Both Bernie and I began triathlon training in the UK early this year, culminating in two 'sprint' triathlons - 750m swim, 20km bike, 5km run.
When chosing a suitable part of NZ to spend the next few years, one big consideration was a triathlon club and suitable training facilities. Needless to say, Nelson has not let us down in the slightest. As mentioned earlier, upon attending the AGM soon after we arrived, we were elected onto the comittee which has opened doors and enabled us to make friends outside school. The pools are great, our swimming coach is hard on us, the choice of runs and bike rides are endless and vary from flat to mountainous with everything in beween.
There is no elitism or cliques here, just friendly people who want to train and compete to their chosen standard. In the UK it all felt elitist and unwelcoming - perhaps because we were plebs, I'm not sure!
We have completed 4 duathlons so far - the swim being ommited due to the cold. Our first triathlon is a couple of weeks away. Bernie finished second and third in the womens' catergories (see previous post) which is excellent, but something B plays down - being typically Bernie!
I am less successful and alas, have not done better than second in my sex and age catergory - it is great to have a competition within a competition to give everybody a chance to compete for honours!
We recently started running training, well I had the assessment (B was ill) but the first training session was rained off. By the time of our next session, our French coach (who competed professionally in triathlons for a decade) threw a hissy-fit (via e-mail) and cancelled the sessions, stating he has been let down and is not prepared to work for $50 an hour!! Oh well, will have to organise my own interval training programme - how hard can it be?!
More to follow soon...
When chosing a suitable part of NZ to spend the next few years, one big consideration was a triathlon club and suitable training facilities. Needless to say, Nelson has not let us down in the slightest. As mentioned earlier, upon attending the AGM soon after we arrived, we were elected onto the comittee which has opened doors and enabled us to make friends outside school. The pools are great, our swimming coach is hard on us, the choice of runs and bike rides are endless and vary from flat to mountainous with everything in beween.
There is no elitism or cliques here, just friendly people who want to train and compete to their chosen standard. In the UK it all felt elitist and unwelcoming - perhaps because we were plebs, I'm not sure!
We have completed 4 duathlons so far - the swim being ommited due to the cold. Our first triathlon is a couple of weeks away. Bernie finished second and third in the womens' catergories (see previous post) which is excellent, but something B plays down - being typically Bernie!
I am less successful and alas, have not done better than second in my sex and age catergory - it is great to have a competition within a competition to give everybody a chance to compete for honours!
We recently started running training, well I had the assessment (B was ill) but the first training session was rained off. By the time of our next session, our French coach (who competed professionally in triathlons for a decade) threw a hissy-fit (via e-mail) and cancelled the sessions, stating he has been let down and is not prepared to work for $50 an hour!! Oh well, will have to organise my own interval training programme - how hard can it be?!
More to follow soon...
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