Blueprints??

Thinking of building something... don't suppose anyone knows where the blueprints are??

...it's still raining, although thankfully not too hard. It's times like this I'm glad I live at the top of a hill!!! Apparently it's all to do with the jet stream... bah to the jet stream - head north!!

Water and Electricity

Yeah ok so you don't mix water and electricity but at least I have some, unlike some poor flooded out families.... and did you know if you're flooding you need to isolate (ie turn off) your electricity supply to the house. Kind of obvious when you think of it and now I know as it's been mentioned on the radio quite a bit over the weekend!

Oh and just so you know...the forecast for todays is for....
So on to brighter things - training! Managed a great OW swim yesterday morning, up at 6:30 and off to the lake to witness sunshine! Didn't get dive bombed by any swans or ducks and had a really lovely swim. One lap (~900m) as a warm up, then a steady rhythm for lap 2, which I did in just over 18mins, which I am happy with. Made it then out for a 10k run last night. Decided (wisely) not to go on my usual trails as they're mainly bridal and foot paths and were...err... yes flooded and muddy (which is an understatement). So stayed on roads, mainly little ones so not really any traffic, plenty of hills and lots of debris, but at least my feet stayed dry :o) As I've not done a 10k for about 2mths (OMG that's NOT good given the race is less then 2 weeks away), I decided to do a run/walk type of thing based on HR. Basically 10mins run, then run a bit faster until I hit estimate LT rate, then walk back down to lower base. Then run again, slow->steady->fast till I hit the HR again... and repeat. Kinda like a wierd fartlek. Anyhow - upto 5k I felt great - between 6-7k was a hill so that wasn't so pleasant and then I got bored so ran the last 2k straight out and pleased to say I did the last k in 5:45 which wasn't bad given I had been going nearly an hour by then. Total distance/ time was 10.18k in 1:04. Given that was a run/ walk I'm happy enough with that.

Note I was supposed to get on the bike and try that hill again yesterday but Leanne and I elected not to bother (a) the roads in that area are flooded and (b) the roads everywhere else have lots of gravel/ shingle on and the likelihood is we'd get a few punctures.

Got to get some good training in the next 4 days as Fri-Sun I'm going to EuroDisney. You may say YEAH - but then realise I'm going by coach with about 15members of my family (split 50:50 adults to children). So Yeahish - I'm sure by the time I get back on Sunday I will have had ouddles of fun - will be taking my running gear though as that's all I'm going to be able to do!

No OW tonight, but pool work for drills. May (or may not) bike up there (depends on ferocity of rain), so may go for a run instead. Tomorrow I must get a brick session in - either turbo or road for the bike and then out for 30min run I think. Wednesday I may bike to work (need to check the diary), then club swim. Run on Thursday I think.

Lots to pack in. Race in less then two weeks - will blog my thoughts about that later this week - let's just say I'm not feeling too positive.

Right - best get to work. Oh yeah and Jules ; I knew that anonymous comment was from you. Who else would be bragging about sunshine in Scotland, that's an annual event isn't it?! ;o)

Happy Monday (no 's as that would be an 80s band!)

Rain Rain Go AWAY

So they did say to expect a month's worth of rain on the weather forecast today.....

10miles to the north east of me it was like this:

HUMmmmmmm......The picture outside my front door

....and this is a train station 10miles to the west...

So time for some humour....

Well that video clip really gave me something to laugh about during the madness of our year-end a couple of weeks back, so I thought I'd share it!

So after a day of sunshine yesterday it is as you can see raining again. Really raining. In fact raining that much that Berkshire has had a mention on national radio about the volume of water falling! Oh and now it's thundering too. Needless to say Muffin the cat has hid under the duvet for the best part!

Intend to work tonight at the Real Ale and Jazz Festival - although given the weather we may be flooded out!... Assuming of course I can find a route that's not flooded that'll get me there!

Longer Post...

Morning campers!

Ok so first things first.....
Yes I got tagged by my VTB Lisa (thanks!)... and now it's time for me to pass on. Now I don't think I read 5 girlie blogs to go tag (or maybe I do, I just don't know). So here's my hall of fame of inspirational Girl bloggers, so consider yourself tagged;
1. Tri Shannon - on her way to IM greatness. GO SHANNON!
2. Holly - done an Ironman 70.3 this year. LiveSTRONG!
3. Jodi - Done her Ironman this year and posted possibly the grossest piccy of toe skin falling off after! Oh and also the funniest post to her Dog, Maddie
4. J~mom running on decaf.... although I see she is now on the caffeine again!
and finally...
5. A virtual tag to DeeDee (Wes's wife). Now she doesn't blog but we all know if Wes hadn't got in there first then she would be an ace blogger. Besides Wes keeps us all in touch with her tri-adventures.

Now if any of you have been tagged with this before I guess it means you are simply super "rockin"!

OK. So I did summarize last week but I didn't go into much detail. Now I won't bore you with it all now as it's a bit late but just take a look at the profile of my Saturday 40k bike ride with Leanne;Now that peak in the middle is not my new GARMIN (did I mention that before!?) making a mistake. No, that is Streatley Hill. Over a 110m climb in 1km. Now we don't have mountains here but that's as near to a steep hill as I can find. All I can say is I DID IT - I CONQUERED THE HILL! First time out, and yes I did nearly barf at the top. I do think I was helped out by a large cup of strong coffee Dan made me before we went out. Given I don't usually have caffeine in anything this was certainly a performance enhancement!! Still Leane and I are planning to visit the hill again this weekend, just for fun! Mantra - what doesn't kill you makes you strong. Humm not sure I'm up for hill reps up it yet!

This week has gone good so far. Had my lovely run in the rain Monday morning. Went out with my New Balance run belt with Epipen and a bottle of water attached (took the water as a result of Lisa's post the day before, not that I really needed it given the rain, but still....) Anyhow, about half way I noticed my right rear cheek was feeling quite a bit wetter then the other side... couldn't comprehend how I could have incontinence and it flowing up one side... then I realised it was my water bottle leaking down (phew!). Note to self: Do up the bottle more firmly next time!

Monday evening I went out for a open water swim again with Leane. Had a good first lap, quite slow but practicing swimming alongside, over, in front etc to get used to having someone around for the race. Then did a lap just swimming off. Managed the second 1k lap in about 23mins. So happy enough with that time.

Tuesday evening a miracle happened.. left work at 1735 - earliest work leaving time since I don't know when. Wanted to go out on the road with Biancha but it was really windy and given it was still the rush hour I felt a bit nervous about venturing out. So I loaded her up onto the turbo and did 40mins on that instead (whilst catching up with an episode of Alias). Was going to make it into a brick but a friend popped by so that was as good as an excuse I needed to not bother ;o)

As for tonight - I SHALL be going to club swim night (and repeat..I shall go etc etc)... didn't make club swim last week, or the week before, or the week before, or the week before - you get my drift?!

All for now. Happy days! :o)

Quick Blog...

OK very quick recap as I need to get to work;

Friday - nothing. Worked in London and plumb tuckered when I got home, so pizza and wine ruled.

Saturday - open water first thing. Followed by 2hr 40k with my Tri-club buddy Leane. All I can say is I conquered THE hill....

Sunday - nothing. Largely due to sleepless night as a result of dog-sitting my Dads dog. Dog+Cat=warfare!

Monday - having read my virtual training buddies (VTB) blog this morning I took myself out into the rain and did a nice easy/ steady 6.5k. Sweet.

Will do a slow-blog later. Open water swim tonight, dinner then blog, with a bit of work in between.

Oh and notice I've been tagged by Lisa (VTB) so will be dishing out some of my own "Rockin Girl Blogger" tags later too :o)

Wow - quickest blog I've ever written. I will no doubt surpass myself in length of blog-wibble later then ;o)

Good Karen

Took to the bike this morning to get to work.... I saw bunny rabbits (mainly their white fluffy behinds as the hopped away from me), birds, butterfly's, swans, geese, the odd dog (with walker attached via lead)..... and this song came to me...

I see trees of green, red roses too
I see them bloom for me and you
And I think to myself, what a wonderful world
I see skies of blue and clouds of white
The bright blessed day, the dark sacred night
And I think to myself, what a wonderful world....

...and then I got to work :o(

LOL

The ride home was equally as cute and I regained my hope that mankind is not just full of the a***holes I met in the car park yesterday, as everyone I met on the way home wore a smile!

No club swim as planned as home too late to make it back out in time. Instead I did do a good deed with a quick 1 hour emergency baby-sitting session for my neighbour whose husband had got caught up at a meeting at work. Well done me :o)

...and now it's time for zzzzzzz

PS: Lisa - gold star for your "British English" comment. Very good use of the word "bloke" and "bugger", very well done ;o)

Car Park RAGE!! Grrrrr!

** WARNING: FULL ON RANT APPROACHING **

Grrrr! Grrrr! and GRRRRR! again.... I am about to vent my spleen (as it were).
So having got up early o'clock to get the red eye train into London my meeting didn't finish till 5.30pm so no earlier departure for me, finally got on the oh-so-popular (ie packed) 5:50 train home. First "grrr's" at this as my journey (on the initially hot, packed and sweaty train) is about an hour twenty, meaning I wouldn't get home before 1930 eating into my training time.

Humpf!

Anyway, did a couple of Suduko's to try and pass the time (too easy until I tried the killer version - haven't cracked the technique yet).... Inevitably when I got out at my local station so did a whole load of others and into the car park we went.

Now this car park is a small one given it's a small station and all. There's the car park bit right by the station then a slope down into the overflow which is where I was parked. Betty was all parked up with no dings on her (good) so off I went, thinking if I get home quickly I can get out on the bike before those clouds get too heavy. At this point I was in a relatively ok mood, despite the fact I could see a queue of about 20 cars wanting out of the car park and getting no where fast (the railway crossing was down). So we weren't going anywhere quickly so really no choice but to be patient.

When I got to the top of the slope back into the main car park I waited (as you do), then when the traffic moved I let the lady out in front of me coming from the other car park - despite the fact I got to this point before her. It was the right thing to do (as I obviously feeling relaxed and kind)....

AND THEN THIS TOTAL **** (fill in with your own personal 4letter insult) of a bloke just pushed out in his big car in front of me and behind the lady.

Not that he was going anywhere and not that he actually managed to get the whole of his car in the gap. What a ******** ! He stopped level with my drivers side and he did not once move his eyes from looking straight ahead. Lucky as I was giving daggers. I mean it's not like we all hadn't been on the same packed sweaty train coming back from town as obviously everyone in their cars at this time was from the same train! AND it wasn't like he was going anywhere... it was JUST RUDE! I did contemplate getting out of the car and simply asking him if he thought if his action was a gentlemanly act or even just whether he thought it was necessary and perhaps just rude... Instead I just stared in disbelieve. Sigh!

As if that wasn't bad enough once the cars moved I saw a learner trying to get up the ramp into the car park and as you only fit one up or down I waved it up... only to see to my utter - utter amazement another a******e about to drive straight out of the car park and block the ramp!!

I mean did she think I was sitting there in my car, with half a dozen cars behind me, waving up another car, for a laugh!!! GRRRrrr.... So I at this point I did get a bit assertive (as can be in my nature), held up my hand in a STOP sign to the stupid lady and waved the other car up again... who squeezed past the idiot and parked. At this point I joined the queue, right behind the guy who had already pulled out in front of me (he had gone all of 10meters). Ironically (I thought) when I turned right out of the car park I was level with the guy who turned left. So being a rude, inconsiderate twit got that bloke precisely nowhere fast apart from losing all respect from a fellow motorist. I mean all he had to do is smile sweetly and asked and I'd have probably let him out anyhow - I'm a kind driver like that.

** RANT OVER **

When I got home I had to deal with a call from work - I won't start on that one as there will just be another RANT...

So I calmed down by going outside to have a chat with my nice neighbours Joan and Paul. Haven't seen them for a couple of weeks (despite them living 10m from my front door) as it's been so busy. So that was good and helped me get over the car park "incident"! However, my gassing just dragged the time out and so I finally landed on the sofa about 9 oclock - too late for anything, let alone the planned bike ride.

:o(

HOWEVER.. I see my virtual training buddy Lisa did manage to commute into work on her bike yesterday - so I SHALL DO THIS TOMORROW!! Thanks Lisa for the motivation! :o)

Plan for Wednesday then is ride into/outta work (either MTB or if I'm feeling brave then Biancha), then to the pool for a club swim session - it's been that long since I've been club swimming I can't actually remember the last time I went!

Here's to Wednesday!! Focus! Feel It! Enjoy It - YEAH BABY!

26 days to go...

Just a quick blog cos it's late. 26 days - not that I'm counting. Today I got back to it, remembering my July motto "Focus! Feel It! Enjoy it!"

Had in mind a run at lunchtime and swim after work. Happy to report I made both, although not as I had in mind.

My lunchtime run I thought I'd do another short easy run, this time around the lake at work. Another 4.3k, nice and easy. That was until I bumped into a work colleague, Jezza, a strapping young lad. He asked if he could join me and I said ok, only if he promised to take it easy and so we started off. I think the pace was easy for him....I struggled to breath let alone keep up ;o)... I stuck with him and the other guy we were running with for about 3 quarters of the distance, then just as a stitch was beginning to niggle that motto went through my head.... the "enjoy" bit. So, I thought "What am I doing? I should be enjoying this not beasting myself", so I eased off the gas a bit and gladly let the boys drift away into the distance. No great shakes. They waited for me towards the home straight and we ran the last 400m up the slope home. So ended up doing 4.3k in just under 24mins, not too bad although my HR was about 13 bpm higher then I had intended!!!

Struggled after work to get to the pool. Already had a evening out planned; a meal with the girls for a friends birthday and needed to fit the swim in. Got home and thought about just resting on the sofa for an hour. Then I figured "focus"... so got into my swim gear and headed for the gym. Got parked up and ended up having to make a couple of calls which cut my time back further. Hummm.. so contemplating again not doing it... so had another talking to myself ..."focus"... after all, some swim is better then no swim. Finally got to the pool, first time since I don't know when without a workout plan or HRM. So actually set about feeling the water, doing some drills, and enjoying my 30mins in the pool. I did it. HURRAH! Now that was some effort just getting up and going there for that, but I'm glad I did it. Not only did it help justify the chinese meal, but also makes me hopeful I can get back into the swing of things during the next month in time to be prepared for London.

Go Karen! Go!

Wimbledon Champion at last!

Well Federer may have made it 5 and Venus 4, but finally us Brits have a Wimbledon champion, so what that it's mixed doubles. All hail Jamie Murray, oh and I guess Jelena Jankovic! HURRAH!

It's been a fantabulous sporting day here - and just to celebrate the sun has shone all weekend (I can't remember when we had two consecutive days of sunshine - probably May!): Tour de France London to Canterbury, Formula 1 and then the Tennis - what an action packed day! And for a sporting nation that's more used to losing then winning I'm proud to say we didn't do too bad. The sensational kiddo Lewis Hamilton came in third in the grand prix to still be leading the Formula 1 leaders board. Some what miraculously we also have a Brit wearing the polka dot, king of the mountains, jersey - not that there any mountains whatsoever between London and Canterbury. Still he's got it and will be wearing at the end of the next stage too apparently (well there's not even a hill in Belgium that counts by the looks of it). Finally to the tennis which I've just watched along with a packed centre court, to see a brit Wimbledon champion.. sigh :o) .... Oh yes and then of course just to put the cherry on the icing there was also Ironman Austria today where Dan, the hero husband of my fellow Tri buddy Leanne, was racing today. Looks like he had a painful run, but he finished in 12hrs 35mins - Well done Dan!!

All smiles.

And I've even finally got off my lardy posterior and had a good weekend of training too - at last back to it. I MUST keep this up.

Saturday (which was sunny!), saw me not only doing a bit of tidying in the home (3 weeks of 12hr working days = ONE BIG MESS) but also get on Biancha for a really nice 1hr30min 37k ride. Went on newish route, half of which I've done plenty of times before and half of which was new. The new bit was really enjoyable. A couple of cheeky little hills to keep me entertained in the glorious countryside. Lovely. The only moment of danger was a car randomly trying to parallel park in a village I went through, in so doing it's nose swung out and the car in front of me had to do some rapid breaking. Momentarily "EK" moment for me but I just kind of managed to get my foot unclipped before I went horizontal! Phew! Had planned a long swim too but time got the better of me. However I figured some swim is better then no swim so did get 30mins and about 1k.

Had a great evening with my Dad Saturday night. Mum ventured up to the One World concert with some friends so Dad and I took advantage and had some father/ daughter bonding over some lovely tapas and Rioja!

Having had such a good day Saturday (both with exercise and food/ wine) somewhat inevitably I've struggled today to get out! ;o) HOWEVER - London is only 4 weeks today!! So after the Men's final I took myself out for a little trot around the block, my short 4.3k route. Fairly easy just to stretch the legs out.

I've really had a rubbish month in June for training (as I've said before). No miles in the legs or arms really to speak of. I know I have a reasonable(ish) excuse for this but I'm so near by A event I really feel like I've suddenly lost my focus. So I've given myself a good talking to, I am going to do it, I am going to finish, I am going to train and enjoy the training over the next 3 weeks. I've already planned my meal when I finish - I lovely bag of fish and chips with an equally lovely pint of beer :o)

Words for July: FOCUS, FEEL IT, ENJOY IT

That's it for now. I'm looking forward to tomorrow already :o)

Race Report!

Good morning - the sun is shining and so I thought I'd have some porridge and do my race report :o)

Location:
Back to Dorney Lake (where I raced at the end of May) for the "Timex women's only Tri". Quite an action packed day with Novice (250m/5.1/2.5), Sprint (400m/20.4/5) and Challenge (800m/30.6/7.5) races all going on. With the first wave (Challenge relay) going off at 1pm it meant quite a lot of runners converging on the run lap - which was a good thing. The course as I've mentioned before is a flat (no complaints there), although a little monotonous due to the number of laps on both bike (6) and run (3) you have to do.

Pre-race:
No velcro action needed in the morning of the race this time, as everything already stuck on! Just some carbs for breakie and pack the bag. Easy. Couldn't wear my runners from the previous weekend as they were still stuffed with paper and pretty much caked in mud so had to break out the newer ones and get the elastic lace in action with them. Got to the venue about an hour and half before my heat fully waterproofed up (yep it was pouring when I got there). Had two tri buddies, Leanne and Angel, in the same heat so we all met up, and after registration huddled in a tent until 30mins before the start before squeezing in to that lovely wetsuit. The rain finally abated and it looked like we could get lucky for the race. With the wetsuit half on - both legs in, top out rather then left or right side in which would be weird! ;o).... off we waddled to transition to rack the bikes, line helmet, shoes etc up and we'd be ready in plenty of time. Or so I thought. Having been told I was in rack 5 I waddled down through transition to find my slot to get to the end and find the last number as 878, oh and mine... 879 typical. So I waddled back through to the other end of transition to find my slot at the beginning of rack 6... grrrr. The lady next to me (880) had obviously decided she could use my space for her kit - why do people do that? So rather then racking my bike over it, I kindly moved it to one side so she could still access her stuff, after all I didn't want anyone touching Biancha ;o) .... It was at this point I realised most of the green hatters (our race hat colour) were already in the lake. Humm. Ok maybe running late - no time for a zip incident today! Hurriedly got my kit out (remembering the race belt this time), unfortunately I discovered at this point my bike shoes had no inner soles in (had taken them out to dry after last weekend), only thing to do was to ignore the problem! So I grabbed my greeney and goggles, asked some kind transition attendent zip me up and off I ran to the water. Angel and I being the last ones in! Ops! Had a quick couple of strokes in the holding bay bit so no real warm up. Angel, Leanne and I started having a bit of a natter and suddenly the guy squeezed the hooter and we were off!!

Swim:
Well the start couldn't have been more opposite to my last ow swim if it tried. I felt like one of those fishees in a fish ball being chased by some other big fish trying to eat me. It was mad! Thrashing arms and legs everywhere. No chance of any rhythm whatsoever. At one point (before the first buoy) someone swam left right in front of me - no idea where she was going as I was headed straight for the buoy - not to be stopped by such inconvenience I did the unforgivable and swam right over her back/ legs. Felt momentarily bad about that but I'm sure worse happened to me too. The madness didn't stop at the first buoy as we turned right to the second. More thrashing around, to buoy two and finally as we turned to the exit point I managed to have a bit of clear water, swimming alongside people but at least in some sort of rhythm at last. Exit the water (with the traditional wobble), looked at my watch - LAP 1 in 7:57 (about 35s slower then last month, but given the amount of people in the wash I was happy with that). Run through transition back to the start jetty, with the calls from the marshalls of "watch out it's slippery" - I mean I'm no Linford Christie so likelihood of me running that fast (in a wetsuit) to have a mishap is slim, and even then my arse is big enough to bounce ;o)!.. So off I trotted in a wetsuit waddle sort of way - to dive or not to dive that was the question as I approached the jetty... To dive of course. Great as I got ahead of a couple of people, but alas my goggles did kind of move a bit. I did somehow manage to secure the goggles back on my eye balls and off I stretched for lap 2! Much clearer waters, although I was a bit swim tired now... .and just to add insult to that I think I towed a couple of girlies around buoy 1 and 2 before they kicked for the exit. Not that I'm that bothered - really.
Swim Time: 0:17:01
For 800m with a 70m wetsuit dash in the middle - I'm content with that!

T1:
Hurrah! Smooth! Wetsuit off, helmet on, socks on, innersoleless bike shoes on, race belt on (!), grab a gel and off I go. Only to have a momentary "EKK" moment as I realised my timing chip was off! Told the marshall and was told to carry on... so pedal pedal pedal I'm off
T1 Time: 0:01:50
Last time at Dorney (the "forgot my race belt" race) T1 was 02:48 - so saving myself nearly a minute. Happy with that!

Bike:
Rain rain go away come back another day. Amazingly it stayed dry throughout most of the bike. Hurrah. How lucky were we?! Managed to go aero pretty much the whole time, with such a flat course with very few turns it was the ideal time to practice. Overall managed to keep my HR at 155, lower then the last time at the lake and lapped each 5.1k in an average of 10:41, faster then last time (11:15). Didn't bother with the aero bottle thingy (given I've not managed to replace the yellow juice stopper thingy) and opted for a water bottle. Although it wasn't that hot as to need much fluid. Now with this being a 6 lap race and the competitors expected to count their own laps it was inevitable that I would lose count at some point! However I did the 6 and had lots of fun, and was actually really comfortable (my new saddle has obviously been an excellent purchase)! Got a gel down during lap 5 to prep for the run ahead.
Bike Time: 1:04:06
Given my distinct lack of training through June I'm really chuffed I actually went faster then a month ago. I think this was largely due to the aero's, saddle and saddle height. I think I've got my bike set up correctly now!

T2:
Pretty smooth dismount and a run all the way through transition to my bike space. I think if it were an ideal world I'd rather my bike space be at the bike exit/ entrance end as you have more run time either on your feet or with trainers on. Clipping along with bike shoes is awkward! Still got through to my slot, racked my trusty stead, swapped shoes, swapped hats and away I went. No reaction to having no inners in my bike shoes. No feeling I was going to barf. No sign of any cramp in my shins (this one due to better bike set up).
T2 Time: 0:01:28
This is slightly slower then last time at Dorney but figure this is due to bike location, last time it was at the other end of the rack!

Run:
OMG such pain! I think this is the point where my body decided that it was going to punish me for the champagne gobbling of 48hours previous! The first 2.5k lap was, well in comparison with what was to come, ok. The second 2.5k lap was - well a bit sore. The third lap was pure evil! Although I had no run barf moments, and no initial pain in my legs, by the end of it I felt like a bit of an old granny with my right hip, right achilles and left knee all screaming at me.. or was it evil laughter. Frankly it just hurt :o( However, given again my lack of training through June (I've run about no more then 10k, compared to my usual 60), I should have expected nothing less!
Run Time: 0:43:27
Ouch!

Summary:
Overall Time: 2:07:55
Position (All challenge): Swim 62/151; Bike 53/151; Run 120/151; Overall 85/151
Position (Age 30-39): Swim 32/63; Bike 30/63; Run 49/63; Overall 42/63
Not difficult to spot the weakest link then!!!

I am now more nervous then ever about London Olympic. I feel like I need to get back to the level of fitness I was at at the end of May to feel more confident. Hoping that the next 5 weeks brings me no new lurgies, and at least year-end madness at work is over so I should be able to get some more hours in. I was confident after the May sprint that my training was going well so now I just need to build back up and get on with it. I did go into this race with a plan to treat it as a training session, which I kind of did but really had nothing left in the tank for the run despite feeling like I was taking it easyish on the bike. In fact I felt I could have gone on on the bike too. Guess I just need to get the trainers on more this month and just run like Forest Gump!

"I'm swimming in the rain"

"Just swimming in the rain.

What a glorious feeling, it's really pouring on me"
etc...etc

Yes yes, race report to come. Had recovery run (3.2km) at lunch and open water swim (800m) this evening. Half way through the swim it started lashing it down - that was a new one on me. A weird sensation on my head as the drops hit and strange noise from under the ripples of it falling on the lake! At least there were no swans attacking this evening!

Race report to come!

Monday down, 4 working days till the weekend! Better go and soak my wetsuit in the bath before it stinks the house out too much - euh!

TALLY HO!