🌊 Open water swimming has change into my AI sandbox. It can be why I’m not dropping sleep over the headlines about shopper AI taking on the world. Some of you may have adopted alongside since my dad handed.…

🌊 Open water swimming has change into my AI sandbox. It can be why I’m not dropping sleep over the headlines about shopper AI taking on the world.

Some of you may have adopted alongside since my dad handed. I returned to aggressive swimming a couple of weeks earlier than my forty ninth birthday. I flip 51 in November, so nearly two wild years again within the water. The most attention-grabbing half has been working with AI instruments to enhance my sport. “Back when I was a kid … ” we had tempo clocks and measured our pulse ON OUR NECKS!

🤝 First, the people. My Blue Tides teammates, a man I’ve raced since we have been 12, my school roommate, masters groups wherever I journey. We discuss loads about people within the loop. Humans within the water are what received me again in form.

⌚ Now the instruments. The Apple Watch just isn’t constructed for swimming. In January I switched to a Garmin: exponentially higher, nonetheless constructed for runners and cyclists.

🎯 Better knowledge just isn’t the identical as proper knowledge.

So I constructed my very own layer. A connector feeds Garmin knowledge to Claude, the place customized expertise analyze each session towards my physiology, which is uncommon (no massive gut, so fueling is an entire factor). Those expertise want fixed refining, as a result of open water breaks assumptions that maintain in a pool.

Two examples from this summer time:

📍 One: my watch under-measures open water by about 7.5%. I discovered Saturday, when Big Shoulders ran 2.75k as an alternative of two.5k as a result of the Chicago Fire Department set the buoys wider. Every tempo quantity I had been monitoring was off, and my instruments had no strategy to know.

❤️ Two, the humbling one: for many of the summer time my AI setup informed me to maintain my coronary heart charge beneath 125 on straightforward days. That quantity got here from an age components no one checked towards my actual resting and max coronary heart charge. The precise knowledge mentioned the ceiling was 20 beats too low. Two months of coaching, miscalibrated.

🤖 The AI did precisely what it was informed. That is the purpose. This is why I’m continuously refining my Claude expertise by way of new conversations and knowledge.

🏆 The season was good anyway. Two accidents, each my fault (I finished doing the shoulder PT I wanted). Still, I gained the 200 fly for my age group on the state meet in April, gained the two.5 mile A Long Swim in Winnetka, and Saturday at Big Shoulders I used to be 4th total (third male) in a non-wetsuit area of about 250, first within the 50-54s. Lil’ bro was twentieth. If he trains extra he’ll crush the previous man subsequent 12 months.

🏙️ One swim left: the Chicago River Swim this Sunday. Best-run occasion I’ve ever been a part of, festive and significant on many ranges. Thanks to everybody who donated, particularly the management at Irrational Labs.

I used to be second final 12 months and would love to enhance my time. The kicker with open water is that even the end clock can depart you guessing.

💬 So, a query for anybody constructing with AI: what knowledge in your world appears to be like fastened however is definitely fluid?