Try-athlon

[silverknight]

A slight delay in this post, but it has been a week since competed in my first triathlon (400m swim, 15km bike, 5km run).

I was a little unprepared for it if I'm honest. University got in the way last term and I didn't train as much as I should have done. On top of this I crashed my bike on the way to the race and knocked my knee and elbow about a bit. Despite this, I managed to complete it. I didn't walk any of the run, and somehow managed to run my fastest 5k (yeah, I don't know how either!). See the picture for my awesome goodies from the race pack! 

From starting my first week of C25K not being able to run for 60s to exercising for 1hr44 as I do three sports at once is a huge achievement - it certainly shows that anyone can get fit! I'm not sure if I have found my competitive sport in tri, or if I just like the training variation, either way there will probably be more races to come as I measure my improvement!

The next step for me is to actually start eating less and healthier as I get my body down to its ideal weight. Something I have struggled with these past few months as training makes me so hungry. My mental state surrounding food is not healthy as I used it as an escape mechanism for most of school and still do now, and I honestly think this is going to be 10x harder than any physical exercise! 

[heavyhorse Graduate]

well done, great achievement!

[silverknight in reply to heavyhorse]

Thank you  

[builtforcomfort Graduate]

Wow, well done that is fantastic. I would never be able to do the swimming part of the triathlon as I am not a good swimmer, I would imagine the combination of the 3 disciplines is great fun though and keeps the training interesting. 

I find that thinking about food as something to help me run and get fitter, fuel rather than comfort has helped me eat more healthily and my diet now is pretty good (I could still eat cake for England given the chance though!)

[silverknight in reply to builtforcomfort]

Believe me, when I started my swimming was terrible! Couldn't even do a length without reverting to doggy paddle! I say anything is possible

I guess that is something I'm going to have to retrain my mind to think. I have phases of being really conscious of what I'm eating and then uni stress takes over and I'm back to eating rubbish!

[Realfoodieclub Graduate]

Well done it's a great achievement one you will always remember.  I did couch to sprint triathlon too.  I love the structure of the cross training and have kept that up.  I try and do an swimathon every year and some event runs.  The thing I didn't get on with too much with triathlon was the bike.  I still go out occasionally but I didn't find the love.  I found that as my training got harder I started to think of food as fuel and read up and learned what my body needed to be able to do what I was asking of it.  I found that this gave me a different approach to my thought process with food and therefore my body.  I now view my body more like a machine and most days try and put the premium petrol in but occasionally I use the cheap stuff the only thing I really try never to do is run on empty (too much bad food is lousy fuel)  Good luck and happy running. 

[silverknight in reply to Realfoodieclub]

Thanks for the advice! I like the petrol analogy I'm probably going to have to wait until exams finish before I look into everything properly. For now I'll just keep the food I'm eating currently at healthy portion sizes and then transition into looking at what I'm eating.

[Ullyrunner Graduate]

Brilliant achievement -well done. 

Losing weight is hard. I found I needed the support of a group ( much like the forum on here) and went to Slimming World. That worked for me.

[silverknight in reply to Ullyrunner]

Thank you  

I've looked into joining groups before, I guess it might be time to give it a shot!

[Hidden]

Well done! I'm the same with the eating that's harder than getting up and running for me. I'm on Week 9 of the program and not lost much weight yet. I've got the idea of a triathlon knocking around in the back of my mind for the future some time. However, I'm not a good swimmer and don't really like bikes lol but it may be a challenge I take up. 5k first and then maybe 10 k. Your post has inspired me, however and congrats!

[silverknight in reply to Hidden]

Don't let a lack of ability now stop you! So many people on here thought they could never run and now can

Good luck with your running  

[Hidden in reply to silverknight]

Thanks

[Rainbowsmurf Graduate]

Wow, well done! Impressive stuff. Not sure if I could manage a triathlon as I'm not great on a bike. 

Go you!

[silverknight in reply to Rainbowsmurf]

Thank you  

Ah don't let that stop you, it's all about the training! 

[Mat30 Graduate]

Great job silverknight, I have a sprint tri coming up soon.  I am hoping for the time that you finished in, well done! 

[silverknight in reply to Mat30]

Good luck with your sprint! Hope you hear about it on a future post  

[Rignold]

Well done. That's a great achievement.

Don't let nutrition intimidate you. Most people fear the idea of privation form massive calorie restriction, but it really shouldn't be like that. If you work on realigning what your eat with what your body needs in nutrient terms, you wont find yourself hungry.

[silverknight in reply to Rignold]

Thank you Yeah I've never been taken in by drastic calorie reduction, I just need to start thinking about what to put in my body and stop snacking between meals! 

[Returning2Run Graduate]

Congratulations! I am so in awe of you, I love watching triathlons and want to take part in an aquathlon- me and bikes don't get on anymore! I think your dedication is amazing 🎉 I really empathise with the food relationship issues. At the moment I'm trying to concentrate on adding healthy things into my diet and that's helping as I've previously done a lot of restricting and then bingeing. This time I'm not setting myself up to fail anyway, really inspiring to read, especially a 5k Pb! 

[silverknight in reply to Returning2Run]

Thank you Definitely try out the aquathlon, I tried one when I was debating joining the tri club. I'm not sure why, but it felt freeing getting out from the pool and just running aha. 

That is definitely something I should be doing - getting my 5 a day is a task sometimes. I've also tried the restricting, normally chocolate, and find myself binging at the end of the week. Might look into how bad adding those funsize bars are to my lunch...and whether it should just be a couple of times a week!