I was thrilled when I found out that I’d won the Trigirl competition. I’d wanted to get into triathlon training for a while and didn’t really know where to start, so I was delighted to get the chance to go on the Trigirl Workshop as part of my competition prize. I felt a little bit daunted being a complete novice as to what to expect, but the workshop day was pitched just right for someone like me.

The group consisted of 6 ladies of varying ability, some were runners, we had an experienced swimmer, a couple of ladies that did duathlons and one lady that had completed a couple of sprint tri’s – a really good mixture. Our coach for the day was Kim Ingleby who really knew her stuff being a current competitor herself.

We covered all three of the disciplines starting with cycling. I hadn’t even considered certain aspects such as dismounting and mounting your bike, and how to change your tyre at the side of the road. Kim gave some great advice on choosing the right gear, I don’t have a tri bike just yet so it was reassuring to hear that there are people that compete without them to start with, and that I won’t look daft on a mountain bike! It was great fun to practice this with the other ladies. We went over the details around transition and had a practice at getting our gear ready with tips on how to lay it all out ready for action.