My penny's worth:  Distance mileage (i.e. 100 miles/week) is not seen as beneficial these days - Liz McColgan is an example of that type of training, she now has basically a prosthetic toe from all the damage of high mileage (albeit that was probably high intensity) and can't run. 
Annie Emmerson raced at the World Half Marathon champs when she was swimming more than ever. 
Power to weight ratio plus increasing aerobic fitness with reduced weight bearing - unless you have a perfect physique/balance - has got to be the way forward.
Just MHO.
 

A lady friend is looking for a second hand small frame road bike for around ?200.  Any offers?

Thanku 

Oh to be a full time athlete Jimbo!
Can't make it as at work - have fun   

'like'!
Great training there, but olympic course has increased the amount of cyclists.  Let me know next time you're going Jim (not next week, I'm on a training camp - yippee!!)
C

Hi Gary

Just MHO:  If you want a new on, it may be worth waiting for the start of the open water season (around April/May), unless you really need one before that.  A couple of the lakes have their chosen brand that you can try before you buy, which is the best way to do it if you want to justify your money.  Liquid has 2XU, Heron has um, can't remember and Princes had another brand at certain times. We did have Zone3 come and visit the pool once and a few of us bought those.
Another option is to go to the TriUK store, bit of a drive though, where they have an endless pool to try out the wetsuits.  Some retailers might allow you to try the wetsuit in the pool and send back if it doesn't fit, but worth checking beforehand.
C 

It's a tuffy - equivalent to a marathon apparently.
C/D 27 Feb or earlier if full.
Mmmm, thinking