Last run at ease

I ran home from work today (3 miles) at a slow pace, and now have two days to rest up for the Tri. We're staying at a B&B nearby for Saturday night, so we'll inevitably have a nice country stroll on Saturday afternoon.

My resting pulse rate this evening is: 48 beats a minute.

The Place (or Palace)

The organization has done a good job of emailing information to the competitors leading up to the race.

Today, this was included in one of the links:

Blenheim Palace, the gift of a grateful nation to its saviour John, Duke of Marlborough, is also a gift of a venue for triathlon. Loads of space for parking, a competitor village and a gorgeous view or vista at every turn. There's a lake that, basically, just says "swim in me", a transition area that's the Palace's front yard, a closed cycle circuit that offers plenty of interest and yet is not overly physically challenging and a run route that you will actually want to go back and walk around afterwards -- all of this makes the Mazda Blenheim Triathlon a paradise for a novice triathlete.

Wow, I'm looking forward to the event even more.

By the way, from a customer experience point of view, this really increases my pre-race feeling that I've signed up to a great race.

Last Weekend before the Sprints

Next weekend is the Blenheim Triathlon sprint distance.

I swam 1000 meters on Saturday with B and C.

I biked today. the weather was absolutely foul- cold, rainy and windy. Came home to a warm lunch and a glass of red wine.

This week will be easy, short runs. And then we're off to a B&B near the race for Saturday night.

I've already started packing my gear in anticipation.

Number One Fun

Here's the number to look for at The Blenheim Tri next Sunday.


If the weather is good, it will be a beautiful event.

BTW: I swam 1000 meters today.

Bike offically sorted

I picked up the borrowed bike today from my good friend Jack. I've used it in the past and it rides well. It's a Dawes- I think this one.

C and I cleaned it up this afternoon.

The best part is that I've been training on my mountain bike which is plenty heavy, so this feels light as a feather.

A killer weekend

Run home from work on Friday: 4 miles
Swim with Bella and C on Saturday: 800 meters
Brick with Mike Robertson on Sunday: 14 mile bike ride immediately followed by a 7 mile run (all in the rain).

Limp into work on Monday...

A training run to kill me

We went out of London this past weekend to stay with some friends. They live in a little village called Frieth (located here), in the rolling hills of the Chilterns.

Nigel and I ran about 7 miles on Sunday morning. He's is in pretty good shape, and he punished me on these trails and hills. The views were spectacular from the top, but I couldn't fully appreciate them as I gasped for breath.

All in all, it was a good cross-training exercise, but very demanding.

My race number arrives!

On Friday, I got home from work to find a big envelope. Inside was all the information and race number for the Blenheim Tri in June. Just reading it started to get me excited for the event.

And it looks like a beautiful place for a race.

I'll be doing the sprint distance- 750 m. swim, 20 km bike, 5km bike- on Sunday at 11:45, 3 June.