Poolside Percy

Saturday morning post Parkrun swim with GB   

After work paddle I  hope that common sense prevails:

I'm in Windsor with @SaraBahadori , @Kingwellfish , @MMaginty , @iciclepete , Action Dan, Kate and James for the Windsor Half Marathon Trail Run. What a better way to sooth our post-race legs than a dip in The Thames. Cold and delicious.   Afterwards we dined on roast swan washed down with the finest mead in the banqueting hall of Windsor Castle. No, tell a lie, it was a veggie roast dinner with Carlsberg Export in the local Weatherspoons.

Poem by John Mathews pinned to the noticeboard Water temp: 18 degrees The first mutterings of summer are heralded by lots of skinny men in skimpy swimwear outside the men's pond. Someone has teefed my favourite spot to park my bike. I will admit that part me growls 'Where were you in January?'. But hey ho, we're all welcome here (apart from the racists and the sexists) I sit for ages in a trance watching lycra clad images of yesterday's triathlon whizz round my adrenaline fuelled brain. A group of youts arrive, shorts hanging half-mast round their backsides. This amuses me. I finally get my act together and hurl myself off the springboard. I swim a couple of lazy laps. I have nothing to prove and nothing to train for today. The buff youts turn up on the jetty. They can't wear their swimming shorts halfway down their bums cos they'd have bare arses and that's bare shame and inadvisable considering the reputation this place has. The...

If Sunday morning triathlon sprint with Pete and Marcus First leg is 750m wetsuit swim in the beautiful tree-lined lake next to the school. I assume that the school 'owns' the lake. I manage to complete this leg of the race in 15 minutes so I'm a little bit chuffed if not out of puff.   I still can't get my head around swimming in lakes with goggles on, I have a phobia, there probably isn't medical term for it yet. I know why it is, I may write about it one day, 'Potamophobia' is the fear of rivers or running water, 'Hydrophobia' is the fear of water or of rabies and fire hydrants (one of these is a lie). I'm not aquaphobic. 'Hippopotomonstrosesquipedaliophobia' is the fear of long words which is plainly taking the piss (urophobia). I do however suffer from 'algophobia' which is a made-up name for a total revulsion of seaweed. My times? swim (750m): 15:29 cycle (20K): 45:30 run (5K): 22:28

Saturday morning post-parkrun plunge with Action Dan and Sara.  

Another sneaky dip in the ponds when I should be elsewhere. In preparation for Sunday's triathlon sprint I ask Dan to time me swimming two laps of the men's pond. Pretty pointless timing me as I take take huge liberties with the last corner of both laps. Oh well, I'm as ready as I'll ever be.