The Optimise Health Blog

So I completed the triathlon. During the event I was surprised that I had time and presence if mind to think about what I would do differently next time. Train more, not get a cold or d+v in the 2 weeks running up to the day; oh and get calf compression guards!  The swim went ok but slower than I had hoped due to distraction of 99 swimmers front crawling  in a lake full of weeds... Can't say I enjoyed it but completed nonetheless and lesson learned is to get your heart rate up before maximal effort ( perhaps a quick sprint up and down pre-race and a swim up and down at the start) and to make sure your wetsuit is well fitted - mine had ridden up so that I found it hard to breathe and had to unzip during the swim.  The transition was simpler than expected and good planning here minimised lost time; lay out your bike shoes and put helmet and glasses on your handlebars facing you; I had my compression gear underneath wetsuit so it was a quick slip out of bottom half of wetsui...

I am less than 3 weeks away from my first sprint Triathlon. As you may see from the blog I intended to do a Triathlon last year to prove to myself I had fully recovered from Malignant Melanoma. This goal was thwarted last year by a slipped a disc and 5 months of standing up with sciatica. Undeterred I have entered the Castle Howard Triathlon on 21st July. Before commencing training this year I lost 6 Kg over 4 months through diet changes, mainly reducing processed carbs, cooking from fresh and reducing portions.  My weight has come down to a steady 87 Kg with benefits seen in my knees and running/swimming/cycling times. I have been training with a buddy who did the Castle Howard Triathlon last year and is fitter than me in all events - a good person to chase! I certainly have felt benefit in company and the motivation to continue training when we are tired or needing to push it to the max in cardio training. Barriers have included injury - an ankle sprained slipping on...