Back in the C

Takapuna Beach

Saturday morning 7am, 60 + people gathered on the beach edge listening to the race simulation instructions, with only a few weeks until the ITU World Champ Race in Auckland many of the club members are in final preparation for the big day.  Normally we would still enjoy the warm water of the swim pool, but race simulation means experiencing the chills of the ocean. And goodness it was #$%@! COLD!. 

Thank the bee gees the wetsuit still fits!, a swim suit is more snug that your average suit, showing
 my every mountain and valley as I try to graciously slide into it with the help of a plastic bag.  I notice some slick up with the olive oil to aid a quick escape in transition.  The water seepage thru the zip is always something to look forward to when creeping into the icy chill.

Todays swim was a 1500m down and back across Takapuna Beach, taking at least 20min to recover ones breath, only when your extremities i.e. hands, feet and face came down to water temperature did it seem to warm slighty.  The return leg was motion sickness stuff, white caps off the top of the waves, so bad there was a scattering of swimmers who had opted to get out and wander back along the sand.

Plan was to swim, bike for an hour then meet up with Liza for the run and help her to knock off a few more Ks.  However whilst trying to peel off the wetsuit (perhaps I need to look into this olive oil trick), the heavens opened and the wind swirled.  I looked across at my mate and we both opted to skip the bike leg and head out for a run.  Don't worry! no opportunity to slack off as we had already agreed to meet Liza at the beach we ended up going for two runs, approx 10k.

A bit of a slow start to the week but the support team went running on Friday (usually my day off), just so we could laze around on Sunday. Recovery from Liza's 40th on Saturday night.  Happy Birthday Beautiful ! :) So in all not a bad week.