Chris Lamb: Thames Turbo Sprint Triathlon 2013 Race 1
On Monday I took part in my first triathlon, a "sprint" distance race organised by Thames Turbo Triathlon Club.
Swim
- Distance
- 428m (+ pool exit chute)
- Time
- 10:23 (2:26/100m)
T1 (time: 5:32)
Due to the cold temperature and forecast for snow, the race director insisted that competitors added extra layers covering their arms and torso on the bike. An additional "free" 5 minutes was also granted for T1 in order that clothing was not skipped in expense of time. I eventually wore a long-sleeve base layer, tights, a short-sleeved jersey, arm warmers and two pairs of gloves.
Bike
- Distance
- 13.8 miles (+ mounting/demounting chutes)
- Time
- 39:59 (19.5 mph)
T2 (time: 3:30)
Leaving T2 I failed to start both my GPS and stopwatch correctly so I do not have splits of my time. I also did not pick up my running gloves resulting in distractingly cold hands in Bushy Park.
Run
- Distance
- 5k
- Time
- 24:21 (4:52/km)
Overall
(Full results)
- Total time
- 1:18:44
- Position
- 127/261
- Position male
- 109/202
- Position 25-29 male
- 16/25
(Full results)
I look after a bunch of servers, working for
I was really not doing well by yesterday, I had developed quite the runny
nose. I've discovered that it's neigh on impossible (from my sample set of
two pharmacies) to get pseudoephedrine over the counter in this country. In
the US, you have to provide ID and they report all purchases to the
government and if you start buying too much, they come and kick down the
door of your meth lab. Here, you seem to need a prescription. One pharmacy
told me that 1 in 10 pharmacies will sell it over the counter. I ended up
with the Australian equivalent of
According to the update
Ben Goldacre (

Antonia came into the room. Where's Alieta? she asked.
We don't know, replied Luda. It was true; we hadn't seen Alieta
in quite some time, and we had no idea where she was.
Antonia left. Varvara eyed me mischievously and said, You could
call her.
How? I asked.
Touch the grandmother clock and you will figure it out.
I touched the clock trepidly. Nothing happened. I opened my mouth
to speak, but the word I had been about to say resonated in my mind
as if spoken through a comb filter. I concentrated. Alieta,
dozens of human-like voices sang over and over in different
harmonies. I let go.
What was that? I demanded.
Clock, Varvara said dismissively.
Come on, let's do laundry, Luda grunted.
We carried our laundry out to the garage, which is where the washer
and dryer lived. Alieta slipped in through one of the open garage
doors, and surreptitiously pulled Varvara over for a whispered
conversation.
Antonia wandered in and squinted in Alieta's general direction.
Luda quickly pulled Varvara in front of her. It's just Varvara,
she announced.
Antonia's eyes glazed over and she went back into the house.
Alieta pursed her lips and studied the wall as if there
might be some reflective object that had alerted her mother
to her presence. Then she grabbed Varvara by the hand, pulled
her over to push the buttons that closed the garage doors,
and dragged her into the house.
I watched the garage doors close. Then I watched the one on
the left reverse direction. I opened my mouth to notify someone
of this, but the doors reversed direction again, and proceeded
to partially open and close as if possessed. I tried to hide
behind Luda, without success.
Now she was watching as well, as reality seemed to to shimmer
and bend. The roof became arched, and there were loud mechanical
noises as our environs transformed. When it finished, the
place where the garage doors had been was now a wall of screens
displaying video as you might encounter in a television store.
More disconcertingly, we were in front of a railing which
overlooked what appeared to be a car dealership showroom.
Luda sucked in her breath. Benjamin Snow, you were into
some serious shit, she muttered.


Given the recent discussions on
Recently, I've been using
PostgreSQL just released