Return to form after a week off

RE: Return to form after a week off

habu987 — Thu, 01 Aug 2019 06:06:05 GMT

In my 30s, so I'm the youngster of the group, but I've found the 1:2 ratio works out pretty much spot on for me for up to 2 weeks out, but the recuperation math gets fuzzy after that. I was out for about 6 weeks due to shoulder issues a couple years ago and it took me 4-5 weeks to get back into it, really not much longer than it took me to get back into it after taking 2 weeks off at the end of the summer before heading back indoors for the fall season.

RE: Return to form after a week off

DanSad — Fri, 26 Jul 2019 02:40:06 GMT

OP here. Thanks for all the responses. It’s now three weeks since the week off for July 4th so I thought I’d share my findings. Overall the past three weeks have mirrored my prior experiences with coming back after a week off and I felt very close to the levels of performance I outlined in the initial post. One additional observation, during the first week back I do notice extra energy. As noted the times are slow, but I’m able to complete long sets, due to the week off allowing the body to recover from heavy training. Agree with several of your responses, age matters. Also, a few related comments on making a point to swim a day or two while on vacation – I’ve only done this once and yes it reduces the ramp up time significantly.

RE: Return to form after a week off

Former Member — Tue, 23 Jul 2019 11:50:18 GMT

Sadly, my time off is almost never caused by vacation. On the upside, my illnesses aren't lasting 2-3 weeks. 😁 I just turned 33 and it takes me maybe a couple of swims to get back to pre-break form? But I don't swim nearly as often as most of you, right now only 3-3.5 miles a week. Perhaps that has an effect.

RE: Return to form after a week off

67King — Tue, 23 Jul 2019 06:52:49 GMT

I'm about your age (45), and unfortunately had periods where I miss. And my recovery is very similar to yours. And it seems like every time I get back up on the horse, I have a delay. Kids' LSC championship this past weekend made me miss 5 days. We have Futures next weekend, that'll probably take at least 4. Basically my whole Summer has been shot, I'll probably be lucky to be back in form by mid October......about the time we'll have to go who knows where for Fall Break.

RE: Return to form after a week off

aztimm — Sun, 21 Jul 2019 08:01:21 GMT

For my past few vacations, I've planned the trip so I could still get in at least a little swimming. I've found that even if I swim 2-3 times a week, it isn't nearly as bad to get back to normal when I return home. Heck, last year I spent 2-1/2 weeks in Australia. I probably swam more then than I normally do. There are fantastic, inexpensive 50m pools nearly everywhere it seems. For some past trips to London, I was probably closer to the 2-3x week, including some with a team and some open water (in season).

RE: Return to form after a week off

__steve__ — Fri, 19 Jul 2019 10:50:24 GMT

Took about 16 months off for shoulder reasons but I did manage to do kick only swims a few times or less a week. Once back, I swam about 4 times then entered a meet: 50 bk +3.78 50 br +3.67 50 fr +2.75 100 fr +5.20 100 br +8.59

RE: Return to form after a week off

Sojerz — Wed, 17 Jul 2019 09:52:06 GMT

If you're laying on the beach all day hammering cold ones and stuffing yourself with pizza, donuts, hot dogs & burgers, etc. it might take longer than 1 week:) But, that's a vacation! I agree with Rich, 65ish+ makes 50 seem easy. And Patrick, Entropy and Gravity clearly have exponential effects.

RE: Return to form after a week off

Former Member — Wed, 17 Jul 2019 07:21:31 GMT

Sixty is the new fifty-nine and a half.

RE: Return to form after a week off

Patrick W. Brundage — Wed, 17 Jul 2019 05:18:02 GMT

Patrick, I find your whining unseemly from my perspectivePoint noted. I'll stop whining and get back to practicing!

RE: Return to form after a week off

Former Member — Tue, 16 Jul 2019 16:24:52 GMT

I initially read this as "Return to forum after a week off". :) I believe in this rule: Whatever time you had off, double that time "on" to be back to where you were. (Whatever age you are, whatever your normal "on" is.) Thoughts?

RE: Return to form after a week off

Rich Abrahams — Tue, 16 Jul 2019 04:47:28 GMT

There's an exponential in there after you turn 50, in my experience :( Patrick, I find your whining unseemly from my perspective

RE: Return to form after a week off

Patrick W. Brundage — Tue, 16 Jul 2019 01:21:49 GMT

RE: Return to form after a week off

Patrick W. Brundage — Mon, 15 Jul 2019 07:33:31 GMT

It gets worse as you get older ... still looking for my form from May 2018 :( ... 50-something is definitely not the new 30-something.

RE: Return to form after a week off

Calvin S — Mon, 15 Jul 2019 05:42:38 GMT

For those who train several days a week, how long does it typically take to return to form after taking one week off from swimming? I recently went on vacation and wasn't able to train and must now build back what was lost over the week off. I generally train 5 or 6 days a week, 3500-4000 per day. I've taken weeks off in the past and based on my experience it appears after one week back I have my feel for the water, after two weeks I'm roughly 80-90% to where I was, then by the third week close to 100%. Interested in hearing what others experience. For reference, 44 years old. thx Ten years younger than you, but I find it takes me 2-4 days to get my full feel for the water back, and then usually within the week I am back to 100%. Now this is based off taking ten days off for a Disney cruise back in May, and I was coming from doing about 22-25k a week. I DID swim twice on the cruise, but once was in the hotel pool (about 1000 meters), and once was open water at the Disney private Island (about 2k). Neither qualified as much of a practice. I raced the Saturday afternoon after I flew back into town (late Friday night), and went a pretty solid 4:43 400M FR (at the time my lifetime best was 4:39.9). By Wednesday the following week it felt like I hadn't missed a beat.