Missing Sessions: Crippling Guilt & Looking At The Bigger Picture

Missing sessions occasionally is inevitable. Unless you’re a pro athlete and it’s your main focus, then work and family and life will get in the way every now and then and you’ll miss a session or two. Don’t sweat it. It happens to all of us and it’s extremely unlikely that your race or coaching plan will fall apart over the loss of one or two sessions. However if you’re regularly missing sessions, then ask yourself why. Is the plan too intense? Do you need to drop a session or two a week? Maybe it is better to restructure and balance the plan again than miss out key sessions every week.

Questions to ask yourself

How valuable is the session?

If it’s a key session of the week, then can you replace another workout? If it’s a recovery set or an easy hour, then it’s not likely to cause too many problems.

How regular is it?

Is missing sessions a regular thing? Look at your plan. It isn’t fitting your life. See whether you can cut one or two sessions out a week and still keep the plan balanced and the key workouts in. If you’re stressed about missing sessions or missing out important parts of the plan then it’s not ideal. It’s additional worry. Balance the plan and make sure it fits around your life rather than trying to fit your life around the training. 

If you’re not regularly missing workouts and you're balancing key sessions, then don’t sweat it. Everyone misses a set every now and then, but if you find it becoming a habit or if you’re missing more than 20% of sessions, then take a step back to reassess. Having less sessions planned in can work better. It can be less stressful than trying to balance an unachievable amount of training and means you can focus on the remaining sessions without worrying about time and quantity.

Free Train V1 Vest: Why Is It Different & Is There Snack Space?

*I was sent a Free Train V1 vest to try. They sent it to me for free and I don’t get paid for reviewing it but I was asked to pop a review on for them. It’s an unbiased review – I’m saying exactly what I think as usual …!*

Free Train V1 Vest: Why Is It Different & Is There Snack Space?

When Free Train contacted me about trying one of their run vests, I wasn’t sure what to think. I have a lot of different run vests, backpacks and waist-belts. What could really be different about this one? Anything?

Well yes … a few things actually!

Front Storage 

First if all, the V1 Vest is shaped like a running vest. It has the over-the-shoulder and fasten-at-the-front style that is common to most running vests … however the biggest difference is that instead of having the storage area on your back like a classic vest, it’s on your front. The phone & card area is right on the front in the middle and key and snack pockets are at the front over your shoulders. I wasn’t sure what I thought of this initially … but in action, well you don’t have to stop! If I want to check my run route, change my music or even check for Strava segments … I don’t need to stop and rummage around on my back. 

Drop Down Pocket

The design of the V1 vest is focused on the front phone pocket.  This is a separate pocket attached at the base of the pocket to the main body of the V1 vest and which clips back on with a strong popper button. The phone is protected from the weather from the thick neoprene fabric from which the body of the vest is made. The inside of the pocket is a thick clear plastic through which you can see the display of the phone. The plastic although thick is responsive enough for the display of my phone (iPhone X) to be engaged with, notifications seen, music skipped, routes checked. The main pocket is divided into 2 sections, with a small section at the rear to keep cards secure. 

Key & Small Snack Pockets

There are 2 additional pockets on the front shoulders of the vest. The left pocket is neoprene and has a 4” zip to open and close it and is approximately 4.5” x 2”. A small pocket but large enough for a key and a small snack. The right pocket is of a stretchy tech fabric and is held closed with a square of velcro. I tend to use this for headphones or similar small items I won’t need in a hurry. This is a similar size but only opens at the top so is more difficult to retrieve items from if running. 

Vest Material

The vest is made of a thick neoprene type fabric so it it’s soft and pliable against your body as you move and is also pretty weather proof … important if, like me, you take your phone everywhere you go. I’ve run in some pretty damp weather recently and everything has stayed dry. The waistbands are thick elastic and can be made looser or tighter with buckles. This means that the V1 is very adjustable and a benefit of the elastic is that the V1 fits snugly without movement when I run. An additional benefit of this is no concerns about chafing as there is no rubbing.

Reflective Patches

The V1 vest comes in only one colour – black - which has a benefit of matching whichever kit I choose, but which can be a downside if I'm running at night or dark evenings or mornings. However, the kit has several highly reflective sections which add some further visibility on dark nights. The front pocket has the logo and text and a strip on the front pocket and the rear has a chevron and the logo in large. 

Packaging

Great packaging! I loved the bag that the V1 came in! It was fun and pretty.  A small detail but I really liked this.

Downsides of the V1 Vest

Space is Tight

It is very space efficient so not much space for anything except phone and key and a small snack. If you prefer to run with anything more substantial you’ll need a waist belt or a larger vest.

Waterproofing Over Tactility 

The phone buttons work through the clear plastic but not very easily if you want to do anything more complex than change songs or check routes. On the plus, side as the pocket is on the front, it’s easy to remove the phone while moving.

Sweat toThe Next Song

If I get overly sweaty (if I’m running reps or am particularly warm) the combination of the clear plastic and sweat will interfere with the phone screen and I’ll sometimes find I’m running along to one song and it’ll suddenly change to another. It might be just me being a sweaty betty, this happens with other belts if I have the phone facing inwards but my solution was to turn the phone screen away from my body and just remove the phone from the pocket if I needed to use it. 

Summary 

This vest really does win for comfort. It feels very good quality and is very comfortable. My weight and size changes depending where I am in my training cycle and sometimes this is a nuisance with having to adjust waist belts but this hasn’t been an issue with the V1 Vest even when I’ve added or removed layers on training. The elastic has kept it snug and comfortable.

I’m currently using the V1 vest for the majority of my runs. It probably wouldn’t be practical for a marathon or an ultramarathon as it doesn’t have the storage but for anything up to about 10 miles – perfect. It’s easier to access my phone than if I’m wearing a vest or waist belt which is handy as I do love taking a mid-run photo. There’s enough room for all the essentials and with the comfort factor, it has become my favourite run vest.

Take a look at the website and see whether you agree: Free Train V1 Vest

8 Things That Put Me On The Podium At Triathlon

I’m not the quickest triathlete and I never will be. I train regularly and consistently … and more importantly I follow these simple guidelines ...

1. Know your numbers. 

What is the best pace you can hold and finish? Know your stats. If you go too hard and blow up, it’s going to be a long, sore walk home … so know what your hard numbers are. Also think about your trade-offs … if you slow down on the bike, does that mean a quicker run and quicker overall time for you?  Find out. You’ve got months of training and this is the perfect time to try out your race scenarios. 

Alternatively, if you’re chasing cut offs what can you do to improve your times? Is a run walk quicker than blowing up at the end of the race? A friend and I ended up placing at an ultra by following a 9 min run, 3 min walk on a multi-day event and ended up passing multiple competitors who were following a ‘run the whole way’ tactic but who were running slower and not getting the recoveries that we were. 

Also are your transitions shocking? Find out what it is that is taking up your time? If you’re 5 minutes in transition, how do you cut that down to 2 minutes? That’s 3 free minutes right there. If you knocked 3 minutes off your swim time you’d be ecstatic. 

2. Practise your nutrition. 

Don’t eat too much beforehand … no one wants to have to stop for 3 poos. And when you have under-fuelled, the feeling that you’re going to crash-and-burn is horrific. When you stand on the start line for a race, you need to be confident, that you have done all of this before. You need to know when to take your gels, your pies, whatever works for you but you need to know what it is and that it works for you. Personally, I have a large bowl of porridge and marmalade a few hours before, a snack while I’m setting up in transition and then a flapjack style bar or two on the bike plus jelly shots and gels on the run – 1 every 2.5 miles. That might sound a lot, but I’ve practised with that and know it works for me. 

3. No time or don't want to do it? Don’t overthink it.

Sometimes an attempt at a session or half a session is better than no session at all. You’ll end up surprising how much you can do most of the time ... and you’ll feel better for having done some than having done none. I don’t like training in hot sun … but I do because I know if a race is on a hot day, I’m going to HAVE to race in heat. Better to have practised in it and know how it feels. 

The exception to this is if you’re ill or overtired. 

4. You don’t need the top kit, the top bike but some good essentials will see you through. 

You don’t need a 5 grand bike. Mine cost me about £1400 4 years ago and she’s done plenty of miles and I love her. I know just how she corners in the wet, the dry and the ice and I also get regular bike services so I’m less likely to suffer a mechanical problem in an event. Trust me, this is worth the £35. And on that note, get a decent saddle - it’s a long time on your arse. 

Find a wetsuit that suits you. You’ll probably need to try a few out as they all fit differently and different suits for different folks. Everyone prefers a different one. A lot of the lakes will offer wetsuit hire and it’s worth trying a few out at different sessions to get a feel for which you prefer. They ARE pricey, but they’ll also last a few years if you keep on top of repairs and treat them carefully. 

Don’t skimp on trainers – it took me a while (and a few injuries!) to learn this lesson. it’s worth investing a few quid to get some specifically for running. A good running shop will be able to offer advice and guide you towards the right ones. And once you know which ones suit you, you can always order the same model again. 

5. Don’t rely on the training aids. 

I have fins but don’t need them. I’ve used a tempo trainer but don’t use it regularly. Sometimes simple is easier and forgetting a ‘crutch’ in a race will worry you. If you train with a nose clip and then forget it in a race, all you’re going to be able to think about before the swim is not having that nose clip. Get used to swimming without them.

6. Make life easy for yourself. 

Have some easy training routes nearby. It makes life simpler if you can just head out the door without having to think about routes if you know the 3 miles, 4, mile, 10 mile loops near you. 

7. Remember your mental strength.

Does it hurt? Of course it does. But everyone else is hurting too. Remember you’ve put the training in and you can do this … and you can keep doing it until the end of the race. Believe in your training. 

8. Get a coach. 

You can have the best plan but you need someone on the outside looking in. Are you overtraining? (Easy to miss this if you’re self coaching). A coach can spot what tweaks can make you more efficient, whether it’s time to add more reps or more power to your sessions … and when to drop it down. Also if you are happy to spend a couple of grand on a bike, then surely improving your times by getting a coach is a no-brainer, right? I truly believe that this is the best way to improve your training and racing – and it’s so simple but athletes don’t do it. And then wonder why they burn out, don’t hit the times or aren’t working to their full potential. Trust me on this. Worth it. 

Ok. Those are my top tips right there. You get those right and you’ll be smashing your targets and hopefully standing on that podium. 

Any other top tips, you’d like to add just drop me a comment and let me know how they’ve worked for you. 

12 Hours on Zwift: Appalling Maths and hating on Central Park

How did you cope with the lockdown? Did you prefer working from home or were you out and about, working as usual?

Pre-Lockdown ... during it was almost all indoors!

I was lucky enough to be out and about for work. I love my family, but I’m well aware how annoying I can be and with my husband working from home and child off school, I didn’t want to end up falling out with everyone or locking myself in the loo to drink gin in the bath. That’s for weekends.

However, I’m one of the lucky ones. My family unit is fairly stable. But what if it wasn’t?

During lockdown, domestic abuse killings doubled and calls to helplines went up by 49%. That’s a huge increase. With people all stuck inside together and no respite, it was estimated that at least 16 domestic abuse killings of women and children had taken place in the first three weeks of the lockdown. (1)

I work in a role where domestic abuse is often seen and when I found out the stats, my friend Rachel, in a similar role, and I decided to try and help by raising some money for the Crisis Centre in Birmingham.

Now Rachel, as previously mentioned, is my ‘Yes Friend’. An important friend to have, particularly when planning bonkers adventures and madcap ideas and need someone with enthusiasm and a shared delight of cafe stops. But this time, it was my turn to be the yes friend. And there were to be no cafe stops.

Rachel’s crazy idea was to ride for 12 hours … on Zwift. If you’re not familiar with Zwift, it’s basically a computer game which doubles as a training aid. You hook your bike up to it, pedal like mad and Zwift tells you you’re going up mountains. It’s a bit more complex than that, but that’s the gist. 

And she wanted me to spend 12 hours doing that. On my own. In the house. Like a lunatic.

So of course I said yes. 

We planned to start at 0600hrs in the morning and Rachel would plan a ‘meet up’ on Zwift which meant that the program would link our bikes to ride together. The lovely Charley would be joining us for a few hours and we’d all be chatting way on the Discord app to make the time pass faster. 

Ready to Go!

So with my usual perfect timekeeping, I was 7 minutes late in joining. I could blame, Zwift, my bike shoes for hiding or the cats for being irritating little gits … but actually it was my usual appalling sense of time.

As a result, the software wouldn’t let me join the meetup. This is standard, but being new to Zwift I didn’t realise I had to be riding before the start of the meet up to join in. Again … I’d blame the software being awkward … but it was me being incompetent. 

Standard.

Finally after a couple of false starts, we all got our little avatars cycling together in the pixel-perfect world of Watopia at 0625hrs. Perfect. Our little people all cycling around a made-up world while we cycled hundreds of miles apart in our own houses. 

My new favourite thing in the world

We were chatting via Discord which is a free chat app on our phones and it actually made it feel like a proper group ride. But without having to avoid snot rockets, potholes or delivery vans but while still being able to shout at each to take the front so the rest could draft. Perfect. 

My working strategy was to have a break every few hours for snacks when I would stop my clock to ensure I got the full 12 hours in and restart it when I started cycling again. After my snacks had been gobbled. 

We were having a grand old catch up and chatting about various important topics (Does chamois cream go on your arse or the pad of your shorts? Does cider count as fuelling? How many pairs of bib shorts is too many? Should bike shops offer husband receipts?) and collectively decided that a quick snack and drinks bottle refill every couple of hours would be about right and save us getting too exhausted later on in the ride. The first few hours had flown by with the chat and excitement of starting our enthusiastic but static adventure as we got off our collective bikes to scoff our first snacks.

Snack duly gobbled, I climbed back onto my bike to find that my little Zwift cyclist was refusing to move an inch. I was pedalling, the turbo was on, everything was connected but my avatar had clearly gone on strike. What the watt? Power was showing in the menu screen meaning everything was connected and it was recognising I was pedalling but it wasn’t moving my cyclist in Watopia. I could spin my legs as fast as Roadrunner when Wile E Coyote arrived with the Acme Dynamite but without Zwift recognising I was doing it, cartoon Sarah wasn’t going anywhere.

Stupid cartoon Sarah. She’s clearly as stubborn and as much of a pain-in-the-arse as real life Sarah.

I paired, unpaired and repaired. I switched things on and off but no luck. Last option. I stopped the Garmin with a beep and restarted Zwift. Sigh. I’d lost the first part of the data in Zwift so was going to have to remember what time I’d done and add that onto the next section.

Well THAT’S going to end well, isn’t it?

Surprising how much this helps!

I started up Zwift but as I’d exited the program, it wouldn’t let me rejoin my cycling buddies. So Rach and Charley were cycling in Watopia and I was cycling in circles in Central Park in the virtual New York. Being new to Zwift, I had no clue how to choose which route I went on so I popped up on the route the program chose for me. 

Gosh. Lucky Central Park is an interesting route, isn’t it? … isn’t it?

It was fantastic for the first 2 hours … but with no clue how to change the route I was on, the short loop of Central Park got boring very quickly. AND I STILL HAD 10 HOURS OF IT TO GO.

I started getting very very sympathetic to the plight of the lonely goldfish circling the bowl.

The girls were chatting away which was lovely and made me feel a bit less as though I was pedalling away for an entire day in my house like a lunatic. Which I was. Charley dropped off the ride at lunchtime as she’d hit her target of longest ride of 5 hours which was absolutely brilliant. It was fantastic to have her along for the ride and her chat and quick wit kept the hours ticking past. We also got some lovely support from JJ who dropped in to say hello.

I can't do THIS on the bike normally!

As the miles ticked onwards, the chat lessened and as we got towards 100 miles, Discord tailed off into silence.

I don’t think my ranting about endless loops of Central Park helped. 

I decided that now was the time to fall back on Plan B and stuck Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade followed by Indiana Jones and The Holy Grail on the TV. Singing the theme tune like a lunatic cheered me up and took my mind off the fact I still had to sit on my now very sore fanny for another couple of hours. I decided monsters would take my mind off it and put on the classic film, Tremors. Who doesn’t like a classic monster film? 

Me. I’ve gone off films and cycling altogether at this point. Lying down I could get on board with. So long as it wasn’t in bloody Central Park.

Central Park could do one. 

I was on the last section now. 2 hours to go and I was joined by the lovely Laura Donald for a section. I spotted her avatar’s name pop up on the board on Zwift and it was lovely having a bit of company. It’s surprising how much quicker the miles go with support. If only it was possible for one of my buddies to actually go into Central park and push that bloody avatar round to save me pedalling, I’d be hugely appreciative. 

My lovely Rugby Tri girls dropped me a message and gave me a boost with some chat on Discord and Dan from Rugby Tri rode with me for the last section giving me the benefit of a bit of a draft – much appreciated! 

I was counting down the minutes now. The girls kept me going with chat … and every now and then would ask how long I had to go. 23 minutes …. 12 minutes … 7 minutes … 3 minutes. 

Nearly there. Just keep talking, girls. So long as you keep talking, I can keep pedalling.

And it takes my mind off how much I bloody hate Central Park right now. 

And done.

I stopped the watch. Finally. It was showing 12 hours 4 seconds. I was done.

HANG ON.

Didn’t I stop the watch when I restarted Zwift when it crashed 2 hours in …? 

WHAT

THE 

ACTUAL

…

Due to the snack-breaks and toilet-breaks and general fannying-around-breaks, I had completely lost track of time. I’d stopped the watch when I’d got off the bike so wasn’t sure at what time approximately I was due to finish. 

I HAD thought it was taking rather a long time …

Because this absolute twerp had cycled for 2 extra hours as she had forgotten she’d restarted the watch when she restarted Zwift.

2 additional hours of cycling around Central Park. 2 additional hours of resting on my battered fanny. 2 additional hours of abusing my legs on the bike. 

This betwattled idiot could have climbed off her bike 2 hours ago.

BUT £845 raised for Birmingham Crisis Centre. Additional resources and funds to help people in crisis.

Worth it.

Thank you.

Should you feel sorry for my poor legs or just having a chuckle at my appalling maths skills, the Just Giving page is still open here: Just Giving

1. Link to report on Domestic Abuse stats. 

Breca Gower Swim Run: Yes Friends, Seals and Why You Should Always Check Your Fern

I’ve never been a team player. I like the IDEA of working as a team but at school I was the one standing at the end when everyone else has been picked along with the kid who smells funny and has one finger permanently up a nostril and the kid who has has a communicable disease, hates sports and is threatening to lick anyone who picks him. I get distracted too easily. I’d get bored not playing at all times and would be standing there, wondering what was for lunch when the ball smacked me in the face. Or forgot which team I was supposed to be in so passed the ball to the opposite team. I am an appalling team player.

So I tend to do races on my own. Or take friends who already know that I’m a bit of a nightmare when it comes to snacks, navigation, choosing a bathroom spot … and are ok with that. Or tolerate it at least in exchange for the good snacks. 

However, what do I do when I find out that an event that I’ve planned for isn’t a solo event … and I needed a friend to do the event with me as a partner?

I don’t panic. 

I know just who to ask. 

Do you have a ‘Yes Friend’? If not you need to find one. A ‘Yes Friend’ is a friend who whenever you ask them to join in on one of your bonkers adventures, shouts “YES!” very loudly before you’ve even finished asking. And even better, they talk you into their adventures too.

So that’s how Rachel and I entered Breca Gower SwimRun. I was incredibly lucky to have this place gifted to us by Breca - thank you!

Rachel and me in Wales!

I arrived in Mumbles the day before the event and was blown away by how stunning the area is. It’s all cliffs and wild beauty and miles of sweeping beaches and coves. The sort of place I couldn’t wait to explore. It looked straight out of a Famous Five story and I was half expecting pirates and smugglers to sail across one of the bays. I couldn’t believe that I was going to run those steep but exciting cliffs and swim across those sparkling waters. It didn’t seem real. It seemed too big an adventure.

You know when you have a big event and you can’t quite imagine yourself afterwards …? It seems so big in your mind that you can’t quite believe that you’ll be the same person. That you’ll be you, but changed. That’s how Breca SwimRun felt to me. 

Photo by Breca

I’d booked a farmhouse to stay in which was a few miles from Mumbles. To get to the house, you had to drive miles and miles up a tiny winding lane which got narrower and narrower and more and more twisty - like a hedged spiral staircase. The farmhouse was large and white and looked beautiful and quaint. And also smelled alarmingly of cat wee. I didn’t spot a cat but judging by the smell it was the size of a mountain lion. However, the bedroom was clean and large and full of character and there was plenty of room to lay my kit out ready for my adventure the next day. 

I had to be at registration at 0800 hours and have my kit inspected to check that I had everything that was required. It wasn’t a huge amount but the mandatory kit per team was:

* Two wetsuits
* Two whistles
* Two reusable cups

Luckily my wetsuit had a pocket to stash the (squashable) cup in and some handy snacks. You don’t realise until you try and race some distance in one, that wetsuits aren’t the easiest things to hide food in. I just tied the whistle onto the wetsuit zip cord.

I got up in plenty of time and picked up my pre-packed bag ready to go. I dropped it all in the car and got to to the carpark I’d sneakily scoped out the day before.

Where I hit a snag. A big snag.

The car park instructions were all in Welsh. Which was understandable as I was in Wales. However, my working knowledge of Welsh was nil. 

Bugger.

My only option was to keep sticking coins in until it beeped at me … or a friendly local came along to assist. Luckily it was the latter and it was soon all sorted out. She even showed me how to turn the machine display into English. **facepalm**

As usual I had arrived really early. I hate being late for things. It’s extra stress and if I can’t find where to park or how to get to registration then it’s extra pressure. I’d rather chill out, scope out where to get a coffee and then have a leisurely wander up to the start.

However, after getting a few odd looks, I realised that not only did I have on my usual morning face [my Oh-My-God-Don’t-Talk-To-Me face], I also was wearing my comfy – yet battered – pre-race joggers, a hoody, my terrifying morning hair (before I’d put in the race plaits) and I was carrying a massive ru cksack (containing my wetsuit, cup and snacks). I realised I was perfectly nailing the ‘mad-and-transient’ look. 

I wasn’t complaining though. I get grumpy if people try to talk to me pre-coffee. I made a mental note to do this look again in the future. It would be ideal if I wanted to get to the front of a race portaloo queue. Certainly no-one would argue with my pre-coffee face.

Registration was in a beautiful green location called Underhill Park in Mumbles. It was surrounded by an old grey stone wall and was bordered by trees. The large white Breca tents stood out sharply on the green grass. This would be where our race would finish today. Our start was 13 miles away in Oxwich Beach. Our goal today was to make it back to Mumbles by swimming the coves and running the land in between. 

Rach and I registered our team and showed the Breca crew our mandatory kit and picked up our rash vests which had our race numbers on. This was it. We were in. Team number 16. 

Sooooo nervous!!

Our team name was ‘No Wheels Today’. Basically we were 2 triathletes who had NO CLUE how to do a swimrun and who weren’t allowed to use our bikes. Despite our training sessions which involved swimming in trainers and running in wetsuits, we really did feel like absolute amateurs who were totally winging it.

Note: Don’t try weeing in a swimrun wetsuit while RUNNING. This was an experiment I have already done so you don’t have to. Sloshing. There’s sloshing.

I saw Elise Downing before registration who had sorted out the entries for me and Rach. I gave her a quick hug and thanked her for sorting our entries. I’m sure you have already heard of Elise but one day in 2015, she set off to run the coastline of the UK. Self supported and carrying her belongings on her back. That’s 5000 miles! And she completed it in 301 days. She’s an inspiration and a genuinely lovely person.

Photo by Breca

Rach and I got ourselves into the registration tent and sat ourselves in the middle of the group. Everyone looked prepared, lean and professional. So what were we doing here? So it was quite a shock when three quarters of the people in the tent raised their hands when asked who was therefor their first swimrun event. Phew! So at least Rach and I weren’t completely out of our depth then! (First swim pun right there – badum-tish!) The registration set our minds at ease. The set up was really professional and the course was fully way-marked plus there were marshalled checkpoints and transitions. There were also to be plenty of boats and safety crew out and about following the progress of the swimrunners. So in theory I wouldn’t even be able to do my usual trick of getting completely lost.

We dropped our bags off and piled onto the 2 coaches  waiting by the trees of the park ready to take us to the start of our adventure.

It was 13 miles to the start … so how long would you estimate it would take a coach? An hour. It took an hour! The twisty roads and tiny lanes made the journey slow but it was amazing to get a look at the beautiful terrain we’d be running across. It was wild and beautiful. Despite my nerves, I couldn’t help feeling how incredibly lucky I was to do this. 

The coach parked up on a beach bordered on each side by steep sheer cliffs. A wide sweep of coastline with a shallow bay was on our left – the direction we were to be running. It was desolate and beautiful. The day was overcast and the clouds were brooding … the perfect set up for an adventure. 

Photo by Breca

And then in complete contrast to the wild beauty, the coaches emptied and all the females immediately made their way to the toilet block … it had been an hours drive and rather a lot of coffee, after all. And is it even an event if you’re not in a toilet queue for 20 minutes beforehand?

We grouped on the wet sand of the beach, the cold water soaking into our trainers and shivering with nerves although not cold. And we were off! The start of our adventure!

The route was split into 5 runs and 4 swims. Basically we were heading from Oxwich Beach back to Underhill Park in Mumbles and doing this by swimming the bays and running across the headlands. Our first section was to run nearly 3km from Oxwich Bay to Great Tor and swim 0.7km to Three Cliffs Bay.

Photo by Breca

The run of 3km along the beach felt a long way and I was looking forward to getting into the sea – but also dreading it. I wasn’t sure how I would feel after running – and setting off far too fast along the sand and shingle – but I still wasn’t going to slow down!

Photo By Breca

Plus I had forgotten just how difficult it is to enter the sea quickly. Do you dive? Do you jump? Or do you do what I do – an undignified waddle-wade and eventually fall over?

As soon as I got into the water, I remembered why I loved sea swimming. It’s so so different to lake and river swimming. The currents move you and you just get to see so much more underwater. I soon got into a rhythm and Rach and I stayed together really well. We hadn’t tethered ourselves for this event (although you could choose to if you wanted to) and our swim speed was evenly matched. 

Photo by Breca

We sighted on the white Breca quill on the beach and was soon out. However, pulling our wetsuits down to our waists and taking our goggles off was a lot more complicated than in training due to the race rash vests that we had to wear at all times with our team number on. We had to take the vests off, take the wetsuits down, put the vests back on and remember to take the goggles off so we could see where we were going! Also my swimrun wetsuit has short sleeves which makes it remarkably difficult to take down in a rush without bending your own shoulder backwards. It’s just awkward as haven’t got the sleeves to pull it down with unlike a normal tri wetsuit. Had to ask Rach for help. 

However, after finally managing the difficult task of dressing myself (now I know why my child used to complain so much), we got out to run the 7.7km to Brandy Cove. This was the longest run and checkpoint 1 was during this section. I was surprised just how thirsty the swimming and running combination made me. However in order to get to the drinks and snacks, I had to climb a sand dune … and a cliff. And then do some actual running. 

Photo By Breca

You remember, when as a kid, you tried to run in fine sand? It takes ages … and it’s EXHAUSTING. I finally made it up the side of the cliff, where I got to laugh at Rach giving me her ‘how do I even do this’ face. However, we both made it up the cliff, unscathed and enjoyed the trot along the top on the rabbit-nibbled grass. And the views were AMAZING. The sun had finally come out and the swim caps were off and the sea glittered blue in the Welsh sunshine. We had a view across the sea to our right and the bays and coves were laid out on either side. It was the most amazing thing. Running along salty and damp from the sea, warm in the sunshine and knowing we had miles to enjoy this. 

The run along the top of the cliffs was divine. The trails crossed in and out of gorse and ferns and the clouds scudded across the sky with sunshine one moment and grey clouds the next. It was ideal for this event as it was a nice temperature to run in and the sea felt glorious after hot runs. 

We were running along a stony path where we were chatting to another team and were told by 2 Breca marshals about the seals in the sea below us. We stopped to have a look and could clearly see them playing like puppies in the water. It was a real treat to see them and encapsulated what a very special event we were part of. 

How many events do you do where you get to swim near seals?

We clambered down the rocky cliff and I dropped on down and while waiting for our turn to go into the water, I started chatting to one of the marshals. There was only one place to get into the water safely with the rocks and the swell and the Breca team were amazing at ensuring everyone was safe and secure. I chatted away and looked up, to realise Rach was still halfway up the cliff. I’m a crap friend. I’d been so busy chatting, I hadn’t realised Rach wasn’t too keen on heights and was stuck. Climbed up to check on her and she came down with company. She’s super-brave. Worried about heights and hadn’t even mentioned it in her enthusiasm to do the event. 

Photo by Breca

We climbed down towards the sea and set off swimming through the clear water towards our next checkpoint and the white Breca quill flag we could see on the far shore. The current was stronger here and we were swimming towards the shore but not making much progress. The seabed didn’t look far below me and I could see the seaweed swaying with the current and swells as we were swimming, rocked by the waves. You feel quite protected in a wetsuit and goggles and with a friend swimming beside me, it was quite surreal. However, we didn’t seem to be making much progress towards the shore, the tide was moving us further along than we wanted and we weren’t getting closer to the shore. We decided to swim parallel to the beach and then try and strike inwards. That finally worked, but what we expected to be a short swim turned out to take a lot longer than expected. 

Photo by Breca

We ran up onto the beach, did the gymnastics with the kit change and set out onto the run. Rach had mentioned a couple of times how her stomach didn’t feel quite right and she was looking a bit green. Not a great situation to be in in the middle of an event and while wearing a wetsuit. However … we were surrounded by tall ferns. Rach stepped off the path and found a clump of bushy ferns and I stayed on the path and dreamed of the enormous ice cream I’d be eating at the end of our adventure.

Eventually Rachel appeared. Her stomach was much better … but she was a bit wriggly. “You ok?” I asked. She hesitated. Apparently ferns are great for wiping your bottom on as they’re nice and soft. BUT it’s always a good idea to check for ants first.

Lesson. 

The last run section is past a coastguard station lookout and is through scratchy gorse bordered by a high cliff. Rach was super happy about her choice to wear calf sleeves but I looked as though I had been wading through feral cats. This section was quite hilly but it was so beautiful. We were both a little sad that we were coming towards the end of our Wales adventure. It had been such a journey and something so different to anything I’d done before. As we came over the brow of the hill and down a narrow little alley, we heard the event loudspeakers echoing through the trees and it gave us an extra boost of enthusiasm and our legs winged us down the field and onto the grass of Underhill Park towards the Breca Gower finish line. 

WHAT AN ADVENTURE!

I have never done anything like it before but as soon as we passed the finish line, exhausted though we were, Rach and I looked at each other exhilarated and asked “When can we do this again?”

So our choice for next time is not whether to do one again, but whether or not to go long!

Thank you Breca! You were amazing!