Claire

Claire

I’m a 49 year old Mum of three children (ages 24,22,10) I’m a part time Cleaner and Carer.

I started running about 4 years ago and gradually progressed to cycling and then sprint triathlons quite quickly. I’ve a super competitive nature and although my running is TBH, a bit of a plod, my cycling (especially) and swimming made up for it! Natural progression, (and coming first in my age group at the Harwich Sprint Triathlon June 2019) my competitive streak and curiosity lead me to enter bigger and longer triathlons, till I plucked the

courage to book an Outlaw X 70.3 (Nottingham). This was booked for Sept 2020. By January 2020 I was starting to panic, I had no idea how to train for this kind of distance, eventually stumbled across MJ Triathlon Training, after a chat about the events I had booked, Matt told me to trust his plan, be honest about how I was feeling, eat healthy, and I had a training plan! Matt sent me training plans via Training Peaks, which he gave regular feedback on, and this continued all through lockdown, although I didn’t believe I was working out enough, or hard enough, it was clear within a few months that the personalised training plan from Matt was making me stronger and considerably fitter. I managed to enter a sprint triathlon in Folkstone Kent as a warm up for Nottingham! It was a fairly small event, beautiful weather and very hilly. I came first in my age group, (my age group beating the 25-30 age group) 4th female to finish and 32nd overall. A massive confidence builder for two weekstime!

Gradually my program increased to the point where I felt amazing and I completed the Outlaw x 70.3, not with an amazingly fast time, but I crossed the finish line with a huge smile and a massive sense of achievement, just as Matt had said I would. I had no injuries or aches and pains and was buzzing for days after. I have 4 x 70.3 triathlons booked for 2021, Maldon in may, Outlaw Holkham in July, Ironman Weymouth in September, and South Wales in early October. The training and support I received from Matt was perfect, he knows what he’s talking about! Even how to wear your goggles and packing your bag for the event. Everything he said would happen did (annoyingly!) If I over did the training I suffered, and when I followed the plan it all clicked into place, his swimming lessons made me into a fairly fast and confident open water swimmer (I wasn’t an open water lover TBH!) and now I love it. I am absolutely 100% looking forward to my training and future events as I know I’ll complete them all with a smile on my face, and maybe with a really good competitive time. I’m gradually getting stronger, faster and my level of fitness is still increasing as my training continues, without the injuries and strains I used to get when I joined a gym and enlisted a PT (which cost me about £150 per month). I would definitely recommend MJ Triathlon training as his enthusiasm, knowledge and encouragement for all aspects of training (running, swimming and cycling) build confidence and, for me specifically, have produced fantastic results.