Today’s Road to Huntsman workout returned the emphasis to the 800-meter and 1500-meter freestyle. I completed the planned 2,500 meters in 41:55, bringing my September total to 9,500 meters through the first four days of the month.
There are now 33 days until the October 7 Huntsman World Senior Games 200-meter breaststroke, with the 800 freestyle and 1500 freestyle following later in the meet. Today’s workout provided another useful indication that freestyle speed is available, but it also reinforced that pacing and sustainable speed remain important areas to work on before racing.
September 4 Workout Summary
| Metric | Result |
|---|---|
| Distance | 2,500 m |
| Swimming Time | 41:55 |
| Average Pace | 1:41/100 m |
| Normalized Pace | 1:41/100 m |
| Average HR | 118 bpm |
| Maximum HR | 154 bpm |
| sTSS | 61 |
| Intensity Factor | 0.95 |
| Calories | 555 kcal |
The final stroke distribution was approximately 2,100 meters freestyle and 400 meters breaststroke. That was an appropriate change in emphasis after yesterday’s breaststroke-heavy workout.
The Key Endurance Set – 3 × 400 Freestyle
The primary endurance work consisted of three 400-meter freestyle repetitions.
| 400 FR | Time | Pace/100 |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 6:31.17 | 1:37.79 |
| 2 | 6:43.43 | 1:40.86 |
| 3 | 6:49.11 | 1:42.28 |
The complete 1,200-meter set took approximately 20:03.71, producing an average pace of about 1:40.3/100 m.
There was a clear progression in the wrong direction from a pacing standpoint. The first 400 averaged 1:37.8/100 m, the second slowed to 1:40.9 and the third to 1:42.3.
That doesn’t make the set unsuccessful. Even the final 400 remained at a useful aerobic endurance pace, and this was my fourth consecutive day in the pool. Yesterday also included approximately 1,900 meters of breaststroke, so there was already substantial accumulated stroke-specific work entering today’s session.
The more useful lesson is pacing. For both the 800 and 1500 freestyle, I don’t need to make my fastest 100 meters faster. I need to narrow the difference between the pace I can produce early and the pace I can continue producing later in the race.
Speed Was Still Available
What happened after the 400-meter repetitions makes the endurance set particularly interesting.
The next 4 × 100 freestyle repetitions were:
| 100 FR | Time |
|---|---|
| 1 | 1:34.55 |
| 2 | 1:35.63 |
| 3 | 1:36.48 |
| 4 | 1:38.98 |
Those four repetitions averaged approximately 1:36.4/100 m.
That is almost identical to the approximately 1:36.3/100 m pace of my current 24:04.84 training best for the 1500 freestyle.
That distinction matters. I had slowed during the 400-meter repetitions, but I was still able to immediately bring the pace back into the 1:34–1:36 range during the shorter repetitions. The slowdown during the 400s therefore wasn’t simply the result of having no speed left.
Controlled Breaststroke
After yesterday’s breaststroke endurance workout, today’s breaststroke was intentionally limited and controlled.
| 50 BR | Time |
|---|---|
| 1 | 54.23 |
| 2 | 55.86 |
| 3 | 54.81 |
| 4 | 56.98 |
The four repetitions averaged approximately 55.5 seconds per 50 meters, equivalent to about 1:50.9/100 m.
There was no reason to push breaststroke speed today. The purpose was simply to maintain the stroke between the larger freestyle sets after yesterday provided the week’s major breaststroke endurance stimulus.
Finishing with 2 × 100 Freestyle
The final strong freestyle repetitions produced another useful pacing lesson.
| 100 FR | Time |
|---|---|
| 1 | 1:29.33 |
| 2 | 1:36.41 |
The 1:29.33 is notable because it came late in a 2,500-meter workout. It demonstrates that considerable freestyle speed remained available despite the earlier endurance work.
But the seven-second difference between the two repetitions is actually more instructive than the 1:29 itself.
For Huntsman, two repetitions around 1:33–1:34 would probably tell me more about developing useful race endurance than producing a 1:29 followed by a 1:36. The speed is already there. September is increasingly about learning how to distribute it.
The Freestyle Pacing Picture
A pattern is beginning to emerge from the first several September workouts. I appear to have considerably more short-distance freestyle speed than I need for either the 800 or 1500.
On September 2, I produced repeated 100-meter freestyle times around the 1:32 range. Today, after substantial endurance work, I still produced a 1:29.33.
At the same time, today’s three 400-meter repetitions progressed from 1:37.8 to 1:40.9 to 1:42.3 per 100 meters.
That suggests one of the largest opportunities over the remaining weeks isn’t developing more raw speed. It is making the speed I already have more evenly sustainable.
Huntsman 800 Freestyle Perspective
| 800 FR | Time |
|---|---|
| Training Best | 12:40.25 |
| 2025 Silver | 12:16.56 |
| 2025 Bronze | 12:32.85 |
| 2025 4th | 12:56.76 |
My current 800-meter training best is only 7.40 seconds behind the 2025 bronze-medal time. That represents less than one second per 100 meters across the race.
Today’s shorter freestyle repetitions show that the required speed is clearly available. The remaining challenge is sustaining the appropriate pace across all eight 100-meter segments of the race.
Huntsman 1500 Freestyle Perspective
| 1500 FR | Time |
|---|---|
| Training Best | 24:04.84 |
| 2025 Silver | 23:39.43 |
| 2025 Bronze | 25:04.75 |
| 2025 4th | 25:06.88 |
The current 1500-meter training best is 25.41 seconds behind the 2025 silver-medal time, a difference of approximately 1.69 seconds per 100 meters.
Again, today’s workout suggests that improving pace distribution and endurance may offer more benefit than trying to increase maximum freestyle speed.
Training Load Continues to Normalize
TrainingPeaks continues to show the accumulated fatigue from the end of August gradually coming down while training continues.
| Date | Fitness | Fatigue | Form |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sep. 1 | 71 | 116 | -57 |
| Sep. 2 | 71 | 108 | -45 |
| Sep. 3 | 70 | 101 | -38 |
| Sep. 4 | 70 | 96 | -31 |
Since September 1, Fatigue has fallen from 116 to 96 while Form has improved from -57 to -31. That is a significant movement in the right direction while still completing four consecutive days of swimming.
Listening to My Shoulders
One thing I am paying particularly close attention to now is some strain developing in my shoulders. It isn’t something I want to allow to progress into pain.
That changes the priority for tomorrow. The original schedule calls for a 3,000-meter long mixed aerobic workout. I still plan to use 3,000 meters as the maximum distance, but I am not going to be rigid about the prescribed sets.
Instead, I will see how my shoulders feel once I am in the water and adjust the mixture of freestyle, breaststroke, repetition lengths and recovery accordingly. If everything loosens up and feels good, I can continue with a normal aerobic session. If the strain increases or begins affecting my stroke, there is no benefit in forcing the planned workout simply because it appears on the schedule.
At this stage of preparation, protecting the ability to continue training is more important than completing one particular set exactly as written.
September Training Log
| Date | Workout | Meters | sTSS |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sep. 1 | Recovery | 1,800 | 37 |
| Sep. 2 | Aerobic FR/BR | 2,500 | 63 |
| Sep. 3 | BR Endurance | 2,700 | 59 |
| Sep. 4 | FR Endurance | 2,500 | 61 |
| Total | 9,500 | 220 |
September total: 9,500 meters and 220 sTSS.
Week One Progress
| Date | Planned | Actual |
|---|---|---|
| Sep. 1 | 1,800 m | 1,800 m |
| Sep. 2 | 2,500 m | 2,500 m |
| Sep. 3 | 2,500 m | 2,700 m |
| Sep. 4 | 2,500 m | 2,500 m |
| Sep. 5 | 3,000 m | Flexible aerobic |
| Sep. 6 | OFF | Recovery |
Through September 4, I have completed 9,500 meters, 200 meters more than the original 9,300-meter plan through today.
Tomorrow’s 3,000 meters is now best viewed as a maximum rather than a requirement. The actual workout will depend on how my shoulders respond once I begin swimming.
33 Days to the 200 Breaststroke
There are now 33 days until the October 7 Huntsman 200-meter breaststroke.
At this point, protecting consistency becomes increasingly important. One spectacular workout isn’t going to determine what happens in October, and forcing a workout when something doesn’t feel right can cost considerably more training than modifying a single day.
September 4 Takeaway
Today’s 2,500 meters reinforced something that has been becoming clearer throughout the first week of September: freestyle speed isn’t currently the primary limitation.
The three 400-meter repetitions showed some progressive slowing, but I was subsequently able to return to approximately 1:36/100 m pace over the 4 × 100 set and still produce a 1:29.33 late in the workout.
For the 800 and 1500 freestyle, the next step is making that existing speed more sustainable and distributing it more effectively over the entire race.
At the same time, the developing shoulder strain is a reminder that training decisions can’t be made entirely from the stopwatch. Tomorrow will remain an aerobic swimming day, but the exact structure will be determined in the pool based on how I feel.
With 33 days remaining until the first Huntsman event, the goal isn’t to win every workout. The goal is to arrive at the starting block healthy, rested and able to use the fitness and speed that are already being built.
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