Author: cmolnar

Water Restrictions – Our Poor Yard

Aurora Colorado is under Stage 1 water restriction this Summer, and I fear it is going to get much worse before it is over. Currently we are only allowed to water grass on Thursday’s and Sundays, not more than 20 minutes per zone. Also, they have put excessive use fees into place so we are not allowed to go over 50% above our Winter usage.

Our lawn looks almost dead.

I am hoping that it comes back but I am not holding my breath. It’s half tempting to start replacing sections of it with sand. but I do have some concerns about that as well as I do not want the ticks and fleas that sand comes along with on the dogs. So, for the moment I am not going to worry about the dead grass.

The hydroponics are doing really well. We have already had one crop of lettuce and Swiss Chard picked and multiple harvests, and the spinach did really well. But, you can only get so many cuttings out of a crop before you have to re-plant. That is in progress right now. The cucumbers are doing really well, we have a stack of them ready to be processed in the kitchen. We also have a lot of growth starting on the eggplants. The green peppers are doing well also. And, we got some hot peppers also.

The only thing that we have planted in actual gardens this year is the zucchini squash. I guess you can’t kill those with hot weather and high sunlight.

Next year I am going to expand the hydroponics again. I may try to plant tomatoes in them. We have many tomato plants this year in our grow boxes and in regular pots in the yard, but they are struggling with some sort of “rot” on the bottom of each tomato. We can’t figure it out but we loose about 50% of our tomatoes this way. It could be the heat also. The tomatoes have been the biggest struggle on this property that is a mile closer to the sun than anyplace we have ever lived before.

That’s what’s happening in our little bubble of agriculture here in Aurora, CO.

2026-07-25
74 Days Until Event – Rest Day

One of the things I have learned over the years is that I have to take a rest day here and there and have nothing to do with the gym, the pool, and fitness for a day. Today was a rest day, tomorrow will be a full pool workout. Today started off like most of my weekends, taking Res and Climber for their walks. I decided to take them together today because it going to get too hot by the time I got back with Res and go to take Climber.

Of course about 1/2 way through our walk Climber heard someone using a nail gun on some remodeling work that they were doing and it scared her…. She HATES nail guns and any loud bangs with a passion. So, she decided we were going home! There was no if, and, or buts about it. We were going home. She took the lead position, knew all the turns to get back to the house, and pulled the entire way back. Res was like, “slow down girl, where’s the fire!”

After we got back I had to run a quick errand to Dick’s Sporting Goods to get a new swim suit as mine are starting to get all stretched out, which is not a good thing. Chlorine is a killer on all of them, and it also doesn’t help that I have lost a lot of weight since I bought my last ones. I am right between Large and Medium in suit sizes, sucks as they are either way too tight, or too loose, and either direction is a problem. But, life goes on.

I got back to the house and it was time to torture the dogs…. well… in their world, torture the dogs. In my world, make the dogs smell less like dogs. Res and Climber got a bath. Climber was first, no photos were taken because she as a total wimp and let out the “greyhound scream of death” as soon as water touched her. You would think she was melting! Then I got another scream when I was rubbing her down with a towel. She did get scolded because I am not going to entertain that game. If she gets away with murder I will be fighting this every time she needs a bath. I can also promise she will not go another 9 months without one.

Res was next. Res just jumps around a little when he gets wet, but it is no major issue. Once you start massaging the shampoo into his fur he just stands still like a perfect gentleman. Rinse him off, he is good, and he almost falls asleep when he is getting his towel rubdown. Then, he comes back into the house and makes sure all his fur is in the right place. Takes him a few hours to lick it all back into place.

They are now both asleep and they are over it. After that Jesse and I spent some time outside. Had to water the tomato plants, and the hydroponics and then cut what little grass we have in the front lawn. I then ran the mower around the pitiful excuse for the back lawn and Jesse edged it with the weed-eater. I also pulled some weeds from around the squash plants and some of the other areas of the rock portion of the yard.

By the time we were done with that, it hit 100 degrees here in the Mile High City. I can’t believe it, it’s almost Florida temperatures. At least the humidity is not as nasty as it was in Florida. Tomorrow we are supposed to have another 100 degree day, maybe a little hotter. I just know I hope these temperatures break sometime soon. We got our last months power bill today and all I can say is I miss the solar panels and will be solving that problem here eventually.

And that is a wrap for today.

2026-07-25

75 Days Until Event – Outdoor Run Today

I decided that today was not a gym day, it was just too nice outside and I just didn’t want to deal with people today. Also, I had to shorten my lunch breaker a little bit because I had a Dr appointment this afternoon. Can’t miss too much time on one day. I try to be very careful on my workday as my workload has downstream effects for others.

Anyway I decided to do the Power-line Trail loop today, it’s easily accessible and not to flat, and I like seeing how my little prairie dogs are doing.

July 24, 2026 Outdoor Run Summary

Metric	Value
Duration	45:57
Distance	6.24 km
Average HR	131 bpm
Maximum HR	151 bpm
Minimum HR	52 bpm (likely at the beginning before the run)
Estimated Elevation Gain	~96 m (315 ft)

Comparison to Prior Runs

Date	Surface	Distance	Avg HR	Max HR
Jun 23	Treadmill (pre)	5.32 km	93	124
Jun 25	Treadmill (pre)	4.86 km	78	98
Jul 11	Treadmill	7.57 km	118	138
Jul 15	Treadmill	6.97 km	121	155
Jul 17	Treadmill	6.91 km	125	157
Jul 24	Outdoor	6.24 km	131	151

My Garmin Public Page for this run:

That’s it for today, I won’t have a swim day today. And, I may decide not to do anything over the weekend as all of my apps are telling me I may be over-training. I have to do a few things around the house here tomorrow, the dogs need a bath, the front lawn (what’s left of it) needs a cutting, and I need to spend some time pulling weeds in the back.

That’s all for today!

2026-07-24

76 Days Left – A Little Endurance Today

Decided on a little endurance today, switching between strokes in no specific patterns.

Metric	Value
Total distance	2,600 m
Total swim time	53:04
Number of swim sets	8
Overall average pace	1:49/100 m
Average heart rate	116 bpm
Maximum heart rate	147 bpm
Average SWOLF	40
Longest continuous swim	1,250 m
Longest freestyle set	150 m
Longest breaststroke set	200 m

And my sets came to a total of 2600 meters in 53:04, including rest times.

Set	Stroke	Distance	Time	Pace /100 m	Avg HR	Max HR	SWOLF
1	Mixed	1,250 m	22:46	1:49	109	125	40
Rest	—	—	0:40.7	—	—	—	—
2	Mixed	200 m	3:28.3	1:44	137	147	38
Rest	—	—	0:51.3	—	—	—	—
3	Freestyle	150 m	2:30.5	1:40	128	146	36
Rest	—	—	0:39.3	—	—	—	—
4	Breaststroke	200 m	3:58.1	1:59	131	139	43
Rest	—	—	0:53.9	—	—	—	—
5	Mixed	200 m	3:38.3	1:49	94	107	40
Rest	—	—	0:29.1	—	—	—	—
6	Freestyle	150 m	2:32.1	1:41	133	144	37
Rest	—	—	1:15.8	—	—	—	—
7	Mixed	350 m	6:34.2	1:53	121	135	41
Rest	—	—	0:53.8	—	—	—	—
8	Freestyle	100 m	1:45.6	1:46	114	128	38

I have to keep in mind that I need to decrease my times based on the results of the last Huntsman Games in 2025:

Event	🥇 Gold	🥈 Silver	🥉 Bronze	4th Place
100 m Breaststroke	1:19.22	1:28.57	1:32.97	1:37.95
200 m Breaststroke	3:01.02	3:38.74	3:39.92	4:00.27
800 m Freestyle	12:00.10	12:16.56	12:32.85	12:56.76
1500 m Freestyle	23:34.66	23:39.43	25:04.75	25:06.88

I really want to at least get in the top 4 or I will be so disappointed with myself. I think for my tomorrow workout I am going to try and swim my events again to see where I am.

Best training times based on events:

Event	Best Training Time	Date	Notes
100 m Breaststroke	1:47.9	7/22/2026	After a recovery following a 250 m breaststroke repeat.
200 m Breaststroke	3:59.5	7/19/2026	Race simulation workout.
800 m Freestyle	14:29.1	7/19/2026	Swum late in a 3,000 m race simulation after prior events.
1500 m Freestyle	26:09.4	7/19/2026	Continuous swim during race simulation.

Potential place right now based on training times based on comparison to 2025 winning times:

Event	Best Training	Gold	Silver	Bronze	4th
100 m Breaststroke	1:47.9	1:19.22	1:28.57	1:32.97	1:37.95
200 m Breaststroke	3:59.5	3:01.02	3:38.74	3:39.92	4:00.27 ✅
800 m Freestyle	14:29.1	12:00.10	12:16.56	12:32.85	12:56.76
1500 m Freestyle	26:09.4	23:34.66	23:39.43	25:04.75	25:06.88

The pace per 100/m for the top 4 were:

Event	Medal	Race Time	Required Pace (/100 m)
100 m Breaststroke	🥇 Gold	1:19.22	1:19.22
	🥈 Silver	1:28.57	1:28.57
	🥉 Bronze	1:32.97	1:32.97
	4th	1:37.95	1:37.95
200 m Breaststroke	🥇 Gold	3:01.02	1:30.51
	🥈 Silver	3:38.74	1:49.37
	🥉 Bronze	3:39.92	1:49.96
	4th	4:00.27	2:00.14
800 m Freestyle	🥇 Gold	12:00.10	1:30.01
	🥈 Silver	12:16.56	1:32.07
	🥉 Bronze	12:32.85	1:34.11
	4th	12:56.76	1:37.10
1500 m Freestyle	🥇 Gold	23:34.66	1:34.31
	🥈 Silver	23:39.43	1:34.63
	🥉 Bronze	25:04.75	1:40.32
	4th	25:06.88	1:40.46

And this is the comparison to my recent training performance:

Event	Your Best	Average Pace (/100 m)	4th Place Pace	Gap
100 m Breaststroke	1:47.9	1:47.9	1:37.95	9.95 sec/100
200 m Breaststroke	3:59.5	1:59.8	2:00.1	Already slightly faster
800 m Freestyle	14:29.1	1:48.6	1:37.1	11.5 sec/100
1500 m Freestyle	26:09.4	1:44.6	1:40.5	4.1 sec/100

I got a ways to go on some of these. 76 days left. Turns are going to kill me.

Another day tomorrow.

2026-07-23

77 Day Countdown – Technique Today

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

Today’s workout:

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

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

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

Breaststroke

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

Freestyle

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

2026-07-22

78 Days Countdown – Dry land today

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

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

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

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

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

2026-07-21

79 Days – Short Sets Today

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

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

And my workout looked something like this:

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

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

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

2026-07-20

80 Days – Get it in Gear

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

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

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

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

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

2026-07-19

40 Years Since Last Pool Swim Meet……

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

2026-07-18

Day 122 of 2026 – May 2nd

There still be snow in the mountains, actually a little more than the last time I posted, last weeks storm brought a nice coating to the higher elevations. Anyways today started off as my weekend days normally do. I was able to get up, get caught up on some system things I needed to take care of, both on my own servers and the work learning management system. Yes, I know it’s Saturday but this is the best time to do updates in case I need to roll them back and recreate the world. I had a small issue with a major update last week when it required some Apache server reconfiguration that took me a while to figure you.

Then I was able to get Res out for his weekend morning walk. We managed to do a little over 3 miles in a little more than an hour. Res is Go Go Go Go Go until he figures out that we have turned around and are heading back home. Then he slows down to “snail pace” and does not want to end his walk. The problem is that I still need to walk his sister. I am thinking we may do a dual walk tomorrow rather than a singleton walk.

Climber was next on the walk list. She didn’t do all that well either, she was a little pokey today. Maybe it was a full moon or something last night, but regardless we did a little over 3.5 miles and then came back home. She is the opposite of Res, when she is headed home she is Go Go Go Go, she would drag me back to the house if she could.

After Jesse and I had breakfast (or more accurately brunch) it was time to head to Lowe’s to pick up some supplies I needed to put together our expanded hydroponic system for this year. With this years water restrictions we need to be really careful on how we are going to be watering the gardens and the property. Last year we had tremendous success with hydroponics, so we decided to add a little more to the system for this growing season and move some of what we did in the gardens last year into buckets for this growing season.

So, this is what our plan is this year. It is all assembled and I will leak check and start running the pumps tomorrow. I need to give it a good rinse before we can add plants and fertilizer. We will probably start planting tomorrow.

Anyways, that’s it for today, see you all soon.

2026-05-02