Events Blog

July 23rd 2017 3800 m open water swim, 112 mile bike, 26.2 mile run Back to where it all began! I had wrongs to set right, including 9 hours of torrential rain and a 56-mile mechanical issue involving brakes being stuck "on"..... Previous experience of the course fared me well for the swim - I seeded myself at the back/left of the fastest pen, allowing me space to swim rather than 2015's absolute battering. Some shallow areas moved me slightly inwards, but I managed to keep a steady effort level throughout the swim, pleased to end up with a PB over this distance at a lower effort level than last time. As I exited I was disappointed to be only "unzipped" and not "stripped", but I unglamoroursly finished the job outside a portaloo, where I then had to wait out the longest loo trip ever! You'd think I'd swallowed half the lake the amount of time I was in there... T1 was a steady affair as my current favourite bike shorts are very f...

July 26th 2015 3800 m open water swim, 112 mile bike, 26.2 mile run This was it. The big one. The one we'd all (well, myself and Hannah) been waiting for! Seven months of hard training had us standing at 6am on the side of Nottingham rowing lake. Shaking. A quick good luck, shuffle into the water and we were off! What a start. Over a thousand wetsuit-clad people going off at once - from the bank it looked like a flock of geese were fighting over a single morsel. From the water it was, well, messy. Having started at the back I actually didn't get too upset by the melee, and after about 10 minutes had a suitable (probably too much) amount of space. About 25 minutes later I reached the turn point and was relieved of the direct sunlight. On my way back down I amazingly came across Hannah, and we near enough stayed together for the rest of the swim, meaning our spectators could have a nice leisurely walk together. Upon exiting the swim, the motion of moving from horizontal ...