A 1:07 is really impressive after taking a year off. When I peaked as a club swimmer in high school I did :58 but that was while doing 9 practices a week. Definitely couldn't jump in a pool today and go anywhere near 1:10.

One thing I noticed was that my best races, especially distance races like the 500 or mile, were total statistic outliers relative to my other races. One year I swam the 500(SCY) for my school and averaged ~5:40 +/- 5 seconds. One night I had a really hot heat and stepped up to go 5:18. By the end of the season though I only had one race out of 10 go under 5:30.

I was never able to isolate what enabled me to unlock that extra something that night, but back then I was a teenager who rolled my eyes at 'the inner game of tennis' aspects to sports.