Sweltering in Spain

We're having a heat wave... does that qualify as "news" in Southern Spain??

Anyway, the past three days have been horribly hot: lows of 88 (that's around 4 am) and highs of 115! We've bought a fan and yesterday we had our siesta on the living room floor with the a/c and fan running. Around 9 or 10 o'clock, when it's a mere 90 degrees out, is when we can actually comfortably leave the house.

Yesterday the atmosphere was just oppressive; you could SEE the heat. The mountains nearby were almost completely hidden by a nasty, hot, haze. It almost looks like smog, but in fact it's hot air currents from the Sahara that bring desert dust across the Straight to Spain. So that's where the ultra-hot weather is coming from. Thank you, Africa.

As you can imagine, the heat isn't any good for working out. I was running around 9, but these past few days it was even too hot for that. Despite the otrageous temperatures, we have been getting our exercise at the city pool.

Just last year La Roda opened the new city pool--Olympic size. We go nearly every day and I usually swim between 1km and 1mi (that's 1,600 meters). Yesterday I did 2 km! So with all this swimming, I've decided to do a triathlon. I found one in Chiclana, Cadiz on the 12 of September. It's a 20km bike ride, 750m swim and a 5km run. Easy. ;)

In my searches for triathlons and other foot races, I came across one that looks awesome: Desafio Donana (the above video). It's a long distance triathlon--169km bike, 1km swim, 30km run-- but I think it's a good goal for next year. It goes through one of Andalucia's most beautiful and most famous Natural Parks, Parque Natural Donana. The swim is crossing the Guadalquivir river (the biggest in Andalucia) at its mouth and then running along the beach to the finish. It's a big goal...but I think keeping this in mind might just give me the motivation I need to continue working out and training through the winter.

That's all--off for my morning swim!