It would have been exhausting enough if I had only managed to complete every training session during the annual Glasgow Triathlon Club Spring training weekend, held this year at Dalkeith. With two swim sessions on the Saturday plus a 2.5hr cycle in very windy conditions (and with the big boys), followed by a Sunday of swimming, cycling and running it was highly likely that I would have been really quite weary indeed by the time I returned home. But then I had to have a go at pushing myself to the limits of endurance and tiredness by staying up way past my ordinary bedtime both nights and drinking just a little too much white wine.

The strange thing is that this is not my normal approach to weekends away. Even as a student I liked to get to bed at a reasonable hour because I tend to be pretty hopeless on little sleep. I rarely even got drunk because I hate to try to operate with a hangover. So why I decided to act like a teenager on this particular weekend I have no idea. Suffice to say, though, I had a total ball!

Although I struggled to keep up with the full-on training timetable (especially on the Sunday cycle) I enjoyed a marathon of laughs and silliness. So used to being the one who has gone to bed before the madness starts, for once I was one of the late-night crowd to witness a series of “beyond funny” escapades. What happens on tour, stays on tour so I’ll not be breathing a word of it here, but some of the shenanigans still makes me laugh out loud just thinking about it!

Thankfully I managed to stay alert enough during the days to reap the benefits of some spot-on coaching from the club coaches. We were videoed swimming and running, which was hugely enlightening. I knew I wasn’t a great swimmer but the video revealed just how rubbish I really am! Still, with so much to improve on my swimming can only get better. I was pleased to see that my running style is so much less round-shouldered than it was although I can’t believe I look so old! Where and when did I get all those frown lines?!

Perhaps it was a good thing that I got so much beauty sleep in my younger years instead of partying all night. Otherwise I dread to think how old I’d look now!