The place where I cut both my feet and still have to be grateful for

Under this romantic chute Toño learned to swim (Toño is the one embarking on a dive):




Sadly, littering is an issue all over the globe and so it happened that I cut both my feet with broken beer bottles in this water right below the same chute today.

However, if Toño had not been pushed into the water here by an uncle, who happens to be the closest in that picture, and thus learned to swim we might never had met at the the pool in Zürich.

Location:La Huacana, Mexico

No Sports At Dawn (in speedos and in public)!

I'm currently in Bangolore, India for a three day meeting. Only on Monday evening we came back from México, where on the weekend, we had the pleasure to meet and dance with Dzyan*.

On Wednesday, I flew to India; and this morning at 7am I finally made it to the pool, just to realise again that I'm not a morning sports person, especially when being jet-lagged. In addition, I realised that I'm just not exhibitionist** enough to exercise in view of the the pool side breakfast restaurant and the treadmill robots.



* go there, meet him - this is highly recommended!
** or just have a "tiny bit" too much fat on the hips.

Going Into Hibernation

Our outdoor pool just closed for 8 far too longs months.



Around four o'clock the sun decided to shove the clouds away and give the pool a fair farewell. I decided to be a bad buddy and did not go with Toño & Gerardo for a film and pizza and headed instead to the pool for a last 2k outdoor swim.

If I had not been in the water, I would had to wipe away a tear drop, when the duck that came all summer with her ducklings joined me in my lane for a while for bit of farewell swimming.

For the next 8 months it's back to crowded indoor swimming. But the next summer is supposed to come. I think this year it was on a Wednesday. I wonder, which day it will choose next year?

Stay passionate and Godspeed!
Mr. Urs

Starting Something Good

6 years ago after the summer holidays I went to my first crawl class ever. A year later, Toño joined us. That is were I met him for the first time.

Well today, the swim summer break is over. At 19:30 pm in lane 1 normal swim practice will be resumed. I'm looking forward to it.

STARTING SOMETHING GOOD
envoyé par KALCLARK - Futurs lauréats du Sundance.

GTM Films & TV Shows collage including scenes from: RUNNING WITHOUT SOUND-THE LONG DAY CLOSES-PARIS, JE T'AIME-ALMOST NORMAL-DREAM BOY-BOWSER MAKES A MOVIE-MERCI, DR. REY-DARE-SOUS LES VERROUS-FORGIVE & FORGET-BOY CULTURE-THOMAS TREBUCHE-AND THEN, CAME SUMMER-GROUP THERAPY-ALTRAMONDO-TOM CLAY JESUS-DOORMAN-BUMPING HEADS-COMME UN FRERE-DANNY IN THE SKY-LE CLAN-SKINS-THE TOILER & THE WAYFARERS-THE MYSTERIES OF PITTSBURGH-ANGORA RANCH-2.37-APRES LUI-ANTONIO'S SECRET-DEFENSE D'AIMER-UNITED STATES OF TARA-VACATIONLAND-TOUT CONTRE LEO-PRESQUE RIEN-3 DAY WEEKEND-THE HISTORY BOYS-A SIREN IN THE DARK-JUSTE UN PEU DE RECONFORT-EATING OUT 2, SLOPPY SECONDS-RED DIRT & RUNNING DEEP. Song: Start of something good From the "Britannia High" OST

Micro Triathlon

My PE teachers better don't know that I eventually actually started to like sports*.

Added later

* doing it, not watching.

Preparations

Later today, we will make a (micro) triathlon with two rounds of 500 m swimming, 5 km cycling and 2.5 km running, organised by one of our swim buddies.

We have different methods to prepare ourselves for the tests of life. While I got up and made a berry rich smoothie...



...Toño is is already wearing his running shoes* to work (with the consent of his physiotherapist)



*with white trousers and a sailor style polo *swoon*

Leisured

I've taken the decision*, to take things slowly today. I.e. I will not participate in the Limmatschwimmen**.



* euphemism for not doing anything
** a swim down the river Limmat along the skyline of Zürich, which is sold out anyway.

Greifensee Crossing?

Every Thursday Toño & I go swimming with the Katalin Sharks - as we call our crawl class. Usually this is in the indoor pool at Oerlikon. However during summer, wild horses couldn't drag our master shark to an indoor place*.

So for today, the master shark has summoned us to the Greifensee. However the question remains: Will we have to cross** the lake or not?



* with the rare exception of ruthless thunderstorms
** the distance indicated on the picture is for the round trip

Added Later
We did not swim 2.4 km but 3.2 km.

Dressed To Soak

There is no bad weather - only bad gear! But it really looked like a gap in the clouds when suddenly it went all tropical.



Now I have to change my gear and rush to the City pool. My swim buddies were not keen to swim outdoors during a thunderstorm. I loath the City pool. It's full of dirty old men and pervs.

Added Later
Katalin really put us through the mill. Who was I to think that this would be a relaxing swim. It started with a warm-up of 1 km crawl... and the fade-out was dolphin. I'm completely worn out.

Girly Gadget FTW!

We tend to do the most silliest things under peer influence, and not even the law of diminishing marginal returns keeps us from doing so.

Usually after our Thursday swim, we hang out at the cash register of the gym which is part of the indoor pool, because Doris, who works there, is a good pal.

Right now they have this contest there where you can win a NEW 2-in-1 Quattro for Women Bikini - the world's first high performance razor that combines shaving and trimming in one girly gadget. 2-in-1 means:

1. Terrific Trimming
   for a neat and fuzz-free bikini area.
2. Super-Smooth Shaving
   for silkier legs, underarms and bikini area.

Well, Doris talked us into participating. If I had been alone, she would had no chance, but under the influence of my swim buddies I caved in pretty soon and Toño followed suit. In the end, 6 men and 1 women won such a device.

I can't talk for the others, but neither Toño nor I are keen to get a bikini in the near future, and we are already well equipped with manly gadgets to take care of what has to be taken care of.

So what shall we do? We can't give them to two of our female friends. You do remember the fabulous Gus Gus song Ladyshave: I guess I must have messed it up, when I gave you the ladyshave. Any suggestions?

Added later
The two 2-in-1 Quattro for Women Bikini are taken. There will soon be two more happy gals in the world.

What's Next?

A couple of months ago I increased my workout a bit by following Ms.Mac's twitter hashtag #dailyexercise more or less daily - that is, 3 to 4 times a week and mostly by swimming.

One of the goals was to shed some weight. And actually just yesterday, I was asked by a friend whether I lost some weight. Well, not really. About 1 pound in 2 months lol. However, formerly tight trousers became quite loose. So I reckon, I managed to transform at least some fat into the equal weight of muscles.

There is another goal, which I set myself when I started learning to crawl in September 2003. And there is a thing I have to say in advance. For everybody who swims, this goal sounds rather ridiculous. But I have always been crap at sport and I did not take up swimming until I was in my mid-thirties (end of disclaimer). This low level goal was to swim a nautical mile (1852 m) with at least 1⅓ kn or within 45 minutes. Finally this weekend, I swum 2 km with 1.36 kn *sips some champagne*.

And now I need a new goal. But what?

1. Should I see that after cycling and swimming I also find some joy in running, despite my dreadful experiences in school and the army? Mirrorboy keeps writing how much he enjoys this running thing that he actually tempted me to try it (eventually...).
2. Should I set an achievable goal, like swimming 2 km in 45 minutes?
3. Or should I set the bar dementedly high, by aiming for 3 km in 60 minutes? That would be 33% more and 22% faster at the same time :O

Btw, Toño got himself some flashy new running shoes:

Hermès Swimming Trunks

Spotted in Monocle issue 25, volume 03, July/August 09 on page 139.
Location: Club Natació, Barcelona
Photographer: Daniel Riera
Fashion Editor: Akio Hasegawa
Model: Jean Paturel.

P.S.: In the feature about the most liveable city in the world (i.e. Zürich) in the same Monocle issue, there is a picture with a streaming rainbow banner.

How To Escape The Heat By Being A Good Lemming

Like 5876 others, the lovely Ms.Mac, Toño & I spent late yesterday afternoon swimming across the lake of Zürich (1450 m).

Ms.Mac & Toño were already veterans but for me it was a first time event. Earlier attempts were brought down by the flu, thunderstorms or being abroad. Inexplicably, it finally worked this year, although a nasty downpour bugged us while queuing for bathing cap with number, associated bag tag and food voucher (pure Swiss clockwork-like organisation). As soon as we were in speedos, the rain stopped (wtf).

After our 400 number block had been called for the start, we walked like lemmings along the jetty, were showered with icy water, before we walked down the steps into the floods. While ploughing through the massive waves, we built a sandwich with Toño & I being the bread and Ms.Mac the good part. At the other end we were greeted by Mr.Mac and James, who vowed that next year, they will also participate. That would then be a fancy club sandwich.



After the Mac clan left to feed the other kids, we went with our swim buddies who also participated to the sailing boat of our master shark Katalin to have some wine. Nearby some young lads were swinging with a rope from a 9 m high crane into the marina. They were completely mad but entertaining.

Unfortunately I had a little bit too much wine for some nightswimming before heading home. Nevertheless, I was humming this song:

Lake Crossing

Just checked the dates for this year's lake crossing here in Zürich:

Wednesday, July 1, 2009
In case of bad conditions it will be postponed to July 8 or August 19.

See you there.

Small print diclaimer: This is not a picture is of the lake crossing.

Feel Good, Feel Better, Feel Wonderful*

I was a bit overhasty by calling it a bad day. Almost pure joy came only after I'd left the coalface.

Feel Good

Swimming was exactly what I needed. Our master shark is back from her sailing holidays off Sardinia and did not like what we did to our technique during her absence. Especially the last section of the arm stroke did not find her approval and she really concentrated on setting that straight.

Feel Better



Toño made a Mexican chicken soup for dinner with estragon sorry oregano to cure his cold.

Feel Wonderful

The new album Lotusflow3r by Prince arrived today. My favourite track so far is the cover of Crimson and Clover.



Arme Sau**

Only Toño is far from good, better and wonderful. A first sign was that he did not serve any wine for dinner, which is almost unheard of. He thought that he might have some fever. I've measured 39.4°C/102.9°F. I made him a thermos of fresh tea with lime juice, he dropped a couple of aspirin treupel and is now back in bed. No hanky-panky today :( as I said, only almost pure joy.

* just one of the fabulously funky tracks on Lotusflow3r.
** poor swine - this is how Toño refers to himself right now.

Want Some Steam?

I was far from well-adjusted today. Somehow everybody I encountered (with the exception of Toño & Mr.Mac) managed to infuriate me in no time. Unbelievable how many wankers can cross your way in a single day.

In an hour I can head for the pool. Today I really need it. I hope Katlin will be commanding some tough exercises. My boiler is well heated. Full speed ahead! Aye aye, Madam!

#dailyexercise

A fortnight ago Toño suggested that we both could shed 4 kg (8.8 lb). Since I'm not exactly at the weight Toño has signed up to when he seduced me in December 2004, I happily agreed, took my first benchmark measurement in two years and went straight to the outdoor pool, which had opened an hour ago for the summer season, for some labs (1 Nm = 1' of latitude = 1852 m = 6076 ft ) in the cool water. Coming back from the pool I tweeted this deed with Ms.Mac's hashtag #dailyexercise.

Since then I actually my daily exercise with the exception of 3 days (mostly hangover related), which give me a rate of more than 5 workouts per week. At the time I met Toño I was at 3 times per week. So I reckon, when I keep the current rate up for a couple of months, I should reach the goal. However, so far, it did not show on the scales but I think some of the weight has already moved places.

I have a rather awkward relation to sport. It took decades until we started to like each other. Actually there are only two sports I really like: swimming and cycling. Both have the qualities that you can do them alone and they don't require significant coordinative abilities. It's the same movement all over again.

PE at school was a dreadful experience. I was the kid which was chosen last when a team had to be built. I can't blame them. I was and still am useless when it comes to team sports. And please don't give me a ball. The only sport I kind of excelled and was chosen first was orienteering. Because I was a boy scout, I knew how to handle a map.

It did not help that I had to go to PE with the girls with a few other boys for a couple of years, because there were far more boys in class than girls. Maybe I can sue the school for therapy to cure this damage.

When I was drafted for the army, I did not manage to get the minimal required points in the sports test. They did not care much for their own benchmarks and took me anyway.

Thanks to the boy scouts I then had my first positive sport experience when I was in my mid twenties. It's hard to believe but I reached a expert level in 'camp sport' and had to go to a course to the federal Swiss sport school. There I had my first real sports teachers who really deserve the job title. What they got out of my wicked body in just a few days was amazing.

The first sport I got into was cycling. Although I had a sever blow-back in 1990 when a bike of mine was stolen only 17 days after I bought it. It was anyway a bad evening. The film we saw I did not like (Pretty Woman) and the lad I was with did not want to cop off with me. Despite this bad start, I kept going and started to like it cycling. The trick was that I went for the hottest bikes and gear (2 more got stolen in the following years).

Surprisingly, it was the army that helped me to get into swimming. Here in Switzerland, when you serve in the army, you have to go to periodic repetition courses lasting 2 to 3 weeks. A way to get out of the uniform is to go for voluntary sport in your off-duty time. I don't like running. But one year we happened to be close to various pools, which I tested. There I swum the first time for longer than half an hour.

This experience motivated me to get contact lenses. Without glasses or contacts, I'm blind as a mole. This was the start of my thing for swimming. After I made it a regular habit (up to 10 km per week), I signed up for a crawl course in 2003. A year later, I met Toño in this course :) The swim team is still together. We practice every Thursday evening and like to party together from time to time.

That's me and Toño in matching speedos:



Why this effort, since the time I took my shirt off on a dance floor is over? I work in an office. But humans have still the genes in them from the time they were hunting mammoths. We have to move ourselves, to feel comfortable. We just have to overcome the lack will power. But I think it pays off. Like I haven't been as horny in a long time as in the last couple of weeks.

I ♥ Water

I ♥ water. I ♥ to drink it. I ♥ to look at it (the bigger the water the better), I ♥ to stay under it (happy when it rains), I ♥ to swim in it (this is how I met Toño), and I ♥ to take a dip in it.



Have a great weekend and enjoy all the water you can get.

Swimming Class 80 Years Ago

Asymmetric Aerobics

This evening, I'll be facing a disastrous combination.



(Former) Gambling Shark, one of my swim buddies, has revealed to us that he's a trained aerobics instructor. He cannot just leave it at that, no he has to prove it to us. This evening he will let us hop and roll. We are supposed to bring a towel, a water bottle and appropriate shoes. Tigresa told me that plimsolls/chucks would do it. Nevertheless, we started the purchasing process for state-of-the-art Aerobics footwear. I'll wear them 1.5 hours tops. That's how long this session is supposed to last.

However, the worse issue is my right shoulder. Two days ago, I was on my way home through icing rain, when the tires of my bicycle slid away in a poorly maintained roundabout, with the direct consequence that my precious right shoulder rapidly approached the kerbstone. My GP gave my a family pack of pain killers and told me that my shoulder will hurt for further 6 weeks. There is nothing one can do about it than eating pills.

So this evening I'm supposed to make the weirdest movements that ever have been invented while I can barely lift my right arm, and while I'm filled with painkillers like a bombonière.