I’m no sprinter, let’s hope I’m a stayer…

It’s the 1st of February today, by now everyone should have picked their main 2018 goals and worked out if they are going to stick to them!

I feel a little sorry for January, it gets blamed for a lot. At the start of it everyone gets fierce excited with all the wonderful things they are going to do with the new year but by the 31st the wheat has been separated from the chaff, the stayers from the slackers…if you’re one of the latter,  g’luck to the ‘new year new you’ and welcome to place where gym memberships go to waste.

I’ve picked out a few goals of my own with IM Tallinn being the main one. I still can’t really get my head around how I’m get this crumby broken body to do it but sure I said I’d do it so I’m going to give it a good crack! (The race, hopefully not the body…again) I’m nearing the middle of a 10 week prep stage and I can’t complain about how it’s going. I generally find the fun in most things so heading out to exercise and meet people is just like part of my old working day!

My groin injury still totally sucks, worse when I need to clip off from the bike with my right leg so I try to avoid that if I can. Mostly I’ve been doing spin classes but I had a cracking spin out on Saturday with the club. I’m also having wicked trouble with my right shoulder, whatever way the groin sucks this sucks more. Due to the injuries I’ve had previously, to my back, my shoulders ordinarily hurt but this one is nasty. I can’t really give up swimming at this stage and when I do try to rest it I lose circulation into my hand…not really very convenient when you have an enthusiastic wee horse like mine. Anyway, sure if these are the worst of it for now it’s manageable and hopefully it will all come right soon.

So, I’ve been thinking about motivation lately as I get a few people texting me to give them a kick up the ass! I guess I’m pretty lucky that I don’t really lack it and if I do mostly I just think of the people that I know from my old job that can’t do what I do and would probably really love to! I joke and mess a lot about how exhausting everything sounds, and seriously it does but I have fun with everything I do so I just keep doing it.There are times I hate it, like swimming at the minute but I have great craic in my swim lane it makes it worth the pain.(get good swim lane buddies!)

I know some people take exercise fierce seriously and that’s each to their own, I’ve said all along I’m not putting myself through this if it’s not fun. I’ve had bad enough days before when I’ve been so wrecked and sore, probably from a fall earlier in the week, and I’m riding some rotten horse I can barely stay on or hold one side of and I’ve thought to myself, if I just slid off here now the pain would stop and I could have a nap! Of course I never did, and really, if any of my old bosses are reading this I seriously never came off without trying everything to stay on!!! At the end of the day training for triathlon isn’t that bad.

You just have to find something that motivates you! My friends are great, the people I train with are great, we all motivate each other, just a simple text message to brighten someone’s day can put someone in the humour to slap a smile on and go exercise! If you are really stuck for exercise inspiration I’ll introduce you to my horse. Currently he’s having a problem with his muscles, they get all caught up before he gets home from work, some days it can be excruciating for him. Yet everyday I ride him out (he has to go out daily to balance out this issue) he springs into life, acts like a complete bollox ( I love him really but you can’t trust him!), throws himself around the place and gives it his all. He never gives up and he has fun in everything he does! We should all be more like him…but not the bollox part!

One thing I did do this month that I’ve never done before was a run session on the track. The tri club has a run coach, Eamonn Tilley, so last Sunday it was a track day. I was pretty terrified arriving, not because I thought I’d die (at that stage) but I didn’t really want to find out I was crap at something else. Well I did, sprinting, even the snails were passing me out on their Sunday morning stroll! I’ve never ran fast in my life, it was brutal, I thought I was going have a heart attack and end up collapsing over, clutching my chest and making a big dent where I fell. A big mass of black with white legs sticking out the bottom! Luckily I didn’t, I survived but probably because I was actually going too slow to do any real damage to myself. The conclusion was, I am no sprinter, let’s hope I’m a stayer!!