Wednesday, November 26, 2014

At the end of Week 18

I usually like to give myself a big pat on the back for completing however many km by the end of the week.
When I came to try to add to my previous map in Google Maps (My Maps) I discovered that they have changed things a little and I would now have to pay for an upgrade in order to create a map.
No way... I will do it in Photoshop thank you very much.
So the area in the rectangle shows my path prior to North Glenmore.
And a slim blue arrow, rather like my swimming posture, ahem, will be added for each week's swim.

This week, the map shows my progress for Weeks 17 and 18 which amounts to 5250 metres or five and a quarter km from 5 swims.
And I am now 55.4km closer to the West Edmonton Mall than when I started.

Week 18

Ok so this is my second week of swimming at North Glenmore Pool
And I am armed with my Calgary Recreation Card. Loaded with 10 Swims.
Let's see how many metres I swim this week.

Day 57 (November 26 , 2014): 1250 m. Total 59,114 km. Yeh way way way to go!

Day 56 (November 25 , 2014): 1250 m. Total 57,864 km. Yeh way way to go!

Day 55 (November 24 , 2014): 1250 m. Total 56,614 km. Yeh way to go!

Week 17

Talisman was flooded in the June floods a year+ ago.
Then I decided that it wasn't doing my neck problem any good to swim in the sometimes colder than optimum temperatures at Talisman.
Months later we moved to a new area of Calgary - North Glenmore.
Great news, I now live almost opposite a swimming pool.
Bad news, It closed for renovations as soon as I moved in!
Today (Tuesday) I went swimming there for the first time...

Forgot it is saline - a shock.
Nice pool. Lovely temperature and great (Hozier) music.

Day 54 (November 18 , 2014): 750m. Total 55,364 km.

Day 53 (November 17 , 2014): 750m. Total 54,614 km.

Week 16

Week Sixteen of swimming:-
Just my luck, a short week in Calgary owing to the Victoria Day holiday and us skooting off to SSI for a break. And then they want a swimming event at the Talisman. So the temperature of the water is taken down to sub zero - or feels like it. The neck goes into spasms and I hang on to my will to get to Edmonton.

Only managed 3 out of the 4 possible swims

Day 52 (May 23 , 2013): 1000m. Total 53.864 km.

Day 51 (May 22 , 2013): 1000m. Total 52.864 km.

Day 50 (May 21 , 2013): 1000m. Total 51.864 km.
And where am I now? Here

Week 15

Week Fifteen of swimming - that is:-
Nearly day 50 and reached 50km.
Time to change the map a bit...

Day 49 (May 17 , 2013): 1000m. Total 50.864 km.
Day 48 (May 16 , 2013): 1000m. Total 49.864 km.

Day 47 (May 12 , 2013): 800m. Total 48.864 km.

Week 14

Week Fourteen:-
Not much going on.
Unfortunately it has been a bad week with me putting off swimming one day because of dentist, then another because the pool was soooo icy cold the day before that I just didn't feel it was healthy unless I was going to join the Water Polo team, which I was not.

All the same I am now north of Airdrie. Amazing.

Day 46 (April18 , 2013): 1000m. Total 47.864 km.

Day 45 (April15 , 2013): 1000m. Total 46.864 km.

Week 13

Week Thirteen:-
Back to my old swimming grounds.
Managed a few days this week and started to loosen up. Kel says that the Aussies are much better lane sharers than the Brits, but today I couldn't believe how selfish this guy was when the waterway got a little crowded. Never mind, I am not one to hold a grudge, besides I like it mid-stream.
No-one is encouraging me with $$$$ so I am going to have to have a full on attempt at spreading my cause...E-Twit-Face-Blog-Mail.

Day 42 (April17 , 2013): 1000m. Total 43.864 km.

Day 43 (April18 , 2013): 1000m. Total 43.864 km.

Day 44 (April19 , 2013): 1000m. Total 45.864 km.

Week 12

Week Twelve:-

I really didn't expect this - but day 1 in Manchester and I have already been swimming. Lovely pool, but I had to wear a hair net! They do things differently up north. Very Coronation Street.

Day 40 (March 25, 2013): 850m. Total 41.864 km.

Day 41 (March 27, 2013): 1000m. Total 42.864 km.

Week 11

Week Eleven:-
You deserve to know where I am... note the Canadian Twain at left speeding by me....
It's a long long road to Edmonton...

Unfortunately no swimming this week and till my next posting...
I finally got the lurgy - I think the final straw were the seemingly sub-zero temperatures I was swimming in last week, did they really need to take the temps. down that far.
Anyway I spent a whole day in bed, then had no voice and The Throat.
And that leads up to this coming week when I will be over in Blighty.
I hope to swim more km in on a different continent. But time will tell, they too have snow forecast even though it is, officially, Spring. One has to get well again.

Still, here is my latest update map. And I am 40km away from home.

Week 10

Spring weather in Calgary can be a bit of a shock... so yesterday was steaming at +13. Today we have -8 as a maximum... this required a change to my swimmer's wardrobe... see below.

You also get an idea of how I look with 9" less hair!

Day 39 (March 14, 2013): 1250m. Total 41.010 km. (wow 40km!)

Day 38 (March 13, 2013): 1250m. Total 39.760 km.

Day 37 (March 12, 2013): 1250m. Total 38.510 km.

Day 36 (March 11, 2013): 1125m. Total 37.260 km. Beautiful sunrise today.

Week 9

Week Nine:-

Frustrated at not swimming so much last week - began well this, ater the snow storm of yesterday (sunday) across southern Alberta, I got to the water easily. Had to be a bit careful gaining access but no problems really, except my goggles steamed up after only about 10 minutes of swimming.

.

My goodness, I am approaching Balzac

Day 35 (March 8, 2013): 1500m. Total 36.135 km. I'm tired! x2

Day 34 (March 7, 2013): 1385m. Total 34.635 km. I'm tired!

Day 33 (March 6, 2013): 1050m. Total 33.250 km.

Day 32 (March 5, 2013): 1150m. Total 32.200 km.

Day 31 (March 4, 2013): 1300m. Total 31.050 km. That is 52 lengths! Big number for me. I am one 10th of the way there.

Week 8

Week Eight:-

A hiatus because of a visit to the island and a fight with flu

So now it is approaching the end of February and I move towards 30,000km.

... I would like to learn to do what used to be called Front Crawl but is now known as Free Style.

So this week I started to add a few lengths doing leg-kick only... hard work but I am sure it will be worthwhile.

And look where I got to by Friday... North of the airport and approaching Country Hills Boulevard NE.

Day 30 1150m Total 29.750 km February 28, 2013

Day 29 1050m Total 28.600 km February 26, 2013

Day 28 1050m Total 27.550 km February 25, 2013

Week 7

Week Seven:-

This is another short week. I pushed hard on Monday and Tuesday and now wonder if I will manage to get into the water on Wednesday. Certainly Thursday and Friday are out....

Day 27 1250m Total 27.750 km February 12, 2013
Day 26 1000m Total 26.500 km February 11, 2013

It's been difficult managing my hair which looked like this, quite long but not long enough to be used to make a wig.

And now it looks like.....

All will be revealed next week....

Week 6

Are my trousers a little baggier? I haven't lost any weight but I think I am going lumpier - and that is, probably, a good thing.
This week I stepped it up and didn't feel a thing... 50 lengths on two of the days. Now I know that is nothing to many of you fish-types out there. But every time I hit the water I am as surprised as Richard Parker was, when he hit the ocean, in Life of Pi. By the way, check out why the tiger was called Richard Parker if you have time, I found it disturbingly interesting. Today I swam next to a guy who looked more like Pi in the water. And is probably in Ontario by now. I am sure he tied his legs together in knots for a dozen lengths, just to make it more challenging for himself I suppose.
Saw this in the car park... I don't think I will ever take up the sport. But if you know me, you know that I never say never.

Day 22 1000m Total 22.000 km February 4, 2013
Day 23 1250m Total 23.250 km February 5, 2013
Day 24 1000m Total 24.250 km February 6, 2013
Day 25 1250m Total 25.500 km February 7, 2013

Can't swim tomorrow - dental troubles, but at the current rate: 25km in 25 days.... it will, indeed, take me about a year to get to Edmonton...

Week 5

Week the fifth:-

This was not my best week owing to the fact that I travelled by plane and car away from the swimming zone.

I only managed to swim one kilometre and I am not even going to mark it on a progress map for this week, so disappointed am I with my progress. But, not to worry, I will swim well in week 6, not that I will make up for days lost. But I will just swim.

Day 21 1000m Total 21.000 km January 28, 2013

Week 4

Week the forth:-

I go forth... and clock up my 20th km by end of week.

I don't know why The Google is doing its own thing in some cases... "second guessing" my husband tells me... but I try to show as accurate a placement as I can for each weekly stage.

And it has been just lovely having a companion swimmer and style coach = A.M.
We stopped for Jugo Juice after the swim today (Thursday) and enjoyed the view, the Calgary Water Polo team were in for training!

However, the team appears to function best when the water temperature is close to outdoor ambient temperature... in Calgary for heaven's sake. So it was chilly to say the least, one had to keep moving. Needless to say this heat put off my companion swimmer for day 3 when I swam alone.

Captain Aaron Feltham works out during the Canadian men's water polo team practice in Calgary, Alberta march 20, 2012. Reuters/Todd Korol. If there is a problem iwth me using this image for free please let me know and I will remove it.

Water Polo

Canada's Senior Men's National Water Polo Team

Talisman Centre is officially recognized as a National Training Centre by Water Polo Canada. The Canadian Senior Men's National Team is currently led by Head Coach Dragan Jovanovic and managed by Neil Muir. We train out of Talisman Centre and represent Canada all over the world.

Day 17   1000m Total 16.950 km January 21, 2013
Day 18   1000m Total 17.950 km January 23, 2013
Day 19   1000m Total 18.950 km January 24, 2013
Day 20   1050m Total 20.000 km January 25, 2013

This swimming lark is playing havoc with my hair... why oh why did I ever start to colour it. Now I can't even give it away for a good cause.

Week 3

Day 14 1050m Total 13.950 km January 14th 2013 (34 mins and improving, John has started making jokes about "The Island Swim" scheduled for summer 2013).

Day 15 1000m Total 14.950 km January 15th 2013

Day 16 1000m Total 15.950 km January 16th 2013

Only 3 days swimming in week 3. Lots of felting and stitching though... but that doesn't count. Someone noticed a good physique developing... All that frog-leggy kicking is beginning to pay off.

Congrats to my brother who has also started an exercise regime. Go guy go.

Let's hope I can swim more than 3000 next week.

Post-Xmas Swimming:-

I think I will make my report every weekend.
So, in this case, I have swum a further 6.050km since I last posted.

Not bad, when you think that the temperature outside has been dropping and driving to my swim site has not been the easiest.

There was a 10 car pile up on Deerfoot today... made swimming a little tricky. Fortunately they kept one lane open.
(Am I allowed to use a photo from Twitter, via via????).
My thoughts are with those folks who had to be taken to hospital, wishing you well.
So where does another 6km put me?
Well, I have just passed Inglewood wildlife part and am heading under the bridge at 17th AVE and Blackfoot Trail... Boy is that river water cold.

There are some wonderful birds to be seen in t

Week 2

Week 2 of Swimming - What I did:-

Day 13 1000m Total 12.900 km January 11th 2013

Day 12 1000m Total 11.900 km January 10th 2013

Day 11 1000m Total 10.900 km January 9th 2013

Day 10 1000m Total 9.900 km January 8th 2013

Day 9 1050m Total 8.900 km December 20th 2012

Day 8 1000m Total 7.850 km December 19th 2012

Week 1

Week 1 of swimming:-

6.850 km took me from 4519 Coronation Drive to the Deerfoot interchange. (approx).

Day 7 1000m Total 6.850 km December 18th 2012

Day 6 1000m   Total 5.850 km December 17th 2012
Day 5 950m   Total 4.850 km December 14th 2012
Day 4 850m   Total 3.900 km December 13th 2012
Day 3 1800m Total 3.050 km December 12th 2012

Day 2 800m Total 2.250 km December 11th 2012

Day 1 1450m Total 1.450 km December 7th 2012

Conditions were a little chilly. But the xmas decorations made up for the early starts.

Taking a dip:-

Swam away from the house and braved the unknown that is The Talisman Centre.

Getting to Edmonton before I leave Houston...