LT: Week 21

M-F: Virus + injury + child holiday = no training
S: 20 min run. Back painful.
S: Shropshire Triathlon (1.5km swim, 40km bike, 10km run).

Swim: This was my first open water experience since last September and it shows. Still had crackly chest, wetsuit neck too tight and in general was fighting panic for the first 1000m, so couldn't apply myself at all. Pathetic. Was about 3rd from the back getting out of the water; 15 mins slower than fastest woman.

Bike was better; a lovely course of mostly flat aerobar work, with a few undulations to keep the interest up. Still felt off-form though, and knew I had to save something for the run. 8 mins slower than fastest woman.

Run: Took double dose of ibuprofen going into the run, and resolved to get around at the pace I could manage which was a pretty slow jog. Run was hilly but that saved the repeat impact on my back. Really wanted to be able to push it, but couldn't. Was still glad to manage the 10k though, because when I got up in the morning I thought I'd have to skip the run altogether. 15 mins slower than fastest woman.

Result: Sooooo slow. 16th out of 23 women. Swim: 36:10!, Bike: 1:16:23, Run: 53:25. Total: 2:46:06.

Still have a bit of lingering virus, but the biggest issue right now is my back. I'm going to stick to swimming for preparation for the half, and hope that my back can make some leaps between now and then. If the race was this weekend, I would have pulled out by now, so I'm still looking at it as borderline.