Carmen's Plodathon by SuperCaz

And once again another month has gone by and I haven't blogged.  What is my excuse this time?  Well, I'm not a very happy bunny at the moment with so much change going on in my life and I can't bring myself to write self indulgent posts.

To be honest, about the only times I am happy is when swimming or when out with friends.

Not much movement on the separation.  I'm still looking for work.  I've had a couple of interviews but no offers yet.  Still living in the same house as Hubby, although on Wednesday I get to collect the keys for a friends house.  He is going travelling for two months and wants a house sitter, and that suits me perfectly!

On the swimming front, I've been in the sea or a river nearly every day.  Some are social swims where we do a lot of heads up breaststroke and natter, some are proper swims of various duration depending on the ability of the people I am swimming with.  It's nice to have some variety and not swim the same routes with the same people all the time, and this early in the season even the social swims have a purpose as they are important for cold water acclimitisation.

Memorable swims:

1) The river Wey.  My first proper fresh water river swim.  Beatiful scenery and so peaceful.  We didn't go very far, mainly as we were swimming upstream and there was a strong current to fight against but the sun was out and the birds were singing, and my freinds who was walking her dogs along the bank discovered that her new miniture poodle can't swim (we had to rescue it).

2) The river Hamble.  We did an A to B route downstream over 3.5 miles.  We arranged with a pub to leave dry clothes there, then drove upstream to the start point, parked up in the village centre and walked for 5 min in our swimming costumes to the river, attracting lots of funny looks from the locals.  The swim was tidally assisted so it only took us 1hours 40 min, which is fast even by my standards, and we climbed out up some steps literally into the pub beer garden surrounded by lots of people enjoying their Sunday roasts.  As I was getting changed I discovered that I hadn't packed any trousers, so I had to sit in the pub, eating my lunch with my towling Robie over the top of my hoodie.  I just told everyone that I was cold and I don't think anyone suspected that I didn't have anything on underneath!

3) The sea at Dover.  Why is the water about 3°C cooler at Dover than elsewhere along the South Coast?  The plan was to do a 3 hour swim, but it was too cold and I only managed 2 hours.  But regardless of that, this was the first time that I had the privilege to wear a red hat a Dover (red hats for solo swimmers and yellow hats for relay swimmers).  Suddenly I realised that this was real and that I am going to be a Channel Swimmer (conditions on the day and training permitting).

I also got to speak to a lot of other swimmers, some which have already completed a solo attempt, some which had tried and failed and some that were doing their solos either this year or next.  The amount of knowledge that they have between them is incredible and it gave me more of an idea of what I have let myself in for and how to survive the logistics on the day.

4) The sea at Bournemouth. I met up with the Seals and Penguins, which are relay teams scheduled to swim this year (I'm a Duck).  I decided to join them mainly for a change of scenery and because they were one of the few groups I know that swim for more than an hour.

I met a girl who had completed her relay last year and was doing her solo attempt in September, and we were exactly the same speed in the water.  Together we motivated each other to swim for a total of 3 hours 15 min and have promised to swim together more often.  She too struggles to find people willing to do long swims with her so I think she will be good company for me.  And she makes the best ginger cake

Well, I think that summarises the swimming.  As for other stuff... I think I have been out on the bike once and I am still having my weekly PT sessions.  As for running... my shoes are collecting dust.