I loved it

The event was last Sunday and I have to say I thoroughly enjoyed the day. I had a lot of nerves in the few days leading up to it - "why did I put my name down?" "am I mad?" etc. We had a family conference and decided 2 hours was a good target, but, as I had not really trained as much as I would have liked and had never done a "brick" session, then 2.5 hours would also be acceptable. I didn't think I'd sleep the night before, but I did, and when I woke up I was calm and ready to go.

We set off with 2 bikes on the rack - the flashy new wheels on the son and heir's bike don't fit on his bike rack, so even though he was having an extra hour in bed (much later start time as much better triathlete than me) - he only had to be there for 8am to see me get into the pool - we ended up taking my bike and his to the start line. Everything took a little longer than expected so we missed the 7am race briefing - I still stayed calm as I had listened to it twice before when spectating so knew what to expect.

The atmosphere was so friendly, I met some lovely people as we queued to go into the pool at our allotted time - the "15 minute swim" gang was very supportive of each other and there were several of us first timers.

The heart rate monitor said 140 before I started the swim - so although I felt calm up until I got into the water I think I had a little reality check then and the heart went for it!

Once I started swimming though, I had to concentrate like mad, as this year we had to count our own lengths.  So I swam to my own little mantra...one,one,one,one, two, two,two and so on. All of the practice at getting out of the pool unaided paid off and I emerged after my swim and headed to transition.

I managed to put all of my kit on in the right order, fastened my helmet then unracked the bike. At this point I noticed I was grinning like an idiot - it was so much fun to be doing it - I felt great.

The bike ride was lovely - through the country lanes and at every junction where there was a marshal they clapped and cheered and encouraged me - the grin got wider! It took me 57 minutes on the bike which was about 3 minutes quicker than I hoped for. Then back in to transition.

Mantra for transition 2 was "rack the bike before you take your helmet off" but it would have been hard to take the helmet off first as I had my hands full of bike, so it was quite easy to remember to do it in the right order - just as the family triathlete had reassured me it would be!

Grinning like a fool I set off on the run - my least favourite part but I knew I could do it, the family support group had yelled encouraging things to me about my time looking good for my target so I was feeling great. I did run and walk my way for 5km but have to say the support of the marshals and my fellow competitors was wonderful - and so the 40minute 5km became a reality and not just a traget - I did it, I crossed the line to hear my name on the tannoy and my family yelling encouragement. As they took my timing chip off I had to pass judgement - That was BRILLIANT. We went to the timing station and my print out said 1:59:00 - I broke the 2 hour barrier!

The other (better) triathlete in the family did 1:07 and was a little disappointed as he wanted to do it in about an hour but we all thought he was a star - it was only 2 weeks ago he completed his first half ironman - I would still have had my feet up recovering!

Thanks to those people who sponsored me I raised £560 for ovarian cancer action - that made me pretty proud too - so thank you all.

Oh, and the answer to the question is yes I am doing it again and my aim is to knock 15 minutes off my time next year - watch this space!

It's on Sunday!!!!

Well - this is it - it is on Sunday.

I am more ready than I might have been, but since I fell of my bike in May and had 4 weeks off training with my bruised and battered knee (long story) I am not as ready as I would have liked to be.

Individually the swim and the cycle hold no fear. Running is still my impossible dream, so run/walk it will have to be!

I've got lots of sponsors from work - thank you all, my forms filling up - and also some kind folk have sponsored me on Just Giving - follow the link on the page if you want to donate,  I will take as many new sponsors as possible - ovarian cancer action is a great cause.

I am already planning next years attempt so I suppose that is hopeful!

Watch this space and I'll let you know how I get on.

Some you win........

Some you lose..................Since blogging the last time I have managed to go running with my husband, it was going well until I felt my left achilles tendon start to hurt, so I slowed down a bit and managed to finish the session, but with hindsight I think I should have stopped running and walked back! So my achilles hurt when I walked, and the further I walked the more it hurt - but I am glad to report it is not anything like as bad as it was when I first did it.

So I am slowly improving but haven't been able to run or zumba for almost two weeks now.

On the winning side though................... the day after I hurt my tendon I decided cycling wouldn't hurt and so I would go out and brave the rain. I managed to do a 28km cycle circuit and even stayed dry, as, by a sheer fluke, I hit the only dry spell that weekend.

I have also managed some yoga sessions which seemed to help the tendon and had a couple of trips for physio which is painful at the time but seems to be speeding my recovery. Verdict was not too bad, just a sprain to the tendon!

I refuse to give in though - I will run 5km eventually!

Oh and I am going to go swimming again soon - I seem to have forgotten the way to the swimming pool lately!

Caution ~ heart may explode!

I am increasing my running gradually - the distance and course is the same but the number of 30 second running bursts is up to 13 now.

I went running on my own this time - that was a first - it went quite well. I put on my heart rate monitor and off I went. I cut my time right down to 27 minutes 38 seconds. I was a bit tired but kept pushing and when the monitor pipped I tried a bit harder.

When we looked at the readout my heart rate had gone up to 187 - probably a little high for someone of 52, the pipping apparently meant my heart rate was high and I should ease off a little.

Gadgets are great but only if you understand them - as the hubby pointed out, instead of slavishly obeying the beep and going faster because that's what I thought it meant, surely my brain told me I was working hard and I should listen to my body!

Well, we live and learn, the heart didn't blow up, I broke my PB and will be more sensible next time!!!

It's an uphill struggle

I have managed to increase my cycle rides to 17km.

On a positive note, unlike my son, who got lots of tiny bruises on his arms while cycling the other week when he got caught in a thunder and hail storm (yes really) ~ I managed to dodge the torrential showers so the bike is still nearly pristine - just a few splash marks from going along recently drenched country lanes.

Oh and another challenge - cycling along country lanes recently tarred and top dressed with chippings. ~the combination of loose chippings and wet roads made some of my initial nervousness return ~ but I plunged on and am going faster and with more confidence now than I was when I first sat on the bike.

The uphill struggle? Went down a steep hill on my ride, then did another 1k before coming back up the same hill - I had to push most of the way up it the first time, but cycled half way up the next time I attempted it - there will be much celebration when I get to the top while still ON the bike!

Only 5 months to go!

It really is getting closer now.

I am afraid I haven't trained quite as much this week as I did in the previous 2 weeks, but we managed one "run" on Saturday (I'm up to 12 bursts of running for 30 seconds in between walking) and knocked 2 minutes off my 2 mile time - still a pitiful 32 minutes as I walk much more than I run!

Bad news is that my left calf needed icing after my last two runs and, sadly, I discovered tonight that my zumba class resulted in an ice pack too. I am hoping that if I don't go mad I can just keep the training ticking over and let the calf settle down without having to give up on the running.

£145 rasied so far

It feels like this triathlon is starting to happen now. I am training on a fairly regular basis in a pretty meaningful way.

I think because I feel like I am doing some training and I may be a triathlete after all, I am not so embarrassed to talk to people about sponsoring me, so I am really pleased with my fund raising for ovarian cancer action - it is starting to pick up momentum.

I have now had £145 donated on my just giving page - thank you.

Check it out at http://www.justgiving.com/Gill-Derby-Tri