Hitting new swimming targets

Last night I cycled straight to the lake after work. When I got there Stu was waiting with my swimming kit, so I got changed as quickly as possible.

We headed down to the lake and I zipped up my wetsuit. Unfortunately, the rip in it is getting worse and every time I bent over, I could feel it rip further :’-(

I decided to try out the ear plugs that Stu bought me a while ago (Love is… some ear plugs from your partner!)

The water felt a bit chilly as I got in, but I think that’s because it was very warm outside and I had been standing around with my wetsuit on for too long. After a minute or two of floating, I decided to start swimming. My last long swim was 10 laps of the lake, but I’ve got a 5km swim in just over a week, so I wanted to push myself and go for 12 laps, which would be about 4.2km. I decided to aim for a more continuous swim than last time as I need to get used swimming non-stop. My plan was to swim 4 x 3 laps.

I quickly got into a rhythm and decided not to look at my watch. After three laps, I was feeling strong, so I decided to do four laps. By the time I had done four laps, I was feeling good, so I changed my challenge and went for six laps.

After six laps, I was still feeling good, so I decided to push on for as long as I could. I could feel that my wetsuit was rubbing my neck (I had failed to put any bodyglide on), but decided to push on as there was nothing I could do.

Although I had been sceptical about using ear plugs, I found that I was enjoying my swim much more when using them… and I couldn’t feel them, which is what I had been concerned about. (I never wear earphones as I hate having things in my ears!)

By lap 9, I was starting to get tired, but I realised that my longest ever continuous swim was in my sights, so I pushed on. At the end of lap 10, I saw Stu getting ready to get out of the lake. I thought about speaking to him, but didn’t want to stop, so I gave him a smile and carried on.

Finally, nearly 2 hours after I started swimming, I had done my 12 laps. I staggered out of the lake and looked down at my watch: 1:54:09. I was a little disappointed that it had only recorded 3789m, but that’s still a PB for me. My previous longest continuous swim was 3111m at Eton Dorney and my longest ever swim was 3750m during a double tri club session, so I beat both of those. It was also nearly 30 minutes longer than any other continuous swim that I’ve done 😀

4km swim

This weekend, I’ve got my first sea swim of the year at the BustinSkin Gu Weymouth Triathlon (1500m) – I hope I can beat my time from last year. Next weekend, I’ve got a 2.5km sea swim and a 5km lake swim. I might be slow, but I think I can do this!

First aquathlon of the year

Tonight’s excitement for the Smiths was an aquathlon at Lakeside. We both decided to do the sprint distance (750m swim; 5km run) and managed to get in the water before the start to acclimatise. Lack of time to acclimatise was something that I found difficult last year, but I think it was easier anyway tonight as the lake was quite warm.

In previous years, the swim has been anticlockwise in the lake, but this year it was clockwise, which helped as that’s the usual direction that we swim in.

Acclimatising before the start of the swim ©TryTri

The start of the swim was quite frantic (TryTri have shared a video) and I got a couple of fairly hard knocks to the head, which isn’t something I’m used to. I don’t think I’d positioned myself well and should probably have started further back.

I quickly got into a comfortable rhythm and managed to maintain it for the whole swim.

I had two goals for this race: not to finish last and ideally to beat my time from last year.

During the swim, I could see other people just ahead of me, so I did my best to keep pushing and managed to overtake a couple of people.

The start of the run ©TryTri

Finally, I was in transition. Again, this was an area where I thought I could improve on last year’s time – mainly because I no longer need to put in contact lenses! I’d chosen a spot close to the swim exit, so that my wetsuit wouldn’t have time to drain fully, which seemed to be a successful strategy for me.

I then set off on the run and was surprised that I managed to feel quite good from the start. Overall, the run wasn’t quite 5km (my Garmin had it as 4.85km, which seems about right when comparing it to the measured 5km course that used to be used for parkrun at this location), but I managed a faster pace than I’ve run at any parkrun recently, so think that getting back to Hugh’s running sessions is paying off. I also managed to pass a few people on the run, which is something that I rarely manage.

My best time last year was: 47:52.4, so I was pleased to get a PB tonight: 46:37.8 … and I wasn’t last

Final aquathlon of the season

This week has been so busy:

Saturday: Lake swim followed by a run (and then a bit of cheering the junior triathletes at Lakeside)

Sunday: 40k bike ride followed by a 30 minute run

Monday: 1 hour of swimming with some challenging drills

Tuesday: 1:06 on the turbo trainer

Wednesday: 70 minutes of intervals… on my own… in the dark – autumn is definitely here 😦

Thursday: Aquathlon time!

I also signed up for the Uni tri club (SUTri) yesterday and met the president. I’m hoping to join in with quite a few of their training sessions in the next few months and am particularly looking forward to spinning as I’ve not been to a spin class since I left my old job in September 2012.

It is so sad that we’re at the end of the open water swimming season. I know that some people swim outdoors all year around, but I struggle with the cold, so I don’t think I’ll become one of those people any time soon… unless I emigrate to somewhere warmer. (Apparently the water is 26 degrees C in Mallorca at the moment!)

Stu and I headed to Lakeside for the final aquathlon on the season. I wasn’t feeling well and was struggling to breathe this afternoon, so I was feeling a bit nervous and started wondering whether I should drop down to doing the short distance. In the end I decided that I would do the long swim and see how I felt on the run. It’s a two lap run course, so I figured that I could stop after 1 lap if I were struggling (although everyone who knows me know that I would be more likely to crawl 2.5km than drop out of a race).

Swimmers entering the water © TryTri

As usual, I didn’t get in the water early enough to acclimatise. Fortunately, it didn’t feel as cold as it did on Saturday, and parts of the lake were surprisingly warm.

Lining up for the start © TryTri

We all lined up for the customary wave before the start. My partner, Stu, is in the foreground looking directly at the camera (with red bands on the sleeves of his wetsuit). I’m just a tiny head in the background!

As soon as we started, it seemed as though only the really good swimmers had turned up as within seconds, I could see swimmers way out in front. My breathing was ragged, but I decided to focus on having a good time and try not to wear myself out too much before Sunday’s triathlon.

I realised that there were some other swimmers near me, but that they mostly had on white hats indicating that they were doing the short distance.

My goggles steamed up, but I didn’t have any problems with leaks and I maintained front crawl throughout the swim. There were a few other swimmers who were fairly close to me who ended up doing a medley of crawl and breaststroke. It was a bit of a battle between another lady and I, but as we completed our second lap (out of 2.5), I managed to surge ahead.

It’s become apparent to me over the last couple of months that my wetsuit no longer fits. I’m not sure whether that’s because I’ve lost weight or changed shape or because the wetsuit has stretched. Anyway, whatever the cause, it now tends to fold up on me and fill with water, which isn’t much fun and I can’t imagine it does a lot for my streamlining. As I’ve only one triathlon and a triathlon holiday left this year, I’ll live with it, but definitely need a new wetsuit before I do more open water swimming.

Finally, I got to the exit, where I could hear Ben shouting encouragement. I couldn’t see much, but assumed that he was pointing his camera at me, so I thought I’d better look cheerful.

A quick thumbs up and smile that the swim was over © TryTri

Look at all of those fantastic wrinkles in my wetsuit… at least that’s what I hope they are and not rolls of my flesh 😦 © TryTri

Stu was doing the race as a relay (with Jez running for him) as he has a leg injury, so he was in transition when I arrived. I asked him to pick up my belongings when I’d finished, stripped off my wetsuit, put on socks and trainers, put in my contact lenses and was off. It definitely wasn’t the fastest transition – laser surgery had better save me at least a minute!!!

My breathing had calmed down a bit, so I tried to pick up the pace a bit on my run, but my Garmin decided to give me crazy data that kept fluctuating, so I couldn’t rely on it to tell me how fast I was going. I saw Jez go flying by on his second lap, followed by two men and a female runner. I felt great on the first lap, but I think I slowed on the second lap as I was starting to tire. I heard another running catching up with me, but I just couldn’t pick up the pace enough to stay with her and didn’t want to over-exert myself.

My final thoughts were that I needed to ensure that I finished well. My finish photos from Weymouth look truly dreadful – I don’t look happy that I’ve finished, I just look saggy. I sprint for teh line and tried to keep my head up whilst waving my hands in the air. Unfortunately, Ben didn’t quite capture my moment of triumph and it’s a bit blurry, but I’ll take it 🙂

In the final results, Stu is placed first, but he was in a relay team (although he reckons that he could have run a similar time). I still need to work on my swimming (and hope that a new wetsuit has a magic effect), but I don’t think my run was too awful.

I’m a bit sad that it’s the last aquathlon of the season, so I’ll have to console myself by entering some of the TryTri duathlons over winter.

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I wasn’t last, even though there was some swimming involved!

Although I’m still tired from last Sunday’s swim, I had already entered tonight’s aquathlon (hosted by the lovely TryTri chaps), so I figured that I’d better just get on with it. We left home a bit late, and I didn’t do a great job of getting myself organised. I thought that I had picked up everything necessary for transition, but realised that I had left my inhaler and contact lenses in my bag, so I missed the briefing (and hat distribution) to go and get them. Fortunately, Stu was there to get a hat for me. I didn’t really have enough time to worry and just went straight into the water, which actually felt like a pleasant temperature.

After a quick wave at the camera, we were off. I had carefully positioned myself near the back of the pack, so I wasn’t squished in the initial brawl. We soon spread out and I was pleased to realise that I was breathing quite well. Unfortunately, my goggles were not doing as well, as I had to stop and empty them three times, which broke my rhythm.

My terrible breathing! © Paul A. Hammond

I’m still not sure why my head is in this position © Paul A. Hammond

© Paul A. Hammond

© Paul A. Hammond

The route was meant to be 750m, but my sighting wasn’t great, so I swam 980m… I really must work on that as I wasted quite a lot of time.

The course is 2.5 laps, so by the time I had swum 1.5 laps, it was starting to thin out a bit and I was pleased to realise that I wasn’t the very last person. Unfortunately, I was also aware that my arms were very tired from Sunday’s exertions, so I wasn’t able to pick the pace up. I pushed as hard as I could, but I know I was passed by at least 3 people in the final lap.

Eventually, I was at the end of the swim. Maybe I should have swum a little bit closer to the exit, but I was ready to stand up, and was relieved that I didn’t feel as dizzy as I normally do. Result! 🙂

Some people might blame the wetsuit for being unflattering; I blame my love of food! © Paul A. Hammond

© Paul A. Hammond

This shows just how close the next competitor was © Paul A. Hammond

© Paul A. Hammond

I should pin this horrible photo of my double chins up in the kitchen! © Paul A. Hammond

I finished the swim in 20:01.8 (35/37)

It was then onto transition, which I know is a terrible discipline for me. If I could just strip off my wetsuit/hat/goggles, throw on some shoes and run, I’d be fine, but I’ve had blisters when I tried running without socks before, and so close to a triathlon, I didn’t want to risk it, so I put socks on. Then came the real time-wasting part: contact lenses. I hate running with my glasses on as they make me feel ill. This is partly because they’re not quite the right prescription, but at nearly £300 a pair, I can’t afford to waste money on something that I rarely wear. I put in my contact lenses as fast as possible and was off.

Heading into transition © Paul A. Hammond

An entire sequence of me stripping! © Paul A. Hammond

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I’m amused by this shot, which looks like I’m weeing myself – I’m not, honest! © Paul A. Hammond

I managed not to battle my watch this time – I took the face of it off, removed my wetsuit and then clipped it back on again 🙂

T1 2:00.20 (36/37)

At this point, I was unaware that I was not the last person. I thought someone had exited the lake just after me (which they did) and I assumed that he was the very last person in the event… and I knew he would have left transition before me.

I always find the breathing hard when I first start running after swimming, but I just told myself to relax and enjoy it, which seemed to work. I’ve mumbled recently about feeling like I’ve only got one speed – slow – as a consequence of doing some long, slow runs, but I surprised myself by being able to move at a reasonable pace. I think the intervals with Coach Ant (Run Camp) and Huw/Steve (Southampton Tri Club) are finally starting to pay off.

I could hear a speedy runner coming up behind me, but I thought that there was no point in looking around as they would pass me soon enough. I was quite surprised when they spoke to me, and then realised that it was Stuart, who was clearly running very well. I had decided to wear my SOAS pink peacock tri kit as I’ve got a busy couple of days ahead of me and I want to wear my team SOAS kit on Sunday. It’s really comfortable to wear and has the added advantage of standing out really well. Stuart said that he recognised me from quite a long way off as my kit is so distinctive!

I like the run route for Eastleigh aquathlon as it’s essentially the same as the first parkrun that I used to attend, which is where I found my love for running. It’s a two lap course that I know inside out. A third of the way around is a slight incline, before a shady tree-lined section, followed by a (miniature) railway crossing and then an open path. There’s then a grassy section around a ‘bowl’ followed by a sharp down and up, before a gentler slope leading back across the railway line. There’s then one more steep up and over the railway line, before heading to the second lap/finish.

By the time I got to the first incline, I could see a runner ahead of me in distinctive green calf guards. It looked like he was slowing down, so I thought there might be a chance that I could catch him. This, and the enthusiastic encouragement from Becky who was marshalling, encouraged me to push on. I took a while for me to catch up with the chap, but I finally managed it at the bowl. I then headed back towards the start/finish, where the lovely Paul was waiting

© Paul A. Hammond

This shot shows just how great I was feeling! © Paul A. Hammond

Still smiling and both feet off the ground! © Paul A. Hammond

© Paul A. Hammond

Getting ready… © Paul A. Hammond

…to blow a kiss at Paul! © Paul A. Hammond

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© Paul A. Hammond

I kept pushing on the second lap as I didn’t want to be overtaken. As I crossed the railway line, I realised that there were some competitors ahead. I started to push on, but realised that I probably wasn’t going to catch up with them, which frustrated me, but I didn’t want to push too hard as I want to save some energy for Sunday’s triathlon.

Towards the end of the race, I heard someone running behind me. It was a man with a fluorescent yellow shirt on. I didn’t think he was part of the aquathlon, so I wondered whether he was just someone out enjoying a run… but just in case, I started to pick up the pace a little more. This was a lucky guess, as it turned out that he was in the event!

Feeling determined as I could see the finish line! © Paul A. Hammond

© Paul A. Hammond

Look at that heel lift! I hope Coach Ant feels proud! © Paul A. Hammond

© Paul A. Hammond

Action shot! © Paul A. Hammond

© Paul A. Hammond

© Paul A. Hammond

© Paul A. Hammond

Although I look tired in these photos, I was actually feeling really good and would have been happy to carry on and run another 5k. It turns out that my run was the best part of the event for me as I beat 4 people!

Run: 26:38.75 (33/37)

Total: 48:40.75 (34/37)

© Paul A. Hammond

I really enjoyed tonight’s event. My super husband did brilliantly, finishing in 3rd place in a time of 31:11.10! Awesome result, Stu! The TryTri lads work well to make each event a success and they also put in a lot of effort to make ech competitor feel valued. The aquathlons are reasonably priced, with chip timing for each event meaning that the results were online by the time that I arrived home, and there was also a bottle of water for each entrant.

I now feel as well prepared as possible for Eastleigh Open Water Triathlon on Sunday. As usual, my aim is to finish, but I’m also hoping not to be last. My T2 is likely to be significantly faster than T1, and I’m hoping that my bike segment will compare favourably with others (probably more because of my fab Kuota Kharma than for my ability).

Have you got any races coming up? Which discipline do you think you need to practise the most?

First Eastleigh aquathlon of 2014

Thursday evening was my first aquathlon of the year at Lakeside. Last year, I did the novice event, and it was my intention to move up the full (sprint) distance… but that was before my shoulder injury. I spoke to the organisers and they said that as it was a mass start, I could make my decision when I was in the lake, which would give me an opportunity to see how my arm was feeling. That’s what I love about TryTri – they really do their best to accommodate everyone’s needs.

Arriving at the aquathlon © Paul A. Hammond

I signed in and then got marked up.

Lucky number 24

After chatting with a few friends, it was time for the race briefing and a few words from ActiveCoach, the event’s sponsors.

The briefing © Paul A. Hammond

We then headed over to the start of the swim. This year, the events are chip timed, so I collected my chip before getting into the lake. It was very slippery, so several people did a ‘bottom shuffle’ to get into the lake. I was a little more dignified, but not much!

The water wasn’t unpleasantly cold, but I had spent so long getting myself organised that I didn’t really have enough time to acclimatise properly. I must remember to get in the lake earlier next time, so that I’m ready to swim when the race starts.

© Paul A. Hammond

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© Paul A. Hammond Why is my head so far out of the water? Aarrggh!

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© Paul A. Hammond I really must learn to keep my head lower!

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© Paul A. Hammond Not waving, but drowning!

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© Paul A. Hammond Help!

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© Paul A. Hammond

I’d love to be able to say that I had a great swim, but I didn’t (and the photos clearly show that my technique was terrible). My right shoulder was still in a lot of pain and it felt like the lap and a half took forever. Finally, I neared the end, so I started kicking frantically, to help with my blood circulation. This seemed to work as I didn’t feel light-headed as I emerged from the lake… but it did nothing for my clumsiness. I trip and managed to hit my knee, which was painful.

In transition, I was acutely aware of how slow I’d been, but I decided that I would wear sock anyway as my feet blistered when I did my last aquathlon without socks. I also had to remove my watch to get my wetsuit off. To try to save a few seconds, I decided not to put my contact lenses in, which, in hindsight, was a mistake.

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© Paul A. Hammond One leg out.

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Nearly there! © Paul A. Hammond

Smiling because I’m running… and I can see the photographer! © Paul A. Hammond

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I put my watch back on and headed off on a 2.5km lap as fast as I could, which turned out to be not very fast at all. Ben was out on the course cheering people on, which was great and I knew it wouldn’t take too long before I finished.

After crossing the railway line, Ian passed me with Sonia giving chase. They congratulated me on my swim – they clearly hadn’t realised that I’d only done the novice distance – oops.

By this point, I had remembered why I refuse to run with my glasses on – I always end up feeling motion sick, so I ran quite a lot of the race with my eyes closed, which is not something I would recommend to others!

Someone passed me, but I wasn’t ready to give up that easily, so I pushed harder and managed to get ahead again. There are a couple of downhills and short sharp inclines in the final 1km. These helped me to pull ahead a little bit further and in the final 400m, my coach passed me, on his way to winning the sprint event.

Can you tell that I’d had enough at this point? © Paul A. Hammond

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© Paul A. Hammond

Final sprint for the line © Paul A. Hammond

Eventually, I crossed the line where I was rewarded with a bottle of water and some delicious dried strawberries from Urban Fruit. I then cheered in the other participants, including my husband who missed out on 3rd place in the sprint event by less than a second.

I finished 12/16. My swim took 14:10 (13th) and my transition took 2:09 (13th), but my run made up for some of it as 12:55 was 10th! Overall, it took me 29:15 and I was 4th female finisher. This is quite disappointing as my results from last year’s aquathlon show that I finished in 27:52. Next month, I’ll be aiming to do the sprint distance.

A massive thank you to Paul A. Hammond for all of the lovely (and not-so-lovely) photos!

 

This might be the most exciting thing has has ever happened to me…

O.M.G! O.M.G! O.M.G! That was what went running through my mind when I opened up laptop this morning, but I didn’t have much time to ponder the contents of the email that I had read as I was going to parkrun. Not just any parkrun, but Eastleigh parkrun, which has returned (for three weeks only) to its birthplace at Lakeside. It’s where my love for running started back in 2010. The picture below is one of the earliest pictures that exists of me running, and it was taken there!

Eastleigh parkrun August 2010

Since then, I have returned to Lakeside during training runs and for open water swimming, but I’ve not often done 5k there.

Lakeside panorama © Emily Smith

I had been hoping that it would be a dry day, not because I’m bothered about running in the rain, but because I know how easily the course at Lakeside gets churned up – it would be a shame if it is unable to go ahead for the next three weeks. Alas, it was not to be. It had rained steadily all night and was still raining when we got up. This meant that some areas of the course were under water and it was VERY muddy and slippery!

I ran with Lynda for a few hundred metres, which was good, as it was her 50th event. Then I met up with Ellie and ran with her for a while, before doing the last lap with James. That’s what I love about parkrun – it really is a social event that encourages runners of all ages and abilities to run together. However, for many people it is a weekly chance to push themselves and this week was no exception. The Lordshill boys battled it out for the first six places. LRR marshal, Neil, managed to snap the speedy chaps part way round the lap:

The fastest runners © Neil Garton

I didn’t want to push myself as I’m still struggling with sinusitis and I need to do a 13 mile run tomorrow, so I was happy to finish in 73rd place in 30:48. Afterwards, we went to the cafe to warm up with a cuppa. It’s been a while since I’ve had time to stop after parkrun, so I enjoyed catching up with a few other runners/triathletes.

LRRs enjoying a cuppa after parkrun

I’m trying to avoid ‘junk miles’ this year, but sometimes it’s good for the soul just to get out and run with friends. I’ve signed up for Jantastic again this year, but I’m not setting myself hard targets as I don’t want to ruin my training by forcing myself to run when I don’t need or want to. I’m trying to educate myself to be a better runner and coach. One of the books that is helping me with that aim is ‘Triathlon Science‘ by Joe Friel and Jim Vance – I’ll be sharing what I learn with you. I’ve also been reading ‘The Ghost Runner‘ by Bill Jones, which was one of Stu’s Christmas gifts (he’s a fast reader, so he finished it over a week ago). It’s a really interesting biography of John Tarrant, an amazing runner from yesteryear.

So… the news you’ve all been waiting for. This is what I saw in my in-box this morning:

Congratulations! You have been selected for the SOAS Racing 2014 Brand Ambassador Team.

How exciting is that?! I applied a while ago and am absolutely ecstatic that I have been selected. It’s a brilliant opportunity for me to work with a brand whose values I identify with. I’m also looking forward to connecting with some of the other team members this year.

So what does it mean for you? Well, I am hoping to be an even more conscientious blogger, as well as being more active on Twitter. I’m also going to make an extra effort to take my camera/phone with me to events (and use it)! Oh yes, and you’re going to be seeing me wearing some awesome kit that is comfortable and attractive… and it all matches 😀

If you haven’t heard about the brand before, please visit their website: http://www.soasracing.com/ and their blog: http://soasracing.blogspot.co.uk/

Swimming update

I’ve managed to haul myself out of bed for the last two Tuesday mornings at 5:30am to go swimming in the lake, but it’s clear that summer is over as the water was freezing cold. I was so grateful that I bought myself a new hat in London:

It’s lovely and cosy, but I’m not sure I like the crackling sound as the water touches the merino wool!

The pictures below make the lake seem picturesque, but these were taken after my last swim, when the fog/mist had started to clear. There were lots of swans in the lake as well as a few Canada geese and huge amounts of natural debris 😦 It’s quite unnerving to suddenly find a large leaf in front of your face!!!

I also came to the end of my planned swimming lessons… or so I thought. I was intending to join swimfit, but after discussing it with Chris, my swimming instructor, I’ve signed up for one more set of swimming lessons. We’ve spent a lot of time on butterfly recently, and I can now do vaguely recognisable tumble turns , but I’ve still not learned how to dive in, so that’s another goal, and hopefully I’ll continue to build on my front crawl.

I need to carefully decide what my long-term strategy will be. I’ve been dithering about joining a tri club, as it seems like an expensive option and there are quite a few choices, including:

• Southampton Tri Club
• Tri Team Wessex
• Southampton Uni Tri Club

I think I’m going to reassess where I am in October after I’ve done both of my triathlons.

My swimming goal for this year was to do an 800m swim, so I’ve smashed that goal. My goal for 2014 is to do a 1600m race. I’ve managed to swim that far in training, so I’ll have to find an event to do. Depending on the cost and my commitments, I might go for something like the Great London Swim, the Windsor swim or the Dorney Lake Women Only swim. Does anyone have any UK-based recommendations (preferably in the South!)

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I did it, I did it, I did it!!!

I completed an aquathlon at Lakeside tonight!

The results from the aquathlon

My preparations started last night, when I tried to gather together all of my possessions. I didn’t think I’d need much stuff, but my list was longer than I anticipated when I started writing it. This morning, I decided to replace the laces in my favourite trainers (Brooks Pure Flow Cadence) with elastic laces. This would seem to be an easy swap to make, but the laces were really long, so I had to do a little handiwork with scissors and sellotape.

The traffic this evening was horrendous and I was worried that I was going to arrive too late to take part, but luckily, the event was running a bit late. As soon as I arrived, I was inked up (number 36)… I hope it’s not as permanent as their usual markers…

I had enough time to change into my wetsuit and put my stuff in the transition area. I tried on both of my trisuits last night and decided to go with the blue sugoi one (rather than the red pearl izumi one) as I’ve run in it before. I’d hoped to be able to French plait my hair, but didn’t have enough time, so it was tied up the same as usual. I was issued with a blue physio2fit swimming hat. What do triathletes do with all of their hats? (If you’ve got lots to spare, you could donate one here: http://ellathemermaid.wordpress.com/2013/06/03/swim-hat-bunting/ )

Then my cheerleader turned up – thank you, Irene for being such a great supporter.

At about 6:30pm, we got into the water. The slope was very slippery and I was nervous that I might fall over, so I went in very slowly. It was warmer than I expected, so that was a good start. I floated on my back for a bit and then rolled over and floated on my front. It helps to relax me, but I didn’t want to stay like that for too long in case anyone thought I as drowning! I swam over to the start area, and took care to position myself at the back of the pack, as I knew that I would be one of the slowest swimmers.

The swim started out OK (although I think I tried to swim over someone else), but I think I needed more of a warm up and that I should have gone slower. It definitely did not feel as easy and relaxed as it had on Tuesday morning, which was a shame. I rounded the first buoy, but my goggles had really fogged up, so I had to tread water for a bit to rinse them off, then I swam past the exit and headed along the front straight. I will admit that I did a few strokes of breaststroke (but not many), just whenever I needed to catch my breath. I could see Irene on the edge of the water cheering, so I gave her a quick thumbs up and then swam on. At about that stage, some of the fastest swimmers started lapping me, but I was feeling confident as I knew I wasn’t the last swimmer in my wave and plenty of the people from the other group were still some way off lapping me. I was happy to have finished the whole of the first lap, but the extra bit back to where we had to leave the water felt like it was taking forever. I managed to maintain my stroke, but was glad that it was nearly time to get out of the water.

When I got to a shallow area, I started to unzip my wetsuit to flood the front. I quickly moved out of the water and started stripping. I got my arms out of the suit and started to remove the legs when the combination of wet grass and jelly legs got me and I fell over. I swiftly removed the rest of my wetsuit and then put on my shoes. I had made a decision not to wear socks, so I rubbed my feet a bit and then slipped my shoes on. I took off my hat and goggles, grabbed my glasses and put on a cap. I guess for a speedier transition I should have abandoned the cap, but I’ve never run in my glasses before and as it was raining quite hard by that stage, I wanted some protection in the hope that I would be able to see.

It was great to be running on the old parkrun route as it’s where my love for running developed. It was also interesting to see the changes that have taken place… and good to have a distraction from the fact that my breathing was horrendous for the first part of the run. It wasn’t long before some of the sprint distance men began to overtake me, and then one of the faster ladies also ran past. I came out of the bowl and realised that there was another woman ahead who looked like she was not running as fast as the others. I got onto the final 300m, I realised that if I pushed harder I could overtake. I put in my best effort and managed to hunt down the other lady (who is also a Ladyhiller).

I felt so pleased when I had finished. If someone had told me four months ago that I would complete a 400m open water swim as part of an aquathlon, I would have found it difficult to believe. I can’t remember my official time – I think it was about 27 minutes. Stu finished in about 18 minutes and was the first novice finisher. I think I was the first novice female, but there weren’t many of us in the category, so that’s not particularly special. What is special is that I’ve now done a duathlon and an aquathlon… what next? Swicle or just a full triathlon? The answer is a triathlon. Stu and I have both entered HOWSC triathlon on 29th September. I think I’ve put down for novice, but after tonight’s success, I need to decide whether I can improve my swimming to be able to do 750m by then… any thoughts?

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