That seems like a really odd topic for August, but it has been that kind of a summer. Before our 4 km swim last weekend, my friend Nadine shared a bunch of links on minimizing hypothermia when swimming in cold water. I followed them all carefully and had a great 4 km swim, despite the wind going against us ( Read more... )

Today I had an excellent riding lesson on Monty. I managed to multitask by making each arm and leg move independently (push his bum out onto the track with the left leg, while pushing him forward with the right leg, keeping steady pressure with the right hand while giving and taking with the left hand to get him to relax and bend), at the same time ( Read more... )

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Went out to visit Fancy and feed her dinner as S was at a cottage for the day. Fancy demonstrated, with gusto, that she has mastered the nose-operated drinking fountain. She snarfed back all her grain, then went back to snuffle all the bits that had spilled when she first ate (she doesn't have a tooth problem - she just tries to stuff too much in ( Read more... )

I swam 5.3 km today at Meech Lake. It was not as far as I had hoped for my end-of-year swim, but it's far longer than my longest swim to date. If conditions had been different (more relaxed swim, friends who wanted to continue, nothing else contemplated, I might have done the 7.8 km that had been my original goal. StiLl, my arms were pretty darned ( Read more... )

I swam 3.6 km at Meech Lake today. I could easily have done another loop around the island ( Read more... )

I did eight individual medley sets in power swim this morning. Mike (my coach) said I could do backstroke instead, but I decided I would give it my best shot. At the end, he told me I had done a really good job. To Nick, my other coach, he said I needed work on my technique. So, my second hour of swimming was all butterfly drills and distances. By ( Read more... )

Biked to swimming in the rain, practised sprints for an hour, then did an hour of drills and biked home. Promptly had a nap that went on far too long. Did a bit of cleaning and a few minutes of gardening, started a load of laundry and bought groceries. By then, it was time to pick up S. She must have been even tired than me, as she has been asleep ( Read more... )

I got several compliments on my swimming today. In particular, one person said my front crawl is really powerful because I pull through the entire stroke. Mike, the powerswim coach said my times are very good for someone who normally swims only once a week. I may not swim enough, but Nick has made my strokes very efficient, and that makes up for a ( Read more... )

After being up way too late last night, I was in the pool at 7 am. My comfy lane of just three weeks ago is now too slow, so my swim times must be getting better. I got hauled out part-way through and introduced to the coach who is organizing participation in Nationals. He gave me all the instructions on how to register, so I guess I'm committed ( Read more... )