STOP PRESS!

OMG - How completely knackering was that today.

But the TRI Gods shined (well almost), the rain stopped about 20mins before my race and started again about 30mins after - LUCKY US :o)

The race was:
Swim - 800 m: 2 laps of 400m with a short run from the swim finish back to the start to start lap2
Bike - 30.6k: 6 laps of flat dullness (not that I'm really complaining)
Run - 7.5k: 3 laps of the same (plus lots more pain!)

Total time: 2:07:55 (official as the results have just been posted)

HAPPY WITH THAT! Only mishap to note was my timing chip coming off with the wetsuit, but managed to grab it again for the run so I could be timed!!

... and now it's time for a bit more stretching followed by muchos duvet loving!!!

Oh and tomorrow it's official.....
No more smoking in public places in the England. HURRAH! Finally England has caught up with Scotland, Wales and Ireland.

Oh, and yes, it is once again raining!

Pre race prep

Just a quickie (blog!) this morning. My race isn't till 2 so am doing some blogtastic motivational reading and catching up with some fellow tri bloggings. Now this has proved motivational, but I can't somehow feel jealous - everyone is having SUNSHINE.

I can't remember the last full day of sunshine.

The weather forecast for today......

Tally Ho!

Belated race report!

It's a few days of not much activity since my race last Sunday.... and I must confess before I begin my race report to having a rather large hangover!!! BAD KAREN! You see year end is now pretty much done and extra long and stressful work days are almost over (for 3 months). So last night a little band of us merry (quite literally) men, hit the champagne. Not that there's much to celebrate mind as we're all convinced a redundancy announcement is around the corner. Still it's all pretty much done now, all I need to do is recover in time for tomorrow's race!!!

OK - I shall begin my recap of last Sunday's sprint tri ... what fun!

Race Prep:
The day before the race, Saturday, I had intended to get out on Biancha for a quick spin in the rain as the forecast was for rain on Sunday too. Having removed her from the turbo trainer, I noticed what I thought was a buckled front wheel.. to be relieved that it wasn't but, was in fact a flatty! Lucky I intended to do the ride on Sat then as that would have put me in a spin if I'd only found it Sunday morning. So I ended up exchanging my ride for innertube change and race prep.

Managed to break my previous innertube change time of 30mins by a staggering 10mins - small puncture, no idea where from. So whacked a brand new tube in and all was well. Next stage for Bianca was "operation velcro"!!! I set about attaching some industrial strength velcro to the tube that does from the handle bars down to the pedals. Why I hear you ask?! Well all part of my cunning epipen solution (see previous race report - have to carry the pen with me, more favourable to death). So wrapped the epipen in a little sandwich water proof bag thing, brown taped it then stuck the other side of the velcro. Idea being I velcro the pen to the bike. Humm.

Then I hit upon another cunning velcro idea and attached some of the velcro to a gel bar to see if that would stick to the bike too!

Next I got really, really carried away and, as I couldn't get my cateye wireless bike thing to mount on the front anymore (due to the aerobars), I velcroed that to the bike too! Yes at this point I was getting a bit carried away.

Not to finish there, my final bit of pre-race velcro saw me attempting to glue some less heavy-weight velcro to the back of my tri suit so I could stick the same Epipen to the small of my back for the run! Alas the so called "will stick any material" glue failed to work - so I actually sewed (yes sew) a strip on!

All that was left was to have a nice good sleep and healthy breakfast in the morning.

Race Day:
Yep - woke up to rain as predicted. Well it has been the wettest June on record so I guess that was to be expected. A little nervous, got everything packed up - including some extra carrier bags to cover my shoes in transition! All packed up and happily fed I went off to the race venue (a mere 3miles from my front door!). Passed by quite a lot of racers already out on the bike course and inevitably both my excitement and nervousness grew! Got to the race with far too much time on my hands, registered, recced transition, the swimming pool and then called my parents to give them the low down as they had agreed to come on and cheer!

The swimming pool had quite a good viewing gallery, so I settled in there a bit only to get more nervous. At one stage I looked at my HRM to see it was already at 109! Now given my relaxing HR is about 45 you can see I was, by now, almost giddy with excitement! So I took myself away from the pool to calm down a bit!

I have to say, whilst waiting around, I just loved absorbing that atmosphere. There were LOTS of people doing their first tri at this event, with about 260 entrants. Some people were asking questions like "where do I get changed after the swim". Now I'm not scorning those comments, far from it, as every single person who asked such was supported and not laughed at - and every single person had the same look of nervous anticipation that I was feeling. We all have to begin somewhere and it was great being at a race where there were so many people doing a tri for the first time. The complete opposite type of event to the one I watched at Windsor the weekend before which has thousands of competitors, lots of retail tents and 100m *50m transition area!! Whilst hanging around I did overhear one comment about the "muddy" run - I wish I had paid more attention to that comment!!

The Swim (200m):
I joined the queue about 10mins before my alloted time and got chatting to a couple of the people. The girl I ended up sharing a swim lane with was doing her first tri and I bumped into someone I recognised from a club cross country run in the winter. As I got near the front of the queue I saw Mum and Dad, so I obviously showed off my curves in my new club tri suit!!! They are not the most flattering of pieces so Dad did the inevitable and snapped a couple of piccies!! The swim was only 200m which meant I could probably just about be able to count my laps without losing count! We were asked to start 2 to a lane to keep the queue moving and I was off! Pretty smooth 8 laps, forgot to beep my beeper but know it was 3:57 when I exited the pool to a round of applause from everyone waiting... no, not that I was anyone special, we clapped everyone getting out!

T1:
Well despite the slippery grass and pouring rain I found T1 pretty smooth. No need to put on the bike top with the epipen in as it was already attached to my trusty stead. So scrapped the dirt off my feet on my towel, donned my socks, shoes and helmet and grabbed the bike. Certainly no need for the sunglasses today!

The Bike (16.5k):
Rain rain rain. Before the race I'd never been on Biancha in the rain so that was a first. After mounting at the transition exit I had to take emergency avoidance procedures as a car reversed out of a parking space right onto the route in front of me. I mean not that it was completely obvious what was going on. The guy driving didn't even look. Still avoided the rear ok and off I went. I got overtaken just before the first roundabout, but after that no one caught me and I even managed to get a few scalps myself, which is generally unheard off. "Operation Velcro" seemed to be doing ok, although I was a bit worried about the cateye ... and my worrying proved correct when, no more then a mile from my house it fell off!!! "Blast" I thought, "I hope it's bounced, I'll pick it up later". So that didn't work then, although I can happily report both the gel and epipen stayed firmly attached, success! The other couple of experiments were (a) aero bars and (b) aero-bottle. Now I did actually manage to go aero a few times, even in the rain. Managed not to steer into any cars or bushes so generally view this as a first successful outing on them. Can't say the same for the bottle though. Not only did it rattle a lot (the roads are not smooth), but on one rather large pothole the yellow thingy that keeps the liquid from splashing over your face, jumped clean out of the bottle. Obviously I wasn't going to stop to pick it up so spent the next 15mins or so wearing my carbo drink all over my face. Luckily I did find this really rather amusing at the time! Besides it was raining so I just licked any juices flowing down myself, not quite isotonic any longer but you gotta get what you can!!!

Overall the route was well signposted but had 11 (yes ELEVEN) roundabouts to negotiate as well as about another half dozen turns and several speed bumps! Not the most conducive course for getting into any type of rhythm, but it was good for some interval training ;o) and had some short straight bits where I could experiment with the aerobars.

Managed to get back towards transition without hitting any wayward cars in the car park and I think my Dad even managed to snap a picture!

T2:
Really smooth :o) Changed shoes pronto, swapped bike hat for running cap and off I went. By the way did I say it was still raining?

The Run (5k):
The run route started off through a bit of a forest which was lovely. I came on the 1k marker pretty quickly, not sure how I managed that so felt really quite good. Came across a few puddles and a bit of mud - oh if I only had known then what awaited ahead I would have worn my off roaders! About half way through the run I got to a slightly muddier patch, I duly past by the next marshals and commented to them how relieved I was that that muddy bit was over, to which the reply came "ah you ain't see that bit there ahead of you yet"... a hill... a muddy hill... oh a really muddy hill - what can you do - well go for it of course. It was at this point I wanted my off roaders and laces in my shoes rather then elastic. Yep I ran like forest gump up that there hill only to leave a shoe behind in the middle of it. Yuk! Had no choice but to retrieve it and squelch my muddy foot into the shoe - very funny. At least I was still retaining a sense of humour in the rain (still) and mud. Mum and Dad were waiting in the rain for me at the end - they did well to last the distance :o)

The splits were close to what I thought, swim time includes T1 and bike includes T2;
Swim 05:59 (45/261)
Bike 37:23 (96/261)
Run 25:55 (166/261)
TOTAL 1:09:17 (113/261)

Overall position; 113th from 261 competitors, 18th from 104 females and 10th from 73 female vets.

Overall feeling; Really positive about the race given lack of training in the last month

Overall experiments;

• velcro the bike - good for gel and epipen, terminal for cateye (I have recovered parts of it which I did find smashed to smithereens, a definate road kill)
• velcro the trisuit - worked for the epipen :o)
• going aero - good
• drinking aero - ok until the yellow mesh jumped ship!
• wearing your carbo drink - only to be recommended in the rain
  

Not long until the next event - about 14hours to be precise. I'm glad to say that my hangover is now receding (I have had a 4 hour break from when I started this blog til the end - in fact I watched Oceans 13, much better then Oceans 12).

The idea of tomorrow is just to complete the race as a training session. This will be the longest swim, bike, run I've done and just want the confidence that I can go the distance as London is only 5 weeks away!!!

Have a great weekend. Oh yes and it is still raining, and the forecast for tomorrow's race.. yep - more rain. :oD

Finished!

Well I did my first triathlon in the pouring rain yesterday!!

I'll do a full race report later - but splits something like this (I don't think I was too good at pressing the button, so have estimated a little)...

Swim (200m pool): 03:57
very happy to be sub 4mins :oD
T1: 01:30
went pretty smooth, bike shoes on easily and no phaffing getting another top on
Bike (16.5k): 36:15
well given the rain and the number of roundabouts (11!) I am really really pleased with this time
T2: 01:40
again really smooth
Run (5k): 25:58
If that is really the split time I'm well chuffed, and don't deserve it given lack of training in recent weeks! The route was largely through woods (which I love running in) BUT we really should have been told it was x-country (given all the rain!) I did loose a shoe in the mud once. Muddy wasn't the word!
TOTAL: 1:09:20 (unofficial)

So having said I wasn't going to "race" it, I obviously kinda did. Probably could have pushed a bit more on the run but not much.

Lots of experiments (mainly involving velcro!) went well with a couple of casualties! I'll write the full race report later today - this morning no exercise just lots of stretching and rolling on my foam roller!

Oh and have found some excellent self-help exercises for the sacro joint so am managing to keep it in line for myself. Must be working as it seems to be settling down (fingers crossed). Thanks Wes for your good wishes on that front! :o)

Happy dayz :o)

The weekend!

Hurrah for the weekend!

Not much blogging this week for two reasons (1) I've been too busy and (2) not much training to write home about!

So why am I busy - easy - year end at work, one more week to go and we're pretty much done. This week has just been manic though, so although I've been officed based the days have been l-o-n-g......

Not much training therefore because of the busy week but also because, now that I've beaten off the lurgy, I've hurt my back! Aggghhh.... Actually to be precise, it's not my back but my sacro joint. Went to bed happy Monday night after my swim then woke up in muchos pain in the morning - the only things I can say I may have done in the night to do this ... well... one; dream about playing hockey, including some full on diving for the ball (which I do not do when I play...!!?!!) and two; an overstretch for the snooze button! Bummer. Anyhow saw the physio Weds who put my back back into the right place and things looked better until I got some stuff out of the oven last night.

Still - I don't think it's going to stop me from racing tomorrow - it can't be that bad then!! ;o)

OK - so plan for the race tomorrow - humm - well given I've done pretty much the square root of not much in the way of training this month, I'm not going to bother setting any sort of time goal. I think I'm going to just concentrate on having good transitions and fueling. I'm going to go out for a short ride this avo (in the rain) as it's likely to be raining tomorrow. I have yet to get down on my aero's on the road, although I have on the turbo. So I'll give them a go in the ride tomorrow for a couple of the short straight sections. The bike route is pretty flat really with the odd mini mound to go up. So no great shakes really - think the cars on the road will be a greater problem!

I haven't done any real running for weeks either so will be happy to plod around the 5k course - no injuries needed at this stage!

Have done my first open water swim in about a month this morning. I have no idea about the length of the lake as some of the buoys weren't there so knowing where to turn was a bit of a mystery (didn't help that I was spotting a orange buoy then realised it was actually someone's head!). It's usually about 900m-1k but today I've no idea, probably more like 800m. My HRM also decided to die during the swim so it may be going back to the POLAR service people again soon - I actually think it's just coming to the end of it's useful life - considering moving to a Garmin forerunner instead.

Think that's all my excitement for now. Obviously I'm not going to get anywhere near my June training goals - but if I get both races in and particularly survive the race next week I'll be happy!

Have a great weekend!

Now I've done it...

I've entered a half marathon

I didn't think I'd ever want to bother doing a half marathon (or anything further for that matter)

Then I found out about three numbers... 70.3 and a dream was formed

So the theory is if my legs can carry me on the half marathon (it's in September), then they'll make it through a 70.3 (assuming I put the hours in!) next year.... so my 2008 vision is forming.

... but less of that, I've still got this year to cope with!!!

Will keep my blog short as I do need to get to bed if I'm going to stand half a chance of getting up a silly o'clock for a gym strength session!

So I did get a little bit done Saturday, cycled to local town and back on Rockie (it's not that far - only took 13mins each way). After the bike home I did a quick 2k-er just to see how my chest etc was. Survived that but did feel much more tired then I should have done given a training session is usually 1-2hours not 30mins!

Sunday at the Windsor Tri was absolutely FAN-BLINKIN-TASTIC! Met up Club La Santa training buddies, Jules (who was racing) and Sheila.... and then would you believe it whilst Jules was in the drink Sheila and I bumped into another La Santa training grrl called Sue who was supporting yet another L-S person (Alex) who was racing. Jules and Sheila had also bumped into another guy from L-S on the Saturday who was also doing the race on Sunday! Blimey! So we ended up having a mini La Santa reunion with Jules, Alex and Simon racing and Sheila, Sue and I yelling encouragement! FAB. The atmosphere was really special and the three of us watching have now vowed to enter the race next year. Also saw some guy from work racing and some of my Tri club buddies. It was a really busy race, really well organised and the routes looked fab. Looking forward to next year already! We actually spent quite a bit of time at the bike out of the transition area - saw some sights there. Points of note;
1. There were not many people doing swishy bike mounts. Did have the odd couple who literally ran and jumped on their bikes but the majority of successful mounts did what I do which is take time, clip in, set off. That was reassuring to see. Those that went fast tended not to clip in and bundle over (ouch!)
2. Quite a few people who had their shoes attached lost one or both shoes trying to get on their bike (that didn't work too well then).
3. Not sure how there wasn't more of accident - note to self, do not stand on the bend my the exit as the odd rogue rider has a near miss with the crowd at this place!

The most amazing sight I saw around the bike exit area was one guy who only had one arm doing a full Oly Tri.... this bloke was amazing.

Obviously after we had shouted for all our buddies I took the tour of the retail tents for a bit of obligatory retail therapy ;o)

I think the excitement of the morning must have got to me as having done all of the watching I got home at lunch and had a lovely snooze on the sofa!

Having said I was going to do a short blog I seem to be in full wibble mode now.... so I'll carry on..

Although the Windsor Tri was truely fab I couldn't get off my arse Sunday and do any training. Was still feeling a little out of sorts and don't want the dreaded lurgy back. So did the sensible thing and didn't train (highly unusual for me to be sensible). Oh and in an attempt to carry on getting rid of the lurgy, now I've finished the anti-bio's, I'm on the probiotic drinks, vitamin tabs and echinacea - nothing like giving your system a bit of a helping hand!

Having said that my beans are beginning to bubble again so I did go out first thing for a v.easy 4.5k in about 26mins. Didn't feel too bad given it was before breakie and first run in 3 weeks (I don't count the 2k-er on Sat). Have also been swimming tonight - it felt GOOD! Thankfully much better then last week. I did about 2k in about an hour.... and at this point I was must confess to saying thanks to Jules for sending on Rose's training plan she sent as I've decided to use it.... given you Jules did so well on the swim yesterday (no matter what you say that time was great and does show improvement from April), I thought I'd follow it, you have inspired me to stick with the programme!

Can't finish the post with reference to the resident moggy Muffin "the mouser"... Yes it seems mouse season is upon me once more. He got one a couple of nights ago which I rescued. Alas this morning I found he'd caught another one (judging by the left overs in the hall). I would have forgiven him but for the fact that I had cleared that up before I went for a run, to find when I got back I found cat puke upstairs in the bathroom. Thanks cat. YUK!
... and to top it off and prove he really is a mouse I got in from my swim this evening to be greeted by him with another (live) one in his mouth. Rescued that one too and sent it back to the woods. I can only hope he doesn't wake me up with a trophy in the middle of the night!

Right - time for zzzzz's.. Tally-ho!

Taking things easy

First off let me just say hurrah for the weekend!

Had some friends round for dinner last night so am feeling quite relaxed this morning, although a little jaded (that'd be the wine then!). The weather today is not so great but may take Biancha out for a little spin later to see if I can get down on those aerobars! She has a couple of things to fit - well the new aero-bottle thingy has arrived so I need to fit that. Alas though the new tri shoes are too small so need to go back to the bike shop for a swap.

Having had my grand bike ride to work during the week I've not done much high HR stuff since as still a little wary of the bug coming back.... so am taking things a bit easy. I have managed a couple of strength sessions this week and did actually get back to pool Thursday night. Which was about as hard as I thought it would be given I've not swam for two weeks! Not sure of how much I did but think around 1.6km in 45mins. Mostly drills and then 2 sets of 150,100,50. I was actually quite surprised in the warm-up as my form seemed pretty good... however that didn't last long as by the end of the first 100m my arms felt weak!! Oh that would be because they are weak! ;o)...say the mantra..."I will become a fishee again". I have surprisingly learnt to love swimming over the last 3 months since rightie came out of plaster. I actually find it a relaxing wind down from work as I seem to concentrate on what I'm doing which takes my mind away from the phaff of a normal day :o)

I've still not done any running - that'd be for ..oh blimey... two and a half weeks since I last jogged out. That's a bit of a worry.... So I ought to take myself out to see how things are, maybe today or more likely tomorrow. Hummmmm mini-tri in a week will be interesting!

Tomorrow morning brings the Windsor Triathlon which I'm going down to watch. Really looking forward to hooking up with Jules and Sheila and then watching the Elite athletes go off - I'm sure that will be amazing!

Right it's 1020 already and I need to get to the post office and send the shoes back! Let's get to it!

Have a great weekend! :o)

A Fab Day

It's late so I'll keep it short.

Today has been a brill day :o)

Got up early, phaffed for England then got on my bike and cycled the 14k to work. Most of the route I take is off road (I value my life) and so was on Rockie my MTB. No near misses with the width restriction thingy I mentioned yesterday (cos I got off the bike), or any lunatic car drivers either. Had a great ride in :o)

Work was work.

Had a great ride home - nice and sunny. There's one bit I go on my route where I'm on this little gravel path, a stream on side and lakes the other - it was beautiful this evening and it was just stunning down there tonight. Next I go up this tricky little hill (road) - mound doom rather the mount doom ;o... Then to top it all on my final bit of bridal path near home I came across a deer - how special is that :o) Not for long though as when it clocked me having clocked it it legged it!

Resisted the temptation to pop into the local pub and came straight home where I chilled with a beer and a book in the garden instead. Cool.

OCN (just once for Wes) 28km in 1hr 35 (MTB mainly off road).

Happy day :o)

Ding! Ding! Back on the bus.....

Well I couldn't think of another title for my blog tonight!!

So I'm feeling better - hurrah.. two more pills to go - so that'll mean I'm fixed then :O)

Must confess to have had a short turbo yesterday afternoon and my HR is a little up so should be careful... Therefore in the mad hope of not doing too much too soon I got up early this morning and went to the gym! Nothing too serious though, quick 1k warm up and then some light weights... shoulder stability stuff and a bit for the (omg I have no) core. Not much but a start.

Contemplated a swim this evening but was late in and daren't defy THE GREAT MUMRA (my mother - if you know Thundercats you'll know what I mean)... and so am not swimming until I have my new ear plugs!!... so they'd better arrive by Wednesday as I am going to club swim night this week!

Have looked at the weather forecast for tomorrow and it's for sunshine and rain, so reckon I may well cycle to work for a giggle (obviously taking it easy as still getting over the lurgy thing). Last time I did that was probably two years ago. It's not that far (about 15k) so should be pretty easy on the MTB - just hope I don't get attacked by the width restriction thingy there is going on to one of the bridle paths ... last time I sort of went a bit too fast before remembering the width-restriction was there.. hit the sides of it and over the handle bars I went. Luckily that time I didn't let go and so didn't break anything!

Happy Damn Monday :o)

Watch out my beans are on the way back!

Yep I'm beginning to feel my beans.. they're beginning to jiggle... hurrah.. think I'm getting over the lurgy :o) ..... I can breath again! On the antibio's until tomorrow so will *try* and resist the temptation to do anything today as don't want to get a set-back. Having said that I may go to the pool for a little splash around later, nothing too tiring though.

So training stats for the week - well you'd think that'd be zero - BUT then I have had to have a little Tri retail therapy so my wallet has had plenty of training... this is what is on order;

SWIM
Ear plugs
Anti fog spray

BIKE
Pair of entry level Tri bike shoes
LOOK KEO cleats for above mentioned shoes
Profile aero water bottle and holder

RUN
Bidding for one pair of ASICS Landreth trainers (to go with the other pair I got last weekend!)

Also fitted the aerobars to Biancha!

Note to self - do not get ill as it seems to damage the wallet quite seriously! LOL!

Looking forward to next week and getting back to it... 2 weeks til my next Tri (a baby one locally which should be lots of fun)

Happy days :o)

Can someone do my training for me???

Sigh

So I finally succumbed to the "bug" and not wanting to ignore my Mum and Dad (god forbid, I may be 37 but still...) I took the day off sick today and slept. Got some antibiotics from the quacks yesterday so hope they will start to kick in soon! Good advise from Mother has led me to also take some of my asthma spray, which I avoid usually as I'm stubborn and don't actually believe I get asthma... humm...anyhow that seems to have also helped the chest. The good news is that the cough seems to be drying up some what (ok too much info!!)

Can someone please do some training for me?? ;o) It's been over a week now and really want by beans back (energy beans that is!!!)

I have done some mental training (oh and potential retail therapy on ebay). Have thought about how to get out of my wet suit pdq (apparently I heard on the radio the other day that thinking through this kind of activity still trains your brain into thinking you've done it so it's as good as practicing ... humm.. yes I'm not sure about that one either). I did also think about putting my aerobars on my bike - but that's as far as that one got.

Having tried to get over this bug with a healthy, full of fruit and veg diet over the weekend, Mon/ Tues I have now resorted to the chocolate diet with toast and cheese - I think it'll help!!! ;o)

My next Tri is in 2 weeks but before that I plan on watching the great Windsor triathlon 17 June - which looks like a super race and is pretty local. The swim is in the river Thames, the cycle and run are all around Windsor taking in some routes right by the castle which will be cool. Think I'll cycle down as I've just looked and it's only 25kms away so that'll be a nice ride - watch - ride day :o) Look forward to meeting up with Jules and Sheila (tri buddies met at La Santa).... So yes Jules I'll come and support you down there buddy :o)

Think I meant to blog something else but have quite forgotten what!

Happy days everyone - I'll be back to my old self soon I'm sure - just need to find them beans!

Stats for May

A lovely day outside - a lovely day for a swim, bike or run... alas I'm still a wheezy and so am choosing to do nothing this morning (other then blog) and may go out for a shuffle out this evening if my chest is more settled - after all 12 hours could make all difference... ;o)

Right then stats for May - not sure how good this will read;

Swim: 5hrs 36mins (10.9k)
Bike: 8hrs 25mins (162k)
Run: 7hrs 11mins (58k)

Total: 21hrs 12mins and 230.9km
Blogs 14 - a great improvement ;o)

So I am actually a little surprised I'm only 5.5hrs short of April and that included La Santa training week. Lost the time in the bike and swim and stayed the same with the run, which all sort of makes sense. Also had two colds in May which stopped me from training a bit. The things I wanted to concentrate on for May was getting into the open water (done - hurrah!) and look to take my Lanzarote biking on to the roads of the UK. I think I'll give myself half marks for the bike as I've definitely increased my road cycling although think I should be doing more and probably didn't get to it as quickly as I should have done (that damn saddle ;o) )

My thoughts for June then..... Well I've got two Tri's this month (a shorty and a not quite Oly) so I'm just going to concentrate on getting the k's in. My training schedule for London is obviously not where it should be because of the break earlier in the year. So I'm going to continue building base/ endurance this month and then look to get some shorted/ sharper stuff in during July.

My ideal total hours will be something like 8-10hours swim, 10-12hours bike, 8-9hours run. My longest (UK) bike is now 1.5hrs and I would like to get to 2.5hrs (would say 3 but the tri's are the last 2 weekends of the month so that doesn't leave me much time to get a 3hr in!) and I'd like to go for 1.5hr run. Swim - get back in the pool for drills and get some longer swims in OW.

Mum and Dad got home yesterday so hoping to grab some more piccies later this week - poor Mum is back at work today - so much for a honeymoon!

Happy training!

My (Parents) Great Greek Wedding!

What a fantastic day it was on Friday 1 June 2007 :o)

The sun shone.

The sky was blue.

The birds sang.

My parents got married (again).

Those white dots in the picture by the way is actually rice which was thrown by the crowd! Most of the pictures I took are actually on my Mum's camera so will post a couple of others up once the newly weds are home and she's worked out how to download them ;o)

Needless to say Tri training for last week was non-existent. Partly because of the trip and also because of a lurgy I caught on Tuesday. So by the time I got to Corfu I was able to lay in the sun and that was about it (shame). Alas it's still with me, largely because of the excess alcohol consumed whilst I was away! Will have to take things easy today and get back to it tomorrow (slow and steady)... 8 weeks til London.. gulp!

Will do my stats for May tomorrow! HAPPY SUNDAY! :o)