update
The UK Ironman triathlon will take place 31 July in Bolton, Lancashire. Around 1,500 athletes will be participating and places allow qualification for the awesome Hawaii 2011 Ironman. I’m writing about this because my best friend Catherine will be competing, but under really special circumstances.
Team True Spirit
Catherine is a rehab instructor at Headley Court, a Defence Medical Rehabilitation Unit. She works her rehab magic (and she does have magic fingers) on individuals who have suffered extreme injuries through military (navy, airforce and army) service.
This year there are …

When I got my bike back in November I fairly quickly did my first triathlon. It was fine but I didn’t love it and realised it was because I didn’t see the point in all the effort for short distances. And at the same time some friends were talking about doing a Half. So, a seed was sown…

Fast forward six months. After an uninspiring week I got stuck into some gin & red wine :) And the next day I decided I should be doing more with my life, so, I researched the Half options with renewed energy, and found Capricorn. The timing and location were looking good so I did a few tester sessions and my pace was ok.

Fast forward a couple more weeks. I had a bit of a windfall, and that was the last hurdle sorted – I could now afford to enter! So I did, on June 15, two months prior to the race.

It was another beautiful day here in Yeppoon, clear blue skies, warm, a little wind. And things seemed to go quite smoothly I think. (please note, I am terrified but have decided there is jack all I can do about things now…)
Lola was delivered by the very prompt, very helpful Velo Trans boys. I actually skipped with her box because I was so happy to get her. And as I managed to assemble her correctly (again, thank you Brad) I was cheering out loud. Quite …

okee dokee… so, here I am in Queensland… It’s pretty late and I need to go to bed so some quick notes / thoughts on today:

There were lots of scarily fit and intense looking people at the airport, this was not ideal.
The hire car and apartment are tip top; in fact better than the car and apartment I have in real life!
Main thing on the agenda today was to check out the beach at Capricorn Resort and see what conditions I’ll be facing for the ocean swim. I was …

Like I haven’t been nervous for 33 days now…

Yesterday I got Lola all packed up by my mate Brad at KOM. I learned how to take her apart and put her back together – fingers crossed. Wrapped in bubble stuff, all bits & pieces together, in the box. And then I started to panic, oh yikes, I’m really going! So I spent the rest of the evening planning logistics, i.e. writing lists, which made me feel better for sure.

As we know, Saturday (T-15) went well. Was feeling good on Sunday and did a cruise-y bike ride with Jamie, just 50/60 k, taking it easy. My left leg started to hurt a bit but I didn’t worry. It was a beautiful day so I also chucked myself in the ocean for (again cruise-y) less than a k.

Biggest training session to date. On track.

In a somewhat unexpected turn, I gave myself today off training! It started with sleeping through the swimming alarm, and ended with not going for a run.

It’s been a massive week. Actually today on its own was massive nevermind what came before.

Today was a good day. I did a mini-tri on my own, mostly to get the feel for transitions, practice with all the kit, and get a feel for the cumulative focus, technique and endurance demands.