Getting it wrong

One moment I forgot from the previous post. There I was on the run in Calella, about halfway round and starting to pick up speed again after the little wobble at the start of lap two. I pull into an aid station and get a cup of gatorade, drink it and grab a cup of water. It's hot and I'm feeling pretty yucky with salt all over my face. I decide that the water's not going over my head, it's going over my face. I take my sunnies off with one hand and chuck a cup full of liquid full in my face with the other. Quite a bit goes up my nose and as it starts fizzing in my nostrils I realise that it is, of course, not water but coke, and that it's now up my nose, in my eyes, all over my face and running down my front.

Typical. The only time in my life I put coke up my nose and I can't even get that right.

Why not Barcelona?

Why have I decided to do IMWA when I am already entered for the Quelle Challenge Barcelona IM-distance race in October? One simple reason: I'm not going to be properly fit by the time Barcelona comes around. I have been very slowly recovering from a nasty bout of achilles tendonosis that I got in January, and have only reached the point where I am able to run more than once or twice a week recently. My longest run to date is 15km and I don't think I'll be able to get much above 21km until mid-September. I have also had my swim and bike training disrupted by a series of trips abroad over the summer - yes, I could run when I was in Greece last week, but for the two weeks teaching tropical ecology in the forest in Borneo I really couldn't do a lot. On Monday I'm off to Turin for a conference so that'll be another week off the bike and with lots of distractions to stop me running and swimming. My original plan was to go for it in Barcelona, but now the plan is to not taper too much, take it a bit easier in Barcelona, and then I have nine weeks to sharpen after the race. Might involve a lot of trainer sessions in October and November as the weather gets worse but c'est la vie.