraged by how normal those three swims felt, even though I'm sure I'm slower, and now I probably won't swim again until I return to working in the office at the university where I swim. I'm assuming now that might not be until spring. Before March, I hadn't been out of the water for more than a week since 1987.

I haven't touched water since March - hopefully I'll get a bit of open-water swimming in when we're at my parents for the holidays, but even that's not certain. I was regularly a low 1:40's/100m swimmer around Feb/march (and was getting faster!), but we'll see.

I miss racing and training for a reason, y'all.

I live in Tampa, Florida and my local pools were only closed for 6 weeks. I've been swimming almost 5 months now and am at my best so far this year as I build for two long OWS events in December (a 5K event and a 3 hour distance swim the following week). It's incredible that people are still not back in the pool in some places. However, we benefit from our pools being outdoors.

I’m in the same boat. I got back in the pool after a few months layoff and I’m faster too. My stamina sucks though so I’m working on that.

My master team resumed practice about 2 months ago.

In March I was in the 1:20 per 100 yards lane. First practice back I was in the 1:40 lane, all the practices after that I have been in the 1:30 lane. Last night I was repeating 100's between 1:15 and 1:22.

I've been going twice a week except last week due to poor air quality from the fires on the west coast. I'm slowly getting a little faster. If I added a 3rd day I probably could improve faster.

Through the pandemic my cycling has improved and my swimming got a little slower. Since im probably not racing anytime soon I'm OK with that. If I keep training it will be fine.

i really need the pool. i have access to open water anytime.... but i am on average 30 seconds per yard slower now. very frustrated. city pools are closed, any others are reserved for rest of year

No pool swimming since March but more open water sessions in the past six months than the rest of my life combined. Pace is down but open water confidence and comfort are much improved. I'm hopeful I'll quickly regain speed once I can swim consistently in a pool again. And I've gained an appreciation for open water swimming that I expect to keep once things return to normal.

I did the unofficial Ironman Canada/ Covidman in Penticton back in August.

For those in the know, the swim was from the Peach to the boat twice.

This year I did it in 1:20. Most years I do it in 1:16.

This difference could be attributed to many things.

I'd like to think it was due to measurement issues, a bit of off-course swimming, and mainly nobody to draft.

I was first out of the water, and as you know, when a HYDROSLOTH does this, something is fishy!

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http://www.fitspeek.com the Fraser Valley's fitness, wellness, and endurance sports podcast

I might be faster, but I am not sure. I live on a lake, so a much faster friend comes over to swim a couple times a week. My OW times are down, but I am not sure it is sustainable. Basically my current swim training is "swim as hard as you can for 45 min and try not to die" 2-3 times/week.
I look forward to getting back to pool structure work. Crazy to me how long some have been closed, it is pretty much a tank full of disinfectant.

No idea

Local pools and Ys opened months and months ago

But I’ve been enjoying my VASA trainer workouts so much I haven’t gone yet

Have a race in approx 10 weeks

I should probably get back in the water soon


I have delusions my swim times have not been negatively affected by a huge degree. 😂