How fast should I build up yardage?

You standard rule of thumb is to think in terms frequency, intensity, and duration--and don't increase any one of these by more than 10 percent a week. Frequency: I would start off with three practices a week for now, and try to stick to this for a couple months before adding a fourth practice, if you ever do. Intensity: don't worry at all about swimming fast at this point--you should really concentrate on getting an aerobic base and getting your muscles and joints used to swimming again. Do this in a methodical way so you won't put too much strain on them till they've adapted to the new demands. Bottom line: no sprint training for a month or two. Duration: this is what you can gradually increase over time now, but again, stick to the 10 percent rule. Next week, see if you can do three practices of 1250 yards each. Break this down so that it includes a slow warm up and a slow cool down. Throw in a kick set, too. Something basic like: 100 swim, 100 kick, 100 pull: easy warm up 5 x 100 swim, resting 15 seconds at the end of each one 6 x 50 kick, resting 20 seconds at the end of each one 150 easy cool down total: 1250 Don't exceed this amount each practice next week. You can change up the distances in the sets--i.e., do 10 x 50 swims instead or 5 x 100. But keep the total distance per practice at 1250. If you get tired, take extra rest. The goal is to ease your body back into the new demands that are being placed on it! The week after, do the same basic concept but add another 100-150 yards per practice, so that you will be swimming 1350-1400 yards 3 times a week. It will take a month or two to work your way up to 2600 yard practices. At some point, you will reach a comfortable plateau for how many yards total you want to do (or have time to do) per practice. For a lot of masters, the 2600-3000 yard range seems to be about right. Once you get used to doing this distance, the next step is to gradually increase intensity--not for the whole practice, but for part of it. For instance, maybe you are now up to 10 x 100. Instead of doing these moderately easy without too much rest in between, start swimming each 100 harder, and taking more rest. Only when you are doing 3 practices a week that feature some good intensity sets consider adding a 4th practice. For what it's worth, you can get in pretty decent condition with just 3. Good luck!

You standard rule of thumb is to think in terms frequency, intensity, and duration--and don't increase any one of these by more than 10 percent a week. Frequency: I would start off with three practices a week for now, and try to stick to this for a couple months before adding a fourth practice, if you ever do. Intensity: don't worry at all about swimming fast at this point--you should really concentrate on getting an aerobic base and getting your muscles and joints used to swimming again. Do this in a methodical way so you won't put too much strain on them till they've adapted to the new demands. Bottom line: no sprint training for a month or two. Duration: this is what you can gradually increase over time now, but again, stick to the 10 percent rule. Next week, see if you can do three practices of 1250 yards each. Break this down so that it includes a slow warm up and a slow cool down. Throw in a kick set, too. Something basic like: 100 swim, 100 kick, 100 pull: easy warm up 5 x 100 swim, resting 15 seconds at the end of each one 6 x 50 kick, resting 20 seconds at the end of each one 150 easy cool down total: 1250 Don't exceed this amount each practice next week. You can change up the distances in the sets--i.e., do 10 x 50 swims instead or 5 x 100. But keep the total distance per practice at 1250. If you get tired, take extra rest. The goal is to ease your body back into the new demands that are being placed on it! The week after, do the same basic concept but add another 100-150 yards per practice, so that you will be swimming 1350-1400 yards 3 times a week. It will take a month or two to work your way up to 2600 yard practices. At some point, you will reach a comfortable plateau for how many yards total you want to do (or have time to do) per practice. For a lot of masters, the 2600-3000 yard range seems to be about right. Once you get used to doing this distance, the next step is to gradually increase intensity--not for the whole practice, but for part of it. For instance, maybe you are now up to 10 x 100. Instead of doing these moderately easy without too much rest in between, start swimming each 100 harder, and taking more rest. Only when you are doing 3 practices a week that feature some good intensity sets consider adding a 4th practice. For what it's worth, you can get in pretty decent condition with just 3. Good luck!