For those lucky people who have never swum in anything like this when you get in it takes a few minutes for you to be able to immerse yourself fully in it, and it takes several times of dunking your head in until you can keep it there.
In addition to this your heart rate absolutely skyrockets at first when you start swimming as your body struggles to pump blood to your shoulders and arms whilst also sending blood to your vital organs to keep you alive. This is a very ordinary feeling and it took around 15-20 mins of being in the water yesterday to start to feel comfortable.
This makes me realise even more why I had such a shocker of a swim at the World Champs in Hamburg last year, when the water temperature was 16 degrees but I had a sleeveless wetsuit on, big mistake!
We had the team breakfast after the swim, team photo as well and caught up with a lot of people who I haven't seen since last year. Headed out for a couple of laps on the bike course in the arvo, and let me say this, it will be quick! I did an effort for only half a lap, mostly the uphill / downhill part and the 10km came in at just over 17 mins. I think a bike time under an hour for the 40km will definitely be needed, and possible to place well on Saturday.
On the second lap I stopped to take a couple of photos up the top over Lions Gate Bridge and the harbour, ran into a couple of athletes I know from South Africa and had a chat. Had the downhill to myself this time, so pushed it and found a smoother line that I could stay on the aero bars the whole way down and around the bottom corner, it was well worth doing.
Temp today (Wednesday) is 11 degrees, but it is forcast to hit a fine and sunny (with the possibility of showers) 15 on raceday! If it rains though, it will be carnage on the bike course...
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