Preparing for my first Triathlon

Oulton park increased my confidence hugely as I now felt I could be competitive in the running and cycling elements.
However my swimming to date had consisted of paddling up and down the small pool in my local gym. Luckily I seam competitively from age 5 to 14 so I've got a good swimming background, even if it was a few years since I'd powered up and down a pool. Also luckily, my office is pretty close to the aquatic centre in Manchester and its 2 lovely 50m pools! Great for working on my stamina and practising a front crawl technique I'd not used for 12 years. Instantly I rediscovered my love of swimming and now my biggest challenge is finding the hours in the day and the energy to do all the training I want to do.

In the lead up to Wilmslow I went out to the bike course a couple of times and practised the route-its not far off my normal cycling route and has since become part of a nice hour ride I do on Monday nights. The course has a couple of steep downhill sections and my cycling is rather cautious.

 Kit wise I realised rocking up on my running kit wouldn't be the best idea as I'd be swimming in it as well! I didn't want to shell out on loads of kit given it was my first ever tri, so i checked out the bargains on wiggle and got a nice orca suit wih a strangely padded bum that I've still not got used to! I also picked up some decent goggles to prevent me stopping every length to empty the water out!

 Training wise I added in a couple of bricks and worked on putting in a few more miles on the bike - more to come on training in another post! I was determined to do well as well as just completing my first triathlon! I gave up alcohol for most of April and May, mostly because I was finding training for the 3 sports really tiring and wanted to give my body he best chance possible...and also because I find it very hard to cycle on a hangover!