A glorious morning - perfect for open water. I went to the 8:30 session so as to meet up with the riders doing the Norwich sprint tri course, at 10am. Swam the long course with Trish and Chrissie, and made good time - 34 mins including stops (1 brief one en route, a longer one at the buoy), so I've graduated to a red hat now :) . Even went out for another 100m or so afterwards! Got into the flow after the first stop, and really enjoyed it again.
I did start noticing that the more frequent breathing is a bit dizzying, as it seems your head is hardly ever still, but while I can breathe on 3 for a little while I find it hard to do it for long. I can just about alternate when breathing on 2, and do a while on each side. Swimming straight seemed to be more of a problem today but I was never wildly off course. I found that when I concentrated on a long glide, I made better progress and could catch up with Trish.
After-effects: achy hands/fingers (maybe from pulling on the wetsuit?), and stiff neck, although both only slight.
On the bike route recce I hung out as tail end charlie (thus helping out and earning a freebie - good job as I forgot it was supposed to cost one voucher), chatting to a few of the new competitors. The route is good, although with a long climb from Stoke to Upper Stoke (hm, I wonder why it's called that?!) and Poringland. We averaged 13.3mph, doing the 11.3 mile route in about 51 mins. I then went around again, averaging nearly 17mph and completing in 40 minutes.
Next week the logistical challenge is to get my swim kit to/from the lake by other means, so I can cycle there, do the olympic course recce, and cycle home.
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