And it went pretty much the same as the last time I did it, this time failing on rep twenty-one and then easily finishing off the set. I’m pushing myself quite hard at this point, so I wasn’t particularly disheartened by the failure to improve. Just got to keep the effort going and it will come eventually.
USRPT distance this year: 97,100m Total distance this year: 99,650m
Needing a “proper” way to hold the rolling roof in place I had a hunt around and found these latches:
I bought them from Amazon, but they seem to be pretty much everywhere. There are a number of different sizes and I bought the largest ones I could find, thinking that if I needed a longer one I could just join an extra bit of 6mm threaded rod onto the end of the existing threaded section using a connector nut.
When they arrived I decided that by making a small wooden mounting block to fit on the walls I could use the latches unmodified, so that’s what I did. Initially I put two in place where I had already lined the walls and then removed the sash clamps holding the roof down, fitted the remaining lining and finally fixed the last two in place.
The roof feels fairly well locked down with all four clamps done up (the “hooks” are mounted on the steel frame of the roof). If I get to the point of motorising or even automating the roof I’ll probably leave them undone, relying on the motor mechanism keeping the roof in place for most of the time, just using the clamps when windy weather is expected.
Another shared session with my daughter today. Same set for me as last time:
400m f/c warm-up
24 x 50m f/c, target time 50.5s, turnaround 75s
200m swim down
The pool was quite busy again today, with quite a few children who weren’t really aware of what was going on around them. I almost squished one child into the wall by tumble-turning on them and then nearly skewered another a few reps later when they walked across my path just after I’d pushed off from the wall.
Fortunately they weren’t hurt and I still kept to my target times. I managed twenty-one reps today before failing on twenty-two and then easily finished off the set. Most of my times were 48s or 49s with a few 47s thrown in. I don’t think any of the completed reps were out of the 40s.
So, another go next week…
USRPT distance this year: 95,350m Total distance this year: 97,900m
I’ve had a little time before darkness falls during the evenings this week to make some more progress with the wall lining. All the channel for the LED strip lighting has been fitted into place (though I may well remove it during painting) and all the necessary ends mitred, which has allowed me to get on with most of the remaining lining above the channel. The only bits left now are those that I can’t do before having an alternative method for holding the roof in place.
As regards holding the roof in place, I have some over-centre lever latches on order. I’m not sure they’re going to be quite long enough, but if they aren’t I’ll extend them using threaded rod or bolts with the heads removed and a connecting nut.
The occasional sunny day has also made it obvious that there’s some heat build-up in the scope room. Today I investigated further and found that whilst the walls don’t appear to be bringing in any significant heat, the internal face of the roof that was towards the Sun was far warmer than the side facing away. I think I’m going to need to do something about that at some point, but for the time being I’ll leave it. It’s always been my intention to fit at least one air vent, so I’ll see what it’s like after that’s done.
Another trip to the pool with my daughter, today. And quite pleasant it was, as there were nowhere near as many people in the water as earlier in the week. My set was the same as earlier this week:
400m f/c warm-up
24 x 50m f/c, target time 50.5s, turnaround 75s
200m swim down
I wasn’t entirely sure how it was going to go. I can’t say that I felt entirely up for the session, but I’ve learnt in such situations it’s best just go get going and see what happens.
What happened was that after a few inconsistent reps at the start I settled down to 48s and 49s for most of my reps, but again couldn’t quite sustain the pace and ended up failing on rep twenty, after which it was easy enough to finish the set off.
I’m not disappointed though. That’s one more rep than I managed last time and I’m getting very close to nailing this set now. Tomorrow, assuming I am able to swim, might be a bit optimistic, but hopefully in the first half of next week.
USRPT distance this year: 93,600m Total distance this year: 96,150m
I took my daughter with me to the pool today. There was one lane available so she used it, being faster than me and doing a set that included fly. I had to deal with the chaos the other side of the lane rope 🙁 The pool was far busier than normal, with parents and children wandering all over the place, totally unaware of other swimmers and generally making things quite tricky. My set was the same as yesterday:
400m f/c warm-up
24 x 50m f/c, target time 50.5s, turnaround 75s
200m swim down
As before I was actually mostly hitting 48s and even still managed a 49 when I swam into someone on the second length of one rep. I just couldn’t sustain the pace though and eventually had one failure on rep nineteen. It was a struggle to make the last few reps, but I did manage it, so given the difficulties of swimming and that I made more reps than any previous session I feel quite pleased with myself.
USRPT distance this year: 91,850m Total distance this year: 94,400m
Gotta love Better’s website. First day of the school Easter holidays and their online pool timetable is a mess. The only way to find out what’s really happening is to get a piece of paper from the leisure centre with the actual timetable on. But I didn’t know that yet…
So, I arrived at the pool ready to swim only to find that it was actually a children’s session with floats and so on. Fortunately the life guards very kindly put a lane in just for me and I was able to get on with my current set:
400m f/c warm-up
24 x 50m f/c, target time 50.5s, turnaround 75s
200m swim down
All things considered it actually went pretty well. If I’d not put in quite so many 48s reps I’d probably have made it through the entire set. As it was I started to drift into the 49s around rep fifteen, failed on rep seventeen and then stuck in the 49s until a fail on rep twenty-three.
I’m not desperately disappointed. Clearly I was doing well most of the time. I just couldn’t sustain things quite far enough when swimming at that speed. It’ll come.
On the way out I picked up a copy of the previously-mentioned bit of paper, so tomorrow I should be back at the right time for another try.
USRPT distance this year: 90,100m Total distance this year: 92,650m
A little at a time over the last week I’ve been lining the internal walls of the observatory, often just a couple of pieces in the evening. That has allowed me to finish off the insulation in the internal wall and I’ve now reached “lighting height” in the scope room. I need to get the positioning for the aluminium channel sorted out before I can continue with the upper sections of the walls.
I also need to think about how I’m going to hold the roof in place once the walls are lined as there’ll be no place for the sash clamps that I currently use to pull against. For much the same reason I also need to think about how the flap at the south end will be held in place.
But whilst I mull that over, I’ve also got the cladding on the outside of the door, and today I lined the inside and started to get the door stops in place. I had to put a temporary handle on the inside too, otherwise I can’t pull it closed.
This evening I also got around to taking a few photos of how things are progressing (yes, it is starting to look a bit like a sauna 🙂
Tonight the door is held closed by a timber prop, but it is the first time that the observatory could be said to be weathertight, a huge step forward.
Next must be a bit of a clean up as the inside is covered in sawdust at the moment, and then fitting the aluminium channel at which point I can finish as much of the lining as possible and then I have no choice but to put alternative locking mechanisms on the roof. Assuming there’s clearance I might look at using some over-centre latches for the time being, as they’ll be useful if I’m not going to be at home and want to leave the observatory secured.
Oh, I also need to fit a lock to the door. I have one somewhere. Just can’t find it at the moment.
Same set as yesterday for today, hoping I could get a little better than a first failure at rep eighteen:
400m f/c warm-up
24 x 50m f/c, target time 50.5s, turnaround 75s
200m swim down
I really did feel tired today though, and felt I was struggling from the start, though I was in the high 40s for many of the reps. In the end though I failed on rep fourteen and again on rep eighteen, after which I was able to complete the set. Not a bad result, perhaps, but I was slightly disappointed not to improve on yesterday.
USRPT distance this year: 88,400m Total distance this year: 90,950m
A new set for today, dropping half a second off my previous target time:
400m f/c warm-up
24 x 50m f/c, target time 50.5s, turnaround 75s
200m swim down
Pretty much every time I go to the pool now I expect it to be hard work and I wasn’t wrong today, although I didn’t make it easy on myself by swimming so many reps in the 48s and 49s. In the end I had one failure, on rep eighteen, so I wasn’t unhappy with how things went. I’d have been very surprised to complete this set first time out.
USRPT distance this year: 86,700m Total distance this year: 89,250m
