Update, I have spent this weekend in Keswick with wife Liz and her sister Jill. We rented a delightful little cottage for three people. The original intention was for Jill and myself to be taking part in the Lakesman Triathlon along with two other members of the West Hull Ladies running club. As it turned out, Jill had to drop out due to a knee injury, I withdrew due to my heart problem and one of the remaining WHL girls dropped out as well. So the three of us attended as spectators, supporting Shelly, the one remaining WHL member, and looking out for Adrian, race number 284, the guy who bought my place in the event. I have experienced some very confused and conflicting emotions. I was obviously disappointed not to be able to compete but at the same time feeling quite relieved not to be indulging in this insane act of masochism. My first experience of this kind of event as a spectator was interesting. Seeing the unbelievable abilities of the top guys doing the run as if they were out on a 10k contrasted with the ordinary entrants who really did look as though they were attempting a marathon after doing a 2.4 mile swim and a 112 mile bike ride. Liz took lots of pictures of the event in general, Shelly doing her various stages, and Adrian on the run. She posted the Adrian pictures to Adrian via the interweb thingy. I felt a pang of envy when Shelly showed us her finisher's medal and tee shirt.
Having taken a look at this event, I'm now thinking about whether I would like to enter next year if my health problems clear up. On the one hand there is that feeling of having unfinished business, having set myself a challenge and not having achieved it. On the other hand, I don't feel that it was as well organised as the Outlaw. There didn't appear to be quite enough marshals. The swim seemed to be very good, the lake was clean and, at least this year, quite warm. It is more difficult as a spectator to judge the bike section but Shelly said that she had few problems. The run section seemed to be passing through some rather busy areas traffic wise and, looking at the area, it seemed as though the run could have been totally off road as there were numerous woodland trails including a ten mile path around the lake. There is also the issue of the unpredictable Lake District weather. Back home the weather has been fine. In Keswick it was heavy cloud and occasional rain over the whole weekend.
So, the future is very uncertain at the moment. Maybe this is what keeps life interesting.
Better safe than sorry - I hope that they are able to treat the problem, and I hope it doesn't involve beta blockers (which limit the upper levels of your heart rate to about 100bpm). I was put on these after diagnosis after they had discovered an 'inverted T wave' on my ECG - basically one of the peaks on the ECG was a trough. Things did resolve themselves though after a few months and I was able to get back into training. I hope it's not too long before you can get back to full strength, for now stick to 'wifey pace' 😱 😉
