The life of a triathlete is not an easy one!

It was Rosemary's birthday yesterday and her treat was a sleep in! She's doing a 3 day adventure race next week so needed the rest. I went out for a 90km at race pace bike ride, down towards North Berwick and back! It was a controlled effort, mindful that in my big race I'll have to run a half-marathon afterwards. It wasn't easy though but I hit my target of 31km.h. 

I had time for a very quick cuppa and then we had to head to the post office to pick up a missed package......a foil emergency bag which would constitute R's bedding for next week.....I'll be surprised if she uses it though as sleep doesn't seem to appear in her race plan. "Ohh... I need to pick up chamois cream too" she said, so we pedalled over to the bike shop. Getting back the the house, I was fuzzoi wuzzoi with lack of nutrition. Ready to eat my arm, I worked hard to give the appropriate level of encouragement to the birthday girl to get a flayming move on and avoid faff! 

Reaching Earthy for lunch, it took extreme discipline to not steal the left over bread from the table beside us! Chickpea burgers and amazing chips were an amazing antidote to my hunger. Then it was off to do a strange shopping.....high calorie, tasty ready meals that didn't need more than hot water......Rosemary's race food for next week. Then, more walking to outdoor shops for last minute equipment! I was shattered by the time we got home.....watching the Tour de France climb Alp d' Heuz was my final act of endurance! 

Surprisingly, the legs didn't feel too lively on my morning run. The first km was fine but as I gained on a runner ahead, he picked up the pace and I somehow found myself running hard! Discipline kicked in and I kept it steady to Portobello where we were swimming. It was a sunny morning on the Prom and I was happy to sit watching the world go by, waiting for Rosemary and Izzy to arrive.

We then shot a few video clips for a website with them doing some silly swim-run transition stuff. I then got changed into my wetsuit and we headed down the Firth of Forth to Joppa. There's a metal buoy with a flag on the top that was our target. The wind and type of waves were making swimming hard and sighting even harder. We stuck together and I was pleased that I was towing a floating high visibility bag as jet skiers were about. Rosemary spotted the buoy, we adjusted direction and the girls upped the pace. Just then, I was hit by a big wave and swallowed most of it! Gaaaagggggg! Swallowing salt water is never nice and I lost contact with them as I wretched like a cat with a fur ball! I'm really confident in the sea but one can feel scarily exposed in it too. 

It was good to make contact at the buoy again, we turned and sped back to Portobello. The waves and wind were far more favourable, as was sighting in this direction. It was hard work to keep up with Rosemary and Izzy, so I was pleased when we were back on the beach. Even better was lunch and cake at the Beach House.....swimming in the sea is hungry work. We said our goodbyes to Izzy, Rosemary pedaled home to dump the bike and I got a bus into town to meet friends, Robert, Hayley and their kids Ian and Ben at Peter's Yard. 

Rosemary was taking an age so I ended up mucking about with the kids, starting a pile up with Ben at the bottom of it and then inviting passers by to join in. Ben was grateful that they didn't. After a quick snack we headed to the Meadows, and as rain was threatening, we had a massive grassy area to ourselves for a game of frisbee and a failed attempt at kite flying. We then walked to Bruntsfield where R&H live and we could catch a bus! Even though it started to rain, I needed an Ice Cream! It was a lifesaver! For the 2nd day in a row I was exhausted!