YOUR TRIATHLETE
I am happy to share this story because it may encourage others who think they have got to a stage that it is simply to late to do anything about their weight or indeed their own aspirations on what they can achieve as they get older.
Club: Rossendale Triathlon Club.
What do you do?: I used to own a business (which is still going) and sold my interest in it in 2004. What was your lifestyle like before you started?: I enjoyed a beer and probably too many. The pressure of daily commutes into Manchester and high-pressure sales environments often resulted in me enjoying too much food and drink as a means of escape. I struggled mentally with daily traffic jams and sat endless hours trapped in my car, so was glad to sell my interest and chill out, but still consumed far too much beer. Even in my early 50s I would spend far more time in my local pub to the extent many thought I owned it. How did this impact your health?: When I suffered problems with weeing, I reluctantly made a doctor’s appointment and during one consultation he said he would send me for tests on my prostate. To say that alarmed me would be an understatement. I’m a self -confessed wimp when it comes to these things, especially since my granddad died in his 60s of prostate cancer and I was worried it was hereditary. I remember saying: “Leave this with me doc, I’ll sort it my own way or I’ll come back.” I put myfitnesspal on my phone and started to diet in March 2014 at 16 stones 12lbs! What prompted you to start running?: I got to 12st 5lb in or around October 2014, although many who knew me well kept saying, ‘Ian, you look ill’. As the days had got shorter I simply didn’t have the daylight hours to walk nine miles before darkness, so one weekend in November I thought as I’d been a good sprinter as a kid, I’ll try a run. Less than half-a-mile into the run I’d stop. I kept trying to stop-start my run over the moors so nobody would see me. When did you do your first park run?: I did my first park run in February 2015 on one of the toughest park runs in the country: Watergrove park. I got round in just under 30 minutes. I felt useless. I installed NHS C25K and followed it to the book. I remember getting to week 5, running for 20 minutes thinking ‘no way’! I went up to Cowm Waterpark and came back elated. I’d done it; run for 20 minutes, which I’d never done in my life. I went on to follow the course and ran 5k without stopping; a friend witnessed my elation on the moors when he thought I’d gone mad. Obviously by this time I’d got a new circle of friends, friends who gave me the right encouragement to believe I could do other running events. I took part in November 2015 in the Todmorden 5k run the park series and on the third event my calf went. I went into panic mode thinking I would pile the weight back on, so I bought a mountain bike and went out in November on the route I would walk. I just put training shoes on and it was bitterly cold, I ended up falling off it into a big puddle and froze myself stupid getting back home. I had not been on a bike in almost 30 years. How did you come to join the club?: On one ride with Paul Wolstenhulme, we stopped at Marl Pits and when he said he’d done a run from there, it was then he drew my attention to the Rossendale Triathlon club banner. I Googled it when I got home and remember thinking, well I can run, I can now ride but my swimming, well that’s lousy, I can only do breaststroke. I couldn’t swim 400 meters not even breaststroke let alone front crawl and I was thinking of entering a triathlon? Anyhow I persisted and remember trying to do four lengths’ crawl, after two I stopped, exhausted and thought, God, this is harder than running.
Anyhow, I entered the Rossendale Tri and got round, dreading the 400 meter swim which I did breaststroke and filled with panic. Some of this may explain why I say at completion of my first Olympic distance Triathlon at Chester on Sunday, I was just filled with emotion. I could not believe I had completed the journey from ultimate couch potato to this. I have started a business with 10k and took it to a turnover of more than £1 million and met resistance from one of the biggest companies in the world but, in terms of personal achievements, this is up there with anything I could have done. I hope this little story might give hope and belief to others to go on and try against whatever odds in their lives they face and show them you can turn situations around. For more information visit the club’s Facebook page: Rossendale Triathlon Club