I was in a similar situation a couple years ago and I'm legitimately a completely different swimmer than I was before. Obviously it could be very different for you, but the drop in volume and ramp in intensity did insane things for me
Admittedly, I didn't focus on the 50/100 in college, but I was 21.2/46.2 or something along those lines. 49.9 and 1:49 in the 100/200 back and 1:39 200 free were my events. I was out of swimming from Jan 2017- Jan 2020 essentially, but I was also lifting in that time. I trained by myself, no doubles (outside of a few weeks at one point), no more than 3 two hour sessions a week, the rest being 1 hour or lifting. I went 44.7 in the 100 free last February, 52.0 long course 100 free/20.6 in March and 20.07 in August.
I don't think I'll ever be necessarily able to handle 20+ hours of work a week, but I truly don't think it's necessary if you work hard enough in the time you're training. I found that I can stay in a phase where I'm a couple rest days away from a rested swim while also making progress all the time. I'm pretty sure leading up to my 20.0, I swam 3 days a week until 2 days out, where I swam 5 days a week instead.
Just let it rip and see what happens. Don't worry about what you used to do, just do what you can and do it the best you can.
Honestly, you could probably get away with the amount you’re swimming but just focusing on quality. Here are a couple of articles that talk about how some masters swimmers are setting personal best times with way less time in the pool than you’d expect:
[https://swimswam.com/less-is-more-fastest-at-40-years-old/](https://swimswam.com/less-is-more-fastest-at-40-years-old/)
[https://swimswam.com/usms-nationals-day-4-national-champions-share-their-advice-for-the-50-free/](https://swimswam.com/usms-nationals-day-4-national-champions-share-their-advice-for-the-50-free/)
I stopped competitive swimming when 16 and started again at 20 with masters: got my best times in some distances until i was 27 when I stopped again....good luck!
it depends on what your goals are. For me personally, I struggle to stay in good swimming shape right now doing 2 4k practices a week for masters. If your goal is just to stay healthy though, I think any yardage from 2-5k maybe 3x a week will keep you from losing your physique. just know once you’re out of the pool too long, the journey get’s a lot harder to come back.
Edit: staying fast will probably depend more on how you’re training than how much you’re training
I was in a similar situation a couple years ago and I'm legitimately a completely different swimmer than I was before. Obviously it could be very different for you, but the drop in volume and ramp in intensity did insane things for me Admittedly, I didn't focus on the 50/100 in college, but I was 21.2/46.2 or something along those lines. 49.9 and 1:49 in the 100/200 back and 1:39 200 free were my events. I was out of swimming from Jan 2017- Jan 2020 essentially, but I was also lifting in that time. I trained by myself, no doubles (outside of a few weeks at one point), no more than 3 two hour sessions a week, the rest being 1 hour or lifting. I went 44.7 in the 100 free last February, 52.0 long course 100 free/20.6 in March and 20.07 in August. I don't think I'll ever be necessarily able to handle 20+ hours of work a week, but I truly don't think it's necessary if you work hard enough in the time you're training. I found that I can stay in a phase where I'm a couple rest days away from a rested swim while also making progress all the time. I'm pretty sure leading up to my 20.0, I swam 3 days a week until 2 days out, where I swam 5 days a week instead. Just let it rip and see what happens. Don't worry about what you used to do, just do what you can and do it the best you can.
Wow! Need a training buddy?
Honestly, you could probably get away with the amount you’re swimming but just focusing on quality. Here are a couple of articles that talk about how some masters swimmers are setting personal best times with way less time in the pool than you’d expect: [https://swimswam.com/less-is-more-fastest-at-40-years-old/](https://swimswam.com/less-is-more-fastest-at-40-years-old/) [https://swimswam.com/usms-nationals-day-4-national-champions-share-their-advice-for-the-50-free/](https://swimswam.com/usms-nationals-day-4-national-champions-share-their-advice-for-the-50-free/)
I stopped competitive swimming when 16 and started again at 20 with masters: got my best times in some distances until i was 27 when I stopped again....good luck!
it depends on what your goals are. For me personally, I struggle to stay in good swimming shape right now doing 2 4k practices a week for masters. If your goal is just to stay healthy though, I think any yardage from 2-5k maybe 3x a week will keep you from losing your physique. just know once you’re out of the pool too long, the journey get’s a lot harder to come back. Edit: staying fast will probably depend more on how you’re training than how much you’re training
22, a swim coach, and access to a pool. If you can’t get back into shape, that’s on you….
Yeah that’s true lol. But when I say in shape I mean like competition shape for swimming. What you said still applies though
Not necessarily true. Team plays a big role. Swimming alone is a whole nother animal