Category: Fitness

All things fitness related.

73 Days Until Event – Long Workout Today 5650m

Happy Sunday everyone! Yeh, I took a day off from the gym yesterday hoping that it would correct a few issues on my Garmin Health tracking. It didn’t. I am more sure than ever that the Garmin can’t figure out what to do with my heart rate now that I have a pacemaker. It seems to think normal heart rates are stress, and that my HRV is completely off base. It also thinks my “body battery” is ridiculously low and that I am over training. It lies.

Anyway, I started the day off with what I had hoped would be a 1 mile walk with the dogs. It was already over 80 degrees when I took them out and neither of them felt like walking. This means we did the slow, sniff every bush, walk around the park until Climber heard someone use a nail gun and then she was ready to go home. She would have run all the way back had she not been attached to me and Res. Res wasn’t having much part of moving fast either, so 2 against one, Res and I were victorious.

Got them back to the house, had breakfast, and then Jesse went out to get his morning steps in while I got ready to go to the pool and get my workout in. I decided that today was VASA fitness on Quincy Ave in Aurora. I normally go to the one up on Colfax but their pool has been a little busy on Sunday’s with people doing triathlon training, and for some reason they will absolutely not share a lane. I don’t get it but most of us who swim for competition are used to sharing lanes. Those who do triathlons do not even acknowledge you when you want to share a lane. But, I digress.

Today’s Workout:

Metric	Value
Total Distance	5,650 m
Total Swim Time	2:10:36
Total Rest Time	28:25
Total Session Time (Swim + Rest)	2:39:01
Swim Sets	39
Average Swim Pace	1:48 /100 m
Average HR	107 bpm
Maximum HR	175 bpm
Average SWOLF	40

And my sets:

Set	Stroke	Distance	Time	Pace/100	Avg HR	Max HR
1	Freestyle	150	2:15.6	1:30	95	104
2	Breaststroke	250	4:33.4	1:49	107	121
3	Freestyle	150	2:25.4	1:37	150	159
4	Breaststroke	100	1:44.0	1:44	159	175
5	Freestyle	350	5:51.8	1:41	145	159
6	Freestyle	200	3:22.4	1:41	133	150
7	Breaststroke	250	4:44.3	1:54	134	149
8	Freestyle	150	2:26.5	1:38	112	127
9	Breaststroke	100	1:50.6	1:51	110	123
10	Freestyle	100	1:39.5	1:40	127	143
11	Mixed	200	3:37.0	1:48	116	142
12	Mixed	250	4:27.3	1:47	112	128
13	Breaststroke	250	4:52.3	1:57	121	142
14	Freestyle	150	2:31.4	1:41	95	103
15	Breaststroke	100	1:57.5	1:58	95	100
16	Mixed	250	4:32.5	1:49	108	125
17	Mixed	250	4:40.4	1:52	96	110
18	Freestyle	150	2:36.2	1:44	118	124
19	Breaststroke	200	4:05.0	2:03	94	107
20	Freestyle	150	2:37.4	1:45	87	94
21	Breaststroke	100	2:00.7	2:01	91	104
22	Mixed	100	1:50.8	1:51	101	115
23	Freestyle	150	2:38.0	1:45	98	119
24	Breaststroke	100	1:58.3	1:58	88	94
25	Freestyle	100	1:42.8	1:43	93	101
26	Breaststroke	100	2:00.5	2:00	88	94
27	Freestyle	100	1:43.6	1:44	90	101
28	Breaststroke	100	2:02.3	2:02	89	102
29	Freestyle	50	0:47.6	1:35	78	94
30	Freestyle	100	1:44.8	1:45	79	86
31	Breaststroke	100	2:00.5	2:00	87	102
32	Mixed	150	2:57.5	1:58	90	99
33	Mixed	100	1:48.1	1:48	79	92
34	Freestyle	50	0:51.2	1:42	101	111
35	Mixed	100	1:46.1	1:46	80	89
36	Mixed	100	1:52.3	1:52	107	115
37	Mixed	100	1:51.5	1:51	102	112
38	Mixed	100	1:55.8	1:56	107	125
39	Freestyle	100	1:47.6	1:48	106	120

I asked ChatGPT to do some tracking and some comparisons to what I can expect to place based on the last year place 1-4 times at the senior games. It looks like currently the 200 meter breaststroke event will be the one that I have the best chance in a 1st, 2nd, or 3rd place finish. From today’s swim I had 4 breaststroke sets that were 200m or over, and the times where:

Distance	Time	Pace (/100 m)	Equivalent 200 m
250 m	4:33.4	1:49.4	3:38.7
250 m	4:44.3	1:53.7	3:47.4
250 m	4:52.3	1:56.9	3:53.8
200 m	4:05.0	2:02.5	4:05.0

Comparing them with the Huntsman 2025 results, it looks like I could place second, which would be excellent.

Place	2025 Time	Difference vs. Your Best Sustained Pace
🥇 Gold	3:01.02	+37.7 sec
🥈 Silver	3:38.74	Essentially equal (within about 0.1 sec)
🥉 Bronze	3:39.92	1.2 sec faster
4th	4:00.27	21.6 sec faster
Your best sustained pace (250 m)	≈3:38.7 (projected 200 m)	—

For the other events, yeh… I have 70 some days to see some improvement. I need to swim an 800 and a 1500 freestyle in the next week or so when I am fresh to re-calculate those times. And my 100m breaststroke is not as good. Currently we are:

Place	2025 Time	Difference from Your Best
🥇 Gold	1:19.22	+24.78 sec
🥈 Silver	1:28.57	+15.43 sec
🥉 Bronze	1:32.97	+11.03 sec
4th	1:37.95	+6.05 sec
Your Best (7/26)	1:44.00	—

I did not have enough data from today’s swim in order to calculate the freestyle times as I was trying to concentrate on breaststroke today. I will probably attempt an 800 freestyle tomorrow and then maybe the 1500 freestyle on Tuesday. I will have to see.

But, I am pleased with today’s improvement, and I also know today was pushing it a little but with fatigue near the end, but that is OK as I needed to get today’s swim in in order for me to make a goal (I need another 6K total by the end of the month so that I can make my 50K of swimming for July. It would be a personal best for a month since about 10 years ago. I am trying to manage the potential to over train as well, my shoulders are 61 years old and my left one complaints frequently.

I got home from my workout and found a tent set up in the livingroom. Jesse was testing out the new camping supplies for a trip he is going on next month.

First tent that I have ever seen that does not have any poles or anything like that but just inflates. Sort of neat.

That’s going to be it for today as I am tired. See you all tomorrow.

2026-07-26

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 120 of 2026 – April 30th

I have been a bad blogger for the last 17 days or so. Life gets busy, you hit a few roadblocks and all of a sudden the blog does not seem that important. I have been struggling with some health related issues again, and have been having some problems keeping my routine on a daily basis. I think some of this is resolved.

Anyways, to catch you up on the last 17 days since April 13th…… I spent a few days in Chicago for a pretty large Home Automation System inspection. It wasn’t a bad trip and I managed to stay in a hotel that actually had walking and jogging capability outside and not on crappy hotel treadmills.

I was able to finally get Climber to her second vet visit so her vaccinations are now all complete for another year or so. I have to make an appointment to get Res in. That will wait another month or so, he’s not due yet but we are moving them both back to VCA as we want them to have access to the 24 hour ER care, and I am tired of not having all of their medical records in one place.

Speaking of medical, I had my cardiac stress test this past week, obviously they could not pinpoint the issue that has been plaguing me for months. Something happens with my heart rate when I work out for a long period of time. It is bad that they couldn’t find it, I was never able to get my heart rate to max out. I just don’t understand why the medical community does not realize that when you have a heart rate monitor that actually tracks everything you do, and you can narrow down the exact conditions that cause the issue, that for some reason they absolutely refuse to attempt to replicate them. A 8 minute walk, run on a treadmill at 30% incline does not equal 30 minutes into a 6 mile run. And, I think I am having afib but with a heart rate in the low 40s my watch can’t determine afib or anything else. Heart rate to low.

As I mentioned I have been having issues with getting into a routine, this is primarily a routine in the pool with my swimming workouts. I have had real problems with the town rec centers, as great as they are, group activities and just general over-use has caused me not to be able to count on my swim workouts for the last month. I have had to be going back and forth between two centers and with one of them I have to change my schedule around to to swim lessons, teams, pool closures, etc. It has really been a distraction. So, I finally joined a VASA Fitness, a private chain of fitness centers that have pools. Today I did my first workout there.

It’s a nice, 25 meter, 3 lave pool, but the lanes are wide enough that you can reasonably share lanes. Also, it was clean and the water felt nice and was not over chlorinated. It was a good swim, now to see if in May I can get my distances back up again. Of course I do have an upcoming business trip or two that may cut into my swim time, but that’s OK I can work around those.

For April, I did have some wins with my workouts and fitness, it was overall a good month, with a few minor setbacks.

62 workouts, 15 swims, 3 runs. A total of 42 hours and 127.5 miles logged. On the health side:

I did see some progress on both weight and fitness. I think in the next month I should make my weight goals, the question is will I make my fitness goals. I really don’t know right now. My goal all year has been the start of the Mountain Lake Swim series. The first swim is a 2.5 mile swim up near Boulder, CO. I do have a concern that it may be un-wise for me to do this swim because of this stupid heart rate issue I am having. I am still going to train for it, but I am not sure it will happen. I really need a 5K swim to see if I can still do it, my max in the last year or so has been a 3.5K, I am short by 1500M. That is the goal this coming month, a 5K swim.

Anyways, I think that is it for now. I promise I will try to post a little more in May. I was doing so good before this few week setback in April. Talk to you soon!

2026-04-30