Brushing shoulders with an " Ironman"

As most Lido "die hards" are upping their game and swimming four lengths, I decided to increase my bit too and swam two lengths ... it felt great .. the water is really getting warmer now - let's hope the up trend continues so that we can get more swimming in! The comfort of having the sauna plays such a big role these "heroic" adventures!

Speaking of "heros" ... today I met another (another) Ironman!

Bennie performing a great dive to cool down after the sauna - at this stage I had no idea that I had actually been rubbing shoulders with an accountant turned Ironman!

Bennie showing Annie (who was duly impressed!) his Ironman Tatoo

As if completing an Ironman wasn't painful enough ... Barrie chose to have his accomplishment immortalised in the form of tattoo in one of the most sensitive and painful areas of his body :)

Barrie having a good old laugh when telling Annie and me about how he wanted to keep his trip to the Tattoo parlour a secret but ended up having to show the finished product to all his colleagues at work because the Tattoo artist left a message at the office to confirm Barrie's appointment

Annie was clearly bemused and in awe ... "had I know I would have asked permission to speak with you in the sauna ":)

Positively barmy

Amazing things happen at the Lido as soon as the water temperature creeps up just that little bit! Today, it measured 3.8 Celsius ... positively barmy! swimmers entered the pool from left right and centre! The activity was so great that even the weather gods thought of showing their kinder side ... air temperature 9 Celsius and .. wait for it ... the sun pushed through the clouds! Could this be the end of the ghastly rain we've had for what seemed an eternity?!

Vince and Simon heading off in different directions ...

...whereas Mary is heading off in yet another direction!

Simon coming up for air

Vince on his forth length looking just as relaxed as on his first ... the "hero" is back!

Sue and Chris showing what they are made off ... they too swam four lengths!

By the time Margy came out of the sauna, the sun was out making her jump (back into the pool!) for joy :)

Whereas (superman) Jonathan was totally unleashed ... must be all the Dorset Cereals he's been nibbling on ... in the sauna!

Eddy and Mark pacing up and down the pool (in different styles)

Bruno and Betty arrived at the Lido at their own pace

Brace yourselves

You had to be quick to catch a glimpse of the sun this morning ... but there it was, for a whole nano second I promise! Well, I got excited anyway ... But, is it only me or are most of you fed up with all that rain, rain and rain we are having? Just as I'm writing, I can hear people on the street below my window complaining about the rain ... how very british! But hey, all there is to it is for us to brace ourselves before the massive draught we are going to have this summer ...

Picture this: heat wave after heat wave ... people unable to go to work because of the heat (this time) :)

One thing is for sure, we'll still be coming to the Lido for a refreshing splish possibly even wishing the water temperature was back to winter temperatures :) But would we be wishing for rain? ... not sure!

Thumbs up from Mark just before setting off on his (impressive) four lengths! The water temperature was at 3 celsius today!

and all engines go!

Here comes Lucy!

Good to see Carol again ... she took her time getting in :) but once in, there was no stopping her!

Top blog spot

It's great to know that "blog reading Lido members" are getting excited about being featured on the blog! When I showed Jonathan his picture he loved it! Soon after he saw the shot, Doreen was "chauffeured" down the side of the pool in style ... seeing me take a photo of the "Royal treatment" prompted Jonathan to say : "Oh I've just lost my front cover spot on todays blog!"

Admittedly the competition for the main spot was not yet a foregone conclusion ... I was pushed for choice. Was it going to be Doreen in her Rolls Royce or Jonathan giving it his all ? :)

Well, taking into account that I had to put my (dry and warm) hands back into freezing water while skilfully framing up the shot without looking through the view finder, I decided to give Jonathan and (myself !) the prime blog spot :)

But fear not, all action is featured with Doreen's photo rounding off this morning's Lido activities.

Just one more thing : if you haven't voted for my blog yet ... please vote! simply click on the Dorset Cereals icon on the top left hand corner - Thank you!

Jonathan sprinted across a width of the pool ...

... after which he felt purely ecstatic :)

Angie arriving on yet another rainy Lido morning but full of joy ahead of her swim

A magic arm entered the pool ... but who does it belong too?

Mark setting off on two lengths of the pool ...

... and safely back.

Pip and I had fun swimming a length together

Royal treatment for Doreen ... who is (sadly) labouring a bad knee. However, nothing would keep Doreen away from coming to the Lido!

Sculling

Am happy to report that I was back to swimming one length this morning - mind you, I was glad to get out the other end ... in one piece! My aim is to work my way back to doing two lengths by the end of the week! Gotta "keep up with the Jones" or even with Vince... if you get my drift!

Jonathan diving in after having ben in the sauna. His toes were so pointy that I couldn't keep them in frame!

Sue enjoying her swim

... and demonstrating the perfect "sculling" movements - a wonderful word I only learned last week on my course :) wonderful because I also learned that sculling (making a figure of eight movement with your hands under water) is the fundamental under water movement each stroke is based on! I bet many of you will feel much better knowing that ... :) However I wouldn't recommend sculling for too long in the Lido's winter water temperatures :)

Back to normal

Despite the pouring rain I was (thankfully) back to my usual monday morning routine at the Lido! It was great to catch up with "the usual suspects"! A soon as came round the corner to park my bike I spotted Vince's Brompton bike and shortly after I had made it down the side of the pool and past the cubicles, Margy, Sue, Chris, and David trickled in... Chris and Margy mentioned how deserted it had been this past week ... with Sue (on a skiing holiday) and I (on the Level One swimming teacher course). Margy lamented about having to sit in the sauna by herself ... now, can anyone image poor Margy sitting in the sauna by her self ?! with no one to talk too :)

But hey, today, all was back to normal! Well, almost ...

... Chris swimming lengths on his own ... as he has been doing all of last week! Although "swimming buddy" Sue R was back at the pool, she decided to ease her way back into Lido water temperatures by swimming widths. Probably wise but very unlike her I haste to add :)

Mind you, I had been back at the Lido saturday and still stuck to widths too! A dive in (bliss), an improved :) tumble turn and back to where I started from! Followed by a bee line to the sauna of course :) and another width when coming out. fantastic ... almost made me forget that I had to cycle back in the the belting rain ...

Lifeguard Sarah keeping a watchful eye on Dr. Andy ...

... who has thoroughly enjoyed his morning outing

What a reception

It's great to be back at the Lido! And what a reception : sun and ice... "that's the way aha aha I like it"! I can't tell you how much I missed not having my daily splish and sauna and being around the regular 8am gang :)

It was also lovely to be greeted by avid blog followers Wendy and Gail! "We missed your blog", was the first thing they said! ahhhhh .... that made me smile!

Well, you'll be happy to know, if I'm back it means that the blog is back too!

Robert powering from one widths of the pool to the other!

Hilary enjoying her swim after the sauna

... and looking very relaxed after her shower!

Spot the water

I'm back from a lovely weekend in the Cotswolds - spot the water and my feet! I simply couldn't resist! Specially as I am not going to make it to the Lido all this coming week ... I know will have withdrawal symptoms so I quickly gave my feet an outing!

I'm doing my ASA level one course starting tomorrow Feb 15th through to Friday 19th - Should be fun - am really looking forward to it .. but I'll miss my early morning swim and sauna .. and the chats! the course is held at the Newham Leisure Centre - London E.13 ... which means it's miles away!

I'll report back ...

Enjoy the Lido and do (at least!) one width for me :)

What a life

I quickly made it to the pool for my splish before heading off the the Cotswolds for the weekend! It was lovely as I met a lot of faces I hadn't seen in a while!

How lovely to see Linda ... full of beans ... no wonder, she's just come from having had a full body massage and has arrived at the Lido for "the after treatment" : swim, sauna, swim, sauna ... what a life, hey!

Michael in a on a mission to get to the sauna after his swim!

Alberto is amazing! He comes for his swim at the Lido every weekend all the way from Aldershot!

He simply loves swimming outdoors!

Maureen giving me the thumbs up: "I've voted for your blog!"

Which reminds me : please do the same - vote! it's easy to do - simply click on the Dorset Cereal icon at the top left hand side:)

John enjoying his daily splish

Page 5

Who is the hero today then? Margy is of course a seasoned hero .... and back in the papers for her medal winning performance in Bled last month!

Today the hero medal goes to Chris and Sue (Rentoul .. there are so many Sue's it's hard to keep track, I know !) for swimming 2 lengths - Vince was, so says Chris, 10 yards short of joining them with today's accolade because he "only" swam 1 lengths and 3 widths :) which is 10 yards short of 2 length .... now there's a new insight into the dimensions of the Lido!

It's all done in good spirit and of course no one is out to outdo the other :) but and there is a but here :) it's always good to have that friendly teasing going on - it does help push oneself that little bit harder - bring on the PBs is what I say!

No PBs for me this past week, I'm afraid .. I have not been feeling 100% ... no, no cold or flu symptoms or anything like it ... just simply not feeling as great as I usually feel .. I hope I've not been "pushing" too hard the week before ... naaa, can't be that either ... I'll blame it on the hormones .. how about that!

Our seasoned hero Margy in the paper .. again ! "but only on page 5" Chris commented! Hang on a minute, "I could always take a shot of Margy in the showers to move her up a couple of pages :)"

Lifeguard Sarah keeping dry

Sue (not Rentoul :)) enjoying a serene swim

Sue looks just as serene under water!

... and beaming after her swim!

Sue, this time Rentoul, getting her last swim in after the sauna before heading off for a weeks skiing in France.

Friends Taina and Louise really happy after their sauna and "dip swims"

Ice but no ice

patches of crystals on some of the concrete slabs

The northern winds were still howling this morning ... footsteps of swimmers coming out of the pool froze immediately ... yet surprisingly the pool was still clear of ice! the water temperature on the thermometer in the deep end was showing 1 Celsius- For Vince that was a clear message for swimming one length and one width ... actually: "I enjoyed it so much that I ended up swimming 1 length and 2 widths" - Did I not tell you that Vince is a hero! :) Today, however, only until Sue and Chris got in the pool, they went for 2 lengths straight! (without having consulted the thermometer mind you!) Now it was they who were howling when entering the sauna and no longer the wind!

My hands were cold enough just by taking my gloves off to take a few snaps ... that wind was relentless and bitter cold - I decided to stick to my 2 widths -it felt lovely to dive in just to get out of the wind!

frozen footsteps

Vince as relaxed as ever - and really "enjoying his swimming" - so he says :)

Ivan after the sauna - he usually brings his back pack with all his belongings into the sauna so that his clothes are warm when he slips back into them! Now that's what I call being super organised :)

the concrete floor was the coldest place at the Lido

Just one more thing: Sue Rentoul found a cool website (with healthy cereals :)) where one can vote for blogs and you all know what that means?! if you enjoy my blog please vote for it! You can vote by going on the link on the top left hand of the blog page where it says please vote for my blog! And the good news is that it only takes seconds to vote and you can vote as often as you like! That means each day ;) thank you!