2026 Rainer 29029 Event Report

 

Swim Across Ten Mile Lake

 So, I've been swimming across our beloved Ten Mile Lake, in Minnesota, for a number of years.  I have data on my Garmin for the last 7 times I did it.  I probably did it 3-7 times before that, but don't have the data anywhere that I can find.

The exact distance one swims is a function of how straight a line one swims (and I suppose any variation errors in the Garmin).  My database shows it ranges from 5,598-6,065 yards (3.18-3.45 miles).  It's OWS in a deep (208 feet) fresh water lake that is prone to choppiness out in the middle.

I did the swim again this year on 8/14 and here is the summary:

So I did under 1:51, which I was pleased with because two years ago I went over 2 hours for the first time.  You can see that I was cruising along until between 3,000 and 3,500 yards when I fatigued and my swim stroke began to shorten.  This isn't surprising because I typically only swim about 3,000 yards in any given session since I'm not doing an Ironman this year (more on that later!!!!!).

Here is how that compares to my Garmin swims:

You can see a number of things:

1. I'm slowing down as I get older (really old).

2. I was 12 minutes faster than in 2024, which was the first year I began to struggle with right shoulder problems.  Part of this was much better navigation--which I really focused on this year, and part because I was fitter and dropped 10 sec/100 vs. 2024.

3. Still, I was 17 minutes slower (despite better navigation) then I was 12 years ago when I recorded my best time I know of--1:33.

I'm quite happy with this as I'm still trying to recover from my shoulder issues and I've diverted a lot of my training energy towards 29029.  This is a difficult swim.  All good!

OK--lot's of stuff to catch up on--first up is an update on my training volume through August

I intend to add 4-5 posts over the next week or so to get caught up with a pretty busy couple of months!  Here are the updated training volume totals through the end of August:

                               

Observations:

1. Continuing my much better swim training in 2026 as my shoulder seems pretty stable.  A solid month in August but nothing crazy (although I had two rewarding events which I'll post on shortly).  Last year I essentially shut down my swimming due to my shoulder problems so I'll probably continue to increase the delta from 2025, which is you can see is already about 75,000 yds or about 70%.

2. My bike volume continues to be low by historical standards but has now caught up to and surpassed 2025.  With another year of no triathlons, I continue to pursue a maintenance strategy on my bike.

3. The shortfalls in the run/walk for July/August are primarily a function of the later timing of my 29029 event last year (early August).  Net/net, I'm running slightly higher volume in 2026 and with my NYC Marathon coming up, I suspect that will grow some through the end of the year.

4. I'm still in the low period as far as strength and flexibility work go and am basically running even with last year.

5. I'm running about 3% (26 hours) less total training time so far this year, which might seem surprising given the greens above but my average run/walk speed is quite a bit higher this year (getting more distance on a lot less time) mostly because I've done less longer-distance/poor terrain hikes down in Shenandoah this year and last year I did Hadrian's wall, which a very slow average pace.

Anyways, feeling really good about my progress so far this year!