To be a swimmer, you must swim.

yeah it comes back but it's hard to get going again after time off.

I basically bagged swimming after my last race in Oct, and just started again this month...ooh boy did I feel it.

but after a few weeks, I'm going ok.

Just went through this myself after taking 3 months off. 

I was horrified in the past 4 weeks at how slow my times were for how hard I was working in the pool. I had to check and recheck my old swim times to make sure I didn't typo them, since they seemed so much faster that it was unfathomable for me in my outofshapness. Really made me feel like giving up completely.

Fortunately though, I"m pretty motivated, and forced myself to suffer through the workouts now that I'm getting back in the groove. After 4 weeks of what I think is some pretty tough efforts in the pool, I think I'm finally at the pre-race level I was before. Still horrified at how long it took - I was working really hard in the pool!

How could you bag swimming in Hawai'i? There's something really wrong about that...

Key to getting back into it is comfort... Think long, smooth strokes. Fewer strokes per lap the better.

I'd rather be one of those jerks who could go without running for a few months and then go bang out a 10K at 7 min miles, but I'm cursed with being a good swimmer instead.

Isn't the point to get to the end of the pool the fastest?  I know you need to be efficient but if you can get to the other end faster with 22 strokes (25 yard pool) why try to get down to 20 if it just makes you slower?

And we're off!

^ +1

What you just said. 

This is so true, but you can do it if you get back in there and at it.  While it may be slow going initially, you will eventually get back to where you were.

I've been off and on with swimming for years, where I'll swim 2-3 times a week for about six weeks, get busy or the pool will close for maintenance or something will happen, and I'll fall out of synch for months. Usually, I find that it's like riding a bike, it comes back. I start pretty easy, with 10-15 minutes, then gradually work up. I also find that it's hard to get into a pool if my body is cold, so I pamper myself and go into the hot tub or sauna or take a hot shower first!

Good luck!

I have spent the last three months swimming 3x/week.  I have gotten comfortable swimming 2000m, although I am still a little slow.  My goal is to do a couple of sprint tris this summer and do an Oly by the end of the summer.

My gym membership expires this weekend, and I have been green-lighted to ease back into running (AT injury), so I was planning on just swimming once a week.  Should that be enough to maintain or maybe even see a little improvement?

As a swim coach (albeit not a highly qualified one) and an athlete, my thought is that while once a week is better than nothing, it's not enough to maintain fitness. Possibly enough to maintain form/comfort/ "feel" for the water though if you are already a confident swimmer or if not, you use the time to work on form, preferably with a coach. Twice a week seems the bare minimum to maintain fitness in a sport, and three or four to improve. I see this with the kids I coach (sadly, our lifeguard/pool situation only allows each team to train twice a week) as well as with myself across all three sports.