Fritton Aquathlon final race and Injuries....again

The race with Iain, although at a comfortable pace put a lot of strain on my inner leg injury (at this stage I wasn't sure what the problem was!). This meant I could push as hard as I would have like don the bike and was very happy that Iain didnt try to knock off an 18min 5k!!!

I tried to rest and saw a couple of people about the injury and found that the inner hamstring was very sore as well as the hip flexors (whichj had some disturbing small lumps appear!) I started using heat and doing some gentle stretching followed by an ice bath and then compression tighhts and this seemed to ease the issue but Bedford was getting close and although not an A race had become more important due to earlier events

(Underperformance at Athlone)
(2min time penalty at Shropshire)

I knew that Carl would be the man to beat again in this race and as I had done this twice so far this year knew that I could do it, I just wasnt sure how much the leg would effect me and whether the three weeks off would be a good or a bad thing...rest vs lthergy

On the run up to bedford I also had the small issue of the Fritton Lake Aquathlon, I had won twice there this year and only needed a decent placing to win the series. I decided that I would attend and take the event a little easier than usual, also opting to race non-wetsuit for a bit of a change.

I am normally out of the water a long way in front of the other at this event but did notice a couple of fresh faces (youth or juniors) so expected a bit more of a challange when the claxton sounded.

Ill make no excuses here- I struggled in the swim, and felt pretty terrible all the way through. The newbies shot off the front and I couldnt get any rhythm or seperate myself from the rest of the pack. I emerged 4th overall with garath right on my heels.

I went passed two in T1 (as they were wetsuited) and mistakenly thought I was on the front, eased off and completed the race at an easy pasce so I didnt injure myself. It turned out that I was second and that there was another swimmer who had already left T1 when I got in - it was probably a good thing I didnt know he was there as I would have tried to catch him and that would not have led to a good outcome.....

2nd on the day but Series winner by 30 points or so - at least thats one win in the bag this year :)