I am beginning to develop a love-hate relationship with this island. Today I got a good taste of what the wind is really like here, and it is pretty brutal. Apparently, the winds can get even worse! Yikes!
The day started with an aquathon! That was a lot of fun! We did a 1200m swim, 2 loops of the swim loop we have been doing but with a beach run in between the loops. I started laughing at one point early in the swim when we were full contact swimming out there, only to have Coach T lead us off course. Haha! I noticed we were off course when I saw arms swimming to my far right, and then I saw the first buoy way off to my right and I started making a bee-line to it. The rest of the swim felt pretty good. After the swim, I headed to transition and I made up a bit of time there and started the run. I gave it my all on the run and even came close to puking at about 2km in. I have not given a run effort like that in a while and I wasn’t sure if I could maintain that for the whole 5km. I did fade at the end but tried to give a good finishing kick.
Then the bike. Today I got to wear the Player of the Day jersey!!! 
I was quite honoured to be rewarded the jersey last night for facing my fear of descending yesterday. So I felt like I had to ride as though I earned it. 
But the winds were pretty brutal out there today making this task harder. The wind also made descending that much more trickier but at least they were not as steep as yesterday. I was happy to have fellow campers, Alicia and Robyn join me today as it made the ride more bearable. Always nice having company out there and we conquered the wind although at times there were some close calls. The wind gusts were pushing us all over the road and then I was almost made roadkill by a tourist bus. Fun times! But we survived and hopefully it made us stronger. We rode the Ocean Lava Half IM course and boy was it tough. I’ve done some tough IMs and half IMs and this is right up there with one of the toughest. That bike course was brutal with some wicked climbs.
We ended the day with a nice dinner at a local restaurant where I enjoyed some local grilled seafood and wine. The wind is supposed to get even stronger the next couple of days so our schedule may be switched around a bit. We will have to wait and see what happens. We are half way through the camp now and I am making some new friends! Love it! Bring on the next four days – even the wind! Let’s Smash It!