More Cold Water

Yet another early morning. I left Rosemary sleeping and headed off to the swimming pool for an 8am club swim. Whilst the rest of the UK was sunny, Edinburgh was enveloped in it's famous grey haar, low and very cold cloud.  I was looking forward to swimming in the pool with others for a change but found I was the fastest in the lane by quite some margin and the faster lane was too busy. No feet to draft off!
 
After a very quick change, I was off down to Portobello for my 2nd swim, in the sea again. Rosemary was already there having run down. I nearly never got in. It was low tide, with little whippy waves which churn up the sand. Not my favourite conditions! I manned up, got changed and was soon in the water trying to find where Rosemary was. She was way in the distance so I set off trying to swim towards her. It was a major effort as the waves and cold made it difficult to get into a rhythm. When I reached her and Kate, my wrist had started to hurt again! I tried to swim with them but the pain, a sharp stabbing one, was too great to allow me to catch on the water.  I had ordered neoprene gloves last night so they should solve the problem when they arrive. I was resigned to getting out early again.
 
After a shower in Porty Pool, we all congregated at the Wee Green Van for coffee and cake. Rosemary was getting the bus home so I chummed her up to the High Street for that, and then pedalled home. For breakfast number 2 and a snooze!
 
Rosemary woke me up at 2:30pm, I switched on the coffee machine and then got changed into my cycling kit. We headed out through Leith……gone are the days when Sunday roads are quiet. It was like rush hour. It wasn't until Tranent that the roads quietened and we were soon in the quiet rolling roads of East Lothian. It was now sunny and warm in moments, although a strong Easterly prevented us overheating too much.
 
Our turn came around East Linton, by which time my legs were feeling it. It was a tailwind all the way home but I just suffered a little more quickly. Fortunately, glorious sunshine made it more bearable.  Getting back towards Edinburgh, the haar was starting to descend, bringing with it a drop in temperature. We had done 84km by the time we had to ascent the stairs to the flat, probably the hardest climb of the day. I was knackered and was glad Rosemary cooked dinner!
 

No rest for the wicked, as I had a coaching chat to do. I was delighted that Simone had finished 2nd in her time trial, with only a pro' rider beating her by a small margin. Even better is that her bike position is optimised for Ironman racing so she was at a disadvantage aerodynamically! Great progress! Then in was down the stair again to do some tulip photos for our neighbour! Gahh…..managed a few but the light was too crap for the lens I was using.