How long does it take?

I've been back in the pool for about a year after a 15 or so year layoff from college. In my first two meets back, after maybe 3-4 months of training, I swam pretty poorly. Until then I had been training by myself. Right before my second meet I joined a masters team. By my next meet, which occurred maybe 10 months after I got back into the pool, I was getting pretty darn close to my high school times in everything 100 and shorter. My 200 breaststroke time is nowhere close. I chalk that up to the massive amounts of conditioning I did in my youth that I no longer can maintain. You'll have a good chance of getting close to your HS times if you keep with the training. Good luck and welcome back to the pool!

I am no where close to high school times. I am doing times that I did when I was 14 and that took me a 8 to 10 months. Before that, I would train for a few months and then take time off for the last few years. I am hoping this season that I can do times that I did when I was 16. People progress at different levels. It seems that you are progressing at a high rate. It must be easier for sprinters or something. Plus, you must have been in great shape before you got back in the pool. Good luck with your swimming! I only lasted a year in college swimming. College swimming isn't for everyone.

David, I started 15 Sep, 2007 after 19 years off. My current 23.18 50y free is a little over 2 seconds off my lifetime best. Started out at 6'3", 278 and am still the same height :bliss: and 25 pounds lighter. I was in OK land shape but in horrible swim shape when I started. I'm now in decent to good swim shape and am working towards excellent. From talking to other Masters at meets, the consensus seems to be it takes about 2-3 years of training to reach optimum results. But everyone progresses differently and you will see results if you keep at it. Think of this as a 'rest of your life' experience and don't rush it.

So my point is that my biggest improvement occurred between my 1st and 2nd year after resuming swimming. Me too. Although I am still improving -- at the moment. I'm not near my college times in anything but maybe 50s though. 24 years off. Was in good shape, but not swimming shape, when I started back in masters. Be patient. Work on technique.

I started swimming masters in mid 2007, after a 21 year lay-off. In the interim I ran marathons, rode centurys, and got fat. As a junior/senior in high school, I was a :58 100yd breastroker. In college I went :55, and 1:04 long course. This past summer, after being back in the water for a little over a year, I went :30 and 1:08 for 50m and 100m breat (LC). So I am now as fast or faster than in high school; I doubt seriously if I will approach my college times. YMMV.

You haven't said what kind of shape you were in when you started swimming again.... I started swimming again in 2004 - 28 years after I graduated from high school. I didn't swim in college although I swam in intramurals meets for which I "trained" two weeks. I was not particularly fast in HS and never raced 50 free. Six months after I started swimming I remember swimming a 100 IM in 1:07. In college intramurals I swam a 1:01. I think my first 50 free race was a 26+. About a year later I swam a 1:02 IM and a 25+ 50 free. I am a little faster across the board two years later. So my point is that my biggest improvement occurred between my 1st and 2nd year after resuming swimming. I am very near my HS times for short events. I doubt I will match my HS 200 IM time (2:12) - I swam a 2:20 at SCY nationals.

Thanks for all the replies. As for what shape I was in, during my 10 or so years away, I had gained about 50 pounds at the peak, but about a year ago I got really really sick and lost 40 pounds in 1 month. I gained about 15 back when my health returned, so I started swimming on my own and doing some treadmill work for a few months prior to joining the masters team. As of now I am about 225-230 and I think my ideal weight will be something like 200-205. So I dont know exactly what that means as far as "shape", but I was definitely probably in better starting shape than some. I think if I can lose about 15-20 pounds I can remove that barrier to my times. But I am going to focus on maybe 2 years to try and work really hard to get as close to my original best times as possible. I dont expect it to happen overnight.

My story is pretty different but same question, I swam like a boy for 2 years at age of 9-11 before to quit. Last year I'm come back in pool, I was in terrible bad swimming sharpe, I can't even completed a single lap(25m) in free before to be winded, otherwise in average sharpe, absolutely not overweight (6'0-1/2 for 144 lbs). I had to completely rebuild all my strokes from the ground, and still working at it. I'm the top guy Vs same-level swimmers but with more years of training under their belt on 25s (16.7sec 25m free wall-to-wall), but I've less endurance, so the 50s are still pretty taxing for me at free/back, a complete no-go at fly, a walk at ***, so my question is normal to have this type of (slow) start ? Yes I'm much improved but I was expecting more, maybe too much ?. currently I train for 50min 2 times at weeks (yes it's too little, I'll add more soon), last year used to train 3 times at weeks mostly of time for 50min.

So I was just curious if anyone else had a similar story, how long did it take to get back to your HS times, if it was even possible for you? Years? Many Years? I started back in fall 2006 after 10 yrs and 62lbs later, started racing again march 2007 and my times were a joke compared to my HS and College times. in June 2007 I decided to really try to lose weight. back down to 184 (only 8 lbs over my competitive days)since I only swim meters now I'll have to make convertions to compare, so it won't be a 100% comparision. (times in yds) 100 *** Feb ´96 1:02.?? Feb 2007 1:10.98 Mar 2008 1:07.75 Sept 2008 1:07.22 just for fun 100 free Feb '96 52.50 Aug 2006 1:02.71 (after 3-4 weeks) sept 2007 59.79 sept 2008 54.90 so even though I thought of myself as a breaststroker in HS and College I am closer to my freestyle times then I am my brest times. even funnier is my back time feb ´93 1:06.20 sept 2007 1:07.96 march 2008 1:04.80 sept 2008 1:03.86 IM and fly are so far behind not sure if I will ever catch up. 200 IM '96 2:04 200 IM now 2:13 But I think i can get to 2:10 100 fly '96 53 100 fly march 2008 1:03 But I am fairly confident that I could swim under 1:00 I've got 2 yrs and 4-8lbs left to go before my next real big meet. I am hoping that my times drop between now and then, but i am not by how much.

Straight talk: 6'1 and 225-230 = not in shape. Unless you are some sort of body builder. On a good swimmers body, you are 35-50 pounds over weight - and I bet you are that amount above what you were in your 21.5 days. Ouch. :doh: But some truth there. Wonder what you would say about 6'3" 250? At my fastest, I was 218 so I guess that is pretty close to your range there.