triathlon_article_My_First_Triathlon_Story_danni_hamilton

Check out all of the pictures!

I have never done anything like this before so here goes.

I’ve always worked out a wee bit in the gym, mainly weights and not much cardio. This was due to a knee injury. I was advised by Doctors not to run/bike or do contact sports. However in 2008, while trying to get fit for my job, I was challenged to a 5k. I walked it in 50mins and was hooked. Over that year and 2009 I did more 5k/10k’s and walked them all. I was then challenged to do a tri eek!

So in Apr 2010 I did my 1st ‘proper bike ride’ on my old MB.. A local bike challenge.. 5miles in 45mins and I pushed the bike round most of it. At that stage I still walked my road races and could only do backcrawl or very bad breast stroke. Over the next few months I did about 10x 5k/10k’s, upgraded my bike to a hybrid and learnt to do proper breaststroke. On the 5th of sept I completed my 1st triathlon at Grantown in 2hrs 5 mins.. I swam breaststroke, pushed my bike up the hills and walked the run. I was high as a kite when I crossed that line and totally hooked.. again!!

Unfortunately I wouldnt get to do anymore tri’s that season due to work and the fact that the races fill up fast! So decided to start training more. 1st off I completed the Aspire Channel Challenge to improve my swimming.. You get 12 weeks to swim the 22 miles of the channel in your local pool.. I did it in 5 weeks and learnt front crawl. I started going to spin classes and started adding short jog sections to my walks.

Early this year I joined Triathlon Inverness and the real work began lol. I have completed a few of their mini-series of duathlons and aquathlons. Done 4 tri’s including Grantown, where I knocked 12mins 40 off last years time and did frontcrawl for the swim, never got off my bike and ran the whole run.

Last weekend I did the clubs inaugural tri. Nairn novice/sprint. I did the novice 400m/11km/3km. The sprint was 750m/23km/5km. The swim was in the pool, this is when I learned you must get your swim times right, or you get held up and others get messed about while your passing them/being passed. The bike was thru the town & out to the coutryside where the novice did 1 loop and the sprint did 3. We then headed back into town and T2. The run was a flat run along the shore. I finished 6mins faster than I thought in 1hr 19 🙂 All thats left for this year is the Baxters 10k. Which I hope to run for the 1st time.

Apart for being fitter and healthier than ever before, I have lost 3stone in weight and my knee is not been a problem in over a year. The photos are my 1st 5k in 2008. Grantown finish this year and me on the bike section of Nairn on saturday.