100 not out!

"Pain is a big fat creature riding on your back. The farther you pedal, the heavier he feels. The harder you push, the tighter he squeezes your chest. The steeper the climb, the deeper he digs his jagged, sharp claws into your muscles."Scott Martin

Its the morning after the Beaver and I'm awake but sleepy and tired. Today I will rest myself and relax watching the tour and enjoying the garden that I have neglected over the past week as well as clean the bikes......

Since the last entry I refereed at the RAF Sprint Champs on Wednesday and saw many new faces springing up into the ranks and soon to be challenging the top guys for places. I also kept an eye on some close rivals and their progress prior to Almere, now I am not so concerned. A fantastic day that saw Part time Techie Andy Fisher wining by 2 Min's over the super vet Sags and Daz just in third. Bev continued her dominance and added to the two national titles already claimed this year.

With Westy staying over for some training on Thursday we decided to go out for a short ride, now my 4 hr ride was postponed from the weekend and I thought it would be good to get it in with a gentle trip down to Tallington a quick circuit followed by a short trip home. I firstly didn't bank on the head wind in the morning which gradually increased slowing us to below 25k most of the way. 2 hrs in and we decided to stop for a quick lunch before completing a tour of the course. The sun was shining and wind began to die down as we travelled around the pan flat (with a few undulations) course. After one lap we turned back towards home a decided on a more sheltered route cross country. All roads may lead to Rome but they certainly don't lead to Tumby as we discovered meandering across the Lincolnshire countryside. As the time neared 7 we popped into the lakes to let everyone know that we would be back shortly for a quick dip and swim. By the time we eventually got back home we had covered 100miles in 5:25 and the swim didn't feel to inviting. However we did give his new wetsuit a splash and dash.

Friday was a drive down to the beach and a rest before I returned to conquer the beaver once more. I last competed here in 2006 with a 5:24:43 (not bad only 10 months after surgery) All I was hoping for today was a sub 5 especially after the lack of running. The swim was pretty uneventful with only one guy determined to pick a fight with me during the swim. Unable to swim in a straight line he meandered around the course cutting me up and then decided to swing at me when I pushed him under. In annoyance he then decided that pulling my zip would aid his progress.......big mistake, nobody touches the Helix but me! One swift kick and he was gone and left to see my wake. After bridging the gap to the front of the main field again I completed the swim in 32 mins including the 800m uphill run into transition. However during this time I struggled to unzip and subsequently now have found that the moron has broken the zip to the super suit.

Onto the bike and maintaining the magic number for today I was able to catch a few of the faster swimmers and comfortably complete the course without dropping many places. Taking the training bike with me was a good call as the wind whistled down the valley and caused allot of problems going down the hills.

A reasonably quick transition saw me out on the run and comfortably gaining on a few of the front runners. I was going to loose places but managed to hold most of them of until the second lap when I just opened up in the grounds of the castle and pushed forward hoping to gain more places. Even though I was gaining ground on the guys in front they just managed to pick up their pace for the last 2k to keep a comfortable margin between us.

32min 2k swim inc Transition
2:35 80k Bike
41 sec T2
1:35 20k run

15th overall and 6th in Category with 4:45:55 I'm back Baby!!!!!!