Taperitis

 Tapering is an odd thing.  Done all the training, the event is almost here, and you start reducing the volume of training... and all of a sudden all the niggles, anxieties and little irrational worries come crawling out of the woodwork. 

We're all set up in Shieldaig, our home until after the Celtman Solo Point Five, and athletes and their support crews have started arriving for the full-distance Celtman which takes place this weekend. 

We nipped across to Gairloch this morning, so Mark could do a mountain bike route and I could swim from a sandy beach as the weather's been so warm.  

And... 😮

...Jellyfish soup! (Size 7 Croc for scale...) 

It's 25 degrees here just now, and the water feels warm - unusually so for this time of year - so I thought I'd swim without gloves or socks.  I lasted a mere 10 metres (yes, metres!) until the fear took over.  Suddenly I was overcome by the fear of having feet or hands stung, and being injured before next Saturday... Time to get out and put those gloves and socks back on!  

It was a gorgeous swim in wavy water, my favourite kind - but holy moly there were an awful lot of jellies!  The gloves & socks did the trick, but a short session was enough.  

I wonder what other irrational worries will surface in the next week...