New to Tri: Gráinne – Week 4

Wow so time is flying by and our first triathlon with the beginners group is creeping up fast. We’ve about seven weeks left and so it was high time I figured out how I was doing on the bike, especially seeing as I haven’t been cycling with the club yet. The club had arranged bike time trials in Phoenix Park on Sunday morning. Although internally I was moaning at how early we were meeting, 7:30, it was a great time as the park was nice and quiet.

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At first there was no sign of any of the other beginners or even any other females for that matter. All of the advanced guys hopped out of their cars with their bikes so shiny and fast looking, they even had fancy helmets which remind me of the one Hal wears in Malcolm in the Middle for speed walking. I have to admit I was bricking it in the car and was so close to going home. But nope, people had seen me by then; I’d have to get out of the car. As always, once I was out talking to everyone I realised that just because people are faster and more advanced does not mean I should be intimidated by them. In fact quite the opposite as everyone was very welcoming. 
 
We started with a warm up lap which would be the route of the time trial. What would have been great is if I knew where I was going and I convinced Tara that we should go straight instead of taking a left turn. That meant when it came to the timed lap I was unsure of where I was going. I kept looking behind waiting to be lapped so I could make sure I knew where I was going. In my head I felt like a lost child in a huge park. Also didn’t help that I’ve only ever been to Phoenix Park once to go to the zoo.
 
Casso passed me by, and then some more piranha jerseys whizzed by, normally this would scare me but this time I was smiling with the comfort of knowing I was going the right way. So I finished the lap, not in the best time of 17 mins 46 sec, but I finished it and it’s a starting point. Sure, I can only get better, right? 🙂
 
I loved Sunday morning out cycling with everyone and loved the feeling of belonging to the club where you’re not the odd one out for liking exercise so much. Thanks a mill for organizing this session folks.
 
The other thing I’ve found from starting this blog is that writing this every week is forcing me to sit down and plan what training I’m going to do. Otherwise I’ve nothing to write about. I’ve starting using RunKeeper on my phone online to record all my training. It’s working out much better than my note book. I can see things much faster, like I should have done a second swim this week!!!! Sorry Shaz 🙂 With being away this coming weekend for mother’s day I’m going to miss Sunday nights swim as well as a cycle. So I’ve planned to cycle in Dublin before heading to Limerick and also I’ve rang UL arena and I can swim Sunday morning in the 50m pool there.
 
On the foot update, still no running for two more weeks. Fingers crossed I’ve no pain when I finally do run. Until then it’s more mid week cycles to try and stay some bit fit.
 
Happy training everyone.
 
Grá