Tuesday 13th July was the Ironman distance swim (3.8km/2.4miles) at Lake 32 in South Cerney just past Cirencester. Organised by ClearWorth with all proceeds going to charity it was a nice opportunity for some open water swimming, something i don't get to do that often.
There were to be three of us to do this, Martin, Mark and myself. Mark had to cancel due to work so three became two. Martin was there ahead of me and by the time i found it and had got changed into my wetsuit it was 6:30pm before we started. Registration was a tenner and we were given a number so they could confirm a finish time.
Water temperature was 21C at 1 metre deep. Lovely!
The group we were in was given the order to start, the route was a straight out from the shore to the first bouy then a left turn and follow the bouys around to the right. Each lap was 750m and so 5 laps was the ironman diatance.
I got a decent start, felt the flow of the water and remembered how great swimming in a wetsuit is. about half way on my first lap a school boy error. My goggles fogged. i pulled out from the main bunch and sorted them out, that probably cost me a minute or so. Thinking that Martin was now ahead i started to plan on how to make up the time. I couldn't let him beat me as he only learned to swim last year!
Concentrating on my stroke, trying to sight my route (i'm rubbish at that!!) i kept going and gradually started to catch some back markers. As i passed people i checked their wet-suits but didn't recognise Martin. I finished my 5th lap and was resolved ot the fact that Martin had come in ahead of me, and truth be told i was already coming up with excuses.
Imagine my face when as i stood on the beach and shouted my number to the timing team i saw Martin stood on the bank, not in a wetsuit as i was expecting, but changed and drinking lucozade. My face must have been a picture as he started laughing and made some quip about me needing to speed up.
I was trying to compute how he could have done that. Swim faster than me sure (i know i'm not fast!) but swim that much faster that he could be changed and ready to go? The reality is not that exciting! He'd done 3 laps, not the 5 as he pulled his shoulder - a likely story!!
My time for the swim was 01:07:04. I was pleased with it on the night but then i saw all the other times and was dissappointed.
