They say that variety is the spice of life, so when I was offered the chance to take part in a “Sprint” Spartan race (5km in distance with around 15 obstacles), at a significantly reduced rate, at a venue that’s just a 45 minute drive away from where I live, I leapt at the chance. At the time I hadn't considered that I have terrible upper body strength and a fear of heights. Once again this was an opportunity that came up through my friends at One Year No Beer, who have a partnership with Spartan Race. As I’ve mentioned in a previous post, a significant part of the OYNB challenge is to push ..read more

This weekend (Sunday March 25th) I ran my sixth Colchester Half Marathon.  This is my home town race and it’s one that I’ve entered every year since 2013.  The race is organised by Colchester Colne Round Table and every year they manage to make it a little better. It’s a great course, starting and finishing at the local football stadium (no not the impregnable fortress that was Layer Road, but the new Weston Homes Community Stadium on the outskirts of town). Whilst this has the disadvantage of not being made of wood and corrugated iron, like its illustrious predecessor, it does boa ..read more

This week I had one of the best days of my life climbing up Mount Snowdon. Scaling a mountain is quite an experience in itself but it was mainly because I was with a group of people that I have grown very close to over the last few months, since I decided to have a break from alcohol (which you can read a bit more about here), through One Year No Beer. Despite forming very strong bonds with these people this was first time I had met a large proportion of them. I will write a more in-depth blog about the whole adventure in a future blog. Anyone fancy a pint? However, half way up t ..read more

As I mentioned in a previous post I have now been a member of EGTri for five years and have taking part in endurance events for a bit longer. In that time my fitness levels have steadily increased and I’ve taken on progressively tougher challenges. But it wasn’t always that way, I was never a star athlete at school. Recently I met up with some friends from OYNB in London. It was pretty cold, the snow was coming down (but not settling) and it wasn’t the sort of weather you’d want to be out in whether you were walking, running or cycling. One of my friends arrived with her Brompton in tow ..read more

You're in for a treat this week. To start with, for only the second time in Trihard history there is video content on this blog. And secondly, I'm going to share some video that I originally posted on the One Year No Year Beer Facebook group. I actually post quite a lot of video content on that group and want to do a bit more of that on here, because it's a lot easier than writing! Anyway, one of the things I love most about triathlon is open water swimming. Where I live there are several lakes and reservoirs with organised sessions and I'm less than half an hour away from the coast if I fan ..read more

My triathlon club, EGTri, hosts an annual championship among members known as the Winter GP. This involves a series of seven swimming, cycling and running events - beginning with a cross country 10k run in January and culminating with a sprint distance triathlon in April. The idea is this cultivates a bit of “friendly” competition between members but also provides a good benchmark each year to assess whether your training has paid off or if you’ve let things slide over the previous 12 months. For various reasons my attendance has waned at these event in recent years - often because I'm suff ..read more

Whether you are an athlete or not, losing weight is often a goal for many of us, whether that's a New Year's resolution or getting your body beach ready for a summer holiday. Despite being a pretty active person I have battled with the flab most of my adult life. While giving up alcohol has helped me lose weight, it is definitely one of my main goals for the coming Triathlon season. The main reason for this is that it's a very effective way of getting quicker. This is an older version, the latest edition has an even more exciting triathlon picture on the front According to The Tri ..read more

After the overindulgence of the festive period it's increasingly becoming a tradition to have a bit of break from the sauce in January. So The 28 Day Alcohol Free Challenge, published by Bluebird (an imprint of Pan Macmillan) and written by Andy Ramage and Ruari Fairbairns arrives just in time for those attempting a Dry January. Clever marketing eh?! Available in all good book shops and some online retailers that pay a ridiculously small amount of tax Now, some of you may have attempted (or even completed) a Dry January or  Sober October before. You may be thinking "how c ..read more

I don’t particularly like New Year’s resolutions. They’re all too easy to abandon in the first few days of January, when you’re coming down from the high of the Christmas festivities to be forgotten until the following year. Instead I try to set myself habits to build on throughout the year or goals to work towards over the coming months. That way there is plenty of time to steer yourself straight if you find yourself veering off course but also you can reassess what perhaps was an unrealistic goal and set yourself something more achievable. Now, without wanting to brag (well, maybe just a ..read more

I love Mr. Trihard. I love reading his blog. It’s funny and it’s honest.  It really is like reading about the things that go through my own head when I’m training and racing. I look forward to reading it every week.  That’s why I was chuffed when he asked me to write something for it. I was nervous submitting my last blog.  I mean, what if he said I was no good? What if he said ‘Get outta here, Kid, you’ve got no future’?  I mean, I just don’t think I could take that kind of rejection.  So, imagine my surprise when he asked me if I’d do another one. That’s when the ..read more