September 18, 2026 – When the Pool Is Too Warm and 19 Days to Huntsman

Today’s workout ended considerably earlier than I intended, but not because I was tired from the previous two days of swimming.

The pool was ridiculously warm.

I had planned to get some distance work in, but the water temperature made sustained swimming increasingly uncomfortable and, more importantly, inappropriate for the kind of workout I wanted to do. Rather than force the distance simply to put another number in the training log, I stopped at 1,600 meters.

There are now 19 days until my first event at the Huntsman World Senior Games.

Today’s Workout

Metric	Result
Distance	1,600 m
Swimming Time	26:40
Average Pace	1:40 / 100 m
Normalized Pace	1:40 / 100 m
Average Heart Rate	128 bpm
Maximum Heart Rate	152 bpm
sTSS	39
Intensity Factor	0.96
Calories	390

The workout included 700 meters of freestyle and 900 meters of breaststroke. Despite the conditions, there were still some encouraging performances in both strokes.

A Fast Opening 200 Breaststroke

The most interesting result came early in the workout.

My first 200-meter breaststroke was approximately 3:27.30.

My established 200-meter breaststroke training benchmark is 3:27.54, so today’s opening 200 was essentially identical and technically about a quarter-second faster.

200 Breaststroke	Time
Current Training Benchmark	3:27.54
Sep. 18 Opening 200	~3:27.30
2025 Huntsman Silver	3:38.74
2025 Huntsman Bronze	3:39.92
2025 Huntsman 4th	4:00.27

I am not replacing my 3:27.54 benchmark with today’s result. This wasn’t set up as a 200-meter race simulation, and there is no reason to manufacture a new benchmark from a workout that had a completely different purpose.

What it does tell me is that my breaststroke speed appears to have survived the eight-day interruption in training remarkably well.

Freestyle Was Consistent

The longer opening portion of the workout alternated 200-meter breaststroke and freestyle repetitions.

Rep	Stroke	Time
1	Breaststroke	3:27.30
2	Freestyle	3:05.49
3	Breaststroke	3:44.91
4	Freestyle	3:07.47
5	Breaststroke	3:45.97

The two freestyle 200s were separated by only 1.98 seconds. The first averaged approximately 1:32.7 per 100 meters and the second approximately 1:33.7.

That continues a pattern that has been evident since I returned to swimming this week: freestyle speed is readily available. The bigger objective between now and Huntsman remains converting that speed into controlled, sustainable 800- and 1,500-meter pacing.

The Temperature Changed the Workout

Under normal conditions, I would be interested in the difference between the opening 3:27 breaststroke and the later 3:44 and 3:45 repetitions. Today, however, there is an important variable that makes that comparison less useful.

The water was simply too warm for the distance workout I wanted to do.

As the workout continued, the pool temperature became the limiting factor. That makes today a poor session for drawing conclusions about sustained endurance or interpreting the slower later repetitions as a loss of conditioning.

Interestingly, my average heart rate was 128 bpm, slightly higher than either of my first two return swims despite today’s workout being much shorter.

Date	Distance	Avg HR	sTSS
Sep. 16	2,650 m	123	66
Sep. 17	2,600 m	126	65
Sep. 18	1,600 m	128	39

That reinforces why today’s numbers need to be viewed in the context of the pool conditions rather than simply compared with the previous two workouts.

Three Days Back in the Pool

Today was my third consecutive swim since returning from eight medically restricted days without workouts.

Date	Distance	sTSS
Sep. 16	2,650 m	66
Sep. 17	2,600 m	65
Sep. 18	1,600 m	39
Total	6,850 m	170

That’s enough swimming to begin answering some of the questions I had when I returned Wednesday.

The clearest answer so far is that speed survived the break. I’ve seen that repeatedly in both freestyle and breaststroke. I’ve also been able to handle three consecutive days in the pool.

What I still haven’t had a good opportunity to evaluate is sustained distance endurance. I hoped to learn more about that today, but the pool conditions made this the wrong day to force the issue.

September Training Log

Today’s 1,600 meters brings my September swimming total to 22,250 meters and 529 swim sTSS. The September 8–15 period remains recorded as Medical Restricted – No Workout.

Date	Training	Swim Total
Sep. 1	Swim – 1,800 m	1,800 m
Sep. 2	Swim – 2,500 m	4,300 m
Sep. 3	Swim – 2,700 m	7,000 m
Sep. 4	Swim – 2,500 m	9,500 m
Sep. 5	Swim – 3,400 m	12,900 m
Sep. 6	Outdoor jog – no swim	12,900 m
Sep. 7	Swim – 2,500 m	15,400 m
Sep. 8–15	Medical Restricted – No Workout	15,400 m
Sep. 16	Swim – 2,650 m	18,050 m
Sep. 17	Swim – 2,600 m	20,650 m
Sep. 18	Swim – 1,600 m*	22,250 m

*September 18 workout shortened because of excessive pool temperature.

19 Days to Huntsman

There are now 19 days until the 200-meter breaststroke on October 7, 20 days until the 800-meter freestyle, and 21 days until the 1,500-meter freestyle.

With less than three weeks remaining, it would have been easy to convince myself that I needed to finish today’s distance regardless of the conditions. But there is nothing useful about forcing a long workout in a pool that is too warm simply because a competition is getting closer.

I am still playing these first few days back by ear. Today the pool made the decision for me.

I didn’t get the distance test I wanted, but I did get another useful piece of information: three days after returning to swimming, the speed is still there. The opening 200 breaststroke was essentially equal to my best current training benchmark, and the two freestyle 200s were both strong and remarkably close together.

The distance work can wait for better conditions.

Nineteen days to Huntsman.