Weymouth MD... The saga

"Killer instinct is a desire and ability to finish your opponent. It is the sadistic urge that is driven by the savage side of human nature. It is not how loud you scream or how many expletives you spew at your advesary. It's not the ugly faces you contort yourself into. It is certainly not mindlessly hurling yourself into the fray in an uncontrolled, incensensed rush of adrenaline. Killer instinct is finishing the race, closing the deal, accomplishing the mission. It is the burning lust to damage your opponent. It is the cold, hard, calculating application of bad intentions".

Paul Vunak

Weymouth is where I spent most of my summers as a child. Travelling down on the train with my mum and younger brother and spending the day on the soft sandy beaches and enjoying the sunshine. Last week end I experienced the other Weymouth...The one with the pebbled beach. My feet feel my pain.

The saga started on the Saturday morning, I left home in sunny Lincolnshire and travelled down the A1. Stopping for fuel I handed over my CC and then left on the 300 mile journey to the SW riviera. Feeling hungry I stopped at a service station and looked in my wallet for my CC. I had left it 150 miles away in Lincs at the petrol station. Not to worry. I took some money out the hole in the wall with another card and then phoned up the Bank to cancel the CC. Everything seemed to be going well until at the end of the call the kind young lady informed me that my Debit C had been cancelled, I then pointed out I wanted my CC cancelled and not the DC. Not to worry I had some money! So travelling down after lunch I make it to the site and register before looking for some cheap accommodation or camp site to crash at. After numerous enquiries I find one miles from town but very picturesque. Unfortunately you paid for the view which then left my wallet allot lighter. Not to worry! After dinner and scraping through the car for loose change I finally have my car park fee for the morning. Time to sleep!

That was the low point now for the highs.....Well apart for the swim start and exits. Starting on the pebbles was a killer as my feet were sore when I ran into the water. The run was for about 100m but then you were still only at mid thigh and told to swim the 2k in shallow water, as the tide came in. Well talk about crystal clear it was amazing apart from the salty taste and lack of buoys to sight. Exiting the water calmly and Transitioning slowly I managed all of it in 40 min. Something I am happy with considering it was only my second sea swim.

Out on the bike for the 52 mile ride around Dorset was great as a tussle between me and a female ensued, and like most women she got the better of me in the end with the final down hill push on the bike. I enjoyed the bike as it got warmer and started brighten up however as the time rolled on so did the wind and several times I felt myself buffeting around in the wind. I definitely made the right choice to use the road bike though as many of the TT frames were just struggling to use them to the full advantage. The high was overtaking Yvette Grice (fem Pro) on the bike and then putting some time into her.... (8 in fact)

Transitioning very well into T2 I moved out on to the broad walk and just though lets maintain 5min pace for as longs as! 2k in I lost my pace and realised I was going 4:30 in the heat of the day... which soon saw me overtaken by Yvette and made to look silly.....but then she is an amazing athlete and one I could watch run away from me all day! The 5min pace was maintained until the 11th k when I just went, cramps in both thighs and dehydration slowed me down to walking through feed stops. I dropped the pace and hid in the shade as much as possible just trying to finish before the parking metre did.

I managed to finish the day in 5:08:27 (107 and 14th in AG) not bad for me. The good news though is that since that day I have had no problems or tweaks with the body so things are looking up again for Almere in 78 days.

00:40:29 (70) 02:35:11 (88) 01:52:47 (160) 05:08:27 (107) 14