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Out for 18%, slower by 20%

22 February 2021


When I jumped into the Sam Cancilla swimming pool at Barrie's Allandale Recreation Centre on Monday morning, I had been out of the water for 66 days. I knew that my swimming was going to be slow, slow, slow, but I wanted to see just how slow ... so I did my standard 1,500 meter warmup and then my 3 x 300 test set on 4:30, fast pace aiming to even split as much as possible.


The comparison versus past performances was telling:

  • 08-07-09: 3:36, 3:34+, 3:33

  • 09-01-09: 3:27, 3:25+, 3:26

  • 11-16-09: 3:47, 3:49, 3:51

  • 12-08-09: 3:31, 3:32, 3:30

  • 01-10-10: 3:32, 3:30, 3:31

  • 03-02-10: 3:28, 3:29, 3:27

  • 04-09-10: 3:34, 3:28, 3:27

  • 08-16-10: 3:34+, 3:37, 3:38

  • 05-06-11: 3:32, 3:29, 3:31

  • 06-03-11: 3:27+, 3:26+, 3:26

  • 07-04-11: 3:30, 3:36, 3:42

  • 09-07-11: 3:41, 3:37, 3:37

  • 10-07-11: 3:42, 3:39, 3:36

  • 11-10-11: 3:30, 3:26+, 3:27

  • 11-29-11: 3:30, 3:34, 3:37

  • 01-02-12: 3:46, 3:44, 3:41+

  • 01-31-12: 3:39, 3:36, 3:35

  • 02-27-12: 3:34, 3:30+, 3:27+

  • 03-26-12: 3:28, 3:25, 3:24 - BEST PERFORMANCE EVER

  • 05-19-12: 3:32, 3:34, 3:35

  • 06-19-12: 3:30, 3:28, 3:25+

  • 07-12-12: 3:44, 3:42, 3:30

  • 08-19-12: 3:32, 3:31, 3:33

  • 09-14-12: 3:31+, 3:31, 3:29

  • 03-25-13: 4:05, 4:00+, 3:57

  • 04-12-13: 3:48, 3:45, 3:42

  • 05-10-13: 3:42+, 3:39, 3:40

  • 08-11-13: 3:50, 3:45, 3:40

  • 08-31-13: 3:39, 3:37, 3:34+

  • 10-05-13: 3:38+, 3:33+, 3:32

  • 11-09-13: 3:28, 3:31, 3:29

  • 03-29-14: 3:39, 3:35, 3:33

  • 05-06-14: 3:37, 3:39, 3:38

  • 06-03-14: 3:30, 3:28+, 3:28

  • 07-10-14: 3:27, 3:25, 3:26+

  • 08-19-14: 3:37, 3:34, 3:33

  • 05-03-15: 3:40, 3:34, 3:30

  • 07-06-15: 3:32, 3:36, ... skipped

  • 08-16-15: 3:38, 3:35, 3:32

  • 09-14-15: 3:32+, 3:32+, 3:29

  • 10-19-15: 3:27, 3:28, 3:31

  • 03-13-16: 3:35, 3:33, 3:33

  • 05-10-16: 3:44, 3:42, 3:38

  • 06-14-16: 3:32, 3:30, 3:28

  • 08-07-16: 3:34, 3:37, 3:35

  • 09-04-16: 3:38, 3:34, 3:33

  • 10-08-16: 3:30, 3:31+, 3:30-

  • 10-05-20: 3:39, 3:38, 3:40

  • 11-06-20: 3:35, 3:34+, 3:36

  • 02-22-21: 4:17, 4:18, 4:17

I have never been this slow before; the closest was way back in 2013 after coming off months of shoulder rehab (but some continuous time in the water). I was an astonishing 20% slower than when I last did this in November, almost exactly equivalent to the 18% of a year I was out of the water.


Nowhere to go but faster from here!

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