Fitness & Training
Swimming, endurance, strength and the ongoing challenge
of becoming a better athlete.
Fitness has become an increasingly important part of my life.
What began as simply becoming more active has grown into
structured training built around swimming, endurance,
strength and measurable goals. This section brings together
that training, what I have learned along the way, and the
challenges I continue to work toward.
Current Goal
OCTOBER 2026
Huntsman World Senior Games
Training to compete in swimming at the
2026 Huntsman World Senior Games.
The Senior Games have given my training a specific
destination. Instead of simply accumulating distance,
workouts can be measured against actual race events,
times and performance goals.
Current preparation includes freestyle and breaststroke
training, endurance work, race-specific sets and
supporting strength and conditioning.
Explore Fitness & Training
My training crosses several disciplines, but most of it falls into these four areas.
Swimming
Swimming is the foundation of my current training. Workouts range from longer endurance swims to race-specific freestyle and breaststroke sets.
Training increasingly focuses on measurable performance: pace, distance, efficiency, technique and the ability to maintain speed as fatigue increases.
Swimming & Training Posts →Senior Games
My current competitive goal is swimming at the Huntsman World Senior Games in October 2026.
Follow the training, performance comparisons, race goals and progress toward competition.
Senior Games →Running & Cardio
Swimming may be the primary focus, but cardiovascular training extends beyond the pool.
Running, treadmill workouts, walking, hiking, rowing and other endurance activities provide variety while supporting overall conditioning.
Fitness Posts →Strength & Conditioning
Strength training supports the endurance work rather than replacing it, with particular attention to the core, shoulders and muscle groups involved in swimming.
The objective is practical strength that supports performance, durability and continued training.
Training Posts →
The Training Journey
Training is rarely a straight line. Workouts improve,
goals change, unexpected challenges appear and sometimes
the most useful information comes from figuring out why
something did not work as expected.
I use technology extensively to understand that process.
Garmin and other fitness data provide ways to examine
pace, distance, heart rate, recovery and training load.
Those numbers are useful, but they are tools rather than
the goal.
The real objective is continued improvement: becoming
stronger, maintaining endurance, improving swimming
technique and finding out what is possible with
consistent training.
How I Train
Different types of training contribute to the same
overall goal.
Endurance
Longer swims and cardiovascular workouts build the
ability to sustain effort over time and provide the
foundation for the shorter, faster work.
Speed & Race Pace
Interval training provides a way to work on speed
while measuring whether target race pace can be
maintained across repeated efforts.
Technique
Especially in swimming, working harder is not always
the same as moving faster. Stroke technique, turns,
starts and efficiency can produce improvements that
conditioning alone cannot.
Recovery
Training only works when there is enough recovery
to adapt to it. Rest days, easier sessions and
monitoring accumulated fatigue are part of the
training plan rather than time away from it.
Training With Data
One of the areas where my interests in fitness and
technology overlap is workout analysis.
GPS watches, fitness sensors and workout files make it
possible to look beyond the simple question of how far
or how long I trained. Pace, splits, stroke information,
heart rate, recovery and trends across multiple workouts
can provide a much better picture of progress.
I use that information to compare workouts, identify
areas that need improvement and adjust training toward
specific goals rather than relying entirely on how a
single workout felt.
Recent Fitness Posts
Recent training, workouts, progress and other
fitness-related posts.
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64 Days Until Event – Friday = Rest Day!
Rest day today. No swimming activity, everyone needs a day off. I don’t want to hurt myself so today and tomorrow are rest days. See you tomorrow.
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65 Days Until Event – Too Many 3’s Today
Today was all about 300’s, like 10 of them. Mixed strokes, trying to work on technique and get rid of bad habits. 8/6/2026 Workout Summary Metric Result Workout format 10 × 300 m mixed stroke Total distance 3,000 m Freestyle distance 1,525 m Breaststroke distance 1,475 m Total moving time 52:33.9 Total rest time 7:38.5…
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66 Days Until Event – Another 2500m today
OK, I am getting backlogged with my real job, so I am allowing AI to evaluate and compare today’s swim with regards to past swims and the Huntsman 2025 results. Here we go: This was an excellent breaststroke endurance benchmark workout. Unlike some of your previous sessions that alternated freestyle and breaststroke, this one concentrated…
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68 Days Until Event – Small Change to Tracking
I have made a small change to my tracking. My Garmin watch keeps missing turns and has actually become a bit of a distraction in my swim workouts. That’s not to detract from Garmin, but more a personal preference. I am switching to the FORM swim goggles as they have a heads-up display that tracks…
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68 Days Until Event – All in One+
I call this the all in one plus (+) workout because I swam all my events in one workout, one after the other, and then added additional distance on the end to get the 5K that I wanted to swim today. In reality I swam over 5K because my watch missed 225 meters in one…
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69 Days until Event – It’s now August
I took another rest day today as I could still feel a little muscle fatigue and I really need to have a productive August. On the first of the month I always try to setup my monthly challenges on Garmin Connect and also Swim.com (US Masters Swimming has their challenges on there as well). So,…