Saying hello here properly.

Hi guys,I've decided it's time to commit and push forward and work towards my first IM.  I’m presently listed on a provisional team for next year’s Outlaw (running) alongside the magnificent duo of Cake & Ultra Bookie, and my target for the solo Outlaw is 2015.

I’m 50yrs old, married and in Derbyshire, which where I am gives me access to a great countryside network to run in for which I'm very grateful.  I

Luckily, even though I’m still pants at stuff and don’t have the natural attributes for athletics I’d have liked, I do have other things going for me, including a very supportive wife who lets me spend both time and money, and good friends amongst whom are some lovely RW folks who I’m lucky enough to get to meet and have fun with from time to time. 

I love running, well more run/walking at the moment out on the longer distances in the countryside.  Daytime, night-time it’s all good  -  which is useful as I backed off due to some overuse injures early in the year that threatened a couple of important start lines I wanted to make, and so at the speeds I presently move at, being able to run by headtorch is a must. image

Swimming is something I had to get a coach for to get past years of 25m splash and splutter stuff that because of ignorance of techniques, I never thought I’d get past.  This year I neshed out and went for breaststroke to get me through my first go at a sprint tri, but it’s hard on my more playful knee and I’m now starting again from scratch to develop my front crawl.  The thing about the coaching is it changed the relationship I have with swimming and now even though I’m still rubbish – it’s an absolute labour of love. I’ve gone from not seeing how I’m ever going to get past my weaknesses, to understanding the mechanics and believing I’ll be fine once I get technique/timing sorted out.

That leaves the cycle stuff, the backbone of the tri – and the thing that I haven’t yet learned to love and haven’t really tackled head on.  I don’t have much of a cycle background,  I’ve still hardly touched one for 35yrs and I’m not really excited to be in traffic on a bike – it’s a thing I have to (and will) conquer.  On the up side, I have a decent enough road bike (it goes by the name of Capt. Jackson), I've also just bought a modest but well reviewed turbo-trainer to help when the weather is forbidding to make the most of the Winter months, and am just about to add a cadence sensor and sufferfest video (Hell Hath No Fury seems favourite) to bolster those workouts.

I don’t suppose that comes across as much of a base, but amongst that lot above are things I’ve learned that have given me the confidence to go forward.

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