The importance of the Triathlon Club

I have just returned from my weekly club swim - 1.5 hours of swim sets, endurance and strength work. During the pre-race season there is a lot more emphasis on drills and technique but for the winter the focus is on endurance and strength - building a good base fitness for the coming year. That means quite a few press-ups thrown in between the swim sets and tonight an extra few lengths of fly stroke than normal.

It is during these club sessions that you value the network of friends and like-minded individuals around you. I personally believe it to be the single most important factor to why I have enjoyed and stuck with sport. Anyone trying to take on all the training involved for an Ironman without such a network is going to find it considerably harder.

My decision to join Horsham Amphibians Triathlon (or Amphibians 2 Triathlon Club originally) was the turning point in my goal of becoming fitter. It also opened my eyes to the Ironman dream.

Since joining the Club I have been most fortunate to get to know a great bunch of individuals, many of whom are good friends. In addition the Club benefits from a professional Coach (Mark Tickner) who is not only an elite swimmer and master spinning instructor but a sub 10 hour Ironman (PB: 9:23:56). I will be referring to Mark in future posts when I discuss training plans, coaching and training camps.

Meanwhile, I will leave you with links to both my Club and details of our Coach:

Horsham Amphibians Triathlon: http://www.a2tri.com/

Coach4Tri (Mark Tickner): http://coach4tri.com/