New to Tri: John Forde – Week 1

So here it goes folks, you are joining me as I take my first steps into the world of Triathlon, and I must say I am more than a little daunted. I have never cycled, never swam and all of a sudden I am looking down the barrel of doing both back to back before setting out on a run, and for what? A t-shirt and goodie bag?! This is classic Forde behaviour, biting of way more than I can chew!

I will keep you updated on all of the bumps and bruises on my way to completing my first triathlon in Fingal on Sunday the 15th of May. I suppose it is best to start by introducing myself:
 

Name – John Forde
D.O.B. – 05 July 1983
Occupation – Army Officer
Hometown – Newry
Triathlons completed to date – Zero

Read on for more…

For the 14 Piranha newbie’s our adventure began in Canters restaurant with plates full of buns and cookies and a lovely cup of coffee, I was instantly enjoying my introduction to the world of Triathlon. We kicked of the evening by introducing ourselves before a pep talk and presentation from the program organisers, our task masters and spiritual leaders’ messers Maslova and Cronin.

Words such as ownership, sacrifices and diet were unleashed upon us and things were starting to gain a little bit of perspective. Time to put the cookies down one would think. But as Magnus Magnusson used to say on Mastermind I have started so I will finish, and I enjoyed every crumb of that delicious little treat. If the motivation to eat what you like is not motivation to train, what is!? As some wise sage once said “a balanced diet is a cookie in each hand”.

The only reason I got this gig in the first place was because the rest of the lads cleverly started to count the tiles on the floor when Tadhg asked for a male volunteer, but as per usual, eager beaver Forde, bright eyed and bushy tailed made the mistake of making eye contact. Before I knew it my hand was in the air and my mouth, all by itself, decided to say “I’ll do it Tadhg” i.e. I will be the eejit that lets the club get a giggle out of my inevitable trials and tribulations.

My sporting background is in football and more recently, due to work, lumping backpacks around most of Irelands finest mountains (not a sport I would recommend). But, alas, in the past three years I have, amongst other things, torn my cruciate ligament, pulled both of my achilles tendons and prolapsed a disc in my back, it would be fair to say that I am slowly falling apart. Something had to give, and therefore football had to go, I was never going to pay the bills playing Intermediate Championship for Newry Shamrocks.

Sport has always played such a big part of my life, I need something to work towards, something to satisfy my competitive spirit, a friend mentioned Triathlon and I thought I would give it a shot. The original goal was my local Triathlon, The Crooked Lake. A show down with my younger Brother beckoned, with the added incentive that he won a fifty euro bet when he recently beat me in a Defence Forces shooting competition still fresh in my mind.

I hope that you enjoy the blog. I will be as honest as possible, keeping you informed of the good days and the bad, the highs and the lows and the inevitable fast food blow out. Each of you have looked forward to your first triathlon before so your thoughts, suggestions and criticisms are all very welcome as I strive towards winning Olympic Gold for Ireland in London 2012 and, more importantly, winning that crisp 50 euro note back from my Brother.