Well, in the name of consistency, last Wednesdays Day from Hell was again down-graded. This time, due to the impressive dust cloud providing for a lucifer-inspired atmosphere.

I'm not sure what contributed the most to the decision not to ride: the thought of being blown off my bike or the thought of having to pull my bike apart to remove all the dust. This would have to be a first for me: deciding not to ride to avoid making my bike dirty to avoid having to clean it. Definitely a low point for me, and not something I'm terribly proud of. Despite this, managed to swim about 3km with The Animal in the morning and get a solid running track session of ~8km in the afternoon. The times are coming down slowly for the 1 milers, however this stitch issue is not resolving. It is odd how these injuries don't just disappear despite refusing to stop training. I think I may need to see an allied health professional.

Thursday - after being fairly committed to running the normal BMMC Thursday run with The Animal, I must apologise for not showing up. The decision was based purely on the desire to remain in bed for those extra 90 minutes. What can I say...

Friday saw me miss the pre-arranged start of the usual morning ride with The Animal by approximately 1 minute, which might not seem like much but when you are chasing The Animal on the bike it is a reasonable length of time. It has to be said, his decision to not wait is in accordance with BMMC standards and is completely reasonable and expected given the track record I have.

Saturday was a 3km swim, 1hr45min mtn bike ride (bike computer didn't work and distance isn't all that meaninful on the mtn bike), 9km ride - 10km run - 9km ride session down to the Folks for a hit out around Sun Valley with the Welshman.

Sunday was the first 'triathlon' for the Panther's Tri Club season. The swim was unfortunately cancelled due to strong winds and the wind-chill factor that resulted. This did not play to my strengths, as the swim was replaced with a 5km run to make the event a duathlon. After a poor run leg to start, things went better on the bike and I managed to hold my position over the final 2.5km run.
Total time: 1:04:55
Breakdown:
5km Run: 20:33 (nice head wind for 2.5km and usual stitch issue resurfaced), overall not very happy with time.
Ride: 34:27 (incl. transition)
2.5km Run: 9:54 (stitch not an issue, final 1.25km with head wind, felt better)

Cycle Computer stats:
Distance: 19.62 km
Time: 32:53 min
Avg Speed: 35.7 km/h
Max speed 49 km/h

Again, the head wind proved troublesome on the bike, however with a loop track a head wind also means a nice tail wind. You can't have your cake and eat it too.

Monday was a day off.

Tuesday was morning run with BMMC, last one with Sleep Train before he flew out to Austria to compete in the World Mountain Running Championships. Looking forward to seeing what Ben can produce over there.

Day from Hell tomorrow... will this be the first one to go according to plan?