New to Tri: The Final Blog – John Forde

It has been a fortnight of firsts since my last blog. What with being outsmarted by an
ankle sock, completing my first mini tri, my first sprint tri, meeting Stephen Moody and
being chicked it has all been very eventful.

Being out smarted by an ankle sock is always difficult to come to terms with, particularly
when it happens during your first ever transition. When I walked through the mini
triathlon in my mind, from swim to cycle to run, I could see lots of little things that could
slow me down; unsurprisingly a sock wasn’t one of them.

After a solid swim I rushed out to T1, took a seat on the tarmac, got myself comfortable
and much like a man 3 times my age I dried my toes like my Mother taught me before
wrestling my socks on. When I say wrestle I mean like a UFC bout we had it out, the
heckling spectators were having a field day, “put that in your blog Fordie” one shouted. I
focused, regained control of the situation, dressed myself, and got on the bike.

Contrary to popular belief, I can actually dress myself in less than five minutes, but as
the old saying goes “every sock has its day” and unfortunately for me the sock came up
trumps on this occasion.

The Oxford English dictionary defines Chicked to be “when a proud male is humbled by
the sporting prowess of a female in any given sporting discipline”. It is a word which up
until recently wasn’t part of my vocabulary but with Fionnuala chicking me on the run
in both the mini-tri and Fingal sprint and Rasher chicking me on the bike every Sunday
I suppose I better get used to it. I have a feeling that in the years to come being chicked
maybe just another day at the office.

All joking aside I must admit I have had a few doubts about whether Triathlon is really
for me. Whether I should dust down my old boots and score Down’s winning point in
this years All Ireland final. These doubts were all consuming when on the Saturday night
before Fingal I found myself sitting in with only Jedward, Eurovision and a big bowl of
pasta to keep me company. When, as Olympic champion, I look back on my sporting
sacrifices this one shall surely rein supreme.

Worn out by the Euro festivities I slept well and woke feeling fresh and relaxed. I thought
I might feel some nerves as the race got closer but thankfully they never came, and as I
set up my transition area I was feeling confident in being able to put in a half decent time.
I did laugh when I caught a glimpse of myself in my new trisuit, a fat Tarzan sprung to
mind. I made my way to the pool, got my brief and had a chat with the other competitors
and we ranked ourselves.

Unfortunately, however things took a serious nose dive when the Eurovision started
repeating on me and I got a serious doss of the J.I.T.s (Jedward Induced Trauma). Just
before our starting orders the gruesome twosome got inside my head. The lyrics to
lipstick kept me company for the next 82minutes. Yes, I’m sure an ironman is pretty
tough mentally but you try and banish the ankle sock demons in transition with that song
in your head and you will learn a thing or two about mental fortitude.

I was buzzing post race, delighted for myself and for the other newbies. I could see that
they were all as chuffed as I was. The level of support before, during and after the race
from Tadgh, Elena and the Piranha club was very impressive. Esprit de corps is what I
call it, and Piranha has it in bucket loads.

I got a bit of stick last time out with my heart felt “Discover Ireland” blog so please look
away now if it got a bit too much for you the last day as I thank a few people for their
support.

I can safely say that my race day confidence was solely down to the level of support from
Tadgh and Elena throughout the program. No question was to silly and no element of the
race a surprise. They are two excellent coaches who both posses an infectious enthusiasm
for the sport which they clearly love. Thanks guys. Thank you must also go to my Mother
who opened my blog 100 times a week just to make me feel like someone was reading.
And finally a big thank you to my girlfriend Louise who kicks me out of bed so I’m on
time for training, hides the chocolate and proofreads this nonsense.

Having done my first Triathlon I am starting to feel like a proper member of the club and
after receiving my Piranha swim cap and securing a club cycle jersey all that there is left
to say is roll on the crooked lake triathlon in June!

Thanks for reading

John