All done!

All done and dusted! I finished the last leg of the triathlon this morning, after swimming 192 lengths in 87 minutes. Three miles is about 4.8 kilometres, which works out at 192 lengths. I was keen to do it under 90 minutes, but wasn't sure what kind of pace I could sustain over that distance. It's not just the distance, of course: swimming 192 lengths in the pool involves 191 tumble turns, which takes its toll on your back, knees and ankles as you flip and then push off. So, for much of the swim I wasn't swimming too hard, only really pushing it over the last forty or so lengths.

In the end, it wasn't tiredness I was feeling by the end of the swim but friction: it's probably indicative of a bias in my stroke, but the for last ten lengths my left armpit (!) was getting really sore as my arm rubbed against my chest on the pull-back. By that stage, I could also feel the goggles starting to cut into my face (turns out, low profile racing goggles aren't very comfortable after 87 minutes). But I was nearly done, so I picked up the pace and finished three tough days with a final couple of sprinted lengths before gladly peeling (yes, peeling) the goggles out of my face. I tried to pause my Poolmate to get a photo of the distance and time readings, but I haven't quite figured it out, so I have some photos of the lap count and another of the time elapsed (after being out of the pool for five minutes), but not both together. If I can figure how to transfer them, I'll post them tomorrow. The lifeguard on duty at East Sands witnessed the readings for me, though, just in case anyone doubts me.

So we're done!

I'm not quite done with the blogging though: various people deserve some honorable mentions for their input, either as sponsors or supporters. I'll do that tomorrow. For just now, let me just point you once more to the official websites for Project Zambia and remind you that, however much I have enjoyed the last few days, there has been a reason for it all. All of this has been undertaken to raise money in support of a University of St Andrews project, sending students to Zambia to raise awareness of HIV-AIDS. These students are making huge sacrifices to be involved in this exciting project. Dig deep, folks.