Category: Huntsman Senior Games 2026

Today’s Road to Huntsman workout shifted the emphasis heavily toward breaststroke endurance. I completed 2,700 meters, including approximately 1,900 meters of breaststroke, making this the first major breaststroke-specific endurance session of September.

There are now 34 days until the October 7 Huntsman World Senior Games 200-meter breaststroke. With just under five weeks remaining, the objective is increasingly specific: develop the ability to maintain breaststroke pace and technique as fatigue accumulates while continuing to preserve the endurance needed for the 800 and 1500 freestyle later in the meet.

September 3 Workout Summary

Metric	Result
Planned Distance	2,500 m
Completed Distance	2,700 m
Swimming Time	47:46
Average Pace	1:47/100 m
Normalized Pace	1:46/100 m
Average HR	115 bpm
Maximum HR	148 bpm
sTSS	59
Intensity Factor	0.90
Calories	601 kcal

The workout ended up 200 meters longer than the original 2,500-meter target. Rather than treating those extra meters as something that needs to be compensated for later in the week, I am simply recording the actual workload. September is about purposeful training rather than trying to make every weekly distance total match a spreadsheet perfectly.

A Breaststroke-Heavy Training Day

The final stroke distribution was approximately 1,900 meters breaststroke and 800 meters freestyle. More than 70 percent of today’s swimming was therefore breaststroke.

That made this a substantial stroke-specific endurance workout. Tomorrow’s training shifts back toward freestyle, which will provide some separation before the next major breaststroke workload.

Opening 4 × 50 Breaststroke

The first breaststroke set was 4 × 50 meters. These were intended as build repetitions before the longer endurance work.

50 BR	Time
1	47.71
2	49.44
3	48.02
4	50.13

The four repetitions averaged approximately 48.82 seconds per 50 meters, equivalent to about 1:37.7/100 m.

The set didn’t develop into a traditional progressive build because the first repetition was actually the fastest. What it did demonstrate was that sub-50-second 50-meter breaststroke speed was readily available before beginning the longer endurance work.

First 4 × 100 Breaststroke

The first sustained breaststroke set was 4 × 100 meters at a strong but controlled effort.

100 BR	Time
1	1:46.67
2	1:49.09
3	1:47.66
4	1:51.50

The average was approximately 1:48.7/100 m, almost exactly within the controlled range I wanted from this portion of the workout.

There was some slowing by the fourth repetition, but it wasn’t a continuous decline. After the slower second 100, I came back with a 1:47.66 third repetition. The objective was not maximum speed; it was maintaining useful breaststroke pace without turning the workout into a race effort.

The Key Set – 4 × 150 Breaststroke

The most important endurance set of the day was 4 × 150 meters breaststroke.

150 BR	Time	Pace/100
1	2:47.37	1:51.58
2	2:49.92	1:53.28
3	2:49.11	1:52.74
4	2:51.43	1:54.29

The four repetitions averaged approximately 1:53.0/100 m. More important than the absolute pace was the consistency. Only 4.06 seconds separated the fastest and slowest repetitions over 150 meters.

I didn’t reach the originally suggested 1:47–1:50/100 m equivalent pace for this set, but I don’t consider that a significant problem. This was part of a workout containing 1,900 meters of breaststroke, and the purpose was endurance. Maintaining relatively stable 150-meter repetitions was more valuable today than producing one or two unusually fast repetitions followed by a major fade.

Finishing with Another 4 × 100 Breaststroke

After the 150-meter repetitions and additional swimming, I returned to another 4 × 100 breaststroke set.

100 BR	Time
1	1:50.76
2	1:51.27
3	1:50.84
4	1:52.69

This may have been the most encouraging set of the workout.

The four repetitions averaged approximately 1:51.4/100 m, and less than two seconds separated the fastest and slowest 100.

The first 4 × 100 set earlier in the workout averaged approximately 1:48.7. After the 4 × 150 set and considerably more accumulated breaststroke, the second group averaged only about 2.7 seconds per 100 slower.

That is exactly the type of result I wanted from a 200-meter breaststroke endurance workout. The goal was not simply to swim a fast 100 while fresh. It was to continue producing consistent breaststroke after accumulating substantial stroke-specific fatigue.

What This Means for the 200 Breaststroke

My current 200-meter breaststroke training benchmark remains 3:27.54, equivalent to approximately 1:43.8/100 m.

200 BR	Time
Training Best	3:27.54
2025 Silver	3:38.74
2025 Bronze	3:39.92
2025 4th	4:00.27

The current training benchmark is already 11.20 seconds faster than the 2025 silver-medal time. Today’s workout wasn’t intended to challenge that 200-meter time. Instead, it addressed a different part of race preparation: maintaining stroke rhythm and useful pace as fatigue accumulates.

Today’s breaststroke ranged from approximately 1:38/100 m equivalent during the opening 50s to approximately 1:49–1:53/100 m through the longer endurance work. That creates a useful picture of both available speed and sustainable training pace.

Later in September, true 200-meter race rehearsals will have a different structure. Those efforts will occur at the beginning of the workout following only a very short warmup. That will better reproduce race-day conditions rather than asking for a race effort after already accumulating a large amount of swimming.

Training Load and Recovery

Despite swimming 200 meters farther than planned, today’s cardiovascular and overall training load was lower than yesterday.

Date	sTSS	Avg HR	IF
Sep. 2	63	127	0.97
Sep. 3	59	115	0.90

That is a good indication that today’s workout remained an endurance session rather than becoming another high-intensity day.

Recovery Continues to Improve

The TrainingPeaks recovery trend also continues moving in the desired direction.

Date	Fitness	Fatigue	Form
Sep. 1	71	116	-57
Sep. 2	71	108	-45
Sep. 3	70	101	-38

Fatigue has moved from 116 to 108 to 101 over the first three days of September, while Form has improved from -57 to -45 to -38.

I am still carrying fatigue from the large workload at the end of August, but the direction is encouraging. The objective this week is to continue training while gradually absorbing that previous workload rather than immediately replacing it with another excessive training block.

September Training Log

Date	Workout	Meters	sTSS
Sep. 1	Recovery	1,800	37
Sep. 2	Aerobic FR/BR	2,500	63
Sep. 3	BR Endurance	2,700	59
Total		7,000	159

September total: 7,000 meters and 159 sTSS.

Week One Progress

Date	Planned	Actual
Sep. 1	1,800 m	1,800 m
Sep. 2	2,500 m	2,500 m
Sep. 3	2,500 m	2,700 m
Sep. 4	2,500 m	800/1500 FR
Sep. 5	3,000 m	Long aerobic
Sep. 6	OFF	Recovery

Through September 3, the original plan called for 6,800 meters. I have completed 7,000 meters, putting the week 200 meters ahead of the preliminary schedule.

There is no reason to remove those 200 meters from another workout simply to make the totals match. Tomorrow remains the planned 2,500-meter 800/1500 freestyle endurance workout.

34 Days to the 200 Breaststroke

There are now 34 days until the October 7 Huntsman 200-meter breaststroke.

The 3:27.54 training benchmark tells me that the necessary 200-meter speed is already present. Today’s workout addressed another part of the equation: maintaining breaststroke as fatigue develops.

Over the next several weeks, those two pieces will increasingly come together. Endurance sessions will continue building the ability to resist late-race deterioration, while true race-pace rehearsals will test the 200 breaststroke under conditions that more closely resemble race day.

September 3 Takeaway

Today’s best result wasn’t the fastest 50 or 100. It was the ability to continue producing consistent breaststroke after accumulating a large amount of breaststroke-specific work.

The four 150-meter repetitions stayed within just over four seconds of one another. Even more encouragingly, after that set and additional swimming, the final four 100-meter breaststroke repetitions were 1:50.76, 1:51.27, 1:50.84 and 1:52.69.

That is the kind of consistency today’s workout was designed to develop.

With 34 days remaining until the 200 breaststroke, today’s job wasn’t to prove how fast I can swim 200 meters. It was to make sure I can still swim effective breaststroke when I’m tired. Mission accomplished.

Day two of September training is complete, and today’s workout was a significant step up from yesterday’s recovery session.

I completed the planned 2,500 meters in 41:03, averaging 1:39/100 m. The workout combined aerobic freestyle with controlled breaststroke and was intended to move me back toward normal training after the large workload that finished August.

There are now 35 days remaining until October 7, when I am scheduled to swim my first priority event at the Huntsman World Senior Games: the 200-meter breaststroke. September therefore isn’t about chasing another monthly distance goal. Each workout now has a specific purpose in preparing for the 200 breaststroke, 800 freestyle and 1500 freestyle.

September 2 Workout Summary

Metric	Result
Distance	2,500 m
Swimming Time	41:03
Average Pace	1:39/100 m
Normalized Pace	1:39/100 m
Average HR	127 bpm
Maximum HR	164 bpm
sTSS	63
Intensity Factor	0.97
Calories	571 kcal

The final stroke distribution was 1,800 meters freestyle and 700 meters breaststroke, exactly matching the intended distribution for the workout.

The 4 × 200 Freestyle Set

The first significant endurance work was 4 × 200 freestyle. These were originally intended to be aerobic repetitions, but I naturally swam considerably faster than the planned aerobic target.

200 FR	Time	Pace/100
1	3:05.42	1:32.71
2	3:12.19	1:36.10
3	3:14.81	1:37.41
4	3:14.65	1:37.33

The complete 800 meters averaged approximately 1:35.9/100 m.

The first 200 was clearly faster than the rest. After that opening repetition, however, the pacing became remarkably stable. Only 2.62 seconds separated the final three 200-meter repetitions.

That consistency is more important than the fast opening 200. For the 800 and 1500 freestyle, the objective is not simply to demonstrate that I can swim quickly. The challenge is finding a sustainable pace and holding it without a significant fade.

The 4 × 100 Freestyle Set

The next major freestyle set became considerably faster.

100 FR	Time
1	1:28.08
2	1:33.26
3	1:32.15
4	1:34.39

The four repetitions averaged approximately 1:32.0/100 m.

That is particularly interesting when compared with the 2025 Huntsman results. The 2025 men’s 60–64 silver-medal pace for the 800 freestyle was approximately 1:32.07/100 m. Today’s four 100s therefore averaged almost exactly that pace.

This was not an 800-meter race simulation. The repetitions included recovery and occurred as part of a larger workout. It would be inappropriate to extrapolate four separated 100s directly into an 800-meter race time. What the set does demonstrate is that the necessary speed is available. The training challenge is making more of that speed sustainable for the full race distance.

Controlled Breaststroke

The breaststroke portion of the workout remained much closer to its intended intensity.

The first 4 × 50 breaststroke repetitions were:

50 BR	Time
1	51.96
2	50.46
3	52.06
4	51.30

Those were extremely consistent. The subsequent 4 × 100 breaststroke set showed more fatigue:

100 BR	Time
1	1:44.58
2	1:48.35
3	1:52.40
4	1:50.00

The four 100s averaged approximately 1:48.8/100 m, which is almost exactly where the controlled breaststroke portion of today’s workout was intended to be.

There was some slowing between the first and third repetitions, but by this point I had already completed a substantial amount of freestyle, including the faster 4 × 100 set. Tomorrow’s workout is specifically designed around 200-meter breaststroke endurance, so there was no reason to turn today’s breaststroke into another hard effort.

Freestyle Was Faster Than Planned

The main thing I need to watch from today’s workout is that the freestyle portions were considerably faster than prescribed.

The 4 × 200 set averaged approximately 1:35.9/100 m, and the 4 × 100 set averaged approximately 1:32.0/100 m. TrainingPeaks consequently scored the workout at 63 sTSS with an Intensity Factor of 0.97.

That means today’s workout became something more substantial than a conventional easy aerobic session.

There is nothing wrong with that occasionally, particularly when the swimming feels good. But September training cannot become a series of unplanned race-pace workouts simply because faster swimming is available on a particular day. Recovery and controlled aerobic work are part of the plan for a reason.

Huntsman Freestyle Perspective

Today’s workout doesn’t replace either of my established freestyle race-distance benchmarks, but it provides useful supporting information.

800 FR	Time
Training Best	12:40.25
2025 Silver	12:16.56
2025 Bronze	12:32.85
2025 4th	12:56.76

My current 800-meter training best remains only 7.40 seconds behind the 2025 bronze-medal time. Today’s ability to repeatedly swim substantially faster than bronze-medal pace reinforces the idea that the limiting factor isn’t raw speed. It is sustaining the appropriate speed for eight consecutive 100 meters.

1500 FR	Time
Training Best	24:04.84
2025 Silver	23:39.43
2025 Bronze	25:04.75
2025 4th	25:06.88

The current 1500-meter training best remains 25.41 seconds behind the 2025 silver-medal time. That is approximately 1.69 seconds per 100 meters.

Recovery Is Moving in the Right Direction

TrainingPeaks is also showing improvement in the accumulated fatigue carried over from the end of August.

Date	Fitness	Fatigue	Form
Sep. 1	71	116	-57
Sep. 2	71	108	-45

Despite today’s 63 sTSS workout, the larger recovery trend is moving in the desired direction. Fatigue decreased from 116 to 108 and Form improved from -57 to -45.

September Training Log

Date	Workout	Meters	sTSS
Sep. 1	Recovery	1,800	37
Sep. 2	Aerobic FR/BR	2,500	63
Total		4,300	100

September total: 4,300 meters and 100 sTSS.

Week One Progress

Date	Plan	Status
Sep. 1	1,800 m	Complete
Sep. 2	2,500 m	Complete
Sep. 3	2,500 m	200 BR endurance
Sep. 4	2,500 m	800/1500 FR
Sep. 5	3,000 m	Long aerobic
Sep. 6	OFF	Recovery

Through the first two days of September I have completed 4,300 meters, exactly matching the planned distance.

35 Days to the 200 Breaststroke

There are now 35 days until the October 7 Huntsman 200-meter breaststroke.

That makes the purpose of September increasingly clear. There is still enough time to improve fitness and race-specific endurance, but every workout also needs to fit into the larger progression toward tapering and arriving at the meet rested.

Tomorrow shifts the emphasis away from today’s freestyle work and toward 200-meter breaststroke endurance. The planned distance remains 2,500 meters.

September 2 Takeaway

Today’s workout was stronger than originally intended for an aerobic training day. The most encouraging result wasn’t simply swimming fast; it was the combination of speed and consistency.

The final three 200-meter freestyle repetitions settled into a narrow range around 1:36–1:37/100 m, and the subsequent 100-meter repetitions averaged approximately 1:32/100 m. Meanwhile, the breaststroke remained appropriately controlled.

The lesson isn’t that every workout should now be faster. Quite the opposite. With only 35 days until my first Huntsman event, the objective is to make each workout serve its intended purpose.

Today showed that the speed is available. The next five weeks are about learning how to use that speed efficiently, sustain it over the required race distances, and arrive in St. George rested enough to put it to work.

September training is officially underway.

After finishing August with 68,700 meters of swimming and completing my 75,000-yard monthly goal, September has a different purpose. The focus now shifts toward preparing specifically for my Huntsman World Senior Games events: the 200-meter breaststroke, 800-meter freestyle and 1500-meter freestyle.

Today’s workout was intentionally short and easy. I completed 1,800 meters in a different 25-meter pool than I normally use. The water was noticeably warmer than I am accustomed to, and I felt a little sluggish throughout the session.

There were also some changes to the planned organization of the sets once I started swimming, but the total distance remained exactly as planned. Since today’s objective was recovery and technique rather than a race-specific workout, those changes weren’t particularly important.

September 1 Workout Summary

Metric	Result
Distance	1,800 m
Swimming Time	32:45
Average Pace	1:50/100 m
Normalized Pace	1:49/100 m
Average HR	127 bpm
Maximum HR	154 bpm
sTSS	37
Intensity Factor	0.88
Calories	490 kcal

The planned workout duration was approximately 38 minutes. I completed the swimming in 32:45, about five minutes faster than planned, despite feeling somewhat sluggish.

What I Actually Swam

FORM organized the workout somewhat differently from the original TrainingPeaks prescription. The resulting session was actually very evenly divided between my two primary strokes.

Set	Distance	Structure
1	400 m	200 FR + 200 BR
2	1,000 m	10 × 100 FR/BR
3	200 m	2 × 100 mixed
4	200 m	4 × 50 FR/BR
Total	1,800 m	900 FR / 900 BR

The final stroke distribution was exactly 900 meters freestyle and 900 meters breaststroke.

Freestyle Performance

Although this wasn’t intended to be a threshold workout, the freestyle results were interesting.

Across the 900 meters of freestyle, my average moving pace was approximately 1:38.9/100 m. The opening 200-meter freestyle was 3:23.78, approximately 1:41.9/100 m.

The five clear 100-meter freestyle repetitions during the main 10 × 100 set were particularly consistent:

100 FR	Time
1	1:36.92
2	1:39.36
3	1:40.12
4	1:38.93
5	1:39.93

The average of those five repetitions was approximately 1:39.1/100 m, remarkably close to the 1:39.5/100 m CSS benchmark established at the end of August.

There is an important qualification. These were not five consecutive 100-meter freestyle repetitions. They were separated by breaststroke swimming, so I don’t consider this a CSS or threshold performance. What it does show is that even while feeling somewhat sluggish, swimming around 1:39–1:40/100 m freestyle was readily available.

Breaststroke Performance

The breaststroke portion was considerably more relaxed, which was exactly what today’s recovery workout called for.

Across the complete 900 meters of breaststroke, the average moving pace was approximately 1:59.5/100 m.

The five dedicated 100-meter breaststroke repetitions were:

100 BR	Time
1	1:57.54
2	1:57.27
3	1:57.26
4	2:00.27
5	1:59.29

The consistency is more important than the speed. This was supposed to be controlled breaststroke rather than race work, and the times remained tightly grouped throughout the set.

My current 200-meter breaststroke benchmark is 3:27.54, approximately 1:43.8/100 m. Today’s breaststroke was intentionally nowhere near that intensity. That is another indication that the workout remained a recovery session rather than accidentally becoming another hard training day.

Feeling Sluggish in a Warmer Pool

I felt a little sluggish today, but I don’t see anything in the results that makes that particularly concerning.

The first factor is simply accumulated training load. August ended with 11,100 meters and 260 sTSS across my final three swims, including the 6,000-meter session that completed my monthly distance goal.

Today’s environment was also different. I had to swim in another 25-meter pool, and the water was warmer than the pool I normally use. That noticeably changed how the workout felt.

Despite that sluggish feeling, the actual numbers remained quite good. The freestyle repetitions were consistent, the breaststroke remained controlled and the full 1,800-meter workout was completed considerably faster than the planned duration.

Training Load

TrainingPeaks showed a relatively modest 37 sTSS for today’s session, which is appropriate for the purpose of the workout.

TrainingPeaks	Value
Fitness	71
Fatigue	116
Form	-57
Today’s sTSS	37

The high fatigue level reinforces the reason September began with a recovery-oriented workout rather than immediately returning to hard race-specific training.

September Training Log

August now has its own completed training ledger. September starts fresh.

Date	Workout	Meters	sTSS
Sep. 1	Recovery	1,800	37

September total: 1,800 meters

Week One Progress

The first September training block runs through September 6, with Sunday currently scheduled as the week’s no-swim day.

Date	Plan	Status
Sep. 1	1,800 m	Complete
Sep. 2	2,500 m	Aerobic FR + BR
Sep. 3	2,500 m	200 BR endurance
Sep. 4	2,500 m	800/1500 FR
Sep. 5	3,000 m	Long aerobic
Sep. 6	OFF	Recovery

The planned Week One swimming total is 12,300 meters. After today, 1,800 meters are complete.

Unlike August, however, the remaining distance isn’t something that needs to be chased. The planned meters provide structure. If recovery or performance indicates that the schedule should change, the training plan changes with it.

September 1 Takeaway

Today’s workout accomplished exactly what I wanted from the first swim of September.

I got back into the water without adding another large training load, completed the planned 1,800 meters, swam an even 900 meters of freestyle and 900 meters of breaststroke, and maintained remarkably consistent pacing despite feeling somewhat sluggish in a warmer and unfamiliar pool.

The freestyle numbers were particularly reassuring. Several 100-meter repetitions naturally settled very close to my current CSS pace without this being intended as a threshold workout.

The breaststroke did exactly what it was supposed to do: provide controlled stroke-specific swimming without becoming race-pace work.

September has started quietly by design. The objective now isn’t to prove fitness every day. It is to use the fitness built during August and progressively turn it into race performance for Huntsman.

Today was supposed to be the final major swim of August, and it turned into considerably more than I originally expected. I completed 6,000 meters in 1:44:43 of swimming time, bringing my August total to 68,700 meters and finally putting me over my goal of 75,000 yards for the month.

There were three reasons today’s workout became so long. First, I simply felt really good. Second, the pool was almost completely empty until I reached about 4,800 meters, which gave me the opportunity to keep swimming without the usual interruptions. Then a younger swimmer showed up next to me, and naturally I couldn’t stop at that point—I had to show the young guy how it’s done.

But the third reason was the most important: I had set a goal for August, and I was going to finish it.

August 30 Workout Summary

Metric	Result
Distance	6,000 m
Swimming Time	1:44:43
Average Pace	1:45/100 m
Normalized Pace	1:45/100 m
Average HR	123 bpm
Maximum HR	163 bpm
sTSS	134
Intensity Factor	0.92
Calories	1,458 kcal

This was a significant endurance workout. FORM recorded almost exactly the same amount of actual swimming time as TrainingPeaks, with approximately 1:44:43 spent swimming. Including recovery between intervals, the entire pool session lasted considerably longer.

An average swimming pace of 1:45/100 m across 6,000 meters is particularly encouraging because this wasn’t simply a long, slow continuous swim. The workout contained repeated freestyle and breaststroke efforts, including some surprisingly fast freestyle late in the session.

How the 6,000 Meters Was Structured

FORM divided the workout into nine major sets. To keep the table readable on smaller screens, I have summarized the structure rather than listing every individual interval.

Set	Distance	Work
1	1,000 m	Mixed
2	1,000 m	10 × 100 mixed
3	1,500 m	10 × 150 mixed
4	500 m	10 × 50 mixed
5	500 m	10 × 50 BR
6	500 m	10 × 50 FR
7	700 m	14 × 50 mixed
8	100 m	2 × 50 BR
9	200 m	2 × 100 mixed
Total	6,000 m

The Most Interesting Part Came After 4,500 Meters

One of the strongest indicators from today’s workout wasn’t what happened at the beginning. It was what I could still do after swimming 4,500 meters.

At that point I completed a dedicated 500-meter freestyle set consisting of 10 × 50 meters. The combined swimming pace for those repetitions was approximately 1:33.5/100 m.

That doesn’t mean I could continuously hold 1:33.5 for an endurance swim because there was recovery between the individual 50s. What matters is that after 4,500 meters of previous swimming, I still had access to considerably faster freestyle speed.

For my 800- and 1500-meter freestyle goals, that is useful information. The challenge isn’t simply developing more speed. It is retaining as much of my existing speed as possible as fatigue accumulates.

Three Days of Very Different Training

The last three days of August produced three distinctly different workouts.

Date	Meters	sTSS
Aug. 28	1,600	39
Aug. 29	3,500	87
Aug. 30	6,000	134
Total	11,100	260

August 28 was primarily a speed and threshold assessment through the CSS test. August 29 returned to longer mixed endurance work. Today dramatically increased the distance again with 6,000 meters.

That means I have now completed 11,100 meters and accumulated 260 sTSS in only three days. TrainingPeaks finished today’s workout showing Fitness at 68, Fatigue at 117 and Form at -13.

I probably will not swim on August 31. It is a workday, I am not sure I will be able to get away from my desk, and after today’s workout there really isn’t anything left that I need to accomplish before August ends.

Huntsman 1500 Freestyle Comparison

My current 1500-meter freestyle training best remains 24:04.84. Today’s workout wasn’t structured as a continuous 1500-meter race effort, so it doesn’t replace that benchmark.

1500 FR	Time
Training Best	24:04.84
2025 Silver	23:39.43
2025 Bronze	25:04.75
2025 4th	25:06.88

The most useful next target is the 2025 silver-medal time. My current training best is 25.41 seconds behind Silver, equivalent to only about 1.69 seconds per 100 meters.

My 24:04.84 training swim was also completed with open turns and an in-water start. September doesn’t need to be about dramatically increasing freestyle speed. It needs to be about pacing, efficiency, endurance and gradually improving the turns.

Huntsman 800 Freestyle Comparison

800 FR	Time
Training Best	12:40.25
2025 Silver	12:16.56
2025 Bronze	12:32.85
2025 4th	12:56.76

The current 800 training best is only 7.40 seconds behind the 2025 bronze-medal time. That works out to less than one second per 100 meters.

This is why today’s ability to produce fast freestyle after already swimming 4,500 meters is encouraging. The required speed is already present. September needs to focus on making that speed repeatable over eight consecutive 100s.

Huntsman 200 Breaststroke Comparison

200 BR	Time
Training Best	3:27.54
2025 Silver	3:38.74
2025 Bronze	3:39.92
2025 4th	4:00.27

The 200 breaststroke remains the event where the current numbers are strongest. My 3:27.54 training benchmark is 11.20 seconds faster than the 2025 silver-medal time.

That doesn’t predict what will happen on race day, but it does suggest that the priority for September should be pacing and race execution rather than trying to develop substantially more raw breaststroke speed.

August Training Ledger

Today’s 6,000 meters brings the August total to 68,700 meters.

Date	Training	Meters	Total
Aug. 2	Swim	5,000	5,000
Aug. 3	Swim	2,500	7,500
Aug. 4	Swim	2,500	10,000
Aug. 5	Swim	2,500	12,500
Aug. 6	Swim	3,000	15,500
Aug. 7	Rest	—	15,500
Aug. 8	Walk	—	15,500
Aug. 9	Swim	6,000	21,500
Aug. 10	Swim	2,500	24,000
Aug. 11	Swim	2,500	26,500
Aug. 12	Swim	2,500	29,000
Aug. 13	Swim	2,500	31,500
Aug. 14	Run	—	31,500
Aug. 15	Swim	2,500	34,000
Aug. 16	Swim	2,500	36,500
Aug. 17	Swim	2,500	39,000
Aug. 18	Swim	2,500	41,500
Aug. 19	Swim	2,500	44,000
Aug. 20	Swim	2,500	46,500
Aug. 21	Rest	—	46,500
Aug. 22	Swim	3,000	49,500
Aug. 23	Swim	3,100	52,600
Aug. 24	Swim	2,500	55,100
Aug. 25	Run	—	55,100
Aug. 26	Swim	2,500	57,600
Aug. 27	Rest	—	57,600
Aug. 28	CSS Test	1,600	59,200
Aug. 29	Swim	3,500	62,700
Aug. 30	Long Swim	6,000	68,700

75,000 Yards – Goal Complete

The August goal was 75,000 yards.

August Goal	75,000 yd
Completed	~75,131 yd
Metric Total	68,700 m
Over Goal	~131 yd

I didn’t leave myself much extra room, but I didn’t need to.

Goal accomplished.

And I accomplished it without needing August 31.

Where August Leaves Me

August produced much more than a monthly distance total. It gave me a much clearer picture of where my swimming stands heading toward the Huntsman World Senior Games.

• 1500 FR: 24:04.84
• 800 FR: 12:40.25
• 200 BR: 3:27.54
• CSS: approximately 1:39.5/100 m
• August distance: 68,700 m / approximately 75,131 yd

Today’s workout added another useful piece of information: after more than 4,500 meters of swimming, I could still produce meaningful freestyle speed.

August was largely about rebuilding, accumulating distance and discovering what I am currently capable of doing.

September needs to be different.

The objective now isn’t to see how many meters I can accumulate. It is to convert the fitness developed during August into better Huntsman performances—particularly through 800- and 1500-meter freestyle pacing, 200-meter breaststroke race execution, improved turns and enough recovery to make the quality workouts count.

After 11,100 meters and 260 sTSS during the final three swimming days, a day away from the pool would probably be a pretty appropriate way to finish the month.

August Complete – Next Stop, September

I started August with a simple distance goal: 75,000 yards.

I finished with approximately 75,131 yards, a new CSS benchmark, meaningful race-distance benchmarks for all three of my priority Huntsman events, and a much clearer understanding of what the next phase of training needs to accomplish.

Today wasn’t about setting another race-distance record. It was about endurance, finishing something I started, and maybe applying just a little unnecessary competitive pressure when somebody younger happened to get into the lane next to me.

August is done. The mileage goal is complete. Now the focus shifts from accumulating meters to getting ready to race.

One day after completing my Critical Swim Speed test, I returned to the pool for a much longer workout. Today’s session totaled 3,500 meters and combined freestyle and breaststroke throughout a series of 200-, 100- and 50-meter intervals.

This wasn’t intended to be another benchmark test. Instead, it provided an opportunity to put yesterday’s speed work behind me and return to the type of sustained swimming that will ultimately matter most for my primary Huntsman events: the 1500-meter freestyle, 800-meter freestyle and 200-meter breaststroke.

August 29 Workout Summary

Metric	Result
Distance	3,500 m
Swimming Time	57:56
FORM Session Time	Approximately 1:10:53 including rest
Average Pace	1:39/100 m
Normalized Pace	1:39/100 m
Average Heart Rate	121 bpm
Maximum Heart Rate	145 bpm
sTSS	87
Intensity Factor	0.97
Calories	770 kcal
TrainingPeaks Fitness	59
TrainingPeaks Fatigue	64
TrainingPeaks Form	-9

The combination of 3,500 meters at an overall 1:39/100-meter swimming pace makes this one of the more substantial endurance sessions of the recent training block. At the same time, the 121 bpm average heart rate indicates that much of the workout remained aerobically controlled.

How Today’s Workout Was Structured

The FORM data divides the 3,500 meters into six major sets:

Set	Distance	Structure
1	1,000 m	5 × 200 mixed freestyle/breaststroke
2	500 m	10 × 50 freestyle
3	500 m	10 × 50 breaststroke
4	200 m	2 × 100
5	700 m	7 × 100
6	600 m	6 × 100
Total	3,500 m	Mixed endurance workout

There was considerable mixing of freestyle and breaststroke, including within some of the longer intervals. For that reason, today’s overall 1:39 pace should not be interpreted as though I had completed a continuous 3,500-meter freestyle at that speed.

What the overall result does show is that I was able to sustain a fairly quick average swimming pace across nearly an hour of actual swimming while alternating between my two competition strokes.

The Opening 200 Freestyle

One of the clearest early freestyle efforts was a 200-meter interval completed in approximately 3:03.19, equivalent to about 1:31.6/100 m.

25 m	Split
1	18.76
2	22.34
3	22.56
4	23.08
5	23.04
6	24.57
7	24.23
8	24.59
200 m	3:03.19

There is a familiar pacing pattern here. The first 25 was extremely fast at 18.76 seconds, followed by a gradual settling of pace into the 23- to 24-second range.

This is consistent with something that has appeared repeatedly in my recent freestyle data: I have plenty of opening speed. The greater opportunity is learning to distribute that speed efficiently rather than spending too much of it at the beginning of an interval or race.

10 × 50 Freestyle

The dedicated 10 × 50 freestyle set provided a better look at repeatable short-distance freestyle speed.

50 FR	Approximate Time	Equivalent /100 m Pace
1	40.81	1:21.62
2	42.09	1:24.18
3	42.33	1:24.66
4	42.79	1:25.58
5	42.22	1:24.44
6	42.76	1:25.52
7	43.72	1:27.44
8	42.61	1:25.22
9	43.40	1:26.80
10	44.67	1:29.34

The consistency of this set is encouraging. There was some slowing toward the end, but there was no dramatic collapse in pace. Nine of the ten 50s remained under 44 seconds, and even the final repetition was under 45 seconds.

The raw speed required for my freestyle events is clearly present. The continuing challenge is converting that speed into economical pace over 800 and 1500 meters.

Breaststroke Endurance

The 10 × 50 breaststroke set was generally in the low-50-second range, with many repetitions approximately 50–54 seconds.

The detailed length data again showed that I tend to swim the first 25 of a breaststroke interval considerably faster than the second. Many opening lengths were approximately 23–25 seconds, while the return lengths frequently moved into the 27–29 second range.

That is useful information for the 200 breaststroke. I don’t appear to need substantially more short-distance breaststroke speed. I need to make the speed I already have less expensive so that the second half of the race remains strong.

Today’s Pace vs. Yesterday’s CSS Test

Yesterday’s Critical Swim Speed test established a new training benchmark of approximately 1:39.5/100 m.

Benchmark	Result
August 28 – 400 FR CSS Test	6:25.34
August 28 – 200 FR CSS Test	3:06.25
Calculated CSS	1:39.5/100 m
August 29 – Overall Swim Pace	1:39/100 m

The similarity between those two pace numbers is interesting, but they should not be interpreted as equivalent performances. Today’s workout included breaststroke, rest periods and repeated intervals. I did not swim 3,500 meters continuously at CSS.

Still, being able to produce an overall swimming pace near yesterday’s calculated CSS across 3,500 meters of mixed work is another encouraging indication of my current endurance fitness.

Current Huntsman Benchmarks

Today’s workout was an endurance training session rather than a race-distance benchmark, so my current best times remain unchanged.

Event	Training Best	2025 Silver	2025 Bronze	2025 4th	Most Attainable Target	Difference
1500 FR	24:04.84	23:39.43	25:04.75	25:06.88	Silver	+25.41 sec
800 FR	12:40.25	12:16.56	12:32.85	12:56.76	Bronze	+7.40 sec
200 BR	3:27.54	3:38.74	3:39.92	4:00.27	Silver	-11.20 sec
100 BR	~1:42	1:28.57	1:32.97	1:37.95	4th	~+4.05 sec

The table continues to support the direction I have chosen for the remainder of Huntsman training. The 1500 freestyle, 800 freestyle and 200 breaststroke remain my priority events.

The 100 breaststroke will probably remain on my competition schedule, but it is no longer driving the design of my workouts.

Two Very Different Training Days

The last two days have provided very different training stimuli.

Date	Distance	Primary Purpose	sTSS
August 28	1,600 m	Critical Swim Speed test	39
August 29	3,500 m	Mixed endurance	87
Two-Day Total	5,100 m	Speed testing + endurance	126

Today’s 87 sTSS makes this a significant training day. Combined with yesterday, I have accumulated 5,100 meters and 126 sTSS in two days.

That matters because I have recently been dealing with right upper-arm and shoulder discomfort. I don’t want to repeat the pattern of accumulating training simply because I am capable of completing another workout.

August Training Ledger

Today’s 3,500 meters raises my August swimming total to 62,700 meters, approximately 68,570 yards.

Date	Training	Swim Distance	August Swim Total
August 2	Swim	5,000 m	5,000 m
August 3	Swim	2,500 m	7,500 m
August 4	Swim	2,500 m	10,000 m
August 5	Swim	2,500 m	12,500 m
August 6	Swim	3,000 m	15,500 m
August 7	No Swim	—	15,500 m
August 8	No Swim	—	15,500 m
August 9	Swim	6,000 m	21,500 m
August 10	Swim	2,500 m	24,000 m
August 11	Swim	2,500 m	26,500 m
August 12	Swim	2,500 m	29,000 m
August 13	Swim	2,500 m	31,500 m
August 14	Run / Dryland	—	31,500 m
August 15	Swim	2,500 m	34,000 m
August 16	Swim	2,500 m	36,500 m
August 17	Swim	2,500 m	39,000 m
August 18	Swim	2,500 m	41,500 m
August 19	Swim	2,500 m	44,000 m
August 20	Swim	2,500 m	46,500 m
August 21	Rest	—	46,500 m
August 22	Swim	3,000 m	49,500 m
August 23	Swim	3,100 m	52,600 m
August 24	Swim	2,500 m	55,100 m
August 25	Run / Shoulder Recovery	—	55,100 m
August 26	Swim	2,500 m	57,600 m
August 27	No Swim	—	57,600 m
August 28	Swim – CSS Test	1,600 m	59,200 m
August 29	Swim – Endurance	3,500 m	62,700 m

The 75,000-Yard Goal Is Suddenly Close Again

At 62,700 meters, I have now completed approximately 68,570 yards during August.

That leaves approximately 6,430 yards, or about 5,880 meters, to reach the original 75,000-yard goal.

With August 30 and August 31 remaining, the goal is mathematically attainable with approximately 2,940 meters per day.

But I am not going to allow that calculation to determine the next two workouts.

Today’s 3,500 meters came one day after the CSS test and produced 87 sTSS. I have also recently dealt with right shoulder and upper-arm discomfort. If recovery indicates that another large workout is a bad idea, then the 75,000-yard goal will remain secondary.

Today’s Takeaway

Today’s workout reinforces something that has become increasingly apparent during August: I have plenty of short-distance speed. The challenge isn’t finding a faster first 25 or even a faster first 100.

The opportunity is learning to make that speed economical and sustainable.

That applies to all three of my priority Huntsman events. For the 1500 freestyle, I need to distribute effort over 15 consecutive 100s. For the 800 freestyle, I need to turn my current speed into eight strong and consistent 100s. For the 200 breaststroke, I need to prevent the speed I clearly have in the first 25 and 50 meters from costing me too much during the second half.

Today’s 3,500 meters at an overall 1:39/100-meter swimming pace was another productive step in that direction.

It was also a substantial training day. With 5,100 meters and 126 sTSS over the last two days, what I do next should be determined by recovery and the larger Huntsman objective—not by how many meters are left on the August ledger.

Today’s workout was short by my recent standards, but it had a very specific purpose. Rather than completing another 2,500-meter endurance workout, I used today’s session to perform a Critical Swim Speed test and establish a more objective freestyle training benchmark for the next phase of my Huntsman Senior Games preparation.

I did not swim yesterday, August 27. Between a doctor’s appointment and an extremely busy workday, I stayed out of the pool. Coming after the recent right shoulder and upper-arm discomfort, the additional day without swimming wasn’t necessarily a bad thing.

Today I returned for 1,600 meters in 26:56 of swimming time. TrainingPeaks calculated an average pace of 1:41/100 m, 39 sTSS and an Intensity Factor of 0.95. But those overall numbers don’t tell the most important part of today’s story.

August 28 Workout Summary

Metric	Result
Distance	1,600 m
Swimming Time	26:56
Average Pace	1:41/100 m
Normalized Pace	1:41/100 m
Average Speed	59.4 m/min
Average Heart Rate	131 bpm
Maximum Heart Rate	151 bpm
sTSS	39
Intensity Factor	0.95
Calories	461 kcal
TrainingPeaks Fitness	59
TrainingPeaks Fatigue	64
TrainingPeaks Form	-9

The Critical Swim Speed Test

Critical Swim Speed, commonly abbreviated CSS, uses a timed 400-meter freestyle and a timed 200-meter freestyle to estimate a sustainable threshold swimming pace. That makes it particularly useful for structuring training for my two primary freestyle events: the 800-meter and 1500-meter freestyle.

Today’s two test swims produced the following results:

CSS Test	Time	Average Pace
400 m Freestyle	6:25.34	1:36.34/100 m
200 m Freestyle	3:06.25	1:33.13/100 m

Calculating My CSS

The calculation uses the difference between the 400-meter and 200-meter performances:

CSS = (400 time − 200 time) ÷ 2

Using today’s results:

(6:25.34 − 3:06.25) ÷ 2 = approximately 1:39.5/100 m

That establishes my current measured Critical Swim Speed at approximately 1:39.5 per 100 meters. For practical workout programming in FORM and TrainingPeaks, I can round that to approximately 1:40/100 m.

400-Meter Test – 6:25.34

The 400-meter freestyle was completed in 6:25.34, averaging approximately 1:36.34/100 m.

The detailed Garmin data shows that I started the 400 aggressively. Individual 25-meter lengths early in the effort included 21.63, 23.56 and 21.13 seconds before I settled into a more sustainable rhythm.

The later lengths were generally in the 23–25 second range, with the final 25 taking 26.74 seconds. That slowdown is useful information. The overall 400 time was strong, but the pacing wasn’t perfectly even. There is probably performance available simply by improving how I distribute the effort rather than trying to gain all of the improvement through additional fitness.

200-Meter Test – 3:06.25

The 200-meter test produced the faster average pace expected from the shorter distance: 3:06.25, or approximately 1:33.13/100 m.

The first three 25-meter lengths were particularly quick at 21.81, 21.88 and 21.25 seconds. The final two lengths slowed to 25.81 and 25.56 seconds.

Again, that suggests pacing remains something I can improve. My speed is clearly there. The challenge is distributing it more efficiently across the entire distance.

What the CSS Result Means for Training

The value of today’s test is that I now have another objective number around which to organize freestyle training. Based on today’s test and my recent endurance performances, I can use approximately the following pacing framework:

Training Purpose	Current Working Pace
Easy / Recovery Freestyle	Approximately 1:50–2:00+/100 m
Aerobic Endurance	Approximately 1:42–1:46/100 m
CSS / Threshold	Approximately 1:39–1:40/100 m
800 / 1500 Race-Oriented Training	Approximately 1:35–1:38/100 m
Short Controlled Speed	Faster than 1:35/100 m

I don’t intend to treat 1:39.5 as an absolute limit on what I can sustain. My recent 1500-meter freestyle training performance already demonstrates why.

CSS vs. My 1500-Meter Training Best

On August 23 I completed a 1500-meter freestyle training best of 24:04.84. That works out to approximately 1:36.3/100 m.

Benchmark	Pace / 100 m
August 28 CSS	1:39.5
August 23 – 1500 FR Training Best	1:36.3
Difference	1500 pace approximately 3.2 sec/100 faster

That discrepancy is important. It means today’s CSS result should be treated as a training benchmark rather than a prediction of my race capability. A single CSS test can be affected by pacing, test execution, fatigue and the relationship between the two test distances.

My actual long-distance swimming remains the more important evidence when evaluating Huntsman performance potential.

Current Huntsman Benchmarks

Today’s CSS test doesn’t replace my existing race-distance training performances. Instead, it gives me another tool for determining how to structure the workouts that should improve them.

Event	Training Best	2025 Silver	2025 Bronze	2025 4th	Most Attainable Target	Difference
1500 FR	24:04.84	23:39.43	25:04.75	25:06.88	Silver	+25.41 sec
800 FR	12:40.25	12:16.56	12:32.85	12:56.76	Bronze	+7.40 sec
200 BR	3:27.54	3:38.74	3:39.92	4:00.27	Silver	-11.20 sec
100 BR	~1:42	1:28.57	1:32.97	1:37.95	4th	~+4.05 sec

The overall picture remains unchanged. My primary Huntsman events are now the 1500 freestyle, 800 freestyle and 200 breaststroke. I will probably still swim the 100 breaststroke, but I’m no longer designing workouts specifically around that event.

Recent Training and Recovery

The last week has also required some adjustments to the training schedule.

Date	Activity	Distance	sTSS	Notes
Aug. 22	Swim	3,000 m	72	Breaststroke benchmarks + 800 FR
Aug. 23	Swim	3,100 m	78	1500 FR training best
Aug. 24	Swim	2,500 m	63	New right shoulder/upper-arm discomfort
Aug. 25	Dryland	3.79 mi / 6.10 km	—	Shoulder recovery day
Aug. 26	Swim	2,500 m	55	Controlled return to swimming
Aug. 27	No Swim	—	—	Doctor’s appointment and work commitments
Aug. 28	Swim	1,600 m	39	Critical Swim Speed test

Today’s session therefore added quality without adding another large-volume day. At 1,600 meters and 39 sTSS, it was substantially shorter than most of my recent swimming sessions while still providing useful performance data.

August Training Ledger

Today’s 1,600 meters brings my August swimming total to 59,200 meters, approximately 64,742 yards.

Date	Training	Swim Distance	August Swim Total
August 2	Swim	5,000 m	5,000 m
August 3	Swim	2,500 m	7,500 m
August 4	Swim	2,500 m	10,000 m
August 5	Swim	2,500 m	12,500 m
August 6	Swim	3,000 m	15,500 m
August 7	No Swim	—	15,500 m
August 8	No Swim	—	15,500 m
August 9	Swim	6,000 m	21,500 m
August 10	Swim	2,500 m	24,000 m
August 11	Swim	2,500 m	26,500 m
August 12	Swim	2,500 m	29,000 m
August 13	Swim	2,500 m	31,500 m
August 14	Run / Dryland	—	31,500 m
August 15	Swim	2,500 m	34,000 m
August 16	Swim	2,500 m	36,500 m
August 17	Swim	2,500 m	39,000 m
August 18	Swim	2,500 m	41,500 m
August 19	Swim	2,500 m	44,000 m
August 20	Swim	2,500 m	46,500 m
August 21	Rest	—	46,500 m
August 22	Swim	3,000 m	49,500 m
August 23	Swim	3,100 m	52,600 m
August 24	Swim	2,500 m	55,100 m
August 25	Run / Shoulder Recovery	—	55,100 m
August 26	Swim	2,500 m	57,600 m
August 27	No Swim	—	57,600 m
August 28	Swim – CSS Test	1,600 m	59,200 m

Where the 75,000-Yard Goal Stands

My original August goal was 75,000 yards. With 59,200 meters completed, I am now at approximately 64,742 yards.

That leaves approximately 10,258 yards, or roughly 9,380 meters, to reach the original goal by the end of August.

With only three days remaining after today, reaching that number would require more than 3,100 meters per day. Given the recent shoulder issue and the much more important objective of preparing for Huntsman, I am not going to force that volume simply to reach a monthly mileage number.

The August goal did what it was supposed to do: it encouraged consistency. It doesn’t need to dictate the final three days of the month.

Today’s Takeaway

Today’s 1,600-meter workout produced something more useful than another large number in the monthly distance column.

I now have a measured Critical Swim Speed of approximately 1:39.5/100 m. The 400-meter test was 6:25.34, the 200-meter test was 3:06.25, and both provide additional information about my current freestyle speed and pacing.

The test also exposed something that has appeared in several recent workouts: I have enough speed to open very quickly, but I can probably improve my overall performances by controlling that opening speed and distributing the effort more evenly.

Most importantly, today’s CSS number gives me another objective benchmark for designing the next block of 800- and 1500-meter freestyle training.

The next time I repeat this test, I won’t just be looking for a faster 400 or 200. I will be looking for a faster CSS, better pacing within both test swims, and evidence that those improvements are carrying over to the distances that actually matter at Huntsman.

August 28 benchmark: CSS approximately 1:39.5/100 m.

After taking yesterday out of the pool because of the new discomfort I had developed in my right upper arm and shoulder, today was a return to swimming—but not a return to hard training.

I completed my normal 2,500 meters, but today’s workout was deliberately different from the harder endurance sessions I had been doing before the shoulder problem appeared. I mixed freestyle and breaststroke throughout much of the workout, kept the cardiovascular load controlled, and finished with a short continuous freestyle effort.

The objective was not to establish another race benchmark. It was to get back into the water and see how my body responded after a day away from swimming.

August 26 Workout Summary

Metric	Result
Distance	2,500 m
Swimming Time	43:57
Total Time Including Rest	46:45
Average Pace	1:46/100 m
Normalized Pace	1:45/100 m
Average Heart Rate	127 bpm
Maximum Heart Rate	150 bpm
sTSS	55
Intensity Factor	0.91
Calories	606 kcal
Total Strokes	1,565
Average Strokes	16 per 25 m
Average SWOLF	42

The Garmin data includes 43:57 of actual swimming and 46:45 when the rest periods are included. TrainingPeaks therefore reports the shorter 43:57 duration.

A Very Different Workout From Monday

At first glance, today’s 1:46/100 m average pace looks considerably slower than Monday’s 1:39/100 m. But that isn’t really an appropriate performance comparison because the composition of the two workouts was very different.

Metric	August 24	August 26
Distance	2,500 m	2,500 m
Swimming Time	41:13	43:57
Average Pace	1:39/100 m	1:46/100 m
Average HR	120 bpm	127 bpm
Maximum HR	152 bpm	150 bpm
sTSS	63	55
IF	0.97	0.91

Monday contained considerably more structured endurance work. Today was a mixed-stroke session with frequent transitions between freestyle and breaststroke.

For that reason, I don’t consider the seven-second difference in average 100-meter pace evidence that I suddenly became slower. Today’s purpose was different.

How the 2,500 Meters Were Structured

The detailed Garmin data breaks today’s workout into five primary swimming blocks:

Block	Distance	Time	Avg Pace	Avg HR	Stroke
1	1,300 m	22:44	1:45/100 m	130 bpm	Mixed FR/BR
2	400 m	7:01.8	1:45/100 m	127 bpm	Mixed FR/BR
3	400 m	7:02.3	1:46/100 m	124 bpm	Mixed FR/BR
4	300 m	5:30.4	1:50/100 m	125 bpm	Mixed FR/BR
5	100 m	1:37.6	1:38/100 m	115 bpm	Freestyle

The progressive heart-rate numbers are particularly interesting. The average heart rate for the major blocks went from 130 to 127 to 124 to 125 bpm. Rather than progressively driving the cardiovascular load upward as the workout continued, the effort remained very controlled.

Freestyle Was Still There

Even though today wasn’t a freestyle benchmark workout, the individual Garmin lengths show that much of my normal freestyle was still in the general range of approximately 23–25 seconds per 25 meters, equivalent to roughly 1:32–1:40 per 100 meters.

There were also several substantially quicker individual freestyle lengths, including 17.9, 21.7, 22.0, 22.1 and 22.2 seconds.

But the most useful freestyle result came at the very end of the workout.

Final 100 Freestyle – 1:37.6

After already completing 2,400 meters, I finished with a continuous 100-meter freestyle in 1:37.6.

25 m	Split	Strokes
1	21.2	20
2	25.1	21
3	25.9	22
4	25.4	21
100 m	1:37.6	84 total

I’m more interested in that result than today’s overall 1:46 average pace. My primary freestyle events at Huntsman are now the 800 and 1500. Retaining the ability to swim a controlled sub-1:40 100 after 2,400 meters of mixed swimming is relevant to the endurance direction of my training.

Breaststroke Was Deliberately Easier

Today’s breaststroke also looked very different from the race-oriented breaststroke training I had been doing last week. Many of the breaststroke 25s were approximately 27–30 seconds, equivalent to roughly 1:48–2:00 per 100 meters.

That was appropriate. I wasn’t trying to establish another 200-meter breaststroke benchmark or train the 100-meter breaststroke as a sprint event. Breaststroke was being used as part of a controlled mixed-stroke workout.

The Last Five Days Tell the Story

Date	Activity	Distance	sTSS	Purpose / Result
Aug. 22	Swim	3,000 m	72	BR benchmarks + 800 FR
Aug. 23	Swim	3,100 m	78	1500 FR training best
Aug. 24	Swim	2,500 m	63	Endurance; right shoulder discomfort
Aug. 25	Dryland	3.79 mi / 6.10 km	—	Shoulder recovery
Aug. 26	Swim	2,500 m	55	Controlled return

This is why today’s 55 sTSS is a positive result rather than something I want to increase. Saturday through Monday produced 8,600 meters and 213 sTSS in three consecutive swimming days. Monday also produced the new right upper-arm/shoulder discomfort that caused me to modify the workout.

Yesterday’s dryland session broke that sequence, and today’s swim reduced the swimming training load further.

Current Huntsman Benchmarks

Today’s workout was not intended to establish new race benchmarks, so my current comparison against the 2025 Huntsman results remains unchanged.

Event	Training Best	2025 Silver	2025 Bronze	2025 4th	Current Target	Difference
1500 FR	24:04.84	23:39.43	25:04.75	25:06.88	Silver	+25.41 sec
800 FR	12:40.25	12:16.56	12:32.85	12:56.76	Bronze	+7.40 sec
200 BR	3:27.54	3:38.74	3:39.92	4:00.27	Silver	-11.20 sec
100 BR	~1:42	1:28.57	1:32.97	1:37.95	4th	~+4.05 sec

The training priorities therefore remain the 1500 freestyle, 800 freestyle and 200 breaststroke. I will probably swim the 100 breaststroke at Huntsman, but I am not going to design workouts specifically around it.

August Training Ledger

Today’s 2,500 meters moves my August swimming total to 57,600 meters, or approximately 62,992 yards.

Date	Training	Swim Distance	August Swim Total
August 2	Swim	5,000 m	5,000 m
August 3	Swim	2,500 m	7,500 m
August 4	Swim	2,500 m	10,000 m
August 5	Swim	2,500 m	12,500 m
August 6	Swim	3,000 m	15,500 m
August 7	No Swim	—	15,500 m
August 8	No Swim	—	15,500 m
August 9	Swim	6,000 m	21,500 m
August 10	Swim	2,500 m	24,000 m
August 11	Swim	2,500 m	26,500 m
August 12	Swim	2,500 m	29,000 m
August 13	Swim	2,500 m	31,500 m
August 14	Run / Dryland	—	31,500 m
August 15	Swim	2,500 m	34,000 m
August 16	Swim	2,500 m	36,500 m
August 17	Swim	2,500 m	39,000 m
August 18	Swim	2,500 m	41,500 m
August 19	Swim	2,500 m	44,000 m
August 20	Swim	2,500 m	46,500 m
August 21	Rest	—	46,500 m
August 22	Swim	3,000 m	49,500 m
August 23	Swim	3,100 m	52,600 m
August 24	Swim	2,500 m	55,100 m
August 25	Run / Shoulder Recovery	—	55,100 m
August 26	Swim	2,500 m	57,600 m

The 75,000-Yard Goal

At 57,600 meters, I have now completed approximately 62,992 yards in August. Reaching 75,000 yards would require approximately another 10,980 meters.

That goal is still mathematically possible, but after what happened with my shoulder earlier this week, I am not going to let a monthly distance target dictate whether I swim.

Recovery and preparation for Huntsman are more important than reaching an arbitrary number by August 31.

Today’s Takeaway

Today’s workout accomplished what I needed from it. I returned to the pool, completed 2,500 meters, kept the training load down to 55 sTSS, mixed strokes rather than forcing another long freestyle session, and still had enough freestyle available to finish the final 100 meters in 1:37.6.

The slower 1:46 overall pace isn’t the story of today’s workout.

The story is that after recognizing a potential recovery problem on Monday, I took Tuesday away from swimming and returned Wednesday with a substantially more controlled session rather than immediately going back to race-oriented training.

I am still not automatically committing to a hard workout tomorrow. How my right shoulder and upper arm respond after today’s 2,500 meters will help determine what Thursday’s training should look like.

The objective isn’t to win August. The objective is to be ready to race in October.

Today was intentionally not a swimming day.

During yesterday’s 2,500-meter swim I began developing discomfort in my right upper arm and shoulder. That is not normally the side that gives me problems, and the discomfort became noticeable enough that I substituted breaststroke for portions of the planned freestyle work.

That occurred at the end of three consecutive swimming days totaling 8,600 meters and 213 sTSS. Rather than immediately returning to the pool today, I decided the more productive choice was to give my shoulder a complete break from swimming and substitute a dryland aerobic workout.

August 25 Dryland Workout

Metric	Result
Activity	Running / Treadmill
Distance	3.79 miles / 6.10 km
Duration	39:14
Average Pace	10:21/mile
Average Heart Rate	Approximately 139 bpm
Maximum Heart Rate	156 bpm
Calories	621 kcal

This wasn’t intended to be a complete rest day. The objective was to maintain an aerobic training stimulus while eliminating the repetitive upper-body loading associated with freestyle and breaststroke.

Mile-by-Mile Results

Segment	Time	Average HR	Maximum HR
Mile 1	10:20.8	133 bpm	156 bpm
Mile 2	9:17.2	150 bpm	156 bpm
Mile 3	9:31.4	149 bpm	153 bpm
Final 0.79 mile	10:04.6	124 bpm	141 bpm

The workout had a clear progression. The first mile served as the easier opening portion at 10:20.8. Miles two and three became the primary aerobic work at 9:17.2 and 9:31.4, with average heart rates of 150 and 149 bpm.

The final 0.79 mile was considerably easier, with an average heart rate of only 124 bpm. That gave the workout a natural warm-down rather than ending immediately after the harder middle portion.

Why I Stayed Out of the Pool

Yesterday’s workout was successful from a performance standpoint, but it also provided a warning that I don’t want to ignore.

Date	Workout	Distance	sTSS
August 22	Swim	3,000 m	72
August 23	Swim	3,100 m	78
August 24	Swim	2,500 m	63
3-Day Total	Swimming	8,600 m	213
August 25	Dryland / Run	3.79 mi / 6.10 km	—

That three-day swimming block included both breaststroke race-pace work and my new 24:04.84 1500-meter freestyle training best. By Monday, the cumulative workload was beginning to show itself through new right shoulder and upper-arm discomfort.

I had been considering the possibility that I was getting dangerously close to doing too much training. I can’t conclude from a few workouts that I am actually overtrained, but I don’t need to reach that point before making an adjustment.

Today’s dryland session allowed me to continue working aerobically while removing swimming from the equation for at least one day.

Current Huntsman Benchmarks

Nothing about today’s recovery session changes my current race benchmarks or the direction of the Huntsman training plan.

Event	Training Best	2025 Silver	2025 Bronze	2025 4th	Current Target	Difference
1500 FR	24:04.84	23:39.43	25:04.75	25:06.88	Silver	+25.41 sec
800 FR	12:40.25	12:16.56	12:32.85	12:56.76	Bronze	+7.40 sec
200 BR	3:27.54	3:38.74	3:39.92	4:00.27	Silver	-11.20 sec
100 BR	~1:42	1:28.57	1:32.97	1:37.95	4th	~+4.05 sec

The priority events remain the 1500 freestyle, 800 freestyle and 200 breaststroke. I will probably still swim the 100 breaststroke, but I am not designing the remaining training program around it.

August Training Ledger

Because today was a dryland day, my August swimming total remains at 55,100 meters. The running workout is included in the training ledger but does not count toward the swimming total.

Date	Training	Swim Distance	August Swim Total
August 2	Swim	5,000 m	5,000 m
August 3	Swim	2,500 m	7,500 m
August 4	Swim	2,500 m	10,000 m
August 5	Swim	2,500 m	12,500 m
August 6	Swim	3,000 m	15,500 m
August 7	No Swim	—	15,500 m
August 8	No Swim	—	15,500 m
August 9	Swim	6,000 m	21,500 m
August 10	Swim	2,500 m	24,000 m
August 11	Swim	2,500 m	26,500 m
August 12	Swim	2,500 m	29,000 m
August 13	Swim	2,500 m	31,500 m
August 14	Run / Dryland	—	31,500 m
August 15	Swim	2,500 m	34,000 m
August 16	Swim	2,500 m	36,500 m
August 17	Swim	2,500 m	39,000 m
August 18	Swim	2,500 m	41,500 m
August 19	Swim	2,500 m	44,000 m
August 20	Swim	2,500 m	46,500 m
August 21	Rest	—	46,500 m
August 22	Swim	3,000 m	49,500 m
August 23	Swim	3,100 m	52,600 m
August 24	Swim	2,500 m	55,100 m
August 25	Run / Shoulder Recovery	—	55,100 m

The 75,000-Yard Goal Takes a Back Seat

At 55,100 meters, I have completed approximately 60,258 yards of swimming during August. That leaves approximately 13,480 meters to reach my original 75,000-yard monthly goal.

Mathematically, the goal is still possible. But I have decided that I am not going to chase it at the expense of recovery.

The 75,000-yard target was designed to motivate consistency. It was never supposed to become more important than staying healthy enough to train for Huntsman.

Tomorrow Is a Morning Decision

I am deliberately not scheduling Wednesday’s swim yet.

I will see how the right shoulder and upper arm feel tomorrow morning. If the shoulder has settled down, I can decide whether returning to the pool makes sense and what kind of workout is appropriate. If it is still bothering me, another day away from swimming may be the better training decision.

There is no race on August 31. The race that matters is in October.

Today’s Takeaway

Today’s 3.79-mile dryland workout accomplished what I wanted from it. I still received a meaningful aerobic stimulus, particularly during the 9:17 and 9:31 middle miles, while giving my shoulder a complete day away from swimming.

Sometimes the most useful training decision isn’t adding another interval or another 2,500 meters. Sometimes it is recognizing when the accumulated work is beginning to catch up and changing the plan before a warning becomes an injury.

Tomorrow morning I’ll decide whether it is time to get back into the pool or whether recovery needs another day.

Today’s workout was supposed to begin the next phase of my Huntsman Senior Games preparation. After deciding yesterday to concentrate primarily on the 1500-meter freestyle, 800-meter freestyle and 200-meter breaststroke, today’s 2,500-meter workout was designed as a controlled endurance session rather than another race benchmark.

I completed the full 2,500 meters in 41:13, with an overall average pace of 1:39/100 m. The numbers were good, but today’s most important result wasn’t a time. During the workout I began developing discomfort in my right upper arm and shoulder. That is not normally the side that bothers me, and it caused me to modify portions of the planned freestyle work.

August 24 Workout Summary

Metric	Result
Distance	2,500 m
Duration	41:13
Average Pace	1:39/100 m
Normalized Pace	1:39/100 m
Average Speed	60.4 m/min
Average Heart Rate	120 bpm
Maximum Heart Rate	152 bpm
sTSS	63
Intensity Factor	0.97
Calories	552 kcal
Fitness / Fatigue / Form	58 / 61 / -3

The Planned Workout

The workout was intentionally designed around my newly established endurance-event priorities.

Set	Planned Pace	Purpose
200 FR Easy	2:00/100 m	Warm-up
100 BR Easy	1:55/100 m	Warm-up
4 × 50 FR Build	1:40/100 m	Prepare for endurance work
4 × 200 FR	1:38/100 m	800/1500 endurance
4 × 50 BR	1:48/100 m	Smooth breaststroke technique
4 × 100 BR	1:46/100 m	200 BR endurance
4 × 100 FR	1:36/100 m	Strong freestyle under fatigue
200 FR Easy	2:00/100 m	Warm-down

What Actually Happened

The workout began well. The opening 200-meter freestyle was completed in approximately 3:08, or about 1:34/100 m. The 100-meter breaststroke warm-up followed in approximately 1:41.65.

The 4 × 50 freestyle build set was considerably faster than prescribed. The four 50s averaged approximately 41 seconds, equivalent to roughly 1:22/100 m. In retrospect, that was faster than necessary for a workout intended to be controlled.

The Freestyle Endurance Set

The planned centerpiece was 4 × 200 freestyle at 1:38/100 m. The first two clean freestyle 200s were strong:

Interval	Target	Actual	Actual Pace	Difference
200 FR #1	3:16	3:10.86	1:35.43/100	5.14 sec faster
200 FR #2	3:16	3:13.59	1:36.80/100	2.41 sec faster

Those two intervals were right where I want my endurance freestyle development to be. Both were faster than the prescribed 1:38 pace without becoming all-out efforts.

However, I did not complete all four 200s as pure freestyle. As the workout progressed I began developing discomfort in my right upper arm and shoulder. Rather than abandon the workout, I substituted breaststroke for portions of the planned freestyle. FORM consequently recorded the latter part of this section as mixed freestyle and breaststroke rather than four clean 200-meter freestyle repetitions.

Breaststroke Work

The 4 × 50 breaststroke set was productive. The four repetitions were approximately:

50 BR	Time	Equivalent 100M Pace
#1	51.02	1:42.04
#2	52.46	1:44.92
#3	53.82	1:47.64
#4	53.16	1:46.32

The set averaged approximately 1:45.2/100 m, slightly faster than the prescribed 1:48 pace. More importantly, this was controlled breaststroke rather than the sprint-oriented work I had been doing during last week’s breaststroke-intensive training.

The later breaststroke work was slower, generally around the upper 1:40s to low 1:50s per 100 meters. With the shoulder issue influencing stroke selection and the cumulative workload from the previous two days, I don’t consider those slower repetitions particularly concerning.

Today’s Workout Compared With Yesterday

The comparison with yesterday’s 3,100-meter workout is interesting because the overall pace was essentially identical while the cardiovascular demand was considerably lower.

Metric	Aug. 23	Aug. 24	Change
Distance	3,100 m	2,500 m	-600 m
Average Pace	1:39/100 m	1:39/100 m	Essentially unchanged
Average HR	133 bpm	120 bpm	-13 bpm
Maximum HR	151 bpm	152 bpm	+1 bpm
sTSS	78	63	-15
IF	0.97	0.97	Unchanged

I don’t want to interpret the 13-bpm reduction in average heart rate as a direct improvement in efficiency because the two workouts were very different. Still, maintaining approximately the same overall pace at a lower average cardiovascular load is encouraging.

Three Days of Significant Work

The shoulder discomfort also needs to be considered in the context of the workload accumulated over the last three days.

Date	Distance	sTSS	Primary Work
August 22	3,000 m	72	Breaststroke benchmarks + 800 FR
August 23	3,100 m	78	1500 FR training best
August 24	2,500 m	63	Endurance / mixed stroke
3-Day Total	8,600 m	213	Three consecutive swim days

That is enough accumulated work that I need to pay attention to what my body is telling me. The right shoulder discomfort is new, and it was significant enough that I changed strokes during today’s workout.

I don’t know that I am actually overtrained, but I do have a feeling that I am getting dangerously close to doing too much. There is no benefit to reaching an arbitrary August mileage target if doing so compromises the training that actually matters in September or my ability to race in October.

Current Training Bests vs. 2025 Huntsman Results

Today’s workout wasn’t intended to change any of my race benchmarks, so the current best-time table remains unchanged. These are the benchmarks that will guide the next phase of training.

Event	Training Best	2025 Silver	2025 Bronze	2025 4th	Current Target	Difference
1500 FR	24:04.84	23:39.43	25:04.75	25:06.88	Silver	+25.41 sec
800 FR	12:40.25	12:16.56	12:32.85	12:56.76	Bronze	+7.40 sec
200 BR	3:27.54	3:38.74	3:39.92	4:00.27	Silver	-11.20 sec
100 BR	~1:42	1:28.57	1:32.97	1:37.95	4th	~+4.05 sec

The comparison continues to reinforce the decision I made yesterday. My strongest opportunities are in the endurance events. The 200 breaststroke training best is already faster than the 2025 silver time. The 800 freestyle is only 7.40 seconds from the 2025 bronze benchmark, while the 1500 freestyle is already well inside the 2025 bronze time and 25.41 seconds from silver.

The 100 breaststroke remains an event I will probably swim, but I am no longer going to build workouts specifically around it.

August Swimming Ledger

Today’s 2,500 meters brings my August total to 55,100 meters.

Date	Distance	August Cumulative
August 2	5,000 m	5,000 m
August 3	2,500 m	7,500 m
August 4	2,500 m	10,000 m
August 5	2,500 m	12,500 m
August 6	3,000 m	15,500 m
August 7	0 m	15,500 m
August 8	0 m	15,500 m
August 9	6,000 m	21,500 m
August 10	2,500 m	24,000 m
August 11	2,500 m	26,500 m
August 12	2,500 m	29,000 m
August 13	2,500 m	31,500 m
August 14	0 m – Run/Dryland	31,500 m
August 15	2,500 m	34,000 m
August 16	2,500 m	36,500 m
August 17	2,500 m	39,000 m
August 18	2,500 m	41,500 m
August 19	2,500 m	44,000 m
August 20	2,500 m	46,500 m
August 21	0 m – Rest	46,500 m
August 22	3,000 m	49,500 m
August 23	3,100 m	52,600 m
August 24	2,500 m	55,100 m

The 75,000-Yard Goal

The 55,100 meters completed so far converts to approximately 60,258 yards. My 75,000-yard August goal requires approximately 68,580 meters, leaving roughly 13,480 meters.

There are still seven days remaining in August, so mathematically the goal remains attainable. Six additional 2,500-meter swims would put me at approximately 70,100 meters, or more than 76,000 yards.

But that calculation is no longer going to dictate the training schedule.

Tomorrow: Out of the Pool

I am currently planning to make Tuesday a dryland treadmill day rather than another swimming day. The objective is to maintain some aerobic work while giving the right shoulder a break from repetitive swimming.

Even if taking additional recovery means I don’t reach 75,000 yards this month, that is a trade I am willing to make. The monthly distance goal is motivational. Huntsman is the actual objective.

I am also not going to automatically schedule another hard swim for Wednesday. How the shoulder responds to a day away from swimming will help determine what comes next.

Today’s Takeaway

From a performance standpoint, today’s workout was good. The first two 200-meter freestyle endurance repetitions came in at approximately 1:35.4 and 1:36.8 per 100 meters, both faster than the planned 1:38 pace. The controlled 50-meter breaststroke work averaged approximately 1:45/100 m, and I completed the full 2,500-meter distance at an overall 1:39 pace.

But training isn’t just about deciding whether the stopwatch says a workout was successful.

Over the last three days I have swum 8,600 meters and accumulated 213 sTSS. Today my right shoulder began telling me that the workload may be catching up with me. Changing strokes allowed me to finish today’s workout, but continuing to pile swimming volume onto a new shoulder problem simply to reach a monthly mileage target would be counterproductive.

So tomorrow’s training objective is recovery.

The priority remains the same: arrive at Huntsman prepared to race the 1500 freestyle, 800 freestyle and 200 breaststroke. Everything between now and October—including when to rest—needs to serve that objective.

Today was originally supposed to be a break from structured training. After a week of prescribed breaststroke-intensive workouts, I wanted to get into the pool without chasing a long list of interval targets. The only real plan was to swim approximately 2,500 meters, work by feel, and give myself a mental break from following a tightly structured workout.

That plan changed once I got into the water. I ultimately completed 3,100 meters in 50:57, including a continuous 1,500-meter freestyle that produced a new training best.

August 23 Workout Summary

Metric	Result
Total Distance	3,100 m
Moving Time	50:57
Average Pace	1:39/100 m
Normalized Pace	1:39/100 m
Freestyle	2,425 m
Breaststroke	675 m
Average Heart Rate	133 bpm
Maximum Heart Rate	151 bpm
sTSS	78
Intensity Factor	0.97
Calories	774 kcal
Fitness / Fatigue / Form	58 / 61 / 0

Approximately 78 percent of today’s distance was freestyle and 22 percent was breaststroke. After the previous week concentrated heavily on breaststroke, that shift toward freestyle provided a useful change in emphasis.

A New 1500M Freestyle Training Best

The centerpiece of today’s free-form workout became a continuous 1,500-meter freestyle. I completed it in 24:04.84, an average pace of approximately 1:36.32/100 m.

1500M Freestyle: 24:04.84
Previous training best: 24:21.26
Improvement: 16.42 seconds

There is an important qualification to this result. The 1,500 was completed from a water start using open turns. I did not use a competition start or flip turns. That makes the 24:04.84 an especially useful training benchmark because there is still a technical component of my freestyle that can be developed before competition.

1500M Freestyle Splits

100M	Split
1	1:28.71
2	1:35.04
3	1:37.05
4	1:38.12
5	1:38.33
6	1:35.84
7	1:37.88
8	1:35.81
9	1:37.84
10	1:35.60
11	1:36.44
12	1:36.50
13	1:36.87
14	1:37.35
15	1:37.46

The obvious pacing issue was the opening 1:28.71. After that first 100, however, the swim became remarkably consistent. Most of the remaining 100s stayed between approximately 1:35 and 1:38, with very little deterioration during the final 500 meters.

The final five 100s were 1:36.44, 1:36.50, 1:36.87, 1:37.35 and 1:37.46. That late-race stability is particularly encouraging for an endurance event.

Today’s First 800M Compared With Yesterday

Another interesting result appears when comparing the first 800 meters of today’s 1,500 with the standalone 800-meter freestyle I completed yesterday.

800M	Time	Pace / 100M
August 22 Standalone 800	13:00.62	1:37.58
August 23 First 800 of 1500	12:46.78	1:35.85

The first 800 meters of today’s 1,500 were 13.84 seconds faster than yesterday’s standalone 800. Even more significantly, the 12:46.78 split was only 6.53 seconds slower than my current 800-meter training best of 12:40.25, yet I still had another 700 meters to swim.

Flip Turns Become Part of the Training Plan

I also need to begin incorporating flip turns into freestyle training more consistently. At the moment, flip turns are considerably more tiring for me than open turns. My core strength and turn efficiency are not yet where I want them, and attempting to use flip turns continuously can take energy away from the actual swimming set.

Rather than suddenly requiring flip turns throughout every freestyle workout, I am going to introduce them progressively. Initially that may mean using them during selected portions of a workout and gradually increasing the number as they become more efficient and less taxing.

The objective isn’t simply to perform a flip turn. It is to make the turn inexpensive enough that it improves race performance rather than consuming energy needed for the 800 and 1500.

The Huntsman Training Priorities Are Now Clear

The results of the past week have helped answer an important question about how I should use the remaining training time before the Huntsman World Senior Games.

My three priority competition events are now:

• 1500M Freestyle
• 800M Freestyle
• 200M Breaststroke

All three are endurance-oriented events, and the recent training results increasingly suggest that endurance is where my strengths lie.

I will probably still swim the 100-meter breaststroke at Huntsman. However, I am no longer going to design workouts specifically around improving the 100. It becomes a secondary event that I can swim for the experience rather than a primary training objective.

Short breaststroke intervals will remain in the workouts, but their purpose will be to improve technique, efficiency and sustainable speed for the 200-meter breaststroke rather than developing pure sprint speed for the 100.

Current Training Bests vs. 2025 Huntsman Results

The following table compares my current training bests with the 2025 Huntsman Men’s 60–64 results. The final column compares my training best with the highest finishing position that appears reasonably attainable based on the current numbers. A negative difference means my training best is already faster than the 2025 result; a positive difference shows how much faster I would need to swim to equal it.

Event	Training Best	2025 Silver	2025 Bronze	2025 4th	Current Target	Difference
1500 FR	24:04.84	23:39.43	25:04.75	25:06.88	Silver	+25.41 sec
800 FR	12:40.25	12:16.56	12:32.85	12:56.76	Bronze	+7.40 sec
200 BR	3:27.54	3:38.74	3:39.92	4:00.27	Silver	−11.20 sec
100 BR	~1:42	1:28.57	1:32.97	1:37.95	4th	~+4.05 sec

The table makes the emerging endurance pattern much easier to see.

My 3:27.54 200-meter breaststroke training best is already 11.20 seconds faster than the 2025 silver-medal time. That doesn’t guarantee a medal in 2026—the field will be different—but it makes the 200 breaststroke an obvious priority event.

The 800 freestyle presents a different opportunity. My 12:40.25 training best is already 16.51 seconds faster than the 2025 fourth-place result and is only 7.40 seconds away from the 2025 bronze time.

The 1500 freestyle may be even more interesting. Today’s 24:04.84 is already 59.91 seconds faster than the 2025 bronze time and 1:02.04 faster than fourth. The next benchmark therefore becomes the 2025 silver time of 23:39.43, a difference of 25.41 seconds.

And today’s 1500 was accomplished from a water start using open turns, leaving room to improve race execution in addition to fitness and pacing.

The 100 breaststroke remains the outlier. My approximately 1:42 training best remains about four seconds slower than the 2025 fourth-place result. I may still race it, but these comparisons reinforce the decision not to build the remaining training program around it.

August Swimming Ledger

I am also tracking total swimming volume for August. After today’s 3,100 meters, I have now completed 52,600 meters this month.

Date	Distance	August Cumulative
August 2	5,000 m	5,000 m
August 3	2,500 m	7,500 m
August 4	2,500 m	10,000 m
August 5	2,500 m	12,500 m
August 6	3,000 m	15,500 m
August 7	0 m	15,500 m
August 8	0 m	15,500 m
August 9	6,000 m	21,500 m
August 10	2,500 m	24,000 m
August 11	2,500 m	26,500 m
August 12	2,500 m	29,000 m
August 13	2,500 m	31,500 m
August 14	0 m – Run/Dryland	31,500 m
August 15	2,500 m	34,000 m
August 16	2,500 m	36,500 m
August 17	2,500 m	39,000 m
August 18	2,500 m	41,500 m
August 19	2,500 m	44,000 m
August 20	2,500 m	46,500 m
August 21	0 m – Rest	46,500 m
August 22	3,000 m	49,500 m
August 23	3,100 m	52,600 m

Chasing 75,000 Yards in August

My secondary goal for August is to complete at least 75,000 yards of swimming.

The current 52,600 meters converts to approximately 57,524 yards. Reaching 75,000 yards requires approximately 68,580 meters, leaving about 15,980 meters to complete during the final eight days of August.

That works out to an average of approximately 2,000 meters per day. Seven additional 2,500-meter swims would comfortably put me over the monthly goal while still allowing one complete rest day.

The Plan Moving Forward

The next phase of training will look different from the breaststroke-intensive week that just ended. Rather than trying to improve four events equally, the workouts will be designed around three endurance events.

• 1500 Freestyle: sustainable race pace, pacing discipline, aerobic endurance and progressively more flip turns.
• 800 Freestyle: improving sustainable speed while developing the ability to finish strongly.
• 200 Breaststroke: sustainable breaststroke pace, efficiency under fatigue and maintaining technique through the second 100.
• 100 Breaststroke: likely still part of the Huntsman schedule, but no longer a primary training target.

Short freestyle and breaststroke repetitions will remain in the workouts, but they will support the endurance events rather than becoming objectives by themselves.

Flip turns will also begin appearing more frequently in freestyle workouts. The progression needs to be gradual because they currently require considerably more energy than my open turns. The goal is to make the turns more efficient without allowing turn practice to compromise the quality of the primary endurance sets.

Today’s Takeaway

I entered the pool today intending to take a break from structured training. Instead, the workout helped clarify the structure of the training that comes next.

A 24:04.84 1500-meter freestyle from a water start with open turns, coming one day after a 3:27.54 200-meter breaststroke, provides two very useful benchmarks. Combined with the 12:40.25 800-meter freestyle training best, the results point toward the same conclusion.

I am an endurance swimmer, and the remaining Huntsman training is going to reflect that.

The focus from here is the 1500 freestyle, 800 freestyle and 200 breaststroke. The 100 breaststroke can still be part of the Huntsman experience, but it no longer needs to dictate how I train.