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Newbies welcome here....

We seem to have a good few newbies join us recently, Welcome!! I thought this would be a good place for them to introduce themselves and those of us who seem to lurk on the forum can welcome them and show how inclusive we can be....



Those of us who have lurked a while might want to post a little about themselves so we can have a better idea of training backgrounds (and possibly motives for doing Tri’s), and put a story to a username... Also might go some way to understand our posts on controversial subjects[:D]



We can also dispense some good advice....

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Comments

  • Hello my name is Scott and I’m a newbie (ish)



    My Background:- Rugby (Second Row ‘cause I was too big to play back row in the social team!!) until Jan 07 when I busted my knee really badly.. after 1 year of doing nothing/rehab I joined a running club to get fit, did too much too soon and suffered a couple injuries (shin splints especially), so I started cycling to work to continue the good work running started...Colleague told me about this sport he did Triathlon – Swim, Bike and Run – I can run and bike I thought!!!



    8 weeks (including some training!!) later I’m doing my first sprint in September, really enjoyed the event, the other competitors were fantastic, especially when they found out it was my first Tri.. I was hooked!!!



    I had been lurking on this forum before the race, but once I had the bug I dove in and asked lots of the usual questions, received lots of good advice back..



    Soon after I signed up for Windsor and London Olympic Tri’s this year and started training in earnest.



    Over Xmas got drunk ordered a LOT of Tri books from Amazon including Conehead’s book (How Triathlon Ruined My Life - proceeds go to charity...) and then decided to go for ½ IM this year, thanks Darren!!



    Lastly, I have been a [sic] “punter” in events (not Tri’s) in the past and I like to test myself sometimes without knowing if I will succeed or fail.....



    Ohhh and I like pink...... (a little)






  • I've been posting a bit since joining the forum a few weeks ago - but here's a potted biography:



    Sports backgound: good at athletics as a kid, sprinted (100m), hurdled, high jumped and swam for my county, briefly.



    Gave it all up in my teens and twenties in favour of boys, fags, booze and rock 'n roll.



    However, I always did cycle to work (14m round trip per day) and swam for fun and 'fitness'. I was the water baby in the family, I adore water, swimming, boats etc.



    I developed a chronic illness and got married to someone with a blood-clotting disorder in my 30s - both things leading to a radical overhaul of lifestyle, including pushing up the exercise levels. This led in turn to us both becoming addicted to road cycling.



    A way-to-close encounter with peritonitis a couple of years ago left me in a bed for a long while on an HD Unit, gazing out at the sea (fantastically well-located hospital) and thinking "when all this is over, I think I'd like to do a triathlon..."



    Apparently I said this out loud and everyone thought it was the morphine - however I learned to run (after a fashion)and did a sprint triathlon last year. Then did four more.



    This year I plan to do another 5 - half of which I want to be Olympic distances. Can't wait, I'm totally hooked and even DH is joining me for my first event.



    Oh, and I'm over 40, but nice girls don't give away their ages [:)]



    I like pink too.



    My username? I also love electronic music.....the name comes from the title of a track by my favourite artist.



    blurredgirl
  • BlinkybazBlinkybaz Posts: 1,144
    Scott good idea dude,



    So Blinkybaz, First I suppose you need to know why Blinkybaz hey! Well it all comes from the fact I have eye sight problems and its a nickname I gave myself to help people to feel like they could take the P*SS out of me still after my Illness. I have Behcets which is rare. It could have been blinkydeafobaz but thats a bit of a mouthful.



    So why Tri? Well i am always up for a challenge and over the last 5 years I have done abseils,zip lines, Cross country races, road races and the 3 peaks national challenge 3 times for which I hold a gold medal for.

    The Triathlon is another challenge set by my friend Jim and much to his surprise this challenege has lite a fire under me and I love it. I love the training the disipline I need to train and eat correctly the swimming the cycling (new bike helps there, I say new bike more like second ever bike had to learn to ride first)



    I am not at heart a great sport person and never got picked for school teams but......

    Since I started work at my local college I have been challenge very regularly to events by a friend and colleague to do differetn events. So I have got fit and shed 5 stone. (the tablets i take for Behcets disease make me put on wieght) Oh by the way I have behcets disease which is the eye sight issue and joints and.......... the list is endless. But not to dwell there.
  • Another newbie here! Please be gentle with me [;)]



    Boring biography: Since school, I was usually really into distance running, or cycling, or hiking, or swimming, and so on. It varied from year to year. 5 years ago I met my wife, who is adorable but a totally inactive; I gave in to apathy, and quit training.



    Recently a friend roped me into an entirely different sporting event (a rally) and I tried to get into shape for that with plenty of cycling, running, gym, and swimming. I felt great, and rediscovered the post-workout high. After the rally (a few weeks ago) I've continued training.



    I always need a big challenge to work towards. A good tough triathlon would be ideal; it fits neatly with the training that I already enjoy.



    From what little I've seen of the Tri scene, it seems to suffer from hardware fetishism at least as much as any other sport I've been involved with; but, hey, if that's the worst problem then it's still better off than most other sports. [:D]



    This week's training: my bike's out of service whilst a new rear mech hanger is being fabricated, and I'm skipping swimming for a while, so it's just running. I've been running a 12km route, every day or two, and it gets faster each time (last year I'd have had to walk half of it). Am going to do a marathon in April; marathons aren't my primary interest, but it's a good short-term target and I can rub shoulders with people & broaden my experience.

  • Hi guys, im chris or clarkey as everyone calls me... no prizes as to why. In my username 30 stands for the depressing fact that in a few short weeks i hit the big 30.



    Ive come from a Football background around the non-league scene although all my managers will tell you they never dreamt id be fit enough to do a triathlon! I decided i needed a new challenge after rupturing my ACL for the second time in 2003, in my first game back i suffered a haemotoma in my shin which was the single most painful injury ive ever suffered and enough to say thats enough.



    Being a complete closet whale i needed to keep fit so got talked into training for windsor 2007, i brought a nice shiny hybrid and fell off on the maiden ride breaking my arm! I did windsor in 2007 in 3:09 and was hooked, i did it again last year taking nearly 30 minutes off my time, i did London for the sake of it, not something i would ever suggest and Blenheim which behind windsor was awesome.



    Im doing the Antwerp 70.3 this year along with a host of other events with friends ive met through the sport and i honestly wish id discovered this sport ten years ago!!!!!



    Training suggestions always welcome!!!!!
  • Hi, I am Charlie 25 female, living in Essex (yes i am an Essex Girl thank you).



    I was a competitive swimmer growing up until I was about 16. I also did a lot of dance, gymnastics, and hockey as well as sailing, canoeing and hiking.

    I then dicovered boys and booze too and uni, where funds were too short to really do as much sport as I wanted. I studied Sport Science and joined the uni rugby team and the channel swim team which was great fun.

    5 years on from Uni and I am recently single so needed to get my confidence back. I started swimming again and decided to compete in a local gala. Yay, I am now going to compete for my county at the nationals! In January I saw an advert in my Mums local paper for a triathlon in June, I decided to enter it, just like that. I had been cycling to and from work (8miles each way) on my new hybid bike for about 6 months so thought that cycling shouldnt be a problem. Swimming obviously the easy part. But then running, well if you see my other threads you will see I am no runner!



    If you ahve any other questions or wana know more just ask. My degree in sport may be helpful if anyone wants general fitness/nutrition advice.

  • julesojuleso Posts: 279
    Here is a short piece about juleso.



    I'm a girl recently on the wrong side of 30, and let's just say that when I told my mum I'd taken up running first of all she laughed and laughed, and then she said she's actually quite worried about me. My teens were mostly spent running around after horses and then I did the typical thing of having a bad fall, losing my confidence and wondering if they were really worth the hassle.



    Jumping ahead a few years I found myself going out with a road cyclist. This not only gave me a complex about my wobbly bits but also made me envious of the times that he could go for a run and I couldn't. I started learning to run a bit and cycle a bit and now, having watched Blenheim tri last year, I'm learning to swim a bit, in prep for my triathlon debut at Blenheim this year.



    I'm a slow lady at the moment and am experiencing the strange new phenomenon that when one sport improves, another seems to become quite rubbish to compensate. But I like that triathlon means that if I don't feel like a run or a cycle, I can swim, etc, and also it means I feel less guilty about eating cake. So, actually, it's all been about 1) buying sparkly new things, and 2) eating cake like a good'un.



    And here I will stop writing about myself. And start thinking about pancakes.
  • j27rtj27rt Posts: 102
    Hi everyone, I am Jamie and a newbie too - this feels like an AA meeting!



    My background is in running and I have completed the London, Dublin and New York marathon but a car racing accident resulted in me being unable to go to the gym for a year. Which really got me down so my Mum bless her decided I needed a new goal so dared me to enter the Monaco 70.3 Ironman for Sept 09. As someone who doesn't back down from these kind of dares I took her up on the challenge. Since reading a couple of discussions on this site I have realised I may have biten off more than I can chew but heyho!



    Oh and I'm 27 and live by Greenwich, so if anyone is local and fancies meeting up let me know.



    P.S. I believe yellow will be the new red in Triathlon!!!
  • BritspinBritspin Posts: 1,655
    You are all quite mad...except j27rt who is a heretic.
  • Jack HughesJack Hughes Posts: 1,262
    Error whilst Doing a Replacement, Error in srv_convert.
  • OK, here goes.



    At school I was about as sporty as Roland off Grange Hill. I wasn't fat, quite the opposite - really skinny. I was bullied all the way through, from Primary to when I left Secondary School. I then started running, was never really fast, but really enjoyed it. I loved football but was probably the worse football player in the history of the world.



    In my mid 20's I ran for Coventry Godiva Harriers Athletic Club and was a member for about 2 years.



    Fast forward to now, I live in Ireland, I'm going to be 42 in March and currently run for Eagle AC. I first 'looked' at triathlons in October and decided to 'have a go', to complete my first triathlon will be a massive achievement! Back in October I could only swim 2 lengths breaststroke, lacked any sort of water confidence and didn't have a bike. Now, I can swim 2 lengths FC which, although doesn't sound very impressive, is a massive step for me (I'm going to a swimming lesson shortly). I, er, still don't have a bike but am going to purchase one within the next few weeks. I have my sights set on a Scott Speedster S30 which, IMHO, is bike porn!



    I'm hoping the swimming will suddenly 'click' and I'll be able to swim millions of lengths in one session. I run 4 times a week, swim 3 times a week and, once I get the bike, will probably ride 3 - 4 times a week. Good job then, that I'm unemployed...



    Well that's me, sorry to bore you all, but wanted to explain myself a bit.

  • GGBGGB Posts: 482
    My name is Dan (GGB) - and I am an alcoholic ...



    A little bit about me ... 34 years old spent the last 18 years drinking heavily, eating what I like and doing no exercise whatsoever, work in an Office. Started smoking at 14 and my exercise days were over ... before that was very good at Squash, table tennis, badminton, swimming... used to run for the school, play football, canooing, abseiling etc etc ...



    I am 5 ft 8 and last summer tipped the scales a tad under 13 stone ... 5 years prior had a bad car accident, severe whiplash injuries, which left me with chronic back pains - couple of years back had another car accident ended up with a broken rib and misplaced ribs in breastplate area ... very painful. Beginning of last year I had 6 months of sciatica, again very painful ... So in all I decided I better start looking after myself. So in August I decided to start riding my bike again and found out I quite enjoyed it, started reading up on various sports and thought I must challange myself to keep me in the fit zone ... Triathlon it was - started running and swimming in December and booked up to do the London Sprint in August. Am now down to 11 stone - so thats 2 stone lost in 6 months.



    My first event is going to be the DBmax Chilly duathlon next Sunday ... looking forward to it now :D ...



    My main problems are that I am still smoking and drinking too much ... finding it hard to give up these vices - though these are probably my only vices due to not liking sweets, cakes, fizzy drinks or chocolate, basically anything sweet.



    So thats my story in short, thank you for listening and goodnight ;)



  • I've never smoked GGB so I can't imagine how difficult it must be to give up. I presume it's not just a case of don't buy them in the first place?!!
  • BexHBexH Posts: 226
    Hey I'm Bex and it has been nice to find this site to get some advice- everyone seems pretty friendly and helpful.



    I'm 27 and after what can only be called a fairly traumatic time with my ex over the last few years due to some problems he had I threw myself into sport and the gym as some light relief! My mate who had completed an Ironman then made me aware of the fact that Tri was even for people like me so I thought 'Why not!?' and entered Blenheim as my first event although I plan to do some events before that.



    My background has been more horsy- dressage, jumping, polo- worked as a groom in New Zealand for a bit. Have always been sporty but never athletic so to speak (I'm crap at running as definitely fall into the hourglass rather than beanpole category!) but love cycling and swimming so we'll see what happens. And like lots of the others who have posted here I've also significantly changed my lifestyle and cut down on the booze big time (prefer chilling in the spa with friends after circuits to going down the pub these days!). Am really looking forward to doing my first event and maybe meeting some of you others who'll join me in being flustered and not knowing what to do / where to go etc!!!
  • hay am clare

    am pretty new to all this i used to swim for a club but my main sport for the past 4 years or so has been rugby. played for club county region and trailed for england.

    basically busted my knee playing rugby so could not continue :(

    have entered 4 triathlons in the summer 1 sprint and 3 olympic am really nervous about it but training is going ok and my knee if giving me a little trouble is holding up on the long cycles!!
  • I have been watching the formum for months but have finally decided to take the plunge with this subject.



    History wise, my adventure started last May (11th to be precise). I was overweight and realised it but getting a Wiifit put it into reality. After swimming a 2 or three times a week for a few weeks (I used to swim for Cambridge in my teenage years) I plucked up the courage to ask the manager of my local gym how to use the torture machines. Any way, I managed to lose 50lbs by my 50th Birthday (last September) and now I am 5 1/2 stone lighter and on the edge of "ideal weight" or BMI 25 on wiifit.



    Just after my last birthday I was asked what I wanted to do with my new found fitness and after some conderation decided against the usual marathon and chose triathlon instead. Making an entry for my first triathlon (Duston in April) kind of focused the mind after the "what have I just done" thoughts dissipated. Anyway, I am enjoying the training and have learnt loads from this site. Not sure how I will get on in a few weeks time but just getting to the finish line I am sure will be great.
  • taytay Posts: 18
    Hi - I have run a couple of marathons (slowly) and last year husband declared he had enough of me running and I should take up something else, so I entered a couple of sprint tri's just to see what they were like. Needless to say, was great and have perhaps rashly entered 2 70.3's for the summer (including Monaco j27rt - I live in Limehouse) and am excited/nervous and am now desperately trying to work on being a better cyclist....and how not to drown as I run into the sea in Monaco....the list goes on. good luck all!
  • Hey guys, so this is my first post!



    Im 21 and in my final year at Reading uni when i decided now would be a good time to start Tri-ing! I come from a sporty background playing competitive hockey and rugby but always got bored with focusing on one sport so i figured triathlon would be perfect as i can have three at once :)



    Ive entered my first triathlon which will be the London Tri in summer and am using it to try and get used to transitions and see what its like before attempting to finish in a good position! Am a bit worried about the mass swim start and thrashing, kicking etc!



    The name? Its an anagram of triathlete. Ive been on the forum for a few months and everyone has seemed real friendly so i figured this topic was the perfect one to get started with.



    Plus I love Soreen Malt Loaf!
  • Xyzee_ukXyzee_uk Posts: 100
    I'll keep it short to save everyone going to sleep (as I have probably mentioned all this in other threads)



    I'm 33

    Played rugby (2nd row) for many years until a knee injury ended my playing days

    Put on tonnes of weight

    I lost a lot of weight (13st) recently

    Started cycling to work etc

    Came off my bike rupturing ligaments Sep 2008

    While I was sat on my sofa waiting to be allowed to walk I decided I needed a new goal if I was going to sustain a lifestyle change

    Decided on multi-discapline sport - I can cycle, always been a water baby and when recovered can learn to run - So Tri it is

    Today - Ran for the first time on my knee -very very giddy!

    Doing the Rother valley sprint in june (then probably Gower Aug all going well)



    Oh and due to not being able to drink while I was losing weight - after a small glass of red I'm anyones! [:(]

  • Wow, should have intro'd myself here first before posting elsewhere...



    My name's Cullen. I'm an American, but before I get the boo and hiss I've lived in the UK for 7 years and consider myself a political refugee from the Bush years (except I've had a job and paid taxes the whole time I've been here! :)) And Obama is great, although my British wife would frown on moving to the US for only that reason.



    I've been doing triathlons for about 5 years now; I decided to go nuts and do London full Olympic as my first and completed in 3:20 so decided that was ages too damn slow and been doing loads more since then - best Olympic finishing time was 2:30 last summer.



    This year I'm doing my first Ironman (Forestman) in July so if you see a sad lonely plodder finishing the epic task in the wee hours, either slap me on the ass or just say hi as you run past me.



    A potted history - after spending 7 years off and on in the US Air Force, I decided that the perils of military life were not worth the starvation wage they were paying me and I went civvie. I've worked in tech since then, managing to blag my way into some big-name companies who didn't bother to fact-check my CV (even though it was mostly classified anyways, or at least so I told them! :)). Now I work for a tiny little skin-of-my-teeth startup as the EMEA manager of support. I played American Football (and yes, I know it's for wimps who can't play rugby) for 6 years (Jr High, High School), and when I first joined the Air Force was a Pararescue Jumper in Training before aforementioned injury stopped my dreams of testosterone-fueled idiocy in their tracks. I survived hell week and didn't even get a damn t-shirt!



    And yes, an Ironman scares the hell out of me. I'm running my first marathon ever in May so should know pretty quick if I can hack it or not, but God hates a coward.



    Peace out,



    C



  • rmbrmb Posts: 22
    newie here so hello to all



    this will be my first season .my background rockclimbing and walking used to be in the TA but left last year .thats where my problems start i used to work as a field engineer but moved into a different role about 18 months ago now working nights.i have all ways been active but since the move i have got Fat well to me i have (all ways been tall and slim 6ft in flats).I did not realise how unfit i was untill i whent for a run with a mate and dam it hurt so .

    I had allways been interested in triathlon so i decided to enter my first event Driffield sprint 17th may. training so far is going ok still struggleing with the swimming but i am sure i will get there. i have lost the man boobs now and feeling a lot better. working nights is a killer tho.
  • Ok, here we go....



    I'm 30 (female) and am planning to do my first sprint in Eton women's tru 4th July!



    I did NO sport at all at school - literally none; got away with zero exercise by being very musical.



    About 5 years ago I bought a bike (I was relying on uni buses which only ran term-time so was otherwidse stranded) and enjoyed pottering around Southampton, then got a car again and had a couple more years of sedentary life.



    3 years ago I got seriously into dinghy sailing - pretty much the first time I'd done anything "outdoors" and soon realised that improving my own fitness would only improve my sailing. I started biking a bit and last year did a couple of 5ks (not in amazing time - but loved them!) then busted my legs (shin splints) training for a 10k. Physio and orthotics later, I still wanted to run but.... more than that...



    I loved my biking (MTB stuff) and ran a bit and liked water - although I can't swim any distance or speed. Somewhere in my head the simultaneous ideas of buying a shiny road bike and competing in a triathlon came together... I'm still not sure which came first or how I ever found myself considering shiny road bikes in the first place!!



    On several drunken evenings I'd told people I'd love to do a tri, but now (despite the ever increasing waistline) I found myself properly committing, but this time able to run and cycle, and looking for an excuse to swim better and buy a shiny road bike (which I haven't done yet - maybe tomorrow though.....) So, unlikely triathlete that I am, my time has come...

  • pippip Posts: 170
    Hello fellow triathletes

    My username Pip is what i used to get called at school because my name`s Phil

    I`m 45 and have always been fairly active sport wise.From about the age of 11 i played Lacrosse reaching a pretty good standard having played at County level and premiership level and this kept me fit untill i reached the ripe old age of 35 when work commitments stopped me playing.Ive always liked cycling abd stopped about 12 years ago probably because it`s easier to get in the car and drive off.

    So i didn`t do any sport untill i was about 40 when my daughter asked me if she could go to Judo so i took her and started doing a bit myself.I reaced blue belt but due to a bad knee injury decided to call it a day after 3 years.So i sat on my lazy fat bum and then in sept of last year i needed to loose some weight and joined the local gym doing running,biking and swimming and thought mmmmmmm i need to a goal for all this exercise so i`ve booked my first tri at Nantwich.

    Now i`m hoping to finish in the top 100 men we`ll see
  • garyrobertsgaryroberts Posts: 869
    Hi Everyone



    Thought it was about time i officially signed in!



    I'm Gary, age 34, live in Telford, married with two beautiful girls. I work from home as a sales manager and can often be seen on any given motorway - anywhere in the British Isles! Have been going to the gym for a few years, mostly weights in the last year but not to get 'big', i used it to fight the battle of the bulge. Just before Christmas a girlfriend of mine asked if i wanted to do a Triathlon in September 09, i thought about it for a few seconds and said yeah.....



    ......since then i have been totally taken over by the whole thing, the training, the kit, this forum! As for the training, i haven't picked up a weight for months now.....just not interested in lifting, i only want to get fitter, faster, and that means running, swimming and cycling. Since x-mas i have spent a fortune on kit including a second hand Trek 1.9 road bike (which i am very pleased with). Training is going well, i am fully signed up for three sprints already (first April 26th) and if all goes well i have secret ambitions to go for a Olympic Distance before the end of this year.



    Got to take the girls to school now. Take care.....
  • ScibbyScibby Posts: 55
    Great... my turn, I love talking about myself!



    Female, 32, GSOH, WLTM, oo000ps hang on wrong type of post...



    Basically, was very sporty in my teens and 20s and a member of my national team (OK I'm from Malta so it's a smaller nation!). Used to compete in sprints and jumps until an injury forced my early retirement. Gave sports up pretty much completely, in favour of working hard in an office-based role. And some booze and some men, if I'm honest!



    Anyhow, the onset of my thirties brought about a 'crisis' of sorts - I've started a journey of questioning everything I do. And essentially I worked that I disliked my job and loved training and the outdoors. I did a couple of 10km last year (not very well) and a half marathon (extremely poorly). And yet, I'm hooked...



    And then there was that drunken pub conversation which led to my entering the Eton Tri AND the London Olympic...



    And I'm even more hooked now... Couldn't swim more than 50m a month ago, hadn't owned a bike for decades until 3 months ago (now I've got two - including a brand new shiney road bike...). I now buy soreen, eat porridge, constantly think about what training to do next, and I'm happier than I've ever been...



    What else? Oh yes, I've just quit my job and am about to start a new career as a personal trainer. Am about 2 months away from completing that and extremely excited about my new life... And how I'm going to fit it round my training, rather than the one way around for a change...



  • garyrobertsgaryroberts Posts: 869
    I've just quit my job and am about to start a new career as a personal trainer. Am about 2 months away from completing that and extremely excited about my new life...


    ....i am soooo in ore of you! that's exactly what i would love to do, well, if not personal trainer, then a coach or physio, ANYTHING related to this sport....isn't it amazing how many of us feel the same way about this kind of stuff......there must be something in the water!
  • pacman2102pacman2102 Posts: 247
    Hi i am paul other wish pacman



    from a sporting background, used to swim for county and country 100, 200 backstroke and 200 and 400 medley. retired at 19 when went to uni, then played rugby for a few year ( was in the back's) and then just general kept fit



    Have run 5 marathon with a best time of 3.20 which I am told is pretty good. Always ran ran for county cross country a few times always long distance.



    Anyway start tri last year and joined a club and really enjoying it bought a new bike and training about 10 hours a week and have so far down 2 sprint and a couple of relays for the club



    Had a hard winter of training ( as well as losing a gaul blader and 1 1/2 stone) and looking forward to my first full season and hoping to do a couple olympics and a few sprints



    Love the sport and the people and rally into open water swimming and normally one of the first out of the water. Need to still improve on my bike but hoping to get under 1.10 for the sprint this year and under 2.30 for the olympic

  • willtriwilltri Posts: 436
    Hi I'm Will,



    Been doing various sports on and off (more off) since leaving school (14 years ago) - sit at a desk all day and decided that time is running out if i want to get into some proper shape, so here I am! Don't want to get to 50 and realise that i've missed the boat...



    Been training (properly) for last 3 months, all going well until I get a knee injury but it just gives me more time to work on my weakest area of swimming.



    I'm a great believer in learning from other peoples mistakes - so read anything and everything i can get my hands on in anything i do (total immersion, how triathlon ruined my life etc). Annoyingly for the people around me - i focus massively on the task in hand (it gets the job done) and apparently i'm a bad loser - i really can't see that though. [;)]



    Doing my first sprint in Stratford-on-Avon in May originally had a target time of 1:16:07 - although will prob not hit it (damn knee!) but looking to do an openwater before the end of the year.



    It all started out as a bit of a one off for a laugh but totally hooked now - something to do with the three events, the kit, the organising, the training plans, riding to work vs. London Midland....the staying out of the pub!!



    If you're at Stratford - I'll be the one with the knee support who's in the pub by 11.



    Cheers all,



    Will.
  • SwizzlenapSwizzlenap Posts: 160
    Hello all,



    Been doing the usual guest reading on here for a little while; it's always highly illuminating and often brilliantly funny so thought I'd finally say hello.



    I'm a complete newbie and in fact initially used the site and forum as a way of convincing myself I'm not completely mad for having aspirations to do Tri. I'm 36 and pretty much have never done sport, ever. At school I was often allowed to sit out PE and read as they knew how uninterested I was. Smoked like a trooper from 17 until 30 and work in an office. Good base to work from isn't it!! I cycled in Uni mainly as a commuter and always enjoyed it. I've been running casually for about three years and have done a few 10k races.



    After somehow going from idly thinking "I like running, I like cycling" to "I know I'll add swimming and do Triathlon!" step one was to join a running club two weeks ago which is torturously enjoyable. I should have my hands on a bike by the end of April and then just need to learn to swim properly, that's definitely going to be the hardest part. I haven't swam since I was about 12 but my running club also has a Tri club attached so I'll be able to get some help. The plan is to get some sort of base ability sorted then enter a sprint.



    I also just want to say that the guys who regularly post on here have been hugely informative, helpful and dare I say it somewhat inspirational to someone who's equally excited and terrified at the thought of doing Tri, so thanks. Oh and cheers for opening my eyes to Soreen....my god that stuffs nice.
  • JessterJesster Posts: 482
    Hello, my name's Jess and i have a reputation for clowning around, hence my nickname. I guess I do more reading than posting in here, you lot certainly are a very informative crowd!



    So, a tiny bit about me...after losing ten years to partying hard and working with horses (both are incredibly tiring!) I gave up smoking and a week later had an urge to go for a run. Needless to say I made it about 50 yards before leaning on a wall, completely knackered. Still, the seed had been sown. I started running then just to exercise the dogs. Before long i was back in the pool and cruising lengths. Funny that now i'm used to doing K's at a time, i remember how 200m straight was really daunting. Baby steps, eh? Next all i had to do was pick up a bike.....so......



    Did my first tri last year, trained like a demon and managed to win my age group (v nearly fell over with shock) which spurred me on no end. Went on to do a couple more sprint distances at the end of the summer and aquathlons over the winter. decided that the swim is for defo my strongest, bike is utter s#@t run not too bad. So i thought I'd go olympic distance this year. Pffft! How hard can it be?! lol OMG i am gonna die.



    Greetings to all of you, I love the banter, it always makes me smile and sometimes I roar out loud. Here's to a great 2009 season! [sm=kiss.gif]
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