It’s been a super summer of sport and between the Olympics, the Paralympics and the Brownlee’s demonstration of sporting brotherly love at the Triathlon World Series in Mexico a couple of weeks ago, “triathlon” hasn’t been far from anyone’s lips.

If you’ve been reading or following us for a while, you’ll know that it is Katie F, not me, who is the triathlete of the pair of us. I hate running with a burning passion, and despite being a reasonable cyclist and a not-terrible swimmer, the running alone has always been enough to put me off even considering doing a triathlon. So when British Triathlon contacted us to say that they were running a campaign called #YourGoTri to encourage new people into the sport by pointing out how easy it is to factor all three disciplines into your weekly fitness routine, Katie gave me a look that said “now you really don’t have an excuse”.

I guess now I really don’t.

#YourGoTri is a simple online tool that lets you design your own personal triathlon which eases you in to participating in all three disciplines (running, cycling, swimming) in a way that isn’t intimidating. The purpose of the tool is to point out that every little helps, and you’re probably closer to running your first triathlon than you think – even getting out on a lake on a pedalo counts as cycling!

My personal triathlon is comprised of:

1) Cycling to work, which I do pretty much every day anyway;

2) A swim of 16+ lengths, which given I could do 50 if I took the time to actually go swimming, shouldn’t be too hard;

3) taking a jog around the block, because frankly if I committed to running any further than that on the regular right now, I just wouldn’t do it.

It’s that easy! It didn’t occur to me that by just factoring a basic swim and a quick run into my fitness routine every week, I’ve effectively started training for a triathlon!

Hope you’re proud @KatieFerguson89, @kateoconnor just bought her first road bike! #payday #bikerchick #ukcyclechat pic.twitter.com/siMEuA8ZDV

— These Girls Do (@thesegirlsdo) July 29, 2016

 

So here’s the deal, y’alll, I’ve completed my #YourGoTri triathlon, realised that training for a Triathlon doesn’t have to be as scary as all that, and it looks like Katie F and I will be signing up together for the first time early next year.

To celebrate all things Triathlon, we’d love to see anyone who has never done it before to design their own personal triathlon on #YourGoTri – share it and we’ll look out for you on Twitter and Instagram and give you a shout-out!

Katie and I are planning to devote a monthly post to triathlon tips, tricks and general chat – if you have anything specific you’d like to read about (either from the perspective of a beginner, or a seasoned triathlete), do let us know!