Prizes!

I shall have to get better at remembering to do this blog-posting stuff, such a lot has happened since my last posting...


Firstly, Bug had the pox. I am putting it in this fashion since "the pox" has a nice dramatic ring to it, whereas "chicken pox" is brushed off as one of those mild inevitable childhood illnesses. Whilst the latter is factually correct, that's not what it feels like when your child has open weeping sores, a sky-high temperature and is utterly, utterly miserable. Thankfully he is now over it - in fact, we've had a cold and teething issues since, so it's a distant memory even if there are a few marks still remaining.


Matt won the F3 duathlon series! His legs didn't have a lot in them on the last run of the final race, but he managed to place high enough to win overall. First prize is a bike, which of course is exactly what he needs, no respectable athlete should have only four bikes...


I won a GB road atlas! This was for coming second in a Serpentine 440m scratch race. I never had any chance of winning given Nick Adams was in the event. (By the way, I highly recommend the mozzarella slicer which was part of a previous prize haul.) Mum and I had breakfast at the Lido Cafe afterwards with Adrian, which was lovely (Matt was on Becks' stag weekend - coast-steering - which seemed to involve jumping off cliffs or some such testosterone-fuelled nonsense).


In the pool, training has been going okay, I have been hitting my 25k target each week. We also had the first training weekend in Dover last weekend (photo courtesy of Nick Adams). The water is apparently unseasonably warm at the moment (11 degrees centigrade) by which you should read still bloody freezing. Actually, it really wasn't that bad once you got going. The hardest bit for me wasn't getting into the water, it was warming up afterwards. I reckon that after getting out, you have about four minutes in which to get dressed, otherwise the shakes set in so badly that it becomes a real struggle. I hate the shivering - it's such an exhausting feeling. We did two swims each day: on Saturday, it was 30mins at 10am followed by 35 at noon. On Sunday it was 35mins followed by 40mins at noon. The second swim was easier for me both times, both the swim itself and the warming up afterwards. I've come away from the weekend feeling very positive - the water was pretty rough (it took me 12 mins from swimmer's beach to the east pier, then 20mins to get back to the beach on Sunday, so there was quite a current flowing) and at times it felt like swimming in a washing machine, but it didn't faze me so I was pleased. I now really believe this swim is actually going to happen. The other great thing is all the support you get on the beach, it's wonderful to have people there ready to help you out of the water, find your shoes, feed you something sweet...and of course the wealth of experience available to tap into is phenomenal.


Next weekend is Becks and Emma's wedding, so I shall be braving the seas of Wales for my sea swims. Apparently it is colder there right now - I suppose I shall find out for myself soon enough!