Much much later....

The swashbuckler is a distant memory!

I totally smashed it - well the swim, cycle and one lap of the run

Was the hotest day of the year - decided no need to practically kill myslef in the blazing sun - so did one lap of the run, felt epic, got my medal then had lunch with Suznne and the girls.

Such an amazing day!!

Here's my report for Southampton Tri Club :

Written on Monday 19th Juy 2021

Well I loved The Swashbuckler yesterday

Such a joy to go to bed by 9:30pm on a Saturday night while setting the alarm for 3:10am - although it’s been so long since my last stupid o’clock start time for an event, there was a small part of me that was secretly loving it xx

I’d also forgotten just how much stuff you have to pack / prepare / think about. I’m seeing mates in London next weekend otherwise I’d def be signing up for the transition skills session

Really enjoyed the swim although I am thinking that after 7 years my ‘new to me’ wetsuit may be on its last season - can one just use a puncture repair kit on a hole? It needs to get me round Ellingham at the end of August for the club champs.

The bike ride was fab, although wow, so much traffic on the 2nd lap - in fact the traffic was backed up to Ashurst so hoorah for local knowledge and the new bike path through to Lyndhurst and my mate H waiting at the bus stop to cheer me on. And was it just me or were there loads more animals out and about enjoying the New Forest yesterday?

I was worried about the cutoffs as I’ve never gone under 8 hours in a middle distance race. But I bloody smashed them! 46mins for the swim, 3:45 for the bike - that meant I had over THREE HOURS for the run!!! I was so excited!!! I was finally going to go under 8 hours!!! I slapped on suncream, grabbed my water bum bag, had a quick pee and excitedly left T2 whooping and cheering. Quick chat to more mates and off I went.

Gang I felt amazing. Game on. Loads of time, my water bum bag was full of snacks and the water was still semi frozen. A def Titanic moment - I was literally feeling ‘On Top Of The World!’

Yeah…

No.

Needless to say if the weather had been less ‘hottest day of the year’ I’d of def been able to smash 8 hours.

Instead I decided one lap was plenty, so called it a day after 6 hours and 17mins of racing. I’d had such a brilliant time, absolutely no need to ruin it by doing the second lap and ending up grinding to a hot tired melted messy stop all dehydrated and miserable and in pain

So hoorah for stopping

I had a blast - and OMG - loved seeing so many club mates racing, marshalling, officiating, organising.

Our club really is brilliant

#BestFunEver