Does taking a long break from swimming hurt?

Jeff Braaten

I am taking a year off from Tri's and mostly concentrating on running. I still bike a couple of times a week and planned to continue to swim a couple of times a week but just can't seem to make myself go to the pool. My question is, if I pick up my swimming next year does skipping swim sessions now really matter to long term success? Some have said to me that as I get older one benefit of continuing is to keep shoulders loose and upper body strength. Both of which might be harder to regain as I age up into the 60"s. I am doing functional strength to hopefully combat that. Any thoughts? I'm tired of feeling guilty all the time.

Al Truscott

I may not have the best perspective on this, as I am a life long swimmer, and have never taken more than three months off at a time. But I often take 1-4 weeks off from swimming for travel, skiing, etc. I've found I lose my swim fitness real fast, like in a week. But it doesn't seem to drop off after that. The rule of thumb I've heard is, if you want to improve swim fitness, you need 3x/week; to maintain takes 2x, and only once a week, you'll lose it.

What you should NOT give up, though, is true weight training (barbells/dumbbells/machines) 2-3 x/week 20-40 minutes, and daily flexibility work, even if it's only 5-10 minutes of stretching (no need for an hour of yoga every day, IMO). I think swimming alone is insufficient to maintain muscle/strength loss associated with aging.

Juan Vergara

FWIW .... I was forced to take a full year off swimming in 2016.
Focused in duathlon that year and did not reduce any of my strength/functional training (quite the contrary)
Worked harder than ever in the pool as of January 2017 and was back to my old (not admirable) speed by early July (quite close to my IM swim PB). 

Gary Lewis

I am a MOP swimmer and took a year off of tri last year.  It took a lot to get motivated to swim again and I wish I had started sooner.  I'm 50 and its coming back a lot slower than I Had hoped.  If i Had to do it again, I would have at least swam in the OS.

Derrek Sanks

If you're an adult on-set swimmer, it will take a long time to get back to where you were before stopping. I took completely off for 3 months one year and it took me exactly 3 months just to get back to the same paces/fitness.  I suggest swimming at least 2x a week just to maintain form. Like you said, it's hard to get to the pool when swimming isn't on your race calendar.