It was the last day of work before I went off on holiday for the week so I spent the day very focused on getting all the essentials done before I left work. All done, I headed off to the water sports centre at Salford for an evening Aquathlon, an 800m swim followed by a 5km run race. I really enjoy it, even though it hurts lots!

It was the hottest day of the year and I saw 31°C on one of these digital display things at the side of the road. I have the ginger gene and know that I'm not designed for such temperatures but remained positive. I got registered and headed off to the top floor of the water sports centre where no one goes. It allows me to organise my kit and get changed in peace and quiet which suits me well. I spent 10 minutes doing my foam roller too as it's almost like doing meditation.

Outside I saw old work colleague Denise hanging about......she was slightly taken aback when I gave her a massive hug. She was meeting a friend who was surprising her with something.....I said that I was it and a mock look of disdain came over her face. I miss Denise!

I then got into my wetsuit, not an ideal costume when temperature is over 30, so I chose to forgo my normal warm-up routine. As always I was one of the first to be counted into the water. It allows me to get a little swim in and a good starting position while everyone else is queuing up to enter the water or swimming over the top of one another.

The hooter went and approximately 55 of us raced down the open water dock.  I go kicked a few times and then found myself fighting for breath. Gahhh....forgot to take a puff of my inhaler beforehand! Too late now. I concentrated on staying relaxed and getting a strong catch under the water and was soon into my swimming. I knew someone was on my toes but couldn't find anyone to draft off myself.

The sun was making sighting the buoys tough but it's a rectangular dock so keeping on track wasn't too bad. Turning round one of the final buoys, I was confronted with a very slow moving breast stroke swimmer who appeared to not be racing. Eek....I accidentally swam over the top of her. I exited the water on the 15 minute mark, just about where I expected to be. Transition went perfectly as I'm now well practiced at getting my wetsuit of quickly. Everything went into my box consciously..... aware than it's common even for top athletes to get penalised for not doing this job properly.

I was soon into my running, thinking about staying athletically relaxed. Wow.....it was hot and sweat was dripping into my eyes! I was 10 seconds down on schedule after the first lap but pace seemed even and effort high. I put the time down to the heat. Training partner Paul was way behind.....he hadn't worn a wetsuit and I think that had severely disadvantaged him. Rachel was quite a bit away in the distance so I set about chasing her down and caught her with a lap to go. Then another guy annoyingly sat on my heels for a few minutes, I tried to make him pass so I could do the same but it didn't work. He kicked going into the last 600m, barging me as he went by, cutting in and nearly tripping me......somehow I managed to think one thing and let the more sporting "easy mate" come out my mouth. Grr..... I typically race to go as fast as I can and getting involved in egotistical battles costs energy. I did want to beat him but just didn't have the speed.

I crossed the line tired but wishing the event had been a bit longer as the endurance is certainly there. The time was a minute slower than my last one here, but there's good evidence to suggest ginger people perform less well in the heat and I'd done my best. That's good enough.
 

San gave me a lift to the train station which meant I'd catch an earlier train. Unfortunately, overhead cable failure meant it took 90 mins to get home.....I could have cycled it in 50!