Taking on the triathlon challenge
The Brownlee brothers make it look so easy by bringing triathlons into the limelight during the Olympics for Team GB – so what’s stopping a club from Hertfordshire to compete in their own events?
The Meridian Triathlon Club bring together triathletes no matter what fitness, gender or age they’re at – but the most common age of members in this group is around 45 years old and above. But why have these triathletes taken up the sport later in life?
It’s 5.30am. The alarm clock is echoing throughout the house, waking those who are still in their morning slumber. It’s time to get up and get training after all, this triathlon isn’t going to do it itself. Diving into the local pool, McSplash, at the early hours of the morning seems crazy. But nothing seems to work better as a morning wakeup call than diving into freezing cold water and complete the 75 lengths you set yourself when you decided to take on the challenge on completing a triathlon. Mark Whitehead knows this scene all too well.
After being persuaded to start running by his wife Helen, swimming was next on the list of things to do for Mark. Splashing around in the shallow end of a lukewarm pool, attending Swim Fit and living in the world of Alice Barnes (his coach) where the only thing on Mark’s mind was swimming, a sprint triathlon (a half a mile swim, a 12.4-mile cycle and a 3.1-mile run) was an epic challenge to complete at the age of 57. “It’s all hard work but it’s a great sense of achievement,” says a beaming Mark, “I’m terrified but I’m loving it.”
Swim complete. Time to go about your normal day, after eating a nutritious breakfast filled with enough carbs to store for the rest of the day for training. After all, you did sign up for this race and the training isn’t going to do itself (sound familiar?) It’s 12.30pm, time to jump on the bike for your lunch break.
Wheeling out your carbon fibre road bike from the garage, ensuring that nothing touches it to cause a dent or scratch – you spent nearly £800 on the thing – it’s time to start planning where you’re going to head on your training ride today. 35 miles seems do-able today. Trevor Lunnon is a regular with triathlons but is yet to take part in his first half Ironman (1.2-mile swim, 56-mile cycle and a 13.1-mile run).
Triathlons in 1985 were a quirky thing, something that Trevor took part in at 19 years old, alongside his sister which is something he describes as a Heath Robinson event because the sport was so new. His racing days were put to retirement until the London Olympics 2012. After sitting on his sofa at home and watching triathletes compete against one another on his TV, motivation to complete another triathlon came back to Trevor.
The sweat drips into his eyes whilst he’s climbing up a 5% inclined hill, this is a motivating memory to keep him going in his constant daily training. That, and another key part of his triathlon training: the community. “I’m still carrying on primarily because of the club to be honest,” Trevor says over the phone, “I’ve found some good friends that I hadn’t known before. If it wasn’t for the club, I wouldn’t have continued to be honest.”
Two training sessions done. Legs feel like they’re on fire from the lunchtime climb. Finish the rest of your day off, ensure that you keep grazing on nuts and fruit throughout to keep your energy levels up for your evening run. After all, this triathlon training isn’t going to do itself!
It’s now 6.30pm, legs are still throbbing from the earlier activities but it’s the last bit of training for the day. Target distance for this evening? 8 miles. Shouldn’t take more than an hour and a half to complete, a pre-run checklist Elspeth Goodspeed follows before each training run.
Sitting in a doctor’s office over 3 years ago and being told that she had to start running, Elspeth knew she had to put a purpose behind the crazy idea of putting a pair of trainers on and running for at least half an hour or so. “I never thought I could run, the only running I had done in my 52 years was to catch a train!” Elspeth laughs “It’s actually given me a whole new outlet in life.”
Training for the day, complete. Body aching? Yes. Sense of achievement? Most definitely.
The Meridian Triathlon Club bring together triathletes no matter what fitness, gender or age they’re at – but the most common age of members in this group is around 45 years old and above. But why have these triathletes taken up the sport later in life?
It’s 5.30am. The alarm clock is echoing throughout the house, waking those who are still in their morning slumber. It’s time to get up and get training after all, this triathlon isn’t going to do it itself. Diving into the local pool, McSplash, at the early hours of the morning seems crazy. But nothing seems to work better as a morning wakeup call than diving into freezing cold water and complete the 75 lengths you set yourself when you decided to take on the challenge on completing a triathlon. Mark Whitehead knows this scene all too well.
After being persuaded to start running by his wife Helen, swimming was next on the list of things to do for Mark. Splashing around in the shallow end of a lukewarm pool, attending Swim Fit and living in the world of Alice Barnes (his coach) where the only thing on Mark’s mind was swimming, a sprint triathlon (a half a mile swim, a 12.4-mile cycle and a 3.1-mile run) was an epic challenge to complete at the age of 57. “It’s all hard work but it’s a great sense of achievement,” says a beaming Mark, “I’m terrified but I’m loving it.”
Swim complete. Time to go about your normal day, after eating a nutritious breakfast filled with enough carbs to store for the rest of the day for training. After all, you did sign up for this race and the training isn’t going to do itself (sound familiar?) It’s 12.30pm, time to jump on the bike for your lunch break.
Wheeling out your carbon fibre road bike from the garage, ensuring that nothing touches it to cause a dent or scratch – you spent nearly £800 on the thing – it’s time to start planning where you’re going to head on your training ride today. 35 miles seems do-able today. Trevor Lunnon is a regular with triathlons but is yet to take part in his first half Ironman (1.2-mile swim, 56-mile cycle and a 13.1-mile run).
Triathlons in 1985 were a quirky thing, something that Trevor took part in at 19 years old, alongside his sister which is something he describes as a Heath Robinson event because the sport was so new. His racing days were put to retirement until the London Olympics 2012. After sitting on his sofa at home and watching triathletes compete against one another on his TV, motivation to complete another triathlon came back to Trevor.
The sweat drips into his eyes whilst he’s climbing up a 5% inclined hill, this is a motivating memory to keep him going in his constant daily training. That, and another key part of his triathlon training: the community. “I’m still carrying on primarily because of the club to be honest,” Trevor says over the phone, “I’ve found some good friends that I hadn’t known before. If it wasn’t for the club, I wouldn’t have continued to be honest.”
Two training sessions done. Legs feel like they’re on fire from the lunchtime climb. Finish the rest of your day off, ensure that you keep grazing on nuts and fruit throughout to keep your energy levels up for your evening run. After all, this triathlon training isn’t going to do itself!
It’s now 6.30pm, legs are still throbbing from the earlier activities but it’s the last bit of training for the day. Target distance for this evening? 8 miles. Shouldn’t take more than an hour and a half to complete, a pre-run checklist Elspeth Goodspeed follows before each training run.
Sitting in a doctor’s office over 3 years ago and being told that she had to start running, Elspeth knew she had to put a purpose behind the crazy idea of putting a pair of trainers on and running for at least half an hour or so. “I never thought I could run, the only running I had done in my 52 years was to catch a train!” Elspeth laughs “It’s actually given me a whole new outlet in life.”
Training for the day, complete. Body aching? Yes. Sense of achievement? Most definitely.
