Nev's Triathlon

Nev’s Triathlon (of sorts)

With apologies to Chrissie and the Brownlee boys.

To shake off my post holiday lethargy, I plunged into the lovely Glossop Pool at 8.30 am on a wonderful sunny morning. The water was an ideal temperature unlike the cold clear waters of the Dalmatian Islands where I had swam briefly the week before. It had been a superb holiday cruising off the Croatian coast but unfortunately ‘too much beer and pasta do not make you faster’ so I was after a ‘bit of pain in order to gain’. This was the easy leg however; my pedestrian breast stroke has never won me any medals in swimming galas or burned up many calories but I still enjoy the relaxation and stretching achieved in such a session.

A kilometre later saw me in transition heading for Glossop Leisure Centre where initially I did a bit of warm up work on the cross-trainers before moving on to the upper body weight stations aka Old Man’s Corner. Years ago, and still in many Mediterranean countries, the elderly would chew the fat in street cafes over coffee/alcohol and ciggies but nowadays, maybe to ward off any possible government cost-cutting move towards decimation, they are to be found glowing and sweating in gyms discussing the major issues of the day e.g. debating the Greek v German positions on the euro or more likely whether Joey Barton provoked a sending off to facilitate the injury time which his former club would exploit to prevail over their neighbours.

Then at 10.30, munching a banana, it was down to the dungeon for a spinning session. For those not in the loop, this involves a very tough interval training session on fixed bikes to a background of loud contemporary rap/garage/house/whatever music, even louder exhortations from the instructors and, as a special treat today, flashing disco lights. Despite the latter, no real tribute to Robin Gibb here I noted despite his considerable contribution to the genre. Today the instructor was Lee (Rugby League) and when either he or Sarah (Triathlon) is leading, the sessions are even tougher yet extremely beneficial in my opinion.

Next on the list was the transition home where most of the afternoon was spent watching the Giro d’Italia the prelude to an exciting summer of spectator sport to be followed by the Euros, Tour De France and the Olympics. Today the stage was over 4 high passes in the beautiful Dolomites in sunny conditions which reminded me of a memorable walking holiday in Val Gardena 10 years ago. Today the final climb was up the beastly Passo Giau before the headlong plunge into Cortina D’Ampezzo.

All too soon it was time to set off for Saddleworth, so after a quick feeding station, it was on my way to enjoy the delights of the Dovestone Diamond Multi Terrain 10K organised by the Kiwi Classics (Sweatshop) team. I have always been of the opinion that New Zealander Jason deserved a much better take-up from the local running community for his series of races and today, on a beautiful evening, he was delighted by the 200+ turn out.

I spotted Dez and Steve there as well as KJ (fastest woman in Glossop according to the Advertiser after her run in the BUPA Great Manchester 10K aka Big Bren’s pension fund) and Rachel, a mate from spinning who had recently clocked a sub 3.45 in the Manchester Monsoon Marathon. The latter two are long distance specialists and with Kirsty on her way back from injury, I thought that we might be near each other during the race. And so it proved with only a handful of seconds between us all the way through and at the end, my background of shorter races just giving me the nod. The three of us had enjoyed the competitive eye balls out race, even more so now it was over.

So it was, at 8.30 pm, just 12 hours after the off, my triathlon was over. Chrissie Wellington had completed Iron Mans in times least 3 hours quicker but had she had as much fun doing them? I was pleased that Steve had picked up the V45 prize to add to his burgeoning list of Sweatshop vouchers, that Dez had run well and that, despite initial disappointment, Martin McGann had beaten me by a clear margin in my age group. Martin was a classy runner as a younger man but has had many injuries and setbacks latterly. Like me though he has stuck at it because running is a sport like no other encompassing a wide range of emotions and experiences. An honest corinthian sport with no hiding places, no loans from the Bank of Running, you only get out what you put in.