Triathlon 1 – 52x52 Challenge

01/01/22 (Saturday) - Number one out of fifty two

That was hard. 7.30 AM start for the swim, it was dark, cold and new years day – silly time and day to start this challenge.

Getting up to do the swim at 7.30am on New Year’s Day was hard; really had to drag myself there. Too cold really to be swimming that far. I think for the first few months, certainly until probably May, I’ll have to do the swims either on my VASA swimming bench or in the endless pool as otherwise I’ll be just too cold to ride and run safely.

Straight after the swim it was back onto the turbo for the ride. I wanted to go outside to do it as it’s actually far easier, but it was just too dark for me to be cycling on the road. Again I’ll use the turbo when I need to, probably when very windy and raining, but as soon as it’s light and dry I need to get outside as it’s so mind bending to just be stuck on a turbo for so long. I really wanted to get off after 20 minutes, so had to just dig in and keep telling myself another mile done and another mile done and ………!

Then it was trainers on and outside for the run. By this time, around two hours since I started, the sun was up and it was warmer than I expected. I chose a route that had a few little hills, but was mainly flat. The first 7k of the run was ok actually, I was fairly steady and mentally fine at this point. But the last 3k became a real struggle as I just wanted to stop. The thing is that when you are not in an actual race with others your brain tells you that you can stop and no one will care. That really makes it hard to keep going. But keep going I did.

So the first one is now done and I just have 51 more to go! I think in all seriousness I can’t focus on having 51 left, I need to just do this challenge one a week at a time as otherwise it really does seem too big. Today was probably 20% a physical challenge for me and 80% a mental challenge. Hopefully as the weeks go on that will settle down and it can just be part of my routine.

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