First, let me say that I've been a fast qwerty typer (~100 WPM on typeracer) for at least 10 years.

I decided to learn Colemak due to the so called improved efficiency/comfort. I didn't have any problems with Qwerty; I just felt like learning a better layout.

I will also mention that I am a programmer that writes code and chats online.

And that I had a *lot* of free time for doing this.

Setup (cold turkey):

On my Mac at home, I just switched on the Colemak layout in System Preferences. However, since the layout didn't re-map caps lock, I had to download a couple third party programs (Seil, Karbiner) to achieve this. I also use the built-in auto-correct which really helps especially with words I'm bad at spelling (this has no effect on type racers though). I did used to have control mapped to caps lock but reverted that for Colemak's change. So is life.

At work, I was using Windows. Instead of installing the keyboard layout normally (which I wasn't "really" allowed to do), I ran AutoHotKey (which was permitted strangely) and downloaded a script that remapped all the keys. I stopped using AutoHotKey after a while though because of how buggy it was for doing this.

Under a Linux VM I was also using for a while, I just changed the System's layout - this was the easiest one; no 3rd party downloads.

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Method:

The first day I used GNU Typist as a tutor to memorize all the keys on Colemak.

Then I daily went on 10fastfingers and typeracer.com to test my speed. I first used the basic test on 10fastfingers as a warmup (since the basic test is really too easy), then did many tests on typeracer daily to get my speed up.

Here are some rough typeracer logs I've managed to scrape up with changes to my average (not max) WPM:

Colemak:
July 11: 15-20 WPM
July 12: 25 WPM
July 16: 35 WPM ("you" is so strange to type..)
July 17: 45 WPM (started to "really" feel the comfort)
July 19: 55 WPM
July 24: 70 WPM
July 31: 80 WPM
Aug 23: 88 WPM
Aug 31: 90 WPM
Sept 8: 95 WPM

Qwerty:
July 11: 100 WPM
July 16: 85 WPM
July 17: 25 WPM (I was pathetic)
Aug 10: 15-20 WPM (Had no idea where any of the keys were)
Aug 15: 30 WPM (Started to actually use qwerty rather than AutoHotKey's bugginess)
Aug 23: 40 WPM
Aug 25: 45 WPM
Aug 31: 50 WPM
Sept 8: 70 WPM
Sept 24: 90 WPM

Today I can type roughly the same speed on qwerty and colemak. Here is a typing test I tried to max my speed on both layouts for example:

My average isn't quite as high as it used to be before I learned Colemak (100 WPM), but it's quite close that I'm happy as it is. I've stopped doing typing tests daily, but I still think my Colemak accuracy could still improve.

I am also really surprised that my qwerty ability is also almost if not as good or better. Qwerty is actually pretty similar to Colemak, except my fingers default more on the top row rather than the middle one. The rolls for many common words are really similar for both layouts, and having typed on qwerty for a long time, it wasn't very hard remembering them again. This could have sacrificed what my Colemak speed or accuracy could have been, but I'm not so sure.

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Now was it worth it in the end to learn Colemak, for me, being an already fast touch typist? I would answer with, maybe.. I'm not so sure.

When I began typing over 40 WPM on Colemak, I began to feel that "this is really more comfortable" than Qwerty. However when I began to regain my Qwerty speed over 40 WPM, I also felt that "this is actually not so bad."

The travel distance is less on Colemak, but this becomes much more noticeable when I was doing typing tests frequently. As someone who codes and chats online, I don't think that I type that much during a normal day. Actually, I'd argue I have put more strain on my fingers while learning a new layout quickly than anything else :).

It is important to note that Colemak is really only usable out of the box on some Linux distro's. On OS X, it requires me to run a couple of programs on my system that stay on 24-7, since I needed to remap caps lock (which I do think is the most important key that is remapped). However it's because Windows doesn't bundle the layout, that I was given more of an incentive to regain my Qwerty skills.

A minor point some people are already familiar with: some poorly implemented games (and almost any web game) don't handle key code presses properly. For these cases, I just switch my layout.

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So right now since I already learned Colemak and since it is a little more comfortable to type on, I am just going to stick with it. And I might decide to stick with Qwerty too.

That is my story.