365 Days: The Wake Up Call

On Sunday, I woke up pretty early and felt quite determined to start my training for the Hampton Court half marathon.

I haven't run for months so I knew that it wasn't going to be much fun. In a word, it was AWFUL! I was still recovering from a really chesty cough plus being horrendously unfit. The first km was fine and after that, it was agony. I couldn't run the whole way, I had to stop twice to catch my breath because my chest was in so much pain. I was really unhappy with how far I've let myself go. I can still remember what I felt like when I used to be able to run 2 or 3 10ks in a week and now I can't even run 3km without stopping for a break.

I know that in the last few months I've really not treated my body well. I've over eaten, drank way too much booze and not done nearly enough exercise. I knew it wasn't going to be a good run because of all of this but it was definitely a wake up call as to how much work I have to do to get back into shape. My fitness is something I always used to value, even when I was still over weight I was quite fit so I was happy that I could run and not feel like I was struggling. 

In a way, it's a good starting point because it can't get any worse. I mean, not unless I fall over or run in front of a car or something. So, it can only get better from this point onwards. I can only hope that the next time I go out on a run, I can get the whole way round without stopping and then I'll think about extending my running route.

I've done 3km now, only 18 more to train for. I've made a start and that's the main thing. Just need to keep going now.... things can only get better......

Check back soon for more runs and hopefully, more updates on weight loss.

Megan :)

#100happydays Days 64 to 70

Oooo we are getting very close to the end of this #100happydays project.

Day 64) Another new PB on the run. Feeling great! It blinking hurt though!

Day 65) Not so much happy as it is funny! I was gardening at after school club yesterday in my sandals and got really dirty feet! The first thing I said to Belinda when I arrived at ballroom was 'I need to go and wash my feet.' Got a very strange look in return - obviously! So here is me... Washing my feet in a sink at a village hall....

Day 66) Looking super hot in my swimming hat tonight at Shepperton Lake.

Day 67) Our first strawberry is turning red our veggie patch at school!

Day 68) It's 'Beach Day' at school today! Rocking the floral maxidress. Love the colour and the pattern of this dress. Looks a bit odd with the white top underneath but as I'm wearing it at school, I can't wear anything low cut for safeguarding reasons. But it's still a lovely dress! 

Day 69) My sister painted my nails for me! The are so beautiful, shame that they are already chipping off. 

Day 70) I was absolutely exhausted on Sunday after 2 nights of dancing and getting in after 3am. I spent all day on Sunday switching between napping and colouring. I have not been that tired in a really long time!

A fantastic week! Had loads of fun over the weekend but it did end in a major bed day as I was utterly shattered! Check back in soon for this weeks happy days.

M xx

Rolling In The Deep - A Triathlon Diary

Wednesday has become lake day - actually, I'd try and get to the lake every day if I could and if it was open.... I am totally in love with the whole thing. It is so tranquil and just the sound of the swimmers in the lake makes me feel utterly at peace!

I mean, who wouldn't love to spend at evening with this view. Obviously, when you are in the water you don't spend much time looking around but you do know that you are surrounded by so much beauty. 

I was the 126 swimmer in the water on Wednesday (not including new swimmers to the lake - they get there own number/colour system) and by the time I was leaving, the team were signing in swimmer 170. You never feel like there are that many people to fight through when you're in the water though, it feels like you're out there pretty much by yourself which is just lovely after a long day at work. 

And here I am..... looking my best, ready to get into the water for a splash around. I really focused on my stroke on Wednesday. I wanted to work on my hip rotation and pull of my arms under the water. It felt good once I got into a good rhythm and I could feel the difference in speed when I was really pulling with my arm in the right angle under the water. I also worked on my sighting, I want to make sure that I don't lose time by swimming in the wrong direction on race day. My technique is coming along nicely. I think I've got the hang of raising my head to just under the goggle line before going to breathe. It's feeling more and more natural every time I go.

For anyone looking for a new experience or wants to give open water swimming a go - come on down to Shepperton Lake. You will not be disappointed! 

M xx 

An Early Saturday Splash - A Triathlon Diary

I woke up a lot earlier than expected on Saturday morning and I felt surprisingly rested, even though I was waking up before 8am at the weekend. With nothing much to do and wanting to get out of the house, I thought I'd head to the lake for a quick morning dip.  

When I arrived it was a little overcast but the car park was heaving. So much busier than on Wednesday night and I could already hear the rhythmic slapping of the swimming going past. From the lake side you can only really see their arms going through the top half of their rotation and the occasion head bob up if someone is 'sighting' - technical term for 'making sure they are going in the right direction'. It's actually a lot harder than you think it is to keep going in a straight line, to a particular point when you are in the water. 

The weather started to break as I was getting ready by the time I got to the water's edge in all my gear.... looking the best I have ever looked in my life..... there is, unfortunately, no photographic proof of this.... it was glorious!

The first orange buoy you can see in the photo below is the start of both the 400m and the 750m course. You swim out to that buoy, do which ever lap you fancy and then head back in land - this avoids being plowed into by the really super fast semi pro dolphins in wetsuit people who seem to do more than one lap of the 750m course! (Crazy scary fit people)

The water temperature wasn't too bad and the sunshine helped a lot to keep the surface of the water warmer than a few feet down. It was a very uneventful swim session. I did a nice slow lap of the 400m course to get warmed up and relaxed and then took a little break. Bobbed about in the shallows for a while and then went out for another, slightly faster, more intense lap of the 400m course. 

If I head down on Saturday this week.... and if I'm feeling brave...... I might try the 750m course, just to see how it feels to be out in open water for that long. 

Be Prepared! - A Triathlon Diary

Training for a triathlon, I have learnt, is more than just putting in the hours of training. It tests your ability to be prepared and plan ahead! So, I rocked up to school with my normal bag with all my school stuff AND my hug red kit back ready to head to the lake for a swim after After School Club. 

Food (meals/shakes) for day 4 of the C9 programme. All prepped at 6:30am and ready to go! Come back in a few days to read my review of how the C9 programme turned out. 

For any lake swim you're going to need one or even two swimming hats! The water is cold and it's much easier to warm up afterwards when your hair is nice and dry. Plus, it makes you streamlined.... and it looks SUPER attractive! 

Flip flops are always a great shout for wandering around the lake it. There is a whole of goose poo about..... not nice for bare feet! 

And of course! A tri suit..... again, super attractive. I like to train in mine so I get used to the feel of it in the water. You don't even notice it under the wetsuit, it's like a second skin. I don't have a picture of my wet suit but it is, of course, recommended. Some people swim without them but I'm not that brave! 

The moto of a triathlete in training - Get prepped! 

Another New PB! On A Roll! - A Triathlon Diary

I only went and bloody did it again!

A second PB.... 2 runs in a row! I am so chuffed! I have to give a shout out, again, to my wonderful father who coached we through the whole thing.

At around 3km I hit a wall and thought I lungs were about to spontaneously combust but Dad wouldn't let me stop - or slow down - and by the end of the 5km we had actually picked up the pace again and we knocked a whole chunk of time off.

I genuinely went into shock at the end when I actually realised what I'd achieved and had a little weep.

Yes! You read that right, I cried at the end of a run.... I am a massive emotional wet rag but I don't really care because I am so damn proud of the progress I've made.

From the run last Monday, I knocked off a further 1 minute and 12 seconds..... that's a total of 1 minute and 55 seconds faster over just 3 runs. 

Here is what I captioned the photo with on Instagram:

• Absolutely bloody ecstatic about this! Not only did I get a 2nd #personalbest time for the 2nd week in a row. But I knocked a whole minute and 12 seconds off the same run! Yes, that's 72 seconds faster over the same distance!!!! I am so f***ing chuffed!! I finally feel like I am getting back to my #athletic self - it's taken a damn long time and a lot of tears, frustration and nearly throwing the towel in but I finally feel SO close to being as fit as I was when I was in #training with my #rugbyteam. I still struggle with what I #see when I look in the mirror. There are still so many things that I want to #change about my body but I KNOW that there is an #athlete inside me that is finally making an appearance. My body is so much #stronger than I believe it to me and the biggest #barrier I face ever time that I work out is my #mind. I was told recently that your brain is your strongest #muscle - you have to train it the hardest to get fit and healthy. This run proves to me that I am so much more capable than I give myself credit for and I need to push myself past the limit where I think I can't go on anymore. My limit is a lot further away than it initially appears. I got my running bug back!!! 

• #instarunners#triathlon #running #swimbikerun#100happydays #day64 #5km#trainingrun #PB #72seconds#incredible #iamsostrong #thisgirlcan#BOOM #weightloss #fitness #health

If you would like to check out my Instagram account for more training photos and other randomness, my username is megs_100

A New PB! - A Triathlon Diary

I not only have a triathlon coming up next month, I also have a 10km run. So, all the run training I'm doing is helping (hopefully) towards both of these events.

I've only recently got back into running to the point where I'm enjoying it. I think having my dad as a training partner really helps as he is a great source of encouragement and a fantastic pace maker.... and he doesn't let me slow down!

For a while, back in 2014, I was doing ParkRun on a Saturday morning at a local but fell out of the habit over the winter. My fastest 5km at ParkRun was 34:56 which I was happy with. I was only a year out of major knee surgery, I was over weight and unfit.

On June 1st 2015 (my second real training run in about 4 months) I smashed this time out of the water! I was SO pleased!

Considering that I have not been doing a lot of running training, I am super pleased with knocking 43 seconds off of my personal best! It's gives me a lot of confidence for the training runs still to come and also, the actual event that are now less than a month away! 

#100happydays Project Days 57 to 63

Another week has come and gone! It's been a long and very busy one but a week that I have thoroughly enjoyed.

Day 57) Dad took me out on a training run for my upcoming 10km run and a triathlon the following weekend. I got a PB! Beating my previous fastest time by over 30 seconds. I was so pleased, having a training partner rocks!

Day 58) Ballroom time! I'm hoping to move up to Thursday class soon as Tuesdays are starting to become frustrating as I'm not dancing as much as I'd like to. Will be speaking to my teacher to see how long it'll be until she'll let me move up. Hopefully it's soon! 

Day 59) Mum introduced me to Shepperton Lake this week. It's a stunning lake where you can go and lake swim. Such good practice to triathlon and a fantastic experience in general. 

Day 60) HEAT WAVE! It was hot today that, after a very long lunch duty in the playground, I treated myself to a Mint Magnum. Yum! 

Day 61) I crashed my parents date night on Friday and wandered to the pub with them. Mum then bought me dinner so it was a double win for me, catch up with the 'rents and a free dinner. 

Day 62) Back to lake on Saturday morning for another swim! Was so beautiful in the early morning sun. 

Day 63) Car boot win! Found a bean bag chair! It is the comfiest thing I have ever sat in.... absolutely love it. The rest of my spoils weren't bad either! I do love a car boot now! 

So, there you have it, yes another week of happy times finished. 

Here's to another week!

I hope everyone reading this is finding time to appreciate the little things in life. Even if they don't seem to mean much, the tiny moments of happiness we can find in day to day life make a whole of difference in the long run.

What is your happy moment of today?

M xx

At This Point I'll Try Anything!

I have stuggled with the way I look for years. I can look in the mirror and tear my reflection apart with criticism for the way that my body looks. I find it really difficult to find clothes that I like, clothes that do my body favours. When I look at myself, I don't see the beautiful bits first - I have to work really hard to find them after I've dissected every little thing wrong with my reflection.

At uni, things got a little better. I joined the women's rugby team and started training for at least 8 hours a week. I wasn't even thinking about what I was eating because I was training so much. My diet was horrendous and I drank way too much - but I still managed to drop to 180lbs. I felt great, I was confident, my body actually looked good and I didn't hate buying clothes because I could find stuff that I liked and that fit my body properly.

Then I busted my knee! For nearly 2 years, I could barely walk, let alone run or tackle someone. I gained a whole bunch of weight and went back to hating what I saw in the mirror. I am still there.

Nearly 2 years after my op, I am still a long way from liking what I see. It has taken me a long time to get back to training well, my eating habits have been less than brilliant and quite frankly... some days I just haven't been bothered to try. There are days where I feel like all my efforts are pointless and that it won't work, whatever I try.

A friend of mine is a personal trainer and a really good guy. He did some sessions with me once I was signed off of physio after my operation. It was a really good way to get back into my fitness - having a coach there to push me. There were many times when I was on the verge of throwing up all over his gym but he kept me going. Then I left uni and moved home, got a new job and had to work out to fit working out into a new routine.

He recently recommended the C9 programme to me, it's a detox and cleanse, that is designed to give your metabolism a reboot. It goes hand in hand with the F1 and F2 programmes - which are designed to continue the work started by C9 and aid further weight loss.

It's a little pricey but I had some extra money lying around at the end of the month and as the title of this post suggests, I'm rather desperate. So I thought I'd give it a go. Today is day 1 of the 9 day programme and it's going well so far. The first two days are a total cleanse - there is very little food involved and a lot of shakes and water and supplements to drink. It's got me going to the loo more than is socially acceptable but I'm at home alone so I think that's okay. You can eat veg on the detox. They are called free foods so I'm munching on some spring onions this afternoon as I'm quite peckish!

I don't really know what to expect from this programme but I'm hoping to drop a bit of weight and give my body a chance to reboot and get back on track with weight loss!

Upping my exercise regime again too and will be changing my diet after the detox is finished to a low card, high protein diet to start putting on some muscle for my triathlon.

I know it's all about little steps at a time but I'm finding things very frustrating at the moment.

Watch this space for updates of how the next 9 days go!

M xx

Open Water Frolics - A Triathlon Diary

As my next triathlon draws ever closer, I am throwing myself back into training and mixing it up a little. This time, I am adding a lake swim to the schedule and Wednesday this week was the first swim at Shepperton Lake for me.

After feeling so uncomfortable during my first lake swim at Eton Dorney, I was feeling a little apprehensive about getting into open water again. The whole set up was fantastic with safety staff set up around the lake and a canoe on the water to keep an eye on everyone as well.

For a new swimmer, you have a one to one walk through of the facilities and then a swim check by one of the coaches to make sure that you are safe in the water. After my 'tour' where I was shown the different course, I went to get changed. The courses were mildly terrifying. Unlike the session at Eton Dorney where we just swam between two buoys up and down and then returned to shallow water, at Shepperton the loops are out into the lake and back. There is no shallow water once you set off - once you're committed you've got to keep going until the end (or hail that canoe to come and rescue you). So that was added to my list of concerns about the session.

With wetsuit on, swimming hat sorted and having been reassured that the water wasn't too cold by some other swimmers I went for my swim test. It was fairly low key, a lovely lady just watched me swim out to the first set of buoys and gave me a wave of approval. Sounds easy? Should be but the cold is something that I'm still getting used to. It takes a while for your body to adjust, and putting your face into the water just makes you want to inhale because of the cold. It steals your breathe - quite literally. So, I bobbed slowly out to the first buoys for the swim test, just doing lazy breaststroke. I was competent in the water and my 'spotter' was happy for me to continue but I was still trying to get my breathing under control and my body to get used to the temperature.

It didn't take as long as it did at Eton but it is still a very strange sensation, submerging yourself in murky water and not being able to control your breathing. Once I got into the rhythm of it, however, it felt brilliant! The water wasn't too cold, there weren't too many swimmers on the course and the sun was shining beautifully over the lake. It was idyllic, being in the water as the sun started to set, with the sound of the swimmers around me and birds in the surrounding trees.

Yes, I had the occasionally fleeting thought that there could be something gruesome lurking in the bottom of the lake. Occasionally, I realised that I was way out in deep water and if I got tired, there was no floor for me to take a break on, nor was there a wall for me to push off from at the end of a lane... and there were a few points where I had a mini panic at the seaweed that loomed out of the water at my face (I hate seaweed with a passion - it's slimy and smell and twines itself around your toes.... EURGH!!).

But on the whole, it was just a magical swim. I think I am truly converted to the lake! It was so peaceful, I got out of the water feeling so relaxed. Can't wait to go back next Wedensday. Will try and do two laps of the 400m course. Don't think I'm ready to attempt the 750m course yet.

M xx

I Am Officially Training - A Triathlon Diary

It was very lucky that my first triathlon went so well. The reason for this is because I only had 8 weeks until my second on the day of my first! Which means, while I write my blog post I only have six weeks and 2 days to go! You would think that having done one already, and having done it reasonably well, that I would be excited for the next one.

You think wrong?

I am just as terrified, if not more so, for this one and this is because the swim is in open water. Okay, it's a lake. But it's outside, it's huge and you cannot for the life of you see the damn bottom. Don't get me wrong, I love to swim. Put me in a pool and I can go for hours. The sea? Yes, love it! The waves and funny salty taste. Trying to do handstands with your hands sinking into the sand on the bottom - hours of fun! I've even been lake swimming before and, on the whole, enjoyed it. It was lovely and warm, we were on holiday in Canada and it was a gorgeous lake. The surface was strewn with lily pads and we all waded in and went for a lovely dip....

Here's the problem... (there will be a slight digression, but stick with me, I'll come back to the lake and the triathlon very shortly). I have the worlds most over active imagination! Truth. I have kept myself awake until the early hours of the morning, the hours that NO ONE should ever see, because I convince myself that the characters from the horror movie I have inevitably watched that day are, in fact, very real! I have two examples of this that highlight just how pathetically scared I can become of my own mind.

Example A) It is a very snowy February in the UK (I know, that in itself is just freaky) and school is closed because, obviously, the whole country came to a stand still at the foot and a bit of snow that had dumped itself on us. Both my parents were home and working from home in the office upstairs, Sian was off doing I don't know what and I thought it would a really great idea to watch a movie by myself to pass the time. Yes, I know. A very normal decision to make - I thought so too. A movie to myself. Lovely. What shall I watch? Oh, I know, let's watch Paranormal Activity. Why the hell not?

Those were famous last words, weren't they! Now, for those of you who haven't seen this movie, it's basically a house haunting filmed by the inhabitants of the house. There is a very angry spirit that seems to take over the woman living in the house. (Even writing this, I am starting to feel really uneasy) There is one particular scene where the couple are in bed and the door to their bedroom opens by itself. The woman then wakes up, shrieking that she can feel the demon breathing on her. Here is where I imagination kicks in. I was fine ALL DAY! I didn't even think about the movie once I'd turned it off - the rest of the day passed without any drama and I got into bed. And Oh, holy Jesus, I scared the living daylights out of myself for hours. I went to bed at around 9:30 - 10pm.... I was awake until 5am! I kid you not! Every time I started to drop off, my brain would tell me that I was feeling the demon breathe on me and I would wake up again. It was honestly ridiculous but there you have it - my imagination scared me so much that I stayed awake for 7 hours!!! SEVEN HOURS!

Example B) I can no longer have a dressing gown hanging on the back on my bedroom door. I went to see The Woman In Black in London with one of my closest friends. It was terrific, I'd see it again any day but again, my imagination likes to play tricks on me. There is a part in the show where the Woman In Black stands on a stair case and just watches the young man move around her house. It is chilling - to see the presence of her in the house and see him so oblivious to it. (I am again, starting to get goose bumps and my heart is racing a little) When I got home after the show that night, I was just slightly jittery and couldn't sleep because every time I rolled onto one side of my bed I would catch sight of my dressing gown and freak out that it was The Woman standing at the bottom of my bed. So, once turning on all the lights of course, I got out of bed and put the dressing gown in the wardrobe and there it has stayed ever since.

So yes, my imagination doesn't need much of a seed to be planted before it goes into warp drive and creeps me out completely.

Right, back to the lake and relevancy of this digression. When you are lake swimming, everything is fine and dandy when you are above the water. The water is warm (if it's in summer and the water has been heated by the sun) and you can see everything. The second you put your head under the water it gets really murky really fast. If you pull yourself down into the water further, it gets cold really quickly too. I'm sure some of you can already guess where this is heading. When I was in the lake in Canada, I went into a little mermaid dive, like I had done a million times in a pool and freaking the flip out as I suddenly panicked that the monster in the bottom of the lake might come up and drag me down to the depths. Because I couldn't see, and it suddenly got so cold, my brain went into panic mode. I very quickly made the decision to stay in a lazy breast stroke with my head firmly above the waters surface!

I'm usually a very confident swimmer - as my Dad tells all his work colleagues, I was born with gills behind my ears. I would happily spend hours in the water without a second thought about it. But I was/still am very nervous about swimming in open water before heading out on my bike and then my run. I know it will totally change the feel of my triathlon. For this reason, I attended an official training day, run buy RGactive, a company affiliated with HumanRace, who are running the triathlon at Eton Dorney in July. The day was split into three seminars, one for each event, and three groups rotated round all three seminars with lunch tucked into the middle.

I was swimming first and quite frankly was very happy to get in the water and get it out of the way. Now, as I have said, I am a really confident swimmer and I have never felt more uncomfortable in the water as I did last weekend. It is a whole different ball game swimming in open water than it is in a pool. The first thing to battle with is the cold! It was freezing!! Well, actually, according to the thermometer, the water was actually 19 degrees C but it felt more like 2 maybe 3 degrees. I couldn't breathe, let alone swim. We did some basic warm up stuff, treading water etc. Then we were told to just float. We were all in wet suits and the instructor wanted us to get used to the feel of the buoyancy the wet suits provided. This buoyancy was going to, apparently, make all the difference to our stroke.

Here comes the part where I really panic. We were asked to go on a very short swim, using the modified front crawl stroke we had been taught on dry land. Putting my face in the water has never been more disconcerting. I have never felt panic like that. My body had adjusted to the cold of the water but my face hadn't. When I put my face in the water, my body wanted to draw in breathe. This, under water, is obviously not such a great idea. I could not exhale under the water. It was so weird, I'd never experienced it before and I actually think, that because I'm normally so at home in the water, that I was feeling even more thrown that someone who wasn't too confident in water at all. It took a while, but eventually, I did feel much more relaxed, my face got used to the cold and I could breathe but those first few minutes were horrid. It was a big eye opener to just how different this swim was going to be compared to the pool in Taunton.

The rest of the training day was helpful enough and I learnt some really great tips for the other disciplines as well as nutrition and kit but the swimming is the thing that I will take away the most from. It was so weird not being to swim easily! Luckily, there is a lake near me that does open water swims so I can go and practice more before that actually triathlon day. Got a lot more training to get through before then and hopefully, by race day, I will feel more confident getting my face in the water and I can just focus on the 400 meters that I have to get through without freezing, instead of panicking that I can't breathe!

Fingers crossed eh!

M xx

#100happydays Day 43 to 49

Half way.... well pretty much! 

Day 43) Lovely tidy bedroom and new sheets on the bed! Hurray!

Day 44) I was sorting out my car and this little man appears on my drivers seat. Apparently Jasper is being my chauffeur from now on. 

Day 45) Mary Kay delivery arrived!! To read more on Mary Kay, click here. 

Day 46) HUGE PIZZA!!! Said goodbye to an amazing colleague on Thursday. She will be totally missed but it was a brilliant night out and a great way to send her off on her new journey. 

Day 47) TEA! Keeping me going during a really long babysitting session.

Day 48) Caught this little guy having a drink on Saturday morning. I love seeing my garden come to life in the spring.

Day 49) After a long triathlon training day at Eton Dorney, a puzzle in the bath was just what I needed. I was quite pleased with my genius creation of a puzzle board! 

Come back next week for more happy days! 

M xx

A Final Result - A Triathlon Diary

I did it! I totally did it! It was terrifying, it was painful, it was stressful but it was 100% worth it. My first triathlon has been completed!!!

The week leading up to my triathlon was not a brilliant one. I was crazy busy at work, I was exhausted and I sprained my ankle so couldn't really do any last minute training. By Saturday morning I was already feeling pretty nervous. I still had 24 hours to go and I was starting to feel the butterflies starting to roll in.

I have recently been elected onto my church's council and Saturday morning was my first away day with the rest of the council. It was a really good meeting with lots of personal and communal steps taken in the right direction for our church and for our own journey's in faith. So, I had that to distract me on Saturday morning, and it did a really good job. From 9am until around 2:30pm, the nerves went away! It was great, I was completely distracted from the fact that I was about to embark on a challenge that I wasn't sure I wanted to do anymore.

The little friend inside my head kept asking the question 'Why did you sign up for this?' and I couldn't really come up with a decent answer. I didn't really know why I was preparing to do a triathlon anymore - all the enthusiasm and the excitement of training and working hard had vanished. All I could see was a 2 hour long session of pain and embarrassment....... at this point it was Saturday afternoon, I still had about 18 hours to go and I was already a bit of a mess.

We (mum and me) left the meeting early and bombed home to set up the car and drive down to Taunton straight away. Dad was being our lovely chauffeur so that both of us could sleep/rest before and after the event without the stress of driving. Thankfully I slept for most of the two and a half hour drive so wasn't feeling obsessing about everything. I think that once there was nothing left to focus on, my head just went into melt down mode about the whole event and the confidence in my training went out of the window.

Saturday afternoon slipped by slowly with a book and some TV, anything to distract my head enough to put the butterflies to sleep for a while. Big carby dinner and then I hit the sheets pretty early. My bed was the most comforatble thing I have ever slept on. My aunty had put two matresses, one on top of the other, because they had a spare and OMG! It was heaven, I had the best night sleep I could ask for before my first triathlon.

On Sunday morning there was still a lot of waiting around. Breakfast and getting ready, waiting for Dad to come back from the dog walk - all the waiting was just making me feel SO sick. Breakfast just made it worse too - the butterflies went to town when I fed them. I swear they were practising for some sort of high speed, death defying stunt show inside my tummy.

We set off for the event in good time, all suited up and everything. Parking was a nightmare - it seemed like half of Taunton and their families had rocked up to watch or compete. They turned the car park of the sports centre into the transition zone so everyone was parked in the residential roads. I think we were about 7 streets away in the end. We joined the river of people in flip flops, with helmets on, bikes and kit bags that was slowly drifting towards the centre. Apparently, the etire for pre triathlon participants is tri suit under pyjamas, flip flops and helmet! It is a fantastic look, I have to say. I joined in with my lovely orange scrub trousers - a gift from the hospital, post op - and donned my helmet, just to complete the trend!

Once we had officially signed in and got marked up with our race numbers! They literally drew the numbers onto our bodies - just incase we lost a limb, said my Dad lovingly, they can match all the limbs up to your bike later.

GEE! THANKS DAD!!! He is so helpful when I am ready to hyperventilate.

We headed to the transition point to set up all our kit. You have to hang your bike is a specific point with all your cycling and running gear ready to go. Once we went in for our breifing we couldn't come back to the transition zone until T1 (where you change from swimming to cycling). This was quite intimidating as I had to be sure that everything was set up perfectly before I left - any mistakes and my transistions would be screwed. Luckily, beacause Mum has done like a million of these (well, 8 now) she knew what she was doing and gave me a hand.

Whilst we were setting up there were people coming out of the pool and going into transition for the bike section so I could watch how they were doing it and how they were getting on. It was calming to see other people going through the motions and not finding it too stressful by the looks of things. You can see people heading off on their bike and going out to their run whilst setting up so you really get a feel for what is going on and how you make it through the whole event.

We went in for our briefing at 11:00am after saying good bye to Dad and one last check list through our station. They took all of us, about 20 people, into a squash court which they had turned into 'The Briefing Room', a guy came in to explain the whole event, health and safety rules, go through the three different courses with us. It was very helpful, for one thing it told me exactly what I needed to do to get through the morning and also, there were at least 6 of us in my wave who were first timers so I felt much better about my lack of confidence.

After our chat we were taken through to the pool side and were given our timing chips. The event was SO well organised! I was wave 11, and we were getting our timing chips sorted, wave 10 were on the other side of the pool being allocated into lanes and stretching, wave 9 were in the water doing their swim and wave 12 were waiting to go into 'The Briefing Room' as we left. It was a like a little clock with all the cogs working to perfection! They were so organised that they labelled my hands with my lane number and the colour of my hat - yes, the COLOUR of my hat - for the lane I was swimming in.

Lane 3 Black hat

Wave 11

And just like clockwork as wave 10 got into the pool, we went round to the other side of the pool to get sorted into our lane groups and have a little warm up and wave 12 came in to get their chips. It was like a train station! I loved it - my OCD was very satisfied with the organisers.

Then, before I knew it, I was in the water with my hat on ready to set off. There were 4 people in a lane, all with a different hat and we set off 10 seconds apart. The pool etiquette was that if you had your toes tapped in the water the person behind you was going to overtake you at the end of the next lane. Mum was actually in the lane with me and off before me so we had already made the agreement that I would overtake her straight away as she knows I'm a faster swimmer. So, after the first length I overtook Mum with no problem, then there was a woman with a white hat in front of me. By the end of the second length I'd gained on her but wasn't close enough to tap her feet. I got her about 2/3 of the way along the third length and tapped her toes... so you would think that she would stop and wait like she was told to. But NO! she turned round as if she was about to push off again so, naughty as it may have been, I cut her up. She knew I'd tapped her and she should have waited so I forced her to. I got a right evil glare but I didn't care - after that there was a lot of space between me and the last person in the lane, a guy in a green hat. He was pretty quick so there was space for me to get into a really good pattern with my stroke. It felt great and I realised by about length 8 that I was gaining on this guy too! This surprised me but only spurred me on more to be honest. My competitive side reared her head and decided to chase him down. I didn't really pick up my speed but I didn't let up at all. Just kept eating into the meters until we were swimming up the same side of the lane together. Then I knew I could get him - and I did!!! 4 lanes to go and pretty much slapped him on the foot (I did feel bad, it was a little aggressive) and over took him! WAHOO! I had lapped every body with 3 lanes to go. With 2 lanes to go they put a little paddle into the water so that you know exactly where you are. I was feeling much more relaxed now that the swim had gone so well. With one lane to go I over took Mum for a second time and powered home to the end.

Hauling  yourself out of the pool after a swim like that knowing that you now have to get onto a bike for 23km is hard! It's a big drag and you feel like the water is trying to pull you back into the pool. The length counter for our lane was really lovely when I got out of the water though, which really gave me a boost.

'Good swim, really lovely stroke, consistent, WELL DONE!' was exactly what I needed to hear as I finished my first stage.

Into transition I went, about 4th out of the pool according to Dad who was giving me a running commentary from the fences of the transition zone. It is not pleasant putting clothes over a wet tri suit but I was glad of the running top once I was out on the bike as it was chilly! My transition was pretty slow - will need to work on that for the next one - which meant that I left for the bike behind people who left the swimming pool after me. That was a little frustrating but I was still doing okay and I was wasn't too worried about my time at this point.  My sub 2 hour goal was still well within my grasp so off I went.

The course was really hilly! It was all up or down, I don't think there was much of it that was actually flat. Mum caught me up just before the half way turn and we played tag for most of the way back. I need to work on my recovery after a big hill as that is where I lose power. At one point, at the top of the most horrendous hill ever, I had a little dry heave - all the lactic build up made me feel horrendous! Mum went past me there again and that was where I lost her. I slowed down to recover from the almost vomiting situation and she vanished into the distance. Thankfully, after that, it was pretty much downhill back to the sports centre so I did gain ground on her again and we came back into transition pretty much one after the other. I knew that was the last time I'd see Mum until the end though as she is a much faster runner than I am. She set off and just vanished into the distance!

There was a lot of encouragement coming from Dad which was brilliant, I definitely needed the boost. Although, all I could should back was 'I CAN'T FEEL MY TOES!!' which he seemed to find very amusing.

I set off on a shuffle more than a run and headed out for 2 laps of a 2.5km circuit. It's so horrible to try and get your body to adjust from cycling to running - breathing goes out of the window for starters. I felt like someone had tied and elastic band around my lungs too tight! They were expanding but not enough. I couldn't quite see how I was going to manage another 35+mins out on the course. My legs were screaming at me 'what the hell are you doing? Why are we still moving? WHAT!' But I knew that it would get easier as long as I kept going. I got a seriously painful stitch about 1/3 of the way round the first lap which was really not ideal. It was horrible so my shuffle slowed even more and then, because people are funny and the course directors like a giggle, I turned a corner and hit the most monstrous hill! I mean, it was more of a small mountain than a hill, it just kept going, I couldn't see the top because the hill veered round a corner and vanished behind a hedgerow.

I swear, one half of the 2.5km lap was just a hill! It was horrid, I couldn't do it - I walked and jogged and walked and jogged as much as I could until I got to the top. I was a little disappointed but still - it was just MONSTROUS and there were lots of other people who were struggling with it too. The encouragement from the other participants was brilliant. Everyone was really chatty and positive out there which made the whole thing much easier to get through. Second lap was just as tough but I managed to run more of the hill second time around as my stitch was gone. All together my run was SLOW but the thought of my two hour time kept me going when I really didn't want to run anymore. Coming round the final corner was excellent, I could see the finish line and Mum and Dad were going crazy for me. The commentator was chatting me in too. He must have had everyone on a system as he was calling me by name as I approached the finish. It was such a brilliant feeling! Getting to the finish line without any major injuries and within my time goal too! I was SO happy.

What I loved was, because of the timing chip on my ankle, I could get my times immediately!

I GOT A PB!!!! My swim time was the fasted I've swum in about 6 years! I was impressed. Bit frustrated with my transition times but that is something I'll get more used to as I get more experienced with triathlons in general. 

My bike was fine - I think I'll have to get skinnier tiers if I want to shave major amounts of time off of that. And some more power in my legs after a hill climb.

And the run, well, when my general fitness improves and I can actually manage the massive hill, it should be quicker than that!

But I was really proud! I finished. I actually did it and I enjoyed it too. I have definitely got the bug now.

Me and Mum after we'd finished.

7 weeks tomorrow until the next one!!

BRING IT ON!
Check in soon

M xx