A few more milestones

Been a while since I last posted but I have not really achieved anything of any significance, apart from the usual training and trying to keep fit. 

Well this weekend I achieved a few minor milestones with my training and also my weight loss. 

On Saturday it was a chance for me to get to the lakes. I left the house at 6.30am with the outside temperature at 9 degrees Celsius. Was not looking forward to going swimming. It was a tad chilly out there and parts of my body made it more noticeable than normal. I had arranged to meet a friend of mine at the lakes, he is relatively new to this open water madness. Fortunately he has a bit more sanity than me and received his new wetsuit earlier in the week and wanted to give it a test drive.

I arrived at the lake and the temp outside had crept up to a tropical 10 degrees Celsius, gosh, I might have to unpack on the suncream!!  I went up to the admin table and they knew me so did not even bother asking if I wanted to hire a wetsuit. I paid for the swim, as did my friend and we ventured into the tropical waters of Ferris meadows, hovering at 12 degrees Celsius.

My aim for this swim was to just swim as far as I could before I felt things were going wrong. the reason for this madness, in less than two weeks I will be swimming the Jubilee-river-swim 

The Jubilee River is a flood relief river, opened in 2002, and is a superb recreational venue too. Along its length you’ll find much flourishing wildlife as it has two nature conservation areas, and the well surfaced ‘towpath’ is part of a national cycle network. This makes the swim a dream for spectators as they can walk, run or cycle the whole course just yards away from the action!

I wanted to see where I was with my cold water  swimming. The plan, jump in and swim. I told this to my friend who was joining me and also said that once I start I will not be waiting around as I need to generate body heat. We waded into the waters with a whole bunch of Triathletes watching in disbelief as this pasty white apparition dressed only in bright orange budgie smugglers and swimcap disappeared below the water surface, only to appear about 50m out and steaming off into the distance. The laps are 750m and my aim was to get up near the 8km mark which should be 12 circuits of the lake. the first thing that struck me was not the cold but how clean the lake is. I have swum there for about three years now and it has always got better and better, but this year it is phenominal. A big High five to the owners. They have cleared the bottom of weed and the water is clear, there is a LOT less duck and goose crap to chew on as well - if I had known this I probably would have eaten before I left home! I think my friend did about 3 laps and got out due to technical problems with his goggles and the cold. Poor Paul, waited around for a while to see if I was going to come out but I think got bored and went off home. Congrats for doing what you did, it was a chilly swim.

I carried on and managed to do 9 laps (6.75km). At this point, I started to lose feeling in my feet so I decided to do one lap of the smaller circuit (400m), taking my total to just over 7.1km.This took me just over 1 hour 50min. At this point I figured, not a bad effort considering I have not been in water that cold for Ages, especially for that distance. Not what Iwas hoping for but not bad, I could deal with that.

Whilst I was swimming I had the privilege of seeing some of the underwater wildlife. I was trundling along and out of the corner of my eye I saw this shape - last year that would have been impossible. I stopped and looked down and there was this massive fish swimming along with me. it was a great time to be there with nature.

I came out and was greeted by the owners of the lake and the usual, "you are crazy" comments from most people.

All in all not a bad way to start off the weekend. I can't remember the last time I swam that distance, in that temperature, in fact I do not think I ever have, and I still had all my appendages, albeit a bit more wrinkled, smaller and a LOT less sensitive. One thing that I was pretty proud of, was the fact that my circuit times did not really differ a great deal all the way through. On the down side, they didn't really differ much from the same times I had last year. I really wish I could swim at a decent pace. The endurance is there but, alas, the speed seems to be VERY elusive, and has been for a while.

Zimhippo becomes Slimhippo

Another little milestone is, for the first time since I swam the Channel, nearly 5 years ago, I have crept below 100kg (15.6 stone) Apparently it shows, I have had loads of compliments about my weight recently, but I still hate the mirror,I have even tried a new mirror with the same results. I still look like a hippo in it. Hopefully when I get my head in the right place that will change. 

This weight loss thing is a bit of an enigma to me, I never set a goal to lose weight, it just started happening and when  I realised it I started monitoring it, since the begining of the year I  have lost 17 kg (2.7 Stone). It seems that the few things I have done, cut out sugar, increase my excercise 5 fold and also my appetite is very surpressed all leads to losing weight. I cannot offer advice on how to do it but that is what I have done and it seems to have worked so far. I just need to keep myself here now. I can maybe afford to lose a few Kgs but not really too much more. I like, and need my blubber. BUT, I also like the compliments about the way I look at the moment. Thank you all those that have noticed and commented.

Fundraising

WOW!! is all I can say. Thank you to all the people who have already sponsored me, My current total is £290 and I am still a long way to my final challenge. All my friends are amazing and their generosity is overwhelming. All I can ask is that people keep circulating this blog and my fund raising page. The Old Fogeys In Zimbabwe REALLY need our support. Remember, Even if you are not from the United Kingdom YOU can still donate. All you need is a credit card and if you want to send money directly to the charity, or me, PLEASE get in touch. any little counts.

                      As per usual, i will end with a quote that a friend has just posted to me

"Believe in yourself! Have faith in your abilities! 

Without a humble but reasonable confidence

 in your own powers you cannot 

be successful or happy. 

Norman vincent Peale

Happy reading and please keep circulating. 

This is a photo of me at the end of my swim