do you have an off season

I'm in the midst of an enforced off-season right now. Practically every pool in central Kentucky shuts down August 1. I normally swim at the Univ. of Ky. pool, and they drained it to paint it. Hopefully it will reopen soon. Because of the budget crunch, most of the public pools shut down then too. A private donor came up with enough money to keep one pool open till Sept. 1, but it closes at 7:00 p.m. I live in the next county and commute with my husband, so I can't get from Fayette County, to Jessamine County, and back to Fayette County after work in time. The YWCA is also closed for maintenance now, as is the pool at Asbury College. It's like they all plan it this way!

Open water season ends about the third week of September in the Northeast, so I usually take off the ~5 weeks from then until the beginning of November. "Off" means swimming about 1/2 hour easy 3x's a week, concentrating on drills, using fistgloves, etc. Also, stretching several times a week and some light weight work to prevent shoulder injuries. I am also married to my massage therapist, so I try to look pathetic and get some sympathy massages. By the beginning of November, I am a raving psychotic and She Who Must Be Obeyed orders me back to the pool under threat of sleeping on the couch for the rest of my life. -LBJ

Off-season will set you back tremendously. If you take 3 months off it takes 6 months to get where you were before the break (this was an old coach’s moniker). Seriously, one week maybe two...

I've heard that for every week you take off you lose 1/4 of your conditioning so it wouldn't take long at all to get back to where you started. Cutting down for a few weeks sounds like a better idea.

Maybe at 33 I am still young enough, but from Nationals in May till Labor Day I mentally need a break from this sport- so the only swimming I do this time of the year is on an inner tube. Plus it gives me a goal every September to work myself back into shape. - It usually takes till January but it does give me a focus until the bigger short course yards meets begin in the spring. I always come back in September much more enthused to swim than I would be if I swam all year long.

Because I started about a year ago training again in swimming and doing casual swimming about 2 years before that. I tried to swim at least 3 to 4 days as possible. Doing near to no swimming for 25 years has an effect on my swimming. I use two pools,so when one is not available the other one is.

I'm in my Dogs days of Summer off season right now. That means working out 3 to 4 times a week of about 3000 yards per practice instead of the usual 5 to 6 times a week 4000 to 5000 yards per practice. In recent years the only time I have not swam for longer then a week was due to injury or illness. It's just to hard to get back into shape after time off.

I do not take a break from swimming. My fall routine is to swim, but to work on strokes and long slow sets - it's a mental break. There are 2 reasons that I don't stay away from the pool. When I returned to training at age 33, it was extremely difficult for me to get back into swimming regular workouts again. I don't ever want to experience that again. Secondly, so much of what we do is based on a routine. If I break the routine of swimming regularly at certain times, I fear I won't return to that schedule. At 61, I feel so healthy. I don't want to lose that good feeling. Betsy

Hi Jerrycat, Yes, I believe in "Breaks". A mental break is as much needed as a physical one. As LBJ said and I agree with him "Off" means swimming about 1/2 hour easy 3x's a week, concentrating on drills. Also, weight training and stretching to prevent shoulder injuries several times a week and some running just because it is something different.

I like to take a week or so off the end of August and I take it a little easier durning the rest of the summer, and do a couple of open water races durning the summer. First of sept I get right back into it again and go untill June again.