Secondly, in a fit of madness, I signed up to Falmouth triathlon which was run by IntoTri. I say a fit of madness because I found out the race existed on the Tuesday, dawdled a bit until entries closed, then emailed to grab an on-the-day entry before the race last Sunday. I had a chance to practice transitioning from bike to run on the Wednesday and finished my training with a short cycle on the Friday. By Sunday I had visualised every piece of kit I would need and put it in place.
I loved the race itself; the distances were perfect for my level of training and, although I was last out of the water by quite a margin, I managed to gain a couple of places on the cycle to stop me coming dead last. I've always had a bit of a ludicrous issue with coming last despite not being a strong swimmer or particularly in to fitness since I only ramp up training when I'm entering an event. I am essentially an unfit blob who occasionally does distance events. My aim was to get through it and I achieved this by pushing until the finish line was in sight - my first and probably last triathlon, done. I have great respect for anyone who does triathlons regularly as the discipline is something else and Falmouth marked the end of a seven series event which I essentially tagged on the end of so big thanks to the organisers for letting me give it a go.
With just one week to prepare for Swim Serpentine I was really feeling the pressure. Again, I didn't want to come last for the swim yet I was aware of how badly I'd trained during the year for the event. I still couldn't get my head in the water when swimming which I have found is an absolute must. Definitely do not partake in swimming if you can't put your face in the water. It sounds daft but that was my situation.
With this in mind I set off for my wave at 11.45pm on Saturday and felt very slow the whole way round. The water was flat as it's in a lake, much flatter than the sea at Gyllingvase beach had been a week before, yet it was evident very early on that I had wandered into the wrong event. Although I remained bouyant my pace was horrific and I was assigned a marshal on a kayak who was absolutely brilliant and patient for following my sorry hide around the course.
The event is very well organised and around 5,000 swimmers took part that day including 2,200 who did the two mile course. I am not proud to announce that I came dead last, number 2,200, and can only put in a mild claim that I beat anyone who dropped out which seems incredibly mean. That said, there was a swimmer who completed the one mile course in two hours 57 minutes, slightly faster than my three hours and three minute time for the two miles so I didn't feel completely defeated. All of this is utterly ridiculous as my plan was to go out and swim two miles; target achieved.
I now have a London Marathon and Swim Serpentine medal to go with a very unexpected triathlon medal and, with one event to go, a London Classics medal is well in sight. Unfortunately I have to wait until next August to see if my attempt will be successful yet I will endeavour to keep everyone updated either way.
One last word to the organisers and marshals at Swim Serpentine - thanks. The event is superb and I would urge anyone who can swim to give it a go, even if it's the half or one mile events. Just remember to take a bin bag with you to put your wetsuit in afterwards as you'll get funny looks dripping all over the Underground and it'll be pretty obvious where it's all coming from.
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