Swimming and nearly swimming at the XC

After a few beers last night at Caroline's with some of the WRR aspirant and one actual Ironman (and women) wasn't to sure about today's training plan going ahead.  I was half expecting the cross country to be cancelled due to flooding at Bedford, but it wasn't to be as a quick check on the Bedford AC website showed.  I had also had what I felt was a hard day on Saturday!
Off to the pool, a little later than usual as the XC start was 10.30am so I could be more relaxed.  A drills swimming session this morning, working on stroke pull and push, with lots of kicking sets.  The drills sessions went almost to plan, the kicking sets happened as I put on the fins otherwise I would have been there for a long time -  16 lengths of kicking in 4 sets was achieved, but it did feel like cheating or at least getting assistance until I can get my legs providing some forward propulsion!  Completed 2,000m in 1hr 04'43".
Home for some breakfast before heading to Bedford.  The drive was wet with the rain still falling heavily with plenty of surface water making driving difficult in places.  The race itself was cut short due to the flooding on the original course - mind you there was plenty of water on the course, real cross country with mud and a river crossing although it was more like a field drain carrying off excess water than an actual river.  The shortened course was 3.77 miles, I took 30'02", average pace of 7'54" per mile - I was also working hard with an average HR of 157bpm with the majority of the time in zone 4.

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