The pain and damage of beginning training!

I have previously mentioned the difficulties I faced actually getting going with training. It has not been entirely fun, as you may or may not remember. However, I now have to keep going with what I have started,and this is proving more difficult than I had thought it would.

My gym membership has begun to pay off. The swimming training - with thanks to my gorgeous new coach Eva - has me actually trying to front crawl. I'm not very good yet, but apparently I have a lovely stroke (no pun intended) and I am enjoying the swimming lots. The running is more difficult for me. I am not long or lean. I do not like running much, indeed I usually try to antagonise runners by asking (or shouting at them from a distance) what exactly they are running away from. But that is rather difficult when I myself am out of breath on the treadmill. Going outside is still beyond me. It is freezing. I am not insane.

Sounds good right? Well, I have had a few disasters too, never fear. The first was when I forgot my socks, but still went running. I have myself a ghastly blister along the side of my foot. I am beginning to think that looking good while I do this triathlon is simply not going to be possible.

The other thing I did was to go to circuit training with my uber-fit buddy Edwina. This meant an hour of running, jumping, skipping, lifting, scrunching, pressing up ... and down. In general, lots of things that fit people to do get themselves fitter. By the end I thought my heart was going to burst out of my chest. I also had several bruises from falling off one of those giant inflatable balls. These are ridiculous contraptions designed to torture and to maim unsuspecting would-be triathletes.

Another major shock to my confidence has been the discovery of various people who are also doing the Super Sprint Triathlon in Blenheim. All of whom ARE lean, ARE fit and ARE being competitive.  Will I have to re-consider my position? Am I still happy to do this just for fun and to get as much money for Breakthrough Breast Cancer and Leukaemia and Lymphoma Research as possible, or am I now going to get serious and think about timing and competition? Am I ready to lose to them and to never hear the end of it?

The answer is easy, but it is long:

A year ago my friend Rebecca lost her Mum after a long battle with Breast Cancer. It was heartbreaking for so many reasons – because we thought she was winning her fight, because she was formidable and funny and ferocious all at once, because our best friend was lost without her, because of the caring family she left behind. Mainly though, it was heartbreaking because we all know deep down that there is a cure out there, somewhere, for Breast Cancer. One day, girls will be able to have an injection and never have to go through what Sue went through, or what her family now goes through every day.

But this was not the first time that my friends and I had suffered a loss. When I was in the 6^th form, another of my friends, Claire, lost her sister Laura to Leukaemia. It was such a shock. We had all been at school together months before, and then she had a bad back and a cold, it was suddenly Leukaemia, and then she was gone. Claire still lives with the loss of her sister, and we have all tried to get her through this as best we can. Nothing can fill the gap that a lost sibling leaves behind, and yet those who know Claire would think that she wanted for nothing. For a long time, Claire lost her sparkle and shine; for a long time we didn't know if she would ever be the same again. But she got through it because of her friends and because her family, and because Claire is Claire.

How is this an answer to my quandary? Well, let's put it this way. I can put up with losing a few minutes to those who want to compete. I can cope with this because I am not losing anything like my friends have lost. I am trying to get some money together so that, in the future, wonderful people like Rebecca and Claire will not have to suffer unbearable loss of their own. If that means I get my butt kicked - then so be it. The end certainly justifies the means in this case!

Please sponsor me.

Breakthrough Breast Cancer www.justgiving/Catherine-Yates

Leukaemia and Lymphoma Research www.justgiving/Catherine-Yates0

And so it begins

Well, I would never have thought that doing a triathlon would actually have cost me money!

Originally, I thought it would be the other way around: people would sponsor me and hearing about me making a fool of myself would inspire them to give generously of their hard earned cash.

However, thus far my spending has included:

• 1 gym membership (more of that later)
• 1 wetsuit
• 1 pair of trainers
• Various items of clothing
• 1 fluorescent vest
• A set of cat eye bike lights
• A bike pump
• Several water bottles in various sizes - one for running, two normal, and one to fit in my bottle holder on my bike (that I have already lost)
• A hotel room for 2 nights near Blenheim

Not that I mind spending money. Shopping is something I do really rather well. Also, having already lost 1/2 a stone since Christmas, I will gladly say that this training mullarkey is not the selfless, difficult act I thought it would be. Don't think I begrudge this spending. On the contrary. I am feeling happier, more energetic, more positive and I have something interesting to say about myself. [Cue 'long suffering athlete voice'] "I've GOT to go running... I'm doing the Blenheim Triathlon this year."

The main expenditure that has caused me think though, has been the gym membership. Fortunately, my boyfriend's brother has recently found himself a job as a membership salesperson and trainer type at a local gym. One of the benefits of this is that I can benefit from a 'friends and family' rate. Therefore, I have unlimited swimming and exercise classes for the very reasonable sum of £10 a month. While I know this is very little, it is a lot more than the nothing I had thought it would cost me... ten times more I suppose, or even a thousand times? I'm not sure. Maths is not my strong suit.

Yesterday I went swimming. For free. Well, sort of for free. Swimming is included in my membership. Unless I do anything else at the gym this month that 1000m swim will actually have cost me £10. That's, what, £1 per 100m? Anyway, this swim made me ravenously hungry (but did show that I should be able to complete the 400m swim in less than 20 minutes without stopping by June). So, as I have 'nothing in', I had to go to the supermarket to get my dinner. More money. And as I was hungry I bought several things I didn't need.

Therefore, Sunday's swim has cost me £22.83 in total, unless I go again this month, when the relative cost will decrease. Although, as I say, Maths is not something about which I really know. 

If there is a point of today's inane babble it is simply this: I cannot continue to spend. I must get down to the act of asking people for money. This is something I hate doing. I really do. It makes me uncomfortable to talk about money most of the time.

I hope though this tells you that my training has begun in earnest. I am rushing this update somewhat as I have to get to the gym, and I am going to the driving range afterwards. Despite the cost, I am getting serious. I am determined to do this thing, and I hope that my spending proves to you my dedication to the cause!

It also tells you, that if you haven't sponsored me yet, despite these times of austerity, you are a bad person... Unless you are reading this for the first time. In which case hello! Please sponsor me. I am a nice lady.

SPONSOR ME
Breakthrough Breast Cancer www.justgiving.com/Catherine-Yates
OR
Leukaemia and Lymphoma Research  www.justgiving.com/Catherine-Yates0

Wetsuit Wonderland

The wetsuit has arrived and the training has begun!

It felt amazing getting in to the gym several times this week, finally using my new trainers, and running faster, lifting more and going longer than I had expected to be able to at this early stage. It seems I may actually get round the course in less than 2 hours at this rate!

This was not the only surprise. As I say, the wetsuit has arrived, and it shocked me to the core. When I got it out of the bag I thought they had sent me a kids' wetsuit by mistake. It looked so tiny I thought I might never get in to it. However, once my boyfriend had hooked me up with a top tip - you put a plastic bag over your foot to make the suit go on easier - I was in to the wetsuit and it didn't look too grotesque. Also, the lace pattern on the front adds a nicely feminine touch I reckon. It looks like a corset or bodice top, and had £100 off in the sale. Female practicality, perfectly balanced with aesthetics.

The issue came though when I had to get the blasted thing off again. The lovely wetsuit has a fantastic back panel and a very secure zip, which ensures that no water will flood down the back of the suit and chill me to the bone whilst I'm swimming in Blenheim Palace lake! So far, so good. Unless that is, you want to get out of your wetsuit in a hurry, which nobody does do they? Except people who do triathlons. They need to get out of wetsuits quickly and without help... Oh bugger!

As the boyfriend laughed at me, and referred to what was affectionately called a 'monkey dance' as I tried to get out of the thing, he also TIMED me. Bless him. At the moment, at least 3 minutes of the triathlon is going to be taken up by me monkey dancing around and trying to get out of the wetsuit.

So, now I have an added difficulty. I have to get fit, get fast, and get used to taking off a wetsuit on my own. Great. And I haven't even begun my Christmas shopping yet.

On with the show

Oh dear! Someone has sponsored me.

Well, actually, lots of people have sponsored me. Although quite why I am so surprised about this, when it is what I have asked people to do, I don't know. [See previous blog for details about what I am doing and the reasons why]

The results of this though are pretty darned clear. I had better actually get in to gear and do this thing.

So far my training has consisted of several Google searches about triathlon training programmes, which all assume you are already a competitive runner, cyclist or swimmer; being given some magazines by my aforementioned sporty friends; a chat with a champion duathlete who might take part in June "for a laugh"; and buying a new pair of trainers to not run around in.

Still, I feel like I have achieved something. Research is part of good preparation. Right?

This week in truth I stand little chance of getting any training done as I am directing the school show and will be in work every evening until late. After this I shall need a glass of wine, a bath and my bed. I have been informed that it is possible to run in the morning, but frankly that is absurd.  A friend has offered to run with me, and another to swim with me. I made some vague references about 'after Christmas' and dodged that rather well I think.

This having been said, I really will have to start doing something. My first aim is to be able to run 20 minutes without stopping and to swim 8 lengths. I will worry about cycling when it is not freezing cold and icy - I had a rather bad experience falling off my bike in May and it will take me some time to want to get back on it again.  I am aiming to be able to do the running in 1 month, when I have to go skiing in Switzerland with a bunch of skinny fabulous people.

Also, getting a message from Pauline, the (not so wicked) step-mum of one of my greatest friends Claire, reminded me why I am doing this. When I was at school, Claire's sister Laura, who died from Leukaemia and in whose memory I will be racing, found it funny I was doing a triathlon. In fact, I think she and others laughed at me for a week before and afterwards! Laura would have appreciated the sentiment though. Every morning I must remind myself that I am racing for Sue and Laura, who were taken too soon, and who are missed by so many of us. Anything I can do to raise money to help fight Breast Cancer and Leukaemia will be worth it in the end.

Once upon a time...

As I only entered the Blenheim Triathlon yesterday, and I have 6 months to get fit, I have not actually started training yet - why would I? No. It was cold and raining this morning. I didn't want to put myself off training before I actually began. As a result I have very little of interest to say about triathlon training. Instead I shall tell the story of how this madness came about.

Once upon a time I fell in love with a man. This man is sporty and active. He spends his life gadding about like a puppy. He runs, he surfs, he skis, he plays hockey... you get the picture. Content to sit on the sidelines like a dutiful girlfriend, I cheer and gasp. I spend freezing afternoons shouting "Well in!".

Then, as is expected, I introduced my man to my friends. Actually, I introduced my sporty, triathlon running man to my sporty, interested friends and before long.. they are all in to this triathlon thing. So now, if I want to spend quality time with them, I have to watch them swim, bike and run in various locations across the British Isles. I hold the bags and do the motivational shouting. I have never, ever participated...

One night, in a bar somewhere, I was asked if I ever wanted to do a triathlon. "Look at me!" I scoffed "Do I look like an athlete?" Then came the fatal moment. I was reminded that, at one point, I had in fact completed a triathlon. Long before my sporty friends were marathon runners and triathletes, when I was Games Captain of all things, I did a triathlon... and it didn't actually kill me.

A seed was planted. One triathlon every 15 years won't hurt me, will it? I could be part of the crowd. Oh, and I could do it for charity. That would make sure I went through with it and didn't wimp out. If people sponsored me, I could hardly change my mind. And one little triathlon would be quite nice. There I would be, in the grounds of Blenheim Palace, a World Heritage Site, jogging along, smiling, people would cheer me... the seed grew into an idea, the idea in to an intention and then, like a mad person, I signed up and paid the entry fee.

I'm in. I'm going to do it. And what's more, I'm going to prove to myself that I can be sporty if I want to. Perhaps I had better get up and go running, even when it is raining?

SPONSOR ME!
Breakthough Breast Cancer
www.justgiving.com/Catherine-Yates

Leukaemia and Lymphoma Research
www.justgiving.com/Catherine-Yates0