Earth Day Apr 22 & everyday

10 Actions to help the environment everyday:

1. Shop smart - buy what you need (not what you want); consider renting and borrowing things that are seldom needed; buy used items
2. Simple savers - replace incandescent light bulbs with compact fluorescent bulbs; use water-saver faucets/shower heads; weatherstrip windows and doors
3. Transportation alternatives - walk or cycle (does the body good too), car-pool and use public transportation; when driving, reduce idling and maintain correct tire pressure
4. Food choices - choose local and organic foods that are in season and support local food producers; choose items with less packaging; use a compost for food waste
5. Washing and drying - wash full loads of clothes in cold water and hang to air dry
6. Heating and cooling - use a programmable thermostat; for summer air conditioning set at 24C or 25C; for winter heating set at 19C or 20C
7. Close to home - work and play as close to home as possible
8. Bathroom basics - take short showers (instead of baths); close water taps while brushing teeth
9. Careful cleaning - choose natural, non-toxic cleaning products; make simple, natural cleaners with ingredients like vinegar, baking soda and water
10. Don't discard - donate, reuse and recycle items; take harmful materials like chemicals, batteries, electronics, etc to local hazardous waste depots or recyclers

- source Earth Day Canada website: http://www.earthday.ca/

Whirlpool of a life

Whirlpool: going around in a whirling motion!  being sucked under!
I know I do it to myself, so I shouldn't complain.  And honestly, I would way rather be busy than bored!
But I do need to thank some people for helping me out, so I can do (nearly) everything I need/want to do.
A couple HAC folk have/are helping me out by getting Cadence to & from some sessions for this and last weekends (3 day) swim meets.  Thanks Kim, Denise, Lisa!  [I hate to miss seeing Cadence race, but as long as I see some(?); and I timed it perfectly, so Dahlia and I got to watch her 100 Free last Saturday; and then on Sunday at both meets I was/will be officiating, so I'll see those races at least.]
My sister in law Terri, is a lifesaver!  Coming through again for me this Saturday.  Saturday looks like a circus:  Bill is doing a 30k trail race in Pickering; Cadence's meet starts at 11:30 in Brantford, with the relay being in the evening at finals.  The Novice kids I coach have a meet in Oakville at 3pm.  And then I have a stag & doe in Milton in the evening.  So I planned to take Cadence to Brantford (with Dahlia) and watch her individual race, leave Cadence there with Lisa (coach/swim parent) to bring home after finals; zip home with Dahlia (hope Bill's back, so I could zip to Oakville, then straight from Oakville to Milton.  Terri said I could drop Dahlia off at her place if Bill wasn't back before I needed to leave...Sounded like a plan!... Then...
I got an email asking if I wanted to be a guest instructor for a spin-a-thon for kids (see: link for Spin for kids on facebook) with Lee Hart from 11-noon on, you guessed it, Saturday!  So now Terri is watching Dahlia so I can add this to my Saturday; like a said, Terri is a lifesaver!  As a guest instructor I will get introduced as someone trying to swim across Lake Ontario, so as well as helping the fundraiser, it will be raising some awareness for my swim - win win!  I will also mention that I swam with Lee Hart back when we were young and then he swam BMSC for a little while.  I see him at various triathlons. And back when I was looking for enough pool time to do longer swims he told me about the Y that has (at least 1 lane of) lap swimming basically all day on the weekends.  This has been instrumental for my training.
Well I'm still staying a float, thanks to some help!  It's greatly appreciated.
Melanie xoxo

Lows (not that low) and highs (I sure can't complain)

Last weekend I was a little sad to be on the sidelines.  Many of my friends were in Ottawa at the Provincial Masters Swimming Championship or running in the Around the Bay.  I was watching people run by and checking result (stocking as Cadence calls it), missing the internal race excitement.
I also felt sad about a tough decision I made, to drop out of the ITU world championship long distance triathlon next November in Nevada.  I had been working on making a budget for my swim (ouch) and the cost of Nevada isn't cheap either; plus with the concentration on swimming until mid August, getting myself prepared for Nevada's distance would be tight; but more than that I wouldn't be at a level to perform the way I'd like; it's not a "just finish" type race...

Well there wasn't much time to dwell, things started hopping for my swim.  The Tri Club of Burlington (TCOB) was hosting a fit fair TriFairbrochure.pdf this Saturday, and I was involved in helping with Burlington Masters Swim Club (BMSC)'s www.bmsc.ca/ swim skills workshop, and through this connection I enquired about putting a flier about my swim into the "fit kit" they were distributing to all participants.  They agreed.  Now I just had to make some fliers.  

Thankfully, UPS in Westdale Village (Hamilton) http://www.theupsstorelocal.ca/20-Hamilton/index.html sponsored me for my printing!  This was an amazing contribution.  Also upon TCoB president's suggestion I approached Team Aquatics Supplies (TAS) https://www.team-aquatic.com/store/ about putting up a "poster" at their booth at the expo.  They said they'd be honoured (so sweet!)  So I designed a poster and UPS printed it up for me too.  I pushed it a little further and TAS will be providing me with some caps and a swimsuit with TAS logo for the swim,,, pretty cool!

As a topper, Tom had a picture of me from after Louisville Ironman at his Wedgie http://www.mywedgie.com/ booth.

And finally, I did my weekend 10k swim on Sunday instead, and when the pain started to creep into my shoulder at 7.5 k, I focused on my body position (as Dave was stressing at the swim session) and was able to feel good right through to the end!!

Here's the link to the poster: Poster pdf