Jigghead

I use Speedo Aquapulse Max, I've tried loads of them and frankly there is no real "best"goggle to use. Whatever is most comfortable is the way to go, especially if you're in the water for anything more than around 45 minutes, I find they can become very uncomfortable. Sometimes I can swim for up to 2hrs at a time and the pressure can become very painful if the goggle doesn't fit nicely. I use them for open water as well as pool training.

Week one is behind me and unfortunately I didn't manage to get in the mileage I was hoping to. A combination of factors contributed to this, but to be honest, it's mostly due to not having been in the water for over 8 months. Last year I only started in training November, with a target of 100 miles. This year however, having doubled my target, I figured an extra month was required. So with 125 days and 194 miles to Midmar 2018, the magnitude of my task is very apparent. The fact that I was working from home last year assisted me greatly when trying to find the time to swim. My expectations this year are to try and squeeze in 6 miles on the weekend (3 each day) with two 2 miles swims during the week. Given my schedule, these need to happen at 5am, hopefully on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Whilst this will leave me around 22 miles short, I'm quite sure I can squeeze additional distance in during my December whilst not at work. This should get me to 200 miles. The good news for the week is that the first donation came in.My friends, Brent and Moira, thanks again for opening the donations for the second year, I still owe you 5 miles, which will follow this week. So the week's cumulative tally is as follows: 5/200 miles with 1,000/20,000 in donations. My 8 year old daughter and her little friend from school took it upon themselves to sell some loom bands that they made and came to me with R30, asking that I add it to the donations, These two will get a full mile and I'll top up to R100 for them. Thanks girls. Please help in the donations department, I will ensure the miles are completed. R100 will get your name on the board and will see me churning up the water for around 30 minutes with gratitude. It's also going towards an awesome cause. CHOC has been doing their phenomenal work since 1979 and will, with our help, continue to do so for a long time to come. You can donate here: Donate to CHOC here 100% of all funds donated go to the relevant charities.

Having been humbled by the support and encouragement I received in my quest to conquer 100 miles leading up to Midmar 2017, I have decided to set myself a loftier goal this year, 200 miles! Partly because I have a little longer to prepare and partly because I saw a quote the other day that inspired me to try a little harder. It sent something like this: “Exercise is a celebration of what your body can do, not a punishment for what you ate” I’m not sure who said it first but it made me realize that I’m not sure I’ve tapped my body’s limits yet. As you may or may not be aware, every year a small fraction of the over 20,000 swimmers attempting to cross Midmar Dam swim in all 8 events, 4 on Saturday and 4 on Sunday. We swim each event only to be transported, by boat, back to the start to do it all again. The reason we do it? For charity, each 8 Miler is required to raise money for their charity of choice. This year I will be swimming for CHOC. Whilst last year I managed to raise almost R11,000, excluding my personal donation, I have set my sights on R20,000 this year. I swam 1 mile as a show of gratitude for every R100 donated last year. I will do the same this year. So R100 x 200 miles = R20,000. If you donate, I’ll swim, simple as that. It's MILES by the way, NOT kilometres... Follow my progress here where every donation will be acknowledged and every mile logged. I will swim the miles, however many you want, just follow this link where you can donate and watch the miles pile up. https://kydrin.co.za/goals/View/223 It’s for a very worthy cause and you also get to see me suffer. Last year I spent almost 60 hours in the water in preparation for Midmar, let’s make that 100 hours… The first donation is in, thank you to a repeat donor, the two that cracked the seal on my fundraising drive last year, Brent Marlton and Moira Dewar, these two are awesome. Their first miles were completed this morning and have been added to the first mile completed on Sunday. That makes me 3/200, the first one was an icebreaker. Please don't make me swim too many unsponsored miles this year. Last year, it was around 20, I'd appreciate a couple less this year please You can also follow my progress on facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/278492455881143/

Ah, cool

I know it's late, but has anyone got an entry looking for a home?

Where do the answers go?

Discovery Insure was 70% more expensive than my current cover. I was prepared to go a little higher for the rewards etc., but at that increase, even if I was at the max fuel rewards in both ZAR and % terms, I'd still be facing a 40% increase. Just crazy...

My issue is that I'm on with some work colleagues, it's political and they're all getting lazy.

I hear ya, I used to grab smoothies fromBoth myself and my wife's account. I just needed one mate to get four. Now my mrs and my mate are goofing off. I've gone from 4 to 1...

Sometimes it feels like we're getting penalised for becoming fitter. Whilst I'm all for progress, I did a 2hrs swim on Sunday at a fairly lethargic 67% HR and only gathered up 100 points, based on speed. I'm wondering why we would not be rewarded for a slightly longer workout in lieu of the additional exertion. I would suggest that provided it's above a certain level of exertion, we should start gathering points for longer workouts? The fact that I was not putting in much effort in this case was besides the point, I would just have liked to get maybe 200 points for the time spent "trying". For all they know it could have been base training... Thoughts?

From what I gather, it's only certain events that are subsidised

OK I'm good then

Not yet, I've joined Team Vitality, what else needs to be done?

I swear by wearing a lid, more especially since I ran out of skill on a jump at around 40km/h some years back. My trusty Bell split in two with severe bruising on back and shoulders, and a suspected concussion to boot. Doc was of the opinion that a helmet may have saved my life or at the very least, some brain damage. Those accidents are accurate, especially considering the small target my wife thinks the accident had to damage in the first places...

Darwin has decided that 2017 is the year.

I have a fēnix 3 Titanium and for the first time since the 910XT, I don't feel the need to rush out and upgrade. I am particularly grateful for this given that I don't have the cash to do so, coincidentally, also for the first time since the 910XT

https://www.facebook.com/viralvideos.a/videos/379109832437361/ I'm not sure how to embed this video here, but it's farking funny...

Shite that's scary, I'd change my plans if I were you. That thing looks close to 3m...

HRM-SWIM paired to the Garmin fēnix 3. Polar does have a device that can read live HR in the water though. I used to have the RCX5 which would register live HR in the water.

Did you register the event or just rely on your device upload? You'll get more for the event, strange but true!

One would think that their system has some level of intelligence. I completed two 28(or so) minute swims today with HR averaging around 70 for both, separated for reasons unimportant to this post. The second swim was started around a minute after the first and yet because they each came in under 30 mins, I got zero points. I didn't even leave the pool between workouts, so the timing should have some sort of Not sure why their system is unable to figure this out, but I have contacted them and will revert with their response.

I know, I had to say it though, couldn't help myself...

Love how her ass wobbles a bit when the guy lands...

I really wish I could surf, it looks like one of the most enjoyable activities there is to be able to do. I constantly watch surfers plying their trade/hobby and find myself filled with no small amount of envy.

I'm on my third, one was faulty and one was lost and replaced. I got the reverting to miles thing on my second or third unit and it kept happening. Nothing had been changed on my GC or the phone, can't remember how I fixed it though.