Colin from my D3 triathlon club inspired everyone last year by going 12h37 and become the first club “outlaw”. He praised the event and many of us then registered for what was going to be a great D3 Triathlon day. After already 2 half iron distances, a half marathon, an Olympic triathlon and a sprint this year, the Outlaw was my long distance target for 2012 …

I don’t remember when Ellen and I decided to enter this race, but it was pretty late and totally unplanned. Maybe a week or less before it took place. After the poor weather we have had, we were pretty excited to get racing again, first race of the year for Ellen, and at Eton! Olympic distance for both of us…

Last year, I’ve been tamed by a puncture in the New Forest Swashbuckler middle distance triathlon. It then cost me 1/2h because I couldn’t remove my tubular tire with frozen fingers. You’d think I’d have learnt from this? In a way yes: I don’t have tubular wheels anymore. The other problem is the cold, and… err… Well, there’s still some work to do on that…

A week after the Swashbuckler, I was entered in this sprint distance to rack up some points for ESC D3 Triathletes in the London league. Crystal Palace is notorious for one thing: it’s Hill. 9 laps of the bike means 9 times up the hill and 9 times down, plus another 2 on the run for good measure.