A stunning day here today, sun splitting the sky, barely any wind, 21 degrees C… I believe this is what is known as 'Summer'. Out to Loch Lomond for the first open-water swimming session of the year.
I confess I was feeling both a little excited and a little nervous at the prospect. The water was a balmy 16 degrees C, and after splashing my face with the cold water I felt surprisingly ok.
I started off quickly, keeping up with John (part man - part dolphin) - a little too quickly perhaps, and struggled for a couple of sections of the loop we do in the Loch. My sighting seemed pretty good - I'm not normally too good at swimming in a straight line without lane markers! I managed to re-adjust my wetsuit and got more flexibility in the shoulders and once I relaxed a little, I got into a rhythm and it started feeling a bit easier.
We completed a couple of loops (28 mins to swim around 1.8 km, or half the distance I'll be doing in 22 days time..) and then, once dried and back into clothes, we hit the local fish and chip shop.
After pouring over the data at home, I'm maybe not as bad at this as I had feared. Still not great, but at least moving in the right direction. My last open-water swim had been in the London triathlon and I confess that this had not gone to plan… Maybe I'm just being tough on myself, tonight's session is only the 5th open-water swim I've actually done, If I could keep up my steady moving pace, I'd be similar to my pool time at around 1:18… I'd be ecstatic if I could do that on the day… The only thing I can do now, is get back in the water every week until the race! Eeeeek.
The knee is feeling pretty good, although I have yet to try running on it. I have an appointment with the Sports surgeon who fixed my knees in 10 days, so until then, I'll keep on with the I.C.E., ibuprofen and keep off the treadmill.
Well, I'll sign off for now - another long (5 hour) bike tomorrow and I should be doing a 3 hour run on Sunday… I wonder if I can do that on the elliptical without going mad?! Would anyone spot the difference?
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