Swimmers-taking a month off?

htimpaired

So I stopped swimming for a month, wanted to focus on running. So I've been running 3-4 days a week and lifting weights. Today I went to the pool, and I felt like I was going to drown! I could barely squeak out 150 yards at a time before having to stop. My heart was racing. My arms felt shaky. I expected to feel like this when I started swimming again after 18 years off, but only one month? I was cranking out 2500 yards a session easily last month.

Is this something others have experienced?

Djproulx

I'm not an expert swimmer by any means, but I know that swimming is a perishable skill. If you've been doing that kind of volume for any length of time, I would expect that your swim endurance would return quickly after only a month away from the pool. The veteran swimmers in my tri club come back rusty and out of swim shape after a layoff, but they are soon outpacing me and making it look easy.

meritage4

Try a second swim session and see what happens. Maybe you were overtaining with the running and your muscles need a rest.

keelsmarks

Swimming is always tough after a few weeks off. It'll be a few weeks until it comes back, but I always feel off if I'm not in the pool at least two days a week.

STEVE142142

Yes unfortunately it's normal. As someone who used to swim a minimum of a mile 2 to 3 times a week I definitely went through the same thing when I took time off from the pool. Once you get back in the Rhythm and you're doing it on a consistent basis it will come back to you.

I think some of it is just getting your Rhythm and sync back and once you get it back it becomes easy.

tillerstouch

It's very common swimmers will refer to it is a losing your feel of the water. There are some drills you can do to help a bit but really you just need to get back I the pool a few days and you'll get back into it. When I same competitive even a long weekend of not swimming could make me feel a little weird once I got back in the water.