TMI – Finding Your Algorithm Oh And Getting My Swim or Kick On

I had a night of tossing and turning. My sleep scores were low and I sort of felt that. Did drag my butt to swim to find out it’s Kick Day. Yuck! Which may have been a good thing. My left arm’s bicep is a bit sore from Boulder Rock Climbing in Saturday.

Data. Chest, Wrist or Finger? On the way in to work I was listening to a podcast Escape Your Limits & LIFTS: LIFTS Episode 91 that talked about wearables…“So Apple Watch tracks your HRV via something called SDNM. When you look at Oura or ROOP, they capture HRV via a method called RMSSD. So here’s the difference.

It is getting a bit technical here. But these are the two ways of calculating HRV. And this is why it’s so different.

So SDNN stands for Standard Deviation of NN Interval. So it captures the overall variability across a long window. So Apple uses this because it fits in intermittent readings, but it’s less sensitive for day-to-day recovery.

So they take a much longer time between each sample set. So this is why the recovery scores in Apple on is as accurate as in Oura or Whoop. Oura and Whoop use something called RMSSD, which stands for Root Mean Square of Successive Differences.

This captures short-term vagal tone, parasympathetic activity. And this is the gold standard for recovery tracking using HRV. This is what Oura uses, this is what Garmin uses, this is what Whoop uses, Polar and so on.”

• From Escape Your Limits & LIFTS: LIFTS Episode 91 – Apple vs. Samsung vs. Oura – Who Wins in Health Tech? | with ROOK Co-Founder Marco Benitez, Sep 28, 2025

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Either way you need to read the data. Sleep for me is key. I use to get 4 hours a sleep a night. My goal was to get 5 or more so it made me aware of my sleep so

I started to go to bed earlier. I kept adjusting that “to bed” time and now I try for at least 6 hours of sleep.

So the data is only as good as how you use it.

The Workout itself wasn’t so bad. I’m so bad at kicking. The swimmers I normally lap are ahead or lapping me. Some of the set was just continuous. The freestyle kick bothers my lower back which shows my streamlines are bad. I had to take the fins off at the last 50 Fly as my hips and legs just dragged behind me. It was like I was vertical and trying to swim. Since it’s a payroll Monday I got out about 6am.

OURA SLEEP SCORE– 64

5 hours and 47 minutes

GARMIN SLEEP SCORE – 45

5 hours and 27 minutes

MONDAY 9/29/25

MASTERS SWIM THEME – KICKING

1 hour and 3 minutes

THE WET DECK:

WARM UP: (500)

250 Free

100 Back

50 Fly

100 Breast

SET ONE: (1000/1500)

4 x 100’s Free Kick w/ Board and Fins on 1:50 (didn’t make interval so 400 for me)

3 x 100’s Free Swim w/ Fins on 1:40 (I didn’t wear fins)

3 x 100’s Back Streamline Kick w/ Fina on 1:50 (I didn’t make intervals)

SET TWO: (1000/2500)

2 x 100’s IM Swim on 2:10

4 x 50’s Breast Kick w/ Board on 1:30 (I didn’t make intervals)

4 x 50’s Breast on 1:20

4 x 50’s Fly Kick w/ Board and Fins on 1:15

4 x 50’s Fly Swim w/ Fins on 1:00

WARM DOWN:

50

SCY 2,550

ZONE 1 – 15:07

ZONE 2 – 31:51

ZONE 3 – 10:56

ZONE 4 – 03:21

ZONE 5 – 00:00

That was a horrible workout. Humbling.

2025 SWIM DISTANCE TOTALS:

SCY- 50,500 *including Monday AM

SCM – 137,475

LCM – 56,000

THE LIFT AHEAD:

MON – SWIM w/ Team (Masters)

TUE – CHEST + TEACH 30 Min INDOOR CYCLE

WED – SWIM w/ Team

THU– Back + TEACH 30 Min INDOOR CYCLE

FRI – SWIM w/ Team

SAT – CHEST & Peloton App Walk+Run

SUN – Combo / Back & Peloton App Walk+Run

THE ROAD AHEAD:

Programming My Workouts for the next few months:

STRENGTH – September 23rd – October 5th

TAPER – October 7th & 9th

Swim meet on October 12th so not much TAPER.

STRENGTH – October 14th – October 19th

Announcer for Running of the Squares 5k October 18th

ENDURANCE – October 21st – October 30th

10K runDISNEY October 25th

Sanford Senior Games November 2nd

STRENGTH – November 4th- November 16th

ENDURANCE – November 18th – November 23rd

TAPER – November 25th – December 4th

Florida Senior Games either Dec 6 & 7 or Dec 13 & 14.

RUNNING MORE – Will be running more as I’m running a Half Marathon on March 1st.

Rowdy Gaines Masters Classic 17 January 30, 2026-February 1, 2026.

TBD

Will figure out a training program for December thru March that will keep my swimming up, weight training in a longer Endurance Phase while I gear up my running. Yikes

JUST KEEP SWIMMING:

3rd Annual SWAGtoberfest Meet October 12th

500 Free

50 Fly

100 IM

100 Flyp

100 Back

-Sanford Senior Games – Nov 2nd

100 Fly

100 IM

50 Fly

100 Back

-Florida Senior Games – TBD DEC Temple Terrace

– Rowdy Gaines Masters Classic 17 January 30, 2026-February 1, 2026.

TBD

– T.V. Senior Games April 18 & 19, 2026

TBD

runDISNEY:

Wine & Dine 10K – OCT 25th

12K’s of Christmas Virtual – TBD

WDW 5K – JAN 8th

PRINCESS HALF – MARCH 1st

Springtime Surprise – APRIL 17-19th (Not Running)

GEMINI AI RATE MY WORKOUT:

That sounds like a rough start to the week! Low sleep scores and a sore bicep leading into a Kick Day—definitely a recipe for a humbling workout, but you still got after it. That’s a win in itself.

You’ve got a lot of data, goals, and events coming up! Let’s break down your workout and touch on the data points you brought up.

Workout Rating and Analysis

Based on the data you provided for your Monday swim, here is an analysis and rating:

| Category | Analysis | Rating |

|—|—|—|

| Commitment | You dragged yourself out of bed after a poor night’s sleep (Oura 64, Garmin 45) and a sore bicep, and still completed 2,550 SCY of a kick-heavy workout. | 5/5 |

| Execution | You struggled with the kick sets, citing poor intervals, form (lower back pain on flutter kick), and “dragging” legs. You had to modify or cut some sets (e.g., stopping the fins on the last 50 Fly). | 2/5 |

| Time in Zones | Your Zone 3 (10:56) and Zone 4 (3:21) time shows you pushed your intensity for a total of almost 14 minutes, even though it felt horrible. This suggests your heart/lungs were working hard to compensate for the form struggles. | 3/5 |

| Humility/Mindset | You recognized the workout was “horrible” and “humbling.” Recognizing a weak area (kicking/streamline) is the first step to improving it. | 5/5 |

| Total Workout Score | 2,550 SCY is a solid yardage for an early-morning master’s practice, even if you felt like you were “vertical.” You put in the work on a tough day. | 3.8 / 5 Stars |

Key Takeaways for Improvement

* Listen to Your Body (and the Schedule): The Kick Day may have been an accidental blessing for your sore left bicep, but the high-volume kicking clearly taxed your lower back and legs. Your fatigue from the low sleep scores also contributed to poor form and the difficulty in making intervals. On days with low sleep/recovery scores, it’s smart to focus on form and technique rather than chasing speed or interval times.

* Address Streamline/Core: If freestyle kicking causes lower back pain, it strongly suggests your core engagement is lacking, leading to an arched back and subsequent dropped hips (the feeling of being “vertical”). This is why your kick felt so inefficient and tiring. Dedicate time to drills that focus on a tight streamline, head position, and core tension.

* Kicking Improvement: Since kicking is a struggle, treating it as an area for focused training will pay off. Consider adding 10 minutes of kick-specific technique work (e.g., vertical kicking, side-kicking drills) to your warm-up or cool-down a few days a week.

Finding Your Algorithm: Data and Wearables

That podcast clip provides great context on why different wearables give different scores, and it’s smart of you to be aware of the underlying metrics.

* RMSSD (Root Mean Square of Successive Differences)—used by Oura, Whoop, Garmin—is the gold standard for day-to-day recovery tracking because it focuses on the short-term fluctuations driven by the parasympathetic nervous system (your “rest and digest” and recovery system). This is why you often see Oura and Whoop recovery scores react more sensitively to poor sleep, stress, or a hard workout.

* SDNN (Standard Deviation of NN Interval)—used by Apple Watch—measures overall variability over a longer window. It’s a valid metric but less sensitive for the specific daily recovery score you’re looking for.

Using the Data

The most important takeaway, as you already noted, is how you use the data. You’ve already successfully used your data to adjust your bedtime and move from 4 hours to a target of 6+ hours of sleep, which is fantastic and the best use of any wearable.

Your current situation highlights the context needed for the data:

| Data Point | Metric | Context | Actionable Insight |

|—|—|—|—|

| Low Sleep Score (45-64) | Recovery | You felt the lack of sleep. | Modify the workout: focus on technique, cut volume, or lower intensity targets. |

| Sore Bicep | Physical Limit | A body part is already stressed. | Good call on Kick Day—this saved your arm for later in the week. |

| Horrible Workout | Subjective Feeling | The data (low sleep) supported your feeling. | Confirms that your sleep is a primary driver for daily performance. Prioritize sleep/recovery over trying to push through a specific interval on low-quality rest. |

The data confirms the feeling. When you see low scores, it’s not a prediction of failure, but a recommendation to take it easy.

The Road Ahead: Balancing the Multiverse

You have a very busy and exciting schedule ahead with swim meets, 5K/10K runs, and a half marathon build!

* October (STRENGTH/TAPER): The focus on STRENGTH is a good base, and the short taper for the Oct 12th swim meet is fine, as it’s not a major championship. Running the Wine & Dine 10K fits well into your schedule and won’t severely compromise your strength phase.

* November/December (ENDURANCE/TAPER/GAMES): You’ll be shifting into more ENDURANCE work, which is perfect for building your base for both the Florida Senior Games and your run training.

* December-March (Half Marathon Build): This is the tricky part. You’ll need to strategically reduce your swimming and lifting volume/intensity to build up your running mileage safely. Consider shifting your strength work to more maintenance (2 key lifts a week) and using your current Swim w/ Team days as quality speed or technique sessions, rather than pure high-volume endurance swims.

It’s clear you’re great at setting goals and tracking data. What is the one area you feel you need the most structure for to successfully hit your March Half Marathon goal while keeping your swim/strength base?

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