Running, Cycling and Swimming - Maybe it is time for a bit of commitment.

Approaching a milestone age tends to give one thought for what should be achieved in the following decade. In my case there is a constant reminder that I will be fifty in less than a month, due to the flow of 'interesting' life insurance mail that has been arriving for the past few weeks.

However I am approaching this birthday with a sense of purpose, viewing it as an opportunity to make some commitment to my random fitness regime. Fortunately my natural build allows me to stay in shape quite easily, it also causes people to inform me that they were like this until twenty, or thirty, or even forty. Well I am about to be fifty and there is still no sign of me putting on any weight, so it seems to be genetic. 

The point about this is that I look like a long distance runner and have indeed dome some half marathons in the distant past, but none in the past twenty five years or so. I do get out and run sometimes, but it is intermittent, a couple of five kilometre days, then nothing for a week. My intention has been to put this right and start a proper schedule for a while and I am determined that this will happen.

I have also always been quite a keen cyclist, although the tatty mountain bike that gets used at present is probably not ideal for what I have in mind. You see training for and completing a triathlon has always appealed to me, there is one point which worries me though, swimming. It shouldn't really, I can swim, it just does not seem to come naturally. Obviously my genetic gains did not stretch this far as my parents were both fine swimmers, unlike me. However it may be that practice and training could me the key, when analysing my swimming it becomes clear that lazyness is the main problem.

So I shall make the effort, firstly by getting my running back on track, as it comes easily to me and will improve my fitness levels. The mountain bike will start to get a lot more use and I will venture down to the local pool and try and improve my distance and technique. There is no intention here of breaking any records, just the feeling that this could be a great personal achievement if I can manage to complete the challenge. Also my stock of excuses as to why I have never taken part in a triathlon has run out, so know is the time, probably.

Andy