You do Triathlons? I could never do that!

I often find myself in conversation with people about what I do in my spare time. They generally go something like this.

Person: So what do you do in your spare time?

Me: I do Triathlon.

Person: Really? That's amazing. Oh I could never do that.

That last bit always makes me feel a little sad. You see some people think that Triathlon is impossible to them. Well as I often say to them.

I am sure you could. It's not that difficult.

This usually produces a puzzled look from the other person.

So I thought I'd take you through a stepping stone on my path to becoming a bad triathlete.

I have always wanted to give triathlon a go. I saw these supreme athletes and thought I would love to do that but I never really plucked up the courage to do it.

Then I read "The Element: How Finding Your Passion Changes Everything by Sir Ken Robinson"

I won't say that it completely changed my life. I have watched a number of TED lectures by Sir Ken and I've always enjoyed his presentation style. Have a watch at the video below.

I think he makes a lot of very good points on how we are/have been taught over the years.

The book gives you examples of people who have found their passion in life sometimes through hard work sometimes by accident.

There is one particular part that really hit home with me.

It revolves around a conversation a young Ken had with one of his brothers friends. His brother was in a band at the time and the friend in question was the keyboard player.

Ken marvelled at this mans talent tickling the ivories and said "I wish I could do that!"

The man replied "No you don't! Because if you did then you would practice long and hard and put the time in to become a musician."

It flicked a switch which turned on a light bulb in my mind. The only thing stopping me from stopping me from doing a Triathlon was me.

I can swim, I can cycle and I can run. Badly, but I can do it.

So what was stopping me from doing it?

So I set about entering a few triathlons. Well I started with a Duathlon (Run-Bike-Run) and somehow I managed to do it.

I did another Duathlon this time something more challenging. I did an event called "Storm the Castle" which takes place in and around the Shropshire Town of Ludlow.

I massively under estimated how difficult it would be and I got very bad cramp on the bike leg.

A few week later I finally did my first Triathlon. A pool based event in Highley called the Miners Trial.

I won't pretend it was easy. I struggled on a particularly hilly run but I managed to finish.

I was pleased with my efforts but I was closer to the back of the field than the front.

Over the rest of the year I did 4 more Triathlon and 1 more Duathlon.

I also found I loved open water swimming even if it scared me at times.

Most importantly I found an inner strength that allowed me to to push on through the pain and exhaustion.

I found I wanted to go further and faster but more of that another time.

So the moral of the story is don't say I wish I could do that or I wish I could do this. Get up and do it!