Month: July 2026

77 Day Countdown – Technique Today

After a dry-land day yesterday I was back in the pool today working more on technique. I am trying to break several bad habits that I developed over 40 years of open water competition rather than pool competition. I need to make sure to improve flip turns, and breaststroke push offs from turns, as well as my underwater portion of breaststroke. I learned to compete in the dark ages of breaststroke where you could not have your head underwater at any time and you were only allowed one complete stroke after the wall with no dolphin kick. This has changes over the years.

Today’s workout:

Metric	Value
Total workout time	51:45
Total swim distance	2,525 m
Total intervals	20 swim intervals
Longest freestyle repeat	200 m
Longest breaststroke repeat	250 m
Fastest 100 Freestyle	1:32.1
Fastest 100 Breaststroke	1:49.6
Fastest breaststroke 50	0:50.3
Fastest freestyle 50	0:42.5

I had a longer than normal rest time in the center of the workout as the guy in the lane next to me wanted to talk a bit about some upcoming competitions.

#	Stroke	Distance	Time	Pace /100
1	Freestyle	100	1:32.1	1:32.1
2	Mixed (warm-up)	100	1:49.0	1:49.0
3	Breaststroke	50	0:50.3	1:40.6
4	Breaststroke	50	0:52.6	1:45.2
5	Freestyle	100	1:33.0	1:33.0
6	Breaststroke	50	0:51.2	1:42.4
7	Breaststroke	100	1:49.9	1:49.9
8	Freestyle	100	1:37.9	1:37.9
9	Breaststroke	100	1:54.0	1:54.0
10	Breaststroke	250	4:24.5	1:45.8
11	Breaststroke	100	1:47.9	1:47.9
12	Freestyle	50	0:42.5	1:25.0
13	Breaststroke	100	1:49.6	1:49.6
14	Freestyle	200	3:11.1	1:35.6
15	Mixed	100	1:43.8	1:43.8
16	Mixed	100	1:41.4	1:41.4
17	Mixed	100	1:42.0	1:42.0
18	Breaststroke	100	1:54.5	1:54.5
19	Freestyle	100	1:38.6	1:38.6
20	Mixed (cool-down)	50	0:53.8	1:47.6

Breaststroke

Total breaststroke volume: 750 m (50 + 50 + 50 + 100 + 100 + 250 + 100 + 100 + 100 m)
Longest repeat: 250 m
Fastest 100: 1:47.9 (following a rest after the 250 m)
Best other 100: 1:49.6
The 250 m repeat at 1:45.8/100 m is particularly noteworthy because it indicates a sustained a pace faster than your standalone 100 m breaststroke intervals. That may reflect a combination of pacing strategy, interval timing, or the way Garmin segmented the swim, but it’s a repeat worth watching in future workouts.

Freestyle

Fastest 100: 1:32.1
Best sustained pace: 200 m in 3:11.1 (1:35.6/100 m)
Freestyle speed remains very consistent

2026-07-22

78 Days Countdown – Dry land today

Today was a dry land workout. Need to give my shoulders some recovery time so it was the treadmill today for a “pleasant” 5.65K run. It wasn’t doo bad of a run and got my HR up for an extended period.

Metric	Value
Distance	5.65 km (3.51 mi)
Time	41:03
Average HR	134 bpm
Maximum HR	156 bpm
Average Running Cadence	70 spm (reported by Garmin)
Average Power	336 W
Max Power	439 W
Training Effect	5.0 Aerobic
Anaerobic Training Effect	3.3
Calories	564

Mile	Time	Avg HR	Max HR	Avg Power
1	10:37	124	153	305 W
2	8:51	151	156	387 W
3	8:45	143	153	390 W
0.19 mi cooldown	3:19	89	101	125 W

I don’t have too much more to say about this as I despise treadmill runs, but getting out of the pool a few days a week is important when I start having the “I don’t want to” attitude about swimming.

Tomorrow is back in the pool. I think I am going to work on my breaststroke technique. I also changed my watch from auto rest to manual rest on swimming as it may be more accurate with timing.

2026-07-21

79 Days – Short Sets Today

Slightly different workout today. I concentrated on shorter sets rather than distance. I don’t do well with short sets as it is just too many stop and starts and my times are never that great. Anyways the workout summary for today:

Metric	Value
Total Distance	2,525 m
Timer Time	54:45.3
Elapsed Time	56:55.4
Average HR	120 bpm
Maximum HR	161 bpm
Aerobic Training Effect	3.7
Anaerobic Training Effect	1.7

And my workout looked something like this:

Segment	Time	Estimated pace /100 m
100 m Freestyle	1:32.6	1:32.6
Rest	0:15	—
200 m Mixed	3:35.1	1:47.5
Rest	0:12	—
100 m Breaststroke	1:57.3	1:57.3
Rest	0:25	—
100 m Freestyle	1:38.9	1:38.9
Rest	1:03	—
100 m Breaststroke	1:55.0	1:55.0
Rest	0:32	—
200 m Mixed	3:41.6	1:50.8
Rest	0:30	—
100 m Freestyle	1:40.3	1:40.3
Rest	0:14	—
100 m Breaststroke	1:55.9	1:55.9
Rest	0:26	—
150 m Freestyle	2:25.8	1:37.2
Rest	0:16	—
150 m Breaststroke	2:57.9	1:58.6
Rest	0:36	—
150 m Freestyle	2:33.2	1:42.1
Rest	0:26	—
150 m Breaststroke	3:00.8	2:00.5
Rest	0:30	—
325 m Mixed	5:57.9	1:50.1
Rest	0:54	—
150 m Freestyle	2:30.9	1:40.6
Rest	0:24	—
150 m Mixed	2:47.7	1:51.8
Rest	0:33	—
50 m Breaststroke	0:56.7	1:53.4
Rest	0:21	—
50 m Freestyle	0:49.9	1:39.8
Rest	0:16	—
50 m Breaststroke	0:58.8	1:57.6
Rest	0:16	—
50 m Freestyle	0:50.3	1:40.6
Rest	0:37	—
50 m Breaststroke	1:03.6	2:07.2
Rest	0:10	—
50 m Freestyle	0:51.3	1:42.6

My watch miscounted on that 325 one, somehow it added a 25m lap, have no idea why. I never do any 25meter lengths.

I am OK with my freestyle times. I need start and turn practice with those. My breaststroke times suck. I really need to work on those, I am about 20 seconds too slow. I really think this has a lot to do with turns, and maybe some old habits that have never gone away.

2026-07-20

80 Days – Get it in Gear

I decided that today’s swim would be a 3000 Meter workout that included all of the events that I will be swimming in October. I know this in no way is a true reflection of race pace, but I wanted to prove to myself that I can do this.

My workout is below and the Gold, Silver, Bronze, and 4th Place columns are from the 2025 results in the same pool for the 60-64 year old age group.

Workout Segment / Event	7/19/2026 Time	Gold (2025)	Silver (2025)	Bronze (2025)	4th Place (2025)
Warm-up — 200 m Freestyle	3:40.9	—	—	—	—
Rest	0:26.4	—	—	—	—
1500 m Freestyle	26:09.4	23:34.66	23:39.43	25:04.75	25:06.88
Rest	1:50.8	—	—	—	—
200 m Breaststroke	3:59.5	3:01.02	3:38.74	3:39.92	4:00.27
Rest	1:29.8	—	—	—	—
100 m Breaststroke	1:58.3	1:19.22	1:28.57	1:32.97	1:37.95
Rest	1:57.0	—	—	—	—
800 m Freestyle	14:29.1	12:00.10	12:16.56	12:32.85	12:56.76
Rest	1:09.5	—	—	—	—
Cool-down — 200 m Mixed	3:59.1	—	—	—	—

Now is the time to start working on technique as I have gotten sloppy over the years. I also need to work on my turns. That is where I can shave 10 seconds off of each length, and it is enough to make a difference in the pool. Next week will probably be a series of shorter workouts, but more focused on breaststroke and turns. I think I am also going to start wearing a swim cap again with the hopes that will help me stop loosing core temperature as much as I do.

Today’s workout from Garmin Connect for anyone that is interested:

2026-07-19

40 Years Since Last Pool Swim Meet……

Well… I might have done something really stupid, but I broke down and registered for the Huntsman World Senior Games being held in St. George, Utah from October 6-10th (The games are more days than that, but that is the swimming portion).

I’m going to swim the 100M Breaststroke, the 200M Breaststroke, the 800M Freestyle, and the 1500M Freestyle. These are all endurance events, which has been the basis of my swim training for years.

I was looking at last years times and was thinking, “hey… I could actually place!” Nice part about getting older, the competition thins out.

The maybe “stupid” part? I have not competed in a pool event since college swimming….. when was that? Oh, 1986……. And what year is this? Oh, 2026….. that is about 40 years. I have been strictly open water since then. I really had decided I would never compete in a pool again, but there are some health concerns that I have been worried about and right now Open Water events do not make sense from a safety perspective.

I went back and looked at some of my swim stats for the last six months with regard to the events I plan on swimming and compared them to the 2025 Huntsman World Senior Games results and found

Event	My Current Training Time	🥇 Gold (2025)	🥈 Silver (2025)	🥉 Bronze (2025)	4th Place (2025)
1500 m Freestyle	26:09.4	23:34.66	23:39.43	25:04.75	25:06.88
800 m Freestyle	14:29.1	12:00.10	12:16.56	12:32.85	12:56.76
200 m Breaststroke	3:59.5	3:01.02	3:38.74	3:39.92	4:00.27
100 m Breaststroke	1:58.3	1:19.22	1:28.57	1:32.97	1:37.95

Training times are strange to compare to race results as they do not always line up. In a race event you are only swimming that event. My training times are part of a longer workout. Also, no block start for training, less adrenaline, and I have a tendency not to do flip turns in training (got to fix that). All of this has the potential to shave about 10-15 seconds off per 50 meters.

I have 11 weeks to the games. I will probably be posting more on my swimming to stay accountable to myself and show progress.

2026-07-18