Shark. Bike. BBQ. Warmth!

What a nice day!

Up and off to the pool in good time, though it was very busy. I jumped into a lane with a three other people. One swam quicker, and the other two about the same speed as me. The way it worked out I didn't want to push off in front of them at the top of the clock. Maybe I should have. I drafted for 50 m getting into the groove. Then caught up to the guy and mostly passed him on the turn. My inner shark came out big time as I was trying to pass the other girl, before the faster one came back. Was just pulling back in as we all came together.

I haven't swum with my inner shark for a while now, and it was good to meet up again. We swam together lots when I was at Renfrew, maybe because I was chasing other swimmers lots, and there were a couple people I could just keep up with if I worked at it. Talisman is a nicer facility, but there aren't many people who swim about my speed. There's the swim club kids that could probably swim faster than me using only one arm, and my buddy Katie who can cruise along at about the fastest speed I can swim at all. Then there are people that swim much slower, and good for them for getting out and trying.

If you want to check out more about my inner shark, check out:
 how sharks claim trips on their expense accounts,
or my thoughts vs shark thoughts,
or some shark jokes,
or a shark ditty with apologies to Christine Lavin,
or what the shark thinks of synchro swim girls,
or I'll bet you didn't know sharks are the strong silent type.

After the pass I cruised along trying to stay in between the faster swimmer and the other two. Then the faster one went away, then the other two. I don't think I was swimming really any quicker than recently, but the flip turns were much better, so I think that accounted for the faster 19:25 for the 1000m swim.

Then 4 intervals on 60 seconds, with my shark buddy cheering me on. Those were all between 45 and 50 seconds. Cool down. I was really pleased with the swim. Afterwards I picked up some La Boulangerie treats for Saturday morning. They do the very best cinnamon buns. No wait, they're terrible. Awful. Worst in the city. Don't buy them there, at least not before me.

Coming home after work I was struck anew by what a beautiful day it was. Autumn really is Calgary's best season. The temperature was up around 20 C! I was so impressed I decided to try to get out on my bike, since I don't want to run 2 days in a row. Poor Estela has been languishing in the basement. I was a bit nervous about it since my last ride was much earlier this year, and didn't go well. The plan was to zoom around the neighborhood and keep it light and easy.

It was lovely! Not quite 14 K, just over 30 minutes. My legs felt pretty good about it, with my right quad and left calve feeling a bit weak. RunKeeper weenied out and didn't give me any data after, though it was talking to me. RunMeter was very pissy about getting the data out after. No, I did not get a selfie of me on the bike.

After a recovery cookie and a shower I got the BBQ started. Even though the sun was beginning to go down, it was still really warm out. I sipped some wine and did the Bison tenderloin just right. It all went down really well with some spuds and corn.

Later I'm trying to compare the costs of buying an unlocked iPhone and getting a month to month contract, with getting it through Telus. It's pretty confusing. My buddy Leana had some good suggestions for using the old phone. The apps will still work perfectly well.

In the end I shook my head about the whole darned thing. It looks like I can buy the whole thing through the Telus store, and start paying more monthly for a bigger data package. I left it there and worked on my blog, and other writing. That feels much more productive.

Tomorrow I'll be watching at least part of IM Kona. Hope my buddy Sara Gross has a great day!