# Tiny Steps



## Chris Hobson (Jan 1, 2017)

In an earlier post 'In praise of triathlon' I enthused about multisport partly in the hope that I might inspire others to give it a try. Reading it back now, it seems as if I leapt from my hospital bed and, in no time at all, I was doing a Half Ironman. Rather than inspire anyone, the post seems more likely to put off anyone who is not naturally an exercise junkie instead. I don't think that my very very slow and gradual ascent from newly diagnosed diabetic and long lapsed fit person, to half way serious endurance athlete was really emphasised enough. I remember the incredible rush of energy that I experienced once I started taking insulin. At the age of 54 I found that I was hyperactive during the day and slept like a log at night. I was also pretty highly motivated. I felt that the fitter I could get, the less serious my newly diagnosed condition would be. This seemed to work out as I had to stop taking the insulin in February 2014, then after taking Lynagliptin for a while, was eventually able to dispense with medication altogether.

Shortly after being diagnosed in May 2013, I dug out my old mountain bike, sorted out the odd mechanical fault, pumped up the tyres and started cycling just three miles a day. Then when three miles started to feel too easy I then upped it to five. In stages over the next two months, this increased gradually to ten. At this stage I was still taking insulin and I recall discussing the possibility of cycling to work with the specialist doctor, concerned that, as the ride home would be taking place just before my evening meal, there would be the risk of a hypo. We agreed that having a banana about half a hour before setting off would be a good idea, I always carry glucose tablets in case of emergencies. It was mid July when I first cycled the 12 miles to work and back but mid August before I started doing so regularly. I recall that in the early days, I would tire on the way home so that the last four miles were quite hard. I also had to use the tiny front sprocket on the bike to get up even the little hills that we have in my area.

It was quite a while before I went swimming again. I recall that there was an old lady doing head up breast stroke overtaking me at one point. At that moment in time, I wasn't finding the swimming difficult in any way as I was just doing a few lengths of breast stroke, maybe the odd length of windmill style front crawl, but not pushing myself in any way. Later, when I had progressed past sprint level triathlons I started to take swimming much more seriously and getting proper coaching, then it became much harder.

My sister in law had encouraged my wife Liz to start running. So, to lend support to her efforts I started running too. We both did our first 5k Parkrun in February 2014. My time was 30:02. I did find these quite hard to do to begin with, I used to try to get myself into what I called a 'comfortable groove' a pace and rhythm that I could sustain without too much discomfort for the distance. From that first Parkrun I did manage to make fairly consistent progress, scoring new personal bests every month up until August when I peaked with a PB of 23:05. My times worsened again during the winter and I couldn't better that time until the following summer with a PB of 22:06 which still stands*. Liz and I did our first 10k in June 2014, it took me over an hour and the second half was pretty hard work as my only training had been cycling and Parkruns. We did quite a few 10k runs together in 2014 and 2015 but eventually they started to become too easy and not enough of a challenge. As a consequence, we gradually stepped up to ten miles, then to half marathons, eventually both doing the Hull Marathon in September 2016.

Now that all the pieces of the triathlon puzzle were in place, I did my first sprint triathlon in April 2015, almost two years after tentatively returning to cycling. Sixteen pool lengths, 20k bike ride and a 5k run later I was hooked. These events are highly competitive at the pointy end, but back with the also rans where I tend to lurk, there is a really friendly comradeship that makes them a pleasure to do. Another two years on, July 2017 I will be attempting my first 140.6 distance triathlon**. I have now been off all medication for over a year and my motivation to keep pushing myself is to keep off the pills for as long as I can.

*That was my PB at the time of writing. I posted a new PB of 21:42 on April 1st 2017.
**Update. I completed the Outlaw 140.6 triathlon on July 23rd finishing in about 14:50.


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## Northerner (Jan 1, 2017)

An inspiring story Chris - and a not inconsiderable challenge you have set yourself for July! Hope you stay injury-free and in the best possible shape for the big day


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## SB2015 (Jan 1, 2017)

Well done Chris.  It all started with tiny steps as you say in the title.  It doesn't matter what people set out to achieve, starting can be the hard bit and then keeping things going with whatever size steps they need to motivate themselves. Thanks for posting this.


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## Chris Hobson (Jan 2, 2017)

The thing is, when I started out on that little three mile bike ride, I never in my wildest dreams thought that I would come as far as I have. I was just acting on medical advice to get myself fit. The whole thing just gradually snowballed, partly because the stuff that I was doing kept getting easier. I forgot to mention that my wife Liz, her sister Jill and Jill's daughter Zoe all now do triathlons too. It seems to be contagious.


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## New-journey (Jan 2, 2017)

Incredible story and perfect timing to be inspired. I wish you and your family success with your triathlons. I am determined to get back into the pool, will start with a few lengths but aiming for 40 lengths before I am 60 which is six months away.Small steps are the way to go! Thanks for sharing with us.


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## Matt Cycle (Jan 2, 2017)

Great post Chris and good luck with the 140.6 mile distance triathlon in July.  There's always the issue of self motivation in exercise.  In my experience of friends and work colleagues who have attempted exercise regimes it's often from through a gritted teeth point of 'I've been told I need to lose weight.'  This can work if this person is highly motivated but often fails as the person feels they've been told to do it and when the weight doesn't come off or come off quickly they give up.  It also has to be something people enjoy doing rather than doing it under 'protest.'  There are loads of different activities people can try to find something they like doing.  The main thing is if someone enjoys it then the benefits from doing it will come.


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## Chris Hobson (Jan 2, 2017)

There seems to be three types. The ones that are totally unfit and don't care, the ones that are unfit and want to be fit but lose heart soon after they start and then the ones who manage to make a go of it and get there. Is it hard wired? Is it down to bad experiences at school? I have a lifelong loathing of football and rugby that was instilled into me at school. In her book 'Is it just me?' Miranda Hart laments joining the gym, going religiously every day for two weeks, then missing a day and never going back. She then had to watch her payment going out of her bank account every month for the rest of the year. I chatted to a member of staff at my gym about this and commented that I would love to see what the stats were like for this kind of thing and she said that the managers of the chain study them in detail. She also said that there are people who join and then never go at all. Do people think that if they spend a lot of cash that will somehow motivate them? I have a colleague at work who bought an entry level road bike and hardly rode it. He was contemplating buying a much more expensive one as he thought that would be an incentive to ride more. With running and tri events you have to book them months in advance and they can be expensive to enter. Once they are booked you sort of have to train for them, I wouldn't want to enter and then not turn up. I have also experienced the misery and suffering involved when I have done an event and not been properly prepared for it. So far I have always finished and will be pretty gutted the first time I get the dreaded DNF.


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## Robin (Jan 2, 2017)

I find people who run, swim, or cycle, or similar always go on about how good it makes them feel, all those endorphins etc. I have a theory that some peoples endorphins kick in sooner than others.(I only really enjoy exercise that has another purpose, like riding, walking in a scenic area, or dancing.) I've got a cross trainer which I use in front of the Telly when I really can't get out for walks in winter, and I find if I do half an hour, I spend the whole time wishing I could stop. If I slog on to 40 mins, I suddenly find I could go on for an hour quite happily. To all you runners, cyclists, etc, how long into your exercise session do you find the elusive endorphins get going?


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## grovesy (Jan 2, 2017)

I think exercise is like every think else you have to find what suits you and you enjoy if you don't enjoy you won't keep it up.


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## Northerner (Jan 3, 2017)

Robin said:


> I find people who run, swim, or cycle, or similar always go on about how good it makes them feel, all those endorphins etc. I have a theory that some peoples endorphins kick in sooner than others.(I only really enjoy exercise that has another purpose, like riding, walking in a scenic area, or dancing.) I've got a cross trainer which I use in front of the Telly when I really can't get out for walks in winter, and I find if I do half an hour, I spend the whole time wishing I could stop. If I slog on to 40 mins, I suddenly find I could go on for an hour quite happily. To all you runners, cyclists, etc, how long into your exercise session do you find the elusive endorphins get going?


There's definitely something in this. Even after 30+ years of running I still find the getting out of the door and the first mile difficult and hard to face, especially at this time of year. Of course, if you are just starting then that might put you off right from the start. Really, I would say that beyond 3 miles/5km is when I start to feel properly warmed up and find around 6 miles/10km a nice distance to run, getting all the benefits without the pain (for me!). My main problem these days is that a result of my femur breaking means my gait is slightly compromised and distances over 10 miles leave me open to soft tissue injuries.


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## Adrasteia (Jan 3, 2017)

Robin said:


> I find people who run, swim, or cycle, or similar always go on about how good it makes them feel, all those endorphins etc. I have a theory that some peoples endorphins kick in sooner than others.(I only really enjoy exercise that has another purpose, like riding, walking in a scenic area, or dancing.) I've got a cross trainer which I use in front of the Telly when I really can't get out for walks in winter, and I find if I do half an hour, I spend the whole time wishing I could stop. If I slog on to 40 mins, I suddenly find I could go on for an hour quite happily. To all you runners, cyclists, etc, how long into your exercise session do you find the elusive endorphins get going?



It really depends on the exercise for me - within 10 mins of being on the bike (if I'm on the flat!), same for a swim but I don't really hit my groove until a mile and then I could go all day, and I haven't got past the misery with running but I'd desperately like to experience the 'runner's high'...


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## Chris Hobson (Jan 3, 2017)

I found running the hardest to begin with. For that reason I thought that it must be doing me the most good. The endorphin thing is interesting, I sometimes find running hard going for the first mile or so and then feel ok, I didn't realise the reason why.


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## Matt Cycle (Jan 3, 2017)

Robin said:


> I find people who run, swim, or cycle, or similar always go on about how good it makes them feel, all those endorphins etc. I have a theory that some peoples endorphins kick in sooner than others.(I only really enjoy exercise that has another purpose, like riding, walking in a scenic area, or dancing.) I've got a cross trainer which I use in front of the Telly when I really can't get out for walks in winter, and I find if I do half an hour, I spend the whole time wishing I could stop. If I slog on to 40 mins, I suddenly find I could go on for an hour quite happily. To all you runners, cyclists, etc, how long into your exercise session do you find the elusive endorphins get going?



I suppose I'm a bit like you Robin in that I like to do exercise with a purpose rather than exercising for exercises sake.  That may sound strange as I'm always banging on about pedalling around and how many miles I have done.  I was quite good at running at school (cover your ears Northerner) but I have to say I found it boring and can't see too much appeal in jogging around city streets.  Although my competitive instincts kick in occasionally and I am very tempted to do a 5k parkrun just to see what time I get.  I suppose I might then get the running bug.   The reason I like cycling though is because it's like going back to getting my first bike as a child - freedom and adventure!  I can travel relatively long distances in the fresh air, see the countryside and wildlife you just wouldn't see sat in a car, explore villages I didn't even know existed, go fast downhill (on occasions) and it's all done just by turning my legs.  The increase in fitness and the benefits that may bring to me are a great bonus.  Strava does tend to make me compete with myself a bit more in terms of pb's, distances etc but I can live with that.  As for endorphins well they must be being released when I'm setting off in anticipation of what the ride might bring because most of the time I have a smile on my face with the first turn of the pedals.


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## Northerner (Jan 3, 2017)

Matt Cycle said:


> I was quite good at running at school (cover your ears Northerner) but I have to say I found it boring and can't see too much appeal in jogging around city streets.


Ah well, I also find city streets boring - I got the bug because I ran all over the Peak District from my home in West Sheffield for 20 years  One of the difficulties living here in Southampton is that the opportunities are much more limited, although I also don't do anywhere near as much mileage as I used to in my younger years.


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## Matt Cycle (Jan 3, 2017)

Northerner said:


> Ah well, I also find city streets boring - I got the bug because I ran all over the Peak District from my home in West Sheffield for 20 years  One of the difficulties living here in Southampton is that the opportunities are much more limited, although I also don't do anywhere near as much mileage as I used to in my younger years.



I can definitely see the appeal of something like fell running.  You need to get yourself back up north for some proper terrain.


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## Northerner (Jan 3, 2017)

Matt Cycle said:


> I can definitely see the appeal of something like fell running.  You need to get yourself back up north for some proper terrain.


I've been so tempted, especially since I'd benefit from the North/South property prices - would make it a relatively easy move...


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## Matt Cycle (Jan 3, 2017)

A forum meet at The Fox House?  Only proviso being you have to get there on foot or by bike.


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## Northerner (Jan 4, 2017)

Matt Cycle said:


> A forum meet at The Fox House?  Only proviso being you have to get there on foot or by bike.


From Southampton?   Ah, stoppit! Nostalgia overload!   

Getting back on topic, having somewhere nice to go certainly helps to keep up the motivation. There is some nice parkland here for me to run through. Although the routes may not change a lot, there's always a lot to see and hear (except when running through fog with the head torch on during these dark mornings!). Treadmills and static bikes bore me silly. The good thing about the rowing machine is that I only last about 8.5 minutes/2km before collapsing, so it's not much to endure


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