7 April 2026 After our (mis-)adventures in Madrid and with Canadian Masters Nationals a mere seven weeks away, today marked the start of a focused six-week training and one-week drop taper cycle to try to see if I can get back into any semblance of racing shape to at least be able to deliver a somewhat decent 200 freestyle result. I arrived at the London Aquatics Centre to brilliant sunshine and evidence that there was a lot of fun happening here over the Easter long weekend

3 April 2026 While the swim/workout and the pool itself are the primary goals behind all of my pool tourism, a very close third place is the journey to and from the pool. Particularly when I'm in a new city, I view the travel as part of the challenge ... and the delight. It can also be humbling ... but in a growth-oriented way. We arrived into Madrid on Thursday late afternoon and I was smugly confident in my ability to navigate the Metro from the airport to our hotel. Mad

25 March 2026 Mainz, Germany really is a wonderful city, nestled on the south side of the Rhine River, due south of Weisbaden and southwest of Frankfurt, this burg of about 225,000 people has everything I need for a productive business trip: an easily accessible main train station with decent hotels and reasonably priced (but good) restaurants in walking distance and two great public pools. Until today, I've always swum at the Taubertsberg Bad as it's an easy 5-10 minute wal

27 June 2025 I think more London area fitness facilities should adopt this term - “Lifestyle Club” - over the much more dominant “Leisure...

31 March 2025 There's a classic saying - "To be old and wise, you must first be young and stupid." I proved with today's "Birthday Bash"...

3 March 2025 I love going to the London Aquatics Centre first thing in the morning, but it's oh so much nicer when you arrive as the sun...

7 February 2025 I really love the concept of test sets, sets that one does exactly the same way over & over again to track progress. I...

27 January 2025 Part of keeping my commitment to train for the 400 long course freestyle this year means repeating my 3 x 300 test set...

24 January 2025 As I was cooling down in Lane 5 this morning, one of the two "fast" lanes during lane swimming sessions at the London...

18 January 2025 When I raced at this long course meet last year at the (generally) excellent K2 Crawley pool ... ... I wrote that it, "...