Today marks 49 days until my first event at the 2026 Huntsman World Senior Games. Wednesday was deliberately scheduled as the lower-intensity day of this week’s breaststroke-intensive training block.
The plan still called for 2,500 meters, but unlike Tuesday’s 200-meter breaststroke workout or Thursday’s upcoming 100-meter work, today’s objective was aerobic conditioning, breaststroke technique and recovery between the week’s two harder sessions.
I completed the full 2,500 meters, although I made several changes to the planned workout as I went. Most importantly, I substituted freestyle for some of the planned breaststroke work. The final workout ended up being split exactly in half: 1,250 meters breaststroke and 1,250 meters freestyle.
Workout Summary
| Metric | Result |
|---|---|
| Total Distance | 2,500 m |
| Breaststroke | 1,250 m |
| Freestyle | 1,250 m |
| Moving Time | 43:17 |
| Rest Time | 6:45 |
| Total Session Time | 50:01 |
| Breaststroke Percentage | 50% |
| Freestyle Percentage | 50% |
Planned vs. Actual Workout
| Workout Block | Planned | Actual | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Warm-up | 200 FR + 100 BR | 200 FR + 100 BR | As planned |
| Mixed Aerobic | 4×200 100 FR + 100 BR |
4×200 100 FR + 100 BR |
As planned |
| 6×100 Main Set | 6×100 BR | Alternating 100 FR / 100 BR | 300 m shifted from BR to FR |
| Freestyle Recovery | 4×100 FR | 2×100 FR | 200 m shorter |
| Additional 100s | — | 2×100 mixed BR/FR | 200 m added |
| Technique Set | 4×50 BR | 4×50 BR | As planned |
| Speed Finish | 4×25 BR | 4×25 BR | As planned |
| Warm-down | 100 FR | 100 FR | As planned |
The 4×200 Mixed Aerobic Set
The first major set remained exactly as planned: four 200-meter repetitions, each consisting of 100 meters freestyle followed by 100 meters breaststroke.
| Repeat | Distance | Time | Average Pace |
|---|---|---|---|
| #1 | 200 m mixed | 3:27.43 | 1:43.7/100m |
| #2 | 200 m mixed | 3:29.79 | 1:44.9/100m |
| #3 | 200 m mixed | 3:29.77 | 1:44.9/100m |
| #4 | 200 m mixed | 3:31.82 | 1:45.9/100m |
This was a very consistent aerobic set. Only about four seconds separated the first and fourth 200, despite each repeat requiring a change from freestyle to breaststroke halfway through.
Changing the 6×100 Set
The biggest deliberate change came during the planned six 100-meter breaststroke repetitions. Instead of swimming all six as breaststroke, I alternated freestyle and breaststroke.
| Repeat | Stroke | Time |
|---|---|---|
| #1 | Freestyle | 1:31.35 |
| #2 | Breaststroke | 1:49.46 |
| #3 | Freestyle | 1:31.73 |
| #4 | Breaststroke | 1:53.16 |
| #5 | Freestyle | 1:32.82 |
| #6 | Breaststroke | 1:53.84 |
The three freestyle 100s were remarkably consistent at 1:31.35, 1:31.73 and 1:32.82. The breaststroke repetitions were 1:49.46, 1:53.16 and 1:53.84.
Today’s goal was not to turn these breaststroke 100s into another race-pace test. Thursday is specifically designed for that. The value today was maintaining breaststroke technique while reducing the cumulative breaststroke load between two harder training days.
Finishing With Breaststroke
I still completed the planned shorter breaststroke work at the end of the session.
| Set | Results |
|---|---|
| 4×50 Breaststroke | 55.35 / 54.18 / 54.95 / 57.98 |
| 4×25 Breaststroke | 24.83 / 26.16 / 25.82 / 27.22 |
Those weren’t intended to be all-out performances. They provided shorter breaststroke repetitions at the end of an otherwise controlled workout without turning Wednesday into another major breaststroke stress day.
Why Today’s Changes Made Sense
This is the third consecutive 2,500-meter swim of the week. Monday was modified because of some muscular discomfort in my right upper thigh. Tuesday was the week’s first major test, built around four early 200-meter breaststroke repetitions. Thursday is scheduled to be the 100-meter breaststroke-focused workout.
Wednesday was never supposed to be another test.
By substituting freestyle for several hundred meters of planned breaststroke, I maintained the full training distance and aerobic workload while reducing some of the repetitive breaststroke-specific stress.
The final 50/50 split between breaststroke and freestyle seems particularly appropriate for the purpose of today’s session.
Tomorrow Is the Important 100M Test
Thursday should provide one of the more useful data points of this entire week.
Tuesday demonstrated that my 200-meter breaststroke pace looks considerably better when the important 200s are placed early in the workout. Tomorrow we apply the same idea to the 100.
The primary set is scheduled early enough that accumulated workout fatigue should not dominate the result. That should give me a better indication of what my current 100-meter breaststroke ability actually looks like.
That matters because I am still considering whether the 100-meter breaststroke belongs in my final Huntsman event schedule. My training continues to suggest that I may be much better suited to the longer events, but I am deliberately waiting until after Saturday before making that decision.
49 Days to Go
Three days into this training block, the objective is no longer simply accumulating as much breaststroke as possible. It is learning where the useful work is and where additional volume becomes counterproductive.
Today’s workout accomplished what Wednesday needed to accomplish: 2,500 meters completed, aerobic work maintained, breaststroke technique preserved, and the breaststroke load reduced before Thursday’s more important 100-meter session.
Tomorrow we put the 100-meter breaststroke under the microscope.
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