Effects of missing a month

Swimming
1

I was out of the pool for a month or so following a surgery.
2 swims after that, then the worst race of my competitive life in a sprint tri…
typically go out hard to escape the washing machine, feel bad for a bit then settle in.
This time went out easier than usual, then died and had to stop a number of times to breathe, rest the arms, etc. Never had this experience before… it was mildly terrifying in fact.

After the race was talking to one of my AG competitor/friends, a professor of exercise physiology, he said yes at our age (65+) a month out of the water means about six months to get back.
Meantime a friend from run club age 25, ex-college swimmer, swam twice in the past year, then was 4th out of the water in the Olympic distance with a 22min swim…

I have an Olympic distance tri in a month, rather dreading the swim, and scheduling a whole lot more swim workouts meantime…

what is your experience with time out of the pool ?

2

Generally, I find that the climb pack to speed, proficiency, and fitness in a pool is somewhat proportional to my time away from the water. And it matters a lot as to what else you do (if anything) to maintain fitness while not swimming.

I think a very rough rule of thumb for older (45+ ?) swimmers is closer to 2-to-1. For example, 2 months out of the water means it takes about 4 months to get back to where you were. But that is based on a lot of assumptions and there are so many other variables.

I think your main mistake above was assuming that 2 swims was sufficient to get you ready for a high intensity sprint tri, especially after surgery.

3

Doug did you race in a slowtwitch/goodlife kit? If so, saw you on that podium during awards. I should’ve come up and said Hi after.

To your actual question I’ve been in and out of the pool based on how well my shoulder is holding up, but at my age and skill level I’ll usually lose ~5s/100 after a month and it adds up.

Barely swam all spring and did the olympic swim in ~34min, between it being my first OWS of the season and low training it felt pretty bad.

1 Like
4

Age 57.

Csnt answer specifically about the pool. Cuz I gave up 0445 wakeup calls as a concept several years ago.

However, for fitness in general, I fimd:

1 week… No change.
2 weeks… Take 3 weeks
3 weeks… Take 6 weeks
4 weeks … Take 8 weeks
6 weeks… Take 3 months
… More than that just start from scratch.

5

I dislike being out of the water for more than a few days. Even since as a kid I just felt uncoordinated and didn’t like that feeling. I prefer to just be in water for 15-20 minutes if I can’t stay in as long as I want

On holidays we go to places with decent pools and I do a few laps trying not to splash too much

A month would take about 6 weeks to get back to same fitness I’d say and if it was an illness or recovery even longer.

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6

22 min for an ex D1 swimmer- is NOT good.

This example might show that training is important for everyone.
If you don’t swim, you are going to suck!

I was a moderately to slow D1 distance guy in the early 90s.

I am doing moderate swim training, as part of high volume triathlon training.

Most recent time 18:30 (with wetsuit).

7

it’s pretty good for a sprinter :wink:
also seems the swim was slow, both sprint and oly distances, based on other known swimmers…

ya that was me… felt like a poor race, luckily the other old guys were even slower than me… ha

consensus seems to be more like 2 months than 6, which is sort of reassuring. thanks all.
unfortunately my next race is 1 month away…
training this year has been piecemeal and patchwork, between health and work issues. oh well show up and swim, the wetsuit will keep me from drowning, good enough…