I'm 48 and lost around 10 pounds over the course of the past year, went from 18% to 14% body fat as measured by a DEXA scan. I would have thought the weight loss would make me faster, but my typical 1650M freestyle time in a pool has gone from around 28 minutes to around 29:30, which is pretty significant. I've always had to either eat to perform or eat to lose weight. I wonder if I'm not eating enough, but am a little paranoid about putting weight on. I know that getting your body fat too low eventually hurts you, but I'm nowhere near that level which I understand to be single digits. I realize that by posting on a forum it's impossible to give all the variables (how much I swim, what I eat, when I eat, the list could go on forever), but it's really frustrating. Has anyone else experienced this?
.OK How about how tall and body type for starters. 10 lbs would have very little to do with a min.30 time difference. a year older a new pool and training plan seem more likely.
I feel ya. I got back into swimming 5 years ago after a 35-year layoff. My highest weight was 235 (only 5-9), but I was 220 when I first hit the pool. At that weight, with a 40-inch waist, I managed a 39.42 50-meter *** and 30.37 50 meter free. I am now 190, 35 inch waist and 14.6% body fat have yet to beat the 30.37...I've had one race of many where I beat the breaststroke time. I suspect it is many different things...I was lifting more weights a few years back...I was much bulkier, but perhaps stronger. Also, I first got back at age 54, so staying as fast is probably actually advancing given that ageing accelerates once one hits 50 and beyond. Not sure my experience is relevant... only do sprints...50s and 100s. I try not to analyze too much, but swimmers, I suppose, like ballplayers, are probably superstitious. If I drank that protein shake on the morning I did my best time, I am probably going to want to have it again next time, even though, I suspect, it probably meant very little.
