Buoys, girls and trigger's broom

Change of plan this morning to accommodate some family time in my weekend. I went to Shepperton Swim with wife and offspring at a very liesurely time. My calves were a bit stiff from my run yesterday and shoulder gave a warning\un-nerving and twang when getting wetsuit on (must be a 30's thing). Feeling really tired too. I think 3 weeks on pain meds catching up. Once in the water though i felt fine other than some initial soreness from the chafed nipples. You want warts and all right? Well, the warts were fine today. Anyway. The loops at Shepperton are 750m as opposed to the 1k at Heron lake. I'm not sure which place i prefer. Probably Heron on balance but there is more space for toddlers to romp around at Shepperton and its not next to M25. The plan was to undertake 3k at a steady pace. Lap 1 was fine, i was fresh and seemed to be swimming with a few others around me to keep me on track and gently went round in 14 minutes. After a wave to family lap 2 & 3 happened. I put more effort in having warmed up but was disgusted to see that i had added a couple of minutes on to each. I recognised on lap 3 that i wasn't being very diligent at sighting the buoys to keep me straight. The result was me swimming much further than i needed to. Lap 4 I put more effort into sighting and less into beasting and completed my quickest lap of the day. At heron lake the buoys are massive, i know it well and the course follows other bouys and treelines more so I guess I've become a bit lazy. Lesson learnt
i got out and after a quick cold shower I went to the picnic table at which my family were perched opposite a couple of post swim girls
I was told to my and the girls' delight that Catherine had drawn a picture of a monster with a heart rate monitor. They were very impressed she was signed up to an iron kids event. They looked doubtfully at me.

After the fun of the lake we went to Iaim's where I had a chance to look over a dismantled Giant Defy. Quite a few pieces need replacing. Some such as the chain which i seem to have destroyed within a few months others such as cables which came with the bike and are now due to retire. Iaim presented me with a shopping list and I wonder how long it will be before I don't have any original parts left.

I feel a bit guilty comparing her to triggers broom actually, that bike has been amazingly robust.