Two weeks in

Believe it or not, I'm almost having trouble keeping up. We're already 2 weeks into the year, and it seems like the NYE party was just the other day.

I get up, get coffee going, browse the regular internet stuff, play a hard sudoku if it's there. I'm a big fan of the XV variation. Do the Vox crossword. Maybe The Atlantic. Do the Wordle. Linda and I keep track, and anybody walking near the house might hear her triumphant cry of "TWO!!!". Or whatever the number might be. You can see my stats here.

After the regular morning stuff, 3 days a week I'm into the pool, their schedule permitting. Last year was swimming for distance, and rather than set a higher goal, I've set a goal to swim faster. Typically that means swimming intervals, going faster, but with a rest. So as an example, I might swim 100 m in 1:45 or faster, and then start again on the 2 minute mark, so getting 15 seconds rest. Last week I did that 10 times before not making the interval.

The problem is when you're sharing the lane, which often happens. Unless they're doing the same thing, and they swim the same speed, there's going to be a conflict sooner or later. Then you get a longer rest than you might like, which sort of makes it hard to keep track of improvement. It's frustrating when you come up on them near the end and have to slow down, missing your interval, then they keep going and you catch up even sooner.

Generally I like to look over the people in my lane, as I think of it, and then decide what I'll do. I'm not one of those swimmers that can bring in a card marked up with complicated sets. I can't keep track. If I'm counting anything I'll use my flip flops like the hands of a clock to keep track. Even then I goof sometimes. There's a few people that swim faster than I do, and it's fun to try to stay ahead, or coast in their draft, if they know in advance that's going to happen.

I've got a swim goal in mind. The first one is to swim faster, without giving myself a heart attack. I know about what my max heart rate is, and I've been counting it at the end of some of the swim sets. Best I've done so far is above 80% of my max, which puts me into zone 4. Most of my swims last year were comfortably aerobic. When I was doing bike intervals one of the things to measure was how long it took to recover back to a a low aerobic heart rate, and I haven't been able to measure that yet in the pool. 

At some point this year I'd like to be about 30 seconds faster than my current aerobic pace for a Km, and have that be my new aerobic pace. There's 40 lengths in 1 Km, so all I need to do is swim each length about 3/4 of a second faster. When you say it that way, it sounds easy, doesn't it? Just keep in mind that water is 800 times denser than air, and as you try to swim faster the drag and the cardio and strength requirements go up, and it's not linear. Try to double your speed, and those requirements are much more than doubled.

After the swim it's lunch. Then onto whatever else is happening for the day, That might be taking one of the cameras for a walk. Or puttering around the house. The latest project was to try and find parts for the old Mac Cube computer. I've got the cube itself, big flat screen display, power supply, and speakers. I even have the original manual. I'm missing the original keyboard and mouse. I suspect they're in a box somewhere downstairs. I've already thrown out an entire blue cart of packaging for things we no longer own. Eventually I'd like to get all the parts, get a photo of the About This Mac screen, and put it on Kijiji. My readers get first crack at it, of course. If you're interested in the coolest computer that Apple ever made, just let me know and we'll work something out. 

Sometimes I'll be up early for a photo date with buddies, but usually I sleep till I wake up. This is an amazing thing!

In evenings, when we don't have something else, like community association stuff, or Master Gardener stuff, or a good book to read, we'll settle in and watch a DVD. Just now we're in the middle of season 2 of Medium. It's relaxing fun. It's nice to see a family living a normal life. By that, I mean that they live in a normal suburban house, and with 2 working parents and 3 kids, the house is barely contained mess and chaos. Unlike so many shows where the protagonists don't have real jobs and afford a swanky place, and apparently, a maid service to keep it that way.

And zoom, another day is over. Retirement is fun!

Part of why the days go so fast is that we're enjoying what we're doing. I'm trying to pay attention and be mindful of what I'm involved in. Then I get involved, and next thing I know it's hours later.

Of the Day

Driftwood

Flower

Peony

Tombstone

Normally, I'm all about the colour in Tombstone. But sometimes b&w can be compelling. Or there's a bunch of haze in the valley, and converting to b&w cuts through that. There's 3 at different focal lengths. Stay tuned.

River reflections

Film

You never know what you'll find along the river bank till you go and look.