400m in 25 minutes.

Well I know I haven’t been doing as much swim training of late but this is ridiculous. 400m in 25 mins.

Wednesday 30 June.

We found a great couple of places for swimming and cooling down after walking around the city or going for a training run. The river has been diverted and a canal runs into the waterworks and then back into the river again. The canal is set up for swimming. Its great!!!!. Heaps of people go down to this area to sunbake and enjoy the cool water. Its about 20/21 degrees just perfect for cooling down.

Now let me explain the 400m in 25mins bit. Because the river is diverted into this narrow canal the water flow increases significantly. Most people follow the pathway up to the bridge and then they hop in and float down and get out at the other end. I thought this would be a good place for swimming, well Michelle just told me what to do actually. “Just dive in here and swim up to the other end.” Sounds easy enough, it took a long time to cover the distance against the flow of the canal and especially the last 20 meters or so. I didn’t make it and turned around and swam back. 3 mins!!! I am determined to make it to the bridge whilst I am here.

Mini Crisis number 1.

My allen keys decided that they didn’t want to make the long trip over to Switzerland and Germany and decided (without telling me) to go and hide in the garage at home. I unpacked my bike this morning and could not find them anywhere. I say mini crisis because everything else it still in the bag and allen keys are easy enough to find. Just a quick trip down to Migro’s (aka Woolworths) and bingo, crisis averted.

We spent most of the day walking around Zurich today looking at the different areas and went into the tourist office to get some information on things to do. Its good to get a general idea of where everything is so we don’t get too lost (I mean have adventures) when we go out.

Went for a run in the arvo and got somewhat adventurous (sic) but found some great spots that look over the city. Michelle accompanied me on Julia’s bike whilst I ran and got not so politely told off for riding on the fuss gang (footpath), heaps of other people were doing it, but I guess on that footpath it isn’t allowed.

Made our way back to Julia’s and out for dinner with Julia and Florian at Da Amici Italian restaurante just up the road. Spent ages trying to work out what was actually on the menu, eating at an Italian restaurant, with a menu written in Swiss German makes for an interesting experience. Made our way back to the apartment just as it started to get dark at. . . . . . about 10.15pm. It stays light for ages, hard to get to sleep at a reasonable hour so far about 11.30pm has been the norm because it has only been dark for about an hour by then.

I made it today. . . . .just!

After waking up at a reasonable hour, about 5.30 am when the sunlight starts streaming in through the window we decided that today we would again explore the city on foot. But first I had to make it to the bridge. I dived in full of confidence today. I would make it. The first bit when by pretty easy, very slow but easy. You don’t seem to move real fast when the water is going the other way. But near the end again as I watched the building I was using a guide to how fast I was moving up stream stay constantly in the same place I knew this was going to get hard again. I watched the little platform get closer and could see Michelle standing there watching me. She was starting to laugh because she thought I was not going to make it again because I had been in the same spot for about 5 mins. . I had to start swimming like I was in a 100m sprint kicking as hard as I could and really pulling through the water. Finally I pulled up next to the platform and then quickly reached up and grabbed the railing. I collapsed onto the deck while Michelle just stood there laughing. I made it in a touch over 26 mins. Two laps of that in about 1 hour will be a good work out. I am afraid if I come down here with my wetsuit on everyone will think I just crazy. But maybe they will think I am some kind of super athlete as I havent seen anybody else swimming against the current yet. If they ask I will just tell them that’s why Australians are such good swimmers and I usually go swimming with Grant Hackett and Ian Thorpe at home anyway.

We walked around the old part of the city and then across to the lake itself. Everywhere they are setting up for Zurich Festival. Its an annual thing and apparently the biggest thing in Switzerland. Over 2 million people are expected to attend the festivities over the weekend. So it should be good. There are fireworks on Saturday evening so hopefully we can find a good spot to view them.

Had lunch in the park next the river and museum and relaxed in the shade. Another day around 30 degrees celsius. I’m loving it! This is the first time for a while that Zurich has actually enjoyed good weather. Last week when I was watching the tour of Switzerland on One HD all the riders had jackets on and it rained most of the week. Heard about the cold snap back at home. All we can say is we feel very sorry for you all.!!!! Hahahahaha.

Decided I should go for a ride this afternoon, but worried about actually trying to make my way out of Zurich as it is quite busy and I would be on the other side of the road and I have to worry about looking out for cars, and trams and pedestrians and all of the other bike riders who zoom al over the city getting from one place to the next. Seriously everyone must ride a bike to get around. They just ride their townie down to wherever they are going (station, work, shops etc) and then just park it out the front and off they go. Some people don’t even bother to lock it up. Julia says that no one really bothers to steal the bikes and they are pretty safe.

I finally navigated my way across the city and over to the lake to Seestrasse (lake street) and then rode following the lake in my very own bike lane. Well its not mine, but cars don’t come in it and its reasonably safe. As I rode down I saw the sign for the town of Thalwill and remembered that a group of riders from the English forum usually meet on a Thursday evening. I went to the spot and sure enough people started turning up and in the end we had a group of 13 people. More than we can usually seem to organise at home anyway. All the riders are English speaking of course and are from America or great Britain and are living here for work.

They have a usual circuit with some minor variations that they try to do each week. I wish I had my road bike, the triathlon bike isn’t that comfortable for riding up hills. As soon as we left town we headed straight up into the hills. The scenery was awesome. I had to try a bit harder to keep up as I spent most of the time just looking around. It is just like when you see the pictures of the tour and the riders are weaving their way along some tiny little road right across the fields in between all the mountains. I will definitely be taking the camera next week so you can see what I’m talking about.

Most of time I was thinking how jealous "my friend Sinclair" would be. Sinclair you would absolutely love it!!!!!!! Nice roads through the country side, spectacular scenery, small villages, great climbs, locals calling out “hop, hop” (go, go) as you ride past. I rang Michelle to say I was going to be a bit later than I had originally planned, and then I had to ring her again to say I was going to be a little later than that. I had to leave the group early because they were continuing on up another pass that takes about 30 mins to climb and that would bring me back a bit late. I’ll stay on next week to do the whole circuit. Another guy had to leave early as well so we rode together and he told me how to get back to the Seestrasse to make my way back to Zurich, when he turned off at his town. Arrived back home just before 9pm. Only covered about 65km and I still saw all that good stuff, imagine what I’ll get to se on a really long ride. Still light but the others would have been getting back to the meeting point until 9.15pm and then it is half an hour back into Zurich. Maybe I should have brought the Ayups after all.

Michelle made a nice dinner of Risotto and we ate at about 10pm (still late again, I will try to get to bed earlier soon, but hey we are on holidays don’t need to get up for work do I ?)

Friday July 2.

Went for a long run this morning on Julia’s recommendation to the forest area just up the road a bit. Could have run in there for hours (well I did run for 2 hours and then I will run again this afternoon for an hour or so, this is the last big long run for me 2 weeks out from Roth.) great trails that go in and out of the forest around the hill side. Its sort of like the creek walk only 10 times better. Instead of having to put bitumen everywhere like back at home, a nice maintained gravel path goes all the way through and around. Coffs council could learn a thing or two from this. I did 4 loops of this one particular circuit while Michelle walked as she is still injured. The circuit is set up for Vitaparcours. Basically you follow the path and then stop every so often to do exercises. Kind of like an outdoor circuit class. They have groups that meet up and do this as well but you can do it on your own if you want. Michelle kept saying “Kath would love this track”.

After running we went down to the river to cool off. The other part of the river that is set up for swimming has an enclosed area and you just go in a one end and then get out at the other drifting down stream with the current. The current is much much stronger here and it is futile to try and swim against it here. So relaxing in the cool water is just what I need after my run.

Leanne you’ll be glad to know there is hardly any hint of pain in my left calf. You have done the trick, running in my new shoes helps to I guess but the massages were great. Did you want to come over and do some more while I’m still training here????

Its really hot again today probably hotter than the other days. I was a bit worried about not having enough water for the run, but I didn’t have to worry because all through out the forest trails there are natural springs with great tasting cold drinking water. Gotta love this place!!!