Challenge 1, Midlands Ultra Triathlon "sprint"

Hello everyone, hope you are all having a happy friday.

As I said in my previous post this blog is all about challenges and goals, so what better way to kick start things than with a Triathlon, and even better the Midlands Ultra Triathlon "sprint" distance, Yip as of last week I am officially entered into the race, It will be my first ever Triathlon and from what I have heard Its a great beginner Tri.

I am doing the "Sprint" distance which is made up of a 600m swim, 22.5km cycle and 5km run, now that doesn't seem too hectic but as a heavy bloke and as my first Tri, it is definitely a challenge, and will require a great amount of physical training and even some mental training.

There are tons of free training programs online, you can literally spend hours reading through all of them. Alot of them aren't great because they are not specific enough, also remember that the online training programs are not tailor made for you, everyone is unique not everyone should train exactly the same.
So obviously the best training program you can get will be one specifically formulated for you, but those cost money and if it is your first one then you aren't trying to win, the online ones will work, guys like Fitrack have some great ones that you pay a minimal amount for and you can track your progress which is really neat, I found a really great free one from Triahlonplussa very similar to this Begginer Training Plan.

Because I'm sure you didn't click the link :) I will tell you a little bit about it.
Its really great because not only does it give you a training schedule with specific training days and really specific breakdowns, it gives you a whole beginners guide as to what to expect on the day and even how to stretch for the Triathlon, If you are interested in this sort of thing there is tons to read at beginnertriathlete.

My training was supposed to start on Monday this week, but on Sunday I came down with horrible flu that has taken the whole week to clear up, it has got to be one of the most frustrating thing when you cannot train because you are sick you feel so helpless, hopefully I will be able to do a run or a cycle tomorrow morning but my official training will now start on Monday next week.

If any of you are interested in doing this Tri, check out there website and let me know it would be great to do it with more people, currently Rory Bouffe, Ryan Habib, Ronnie Seiler and I are In and I challenge Carey Bouffe, Tanha Bouffe and Shane Rielly to join us. I will keep you guys posted on my progress and on some of the hardcore days in my training. below are some pics of the race route.