Sunday, February 2, 2014

Almost a triathlon

Last weekend almost turned into unintentional triathlon training. There was plenty of cycling, an encouraging amount of running and enough water to go swimming. I've been mixing cycling in with my return to running in order to reduce the amount of impact on my legs. Park run is a nationwide initiative set up a couple of years ago to encourage people of all abilities to run 5k. These events are free and organised by volunteers in local parks every Saturday morning - the perfect start to your weekend. In order to incorporate a cycle I 'commuted' the thirty four mile round trip keeping the time window fairly slim to ensure I arrived warm for the start but I failed to account for a puncture en route. Consequently I ended up practising a triathlon speed transition into my running kit and sprinted to the start line. I arrived in the nick of time, if slightly out of breath, and set off. All was going well until the first corner where I was confronted by what appeared to be a lake. I hadn't bargained on a swim and was hoping to keep my feet dry for the cycle home. After my initial unsuccessful attempt to tiptoe around the edge I realised there was no choice but to take the plunge. Maybe next time I'll enter a real triathlon and pack my swimsuit.

Half of our country might be sitting under water right now but we are not alone in wanting some better weather. Sochi, the host city for the upcoming Winter Olympics, has been hoping for some cooler temperatures and much needed snow. Fortunately they have plenty of Rubles to help ship in the white stuff. Russia has received some criticism for their last minute preparation; something that I'm certain our athletes won't be suffering from. Good luck to all of Team GB in the coming two weeks.