On Tuesday I did nothing and on Wednesday I did the most pathetic 30min turbo session ever, a real waste of time if ever there was one. Thursday was more interesting as I went out for a messy old run from Gordano Services in Bristol where I got totally lost, ran along a public footpath through 4ft grass only for it to suddenly stop in the middle of nowhere and where I ran across the M5 Avon Bridge.
On Friday the weather was awful and I was asked to do some extra stuff at work so I only managed my normal Squad swim session, although it did include 13 continuous 4x25m IM's and a 50m Butterfly Time Trial in 39secs at the end.
Saturday was the day of the Goldcoast Beach Aquathlon. Pre-race I had to do a couple of laps of the run course putting signs and tape out, then when I got back with 15mins to spare I thought I might as well have a go so I slipped on my wetsuit, talced up my trainers and headed down to the start.
There was no pressure for the race and the run from the start line to the sea was done near the back of the field while chatting to one of my clubmates. My first dive into open water for the 'M' shaped swim reminded me of something ---- the sea is bladdy cold, brrrrrr!!!! As my head froze I swam to bouy 1 with my head up in the air and with occasional breaststroke (girlie). The swim back to the beach for the small run section was steady but once back in the water sections 3&4 seemed to be real easy and I was flying past people as if they weren't there.
The field was stacked with some seriously quick swimmers but even so 23rd out of the water in a field of 65 was pathetically slow for me, I'd normally have been aiming for top 10, still there was no rush as it was just a bit of fun.
There were 3 of my clubmates ahead of me and it doesn't matter how lightly you're taking the race Club Pride matters so I set off in hot persuit. Very quickly I started moving up the field and soon there was only 1 clubmate ahead, gradually I reeled him in and listened to his potty mouth as I ran past him to take the lead in the only race that really mattered, the race for club honours. As the race went on I slowly worked my way through the field until I eventually finished happily in 4th position not far behind 3 very classy athletes and ahead of some equally classy athletes.Job Done for the day ---- or was it???? Not quite...
After the race there was the small matter of clearing up all of the race gubbins before heading out on my planned run home, all 11 miles of it. The run was an absolute pig and included a 4 mile stretch of beach which was like running into a sandstorm. At one point my HR was close to 160bpm and I was running 9:30 min/miles, crazy slow. I fought my way back though averaging 8min/miles.
The plan for Sunday was a 90+ mile ride to Perranporth, Cornwall. I didn't fancy 6+hrs of riding into a headwind though so after riding the first 23miles in 90mins I turned around and headed back before tacking on a little loop to take the total to 60miles. The 2nd wind assisted 23miles took 60mins.
That'll do for now, some of us have work to do and there's already far too much rubbish on here.
Iain
2 comments:
Just looked at your bristol run route... running on the M5 very impressive!!
I really dig the Blog NUmb Nuts
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