Triathlon 5 – 52x52 Challenge

Thursday 20/01/22

Number Five

7.30am‍

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Swim - 28.01

Bike - 1.24.37

Run - 57.49

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Without repeating myself, this really is a mind challenge more than a physical one. Physically of course it’s hard, but I can keep going much longer if I need to. But the mind is a tough one to win over. Doing these on my own, with no one around and no race officials it means that I could just stop and no one will know and no one will care. Of course I will know and I will care – and that’s the rub! If I stopped or if I didn’t finish it then my mind will not let me get over it, my mind works like that. But all the time I’m trying to keep going even when I don’t want to my mind tells me it’s ok to stop. It’s like a Disney movie with a good conscience and a bad conscience on each shoulder telling you different things. Now I’m not an expert on mental health, never have had to be thankfully, but just experiencing this regularly (whether self induced or not) does make me sad for people who can not do what I do and turn down the self doubting mind and turn up the positive one. That must be so very hard to live with. 

So this morning was Triathlon number 5, and officially my first month is now completed. Apart from gym stuff I’ve done, and all the sea swims this month, I have now on this challenge completed 7.5 kilometres of swimming, 200 kilometres of cycling and 50 kilometres of running. That leaves only 70.5 kilometres of swimming left to do, 1,880 kilometres of cycling and 470 kilometres of running. And then I will be done.