Category: Huntsman Senior Games 2026

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!

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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.

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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

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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.

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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.

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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:

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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.

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2026-07-18