Sweating off the bollocks - 1

For over a year now, I've been availing myself of a wellness centre in Chur, located in a so-called Altersresidence (Residence for the Elderly) not far from home. I have an anual subscription there, which means I can go any time, although there are certain restrictions - for example: Tuesday and Thursdays are for women only; we men only get one day a week to ourselves, namely Wednesday, and even then, it's a constant fight to keep the old dears out of the place (it must be my gorgeous body which attracts them - or not).

The complex is really very modern, clean and immaculately kept, and spending a few hours there each Wednesday evening, is an absolute pleasure. Not only is there a pristine swimming pool (only 12,5 metres long, but still usable), but also a whirlpool, sun bed, and (in the sauna complex itself) a Finnish sauna, steam room and caldarium, relaxing area, as well as spotless toilets, showers and locker facilities/rooms, and also a small, modernly-equipped gym.

I go most Wednesday evenings (men's only) after a workout at my gym further along the road, and spend a good two hours there, mostly using the sauna, steam bath and caldarium. I start off with a hot shower, and then a good 30 minutes in the Finnish sauna - I used to only do 10 to 15 minutes, but since I have got my mind set on the Marathon des Sables in 2010, I've decided to slowly get my body used to extreme temperatures, and can now endure a solid half hour of 85°C in the sauna, lying on the top slat-bed, followed by five minutes at the lowest level to "cool down". This is followed by a freezing cold shower, which doesn't last for longer than 20 seconds!!!! The shower itself is a high pressure one, with a waterfall kind of nozzle where ice cold water emerges, and offers a marked temperature change to the sauna; one emerges all pink and glowing.

Then, I enjoy a quarter hour in the relaxing area, followed by a good sweat in the steam bath for 20 minutes, another relax time, and 10 to 15 minutes in the extremely hot and damp caldarium, all interspersed with that cold shower!!!! Finally, a luke-warm shower, using shower gel, sees the end of my wellness session. If I haven't been to gym before, I sometimes use the swimming pool, and do a comfortable 500-metre swim, alternating between breast stroke and crawl, and after that, a few times in the whirlpool.

Once dressed again, I make my way upstairs to the famous restaurant in the residence, called Va Bene (in English, basically: it's OK). Here, I sit in the bar area (now all smoke-free, which is fantastic), and enjoy a large glass of red wine, before making my way home around 9 p.m. With the gym beforehand, it really is an evening of wellness.

Apart from the attempted intrusion by some old biddies from time to time, I am usually alone in the sauna area on Wednesday evenings, which suits me fine. Occassionally, one or two men may come in, but they never stay long. The facilities are open to the residence inhabitants, but ten subscriptions are available to "outsiders" - at this stage, I think only about four of them have been sold (Kurt has one, as do I). Kurt usually goes on Mondays when it is mixed, and he says, there are usually only a few people there.

I really enjoy it, especially since deciding to do the MdS, and having the sauna for some heat acclimatisation!!!! If I didn't attach something I were doing to the MdS, then one could really say, that something was amiss!!!!!!

I have uploaded some photographs of the place, to my flickr.com website (see the left column).