Midgie Thompson

Midgie Thompson

One of the fastest growing sports in the UK at the moment is the triathlon which may have a lot to do with the fact that it will be featuring in both the 2008 and 2012 games. However, few of us want to wait that long to get the inner Olympic torch burning or be relegated to just watching it on TV. The good news is that we can get in the Olympic spirit a lot sooner and we don’t have to do it from the sofa.

I live in a fat city, so why don’t I prove these critics wrong?

One of the biggest annual triathlon events in the world, the Mazda London Triathlon, which takes place on the 9th and 10th of August and sees around 9,000 people (including some of the world's elite) swim, bike and run through London in August, cheered on by 40,000 spectators around the course.

It offers people of all abilities the opportunity to improve their health and fitness levels and test their athletic abilities. It’s not just about getting into the spirit of things for 2012, training up for this kind of event will broaden your horizons in ways you never thought possible as well as helping you to get physically and mentally fit for the year ahead which, in turn, will help you to improve your quality of life.

To help you swim, run and bike your way to the finish line, you will need to use all of your positivity and will power not to mention your strength, agility and stamina, and if you’ve never done it before, it can be quite a shock to the system. Someone who knows a lot about training the body and mind in this way is Mental Performance and Lifestyle Coach Midgie Thompson, and she believes that entering as a team could be the most effective way to complete your first triathlon.

She said; “The advantage of this triathlon is that people of all ages and fitness levels can take part, if you enter as a team one person can do the swimming, one person can run and another cycle, that way it isn’t as daunting and you can all encourage each other. In fact, if you find it hard to motivate yourself, it is probably better because if one person just wants to laze around in front of the TV all afternoon, the other team members can persuade them to join in with training.”

As we’re still in January, there has never been a better time to improve your health, and if you don’t fancy taking part in a triathlon, you could even make eating healthier a belated New Years Resolution (if it isn’t already). But you will have to be determined to stick at it as many people abandon their plans soon after staring them. Sports dietician Jane Griffin believes that this is because: “They’re not very realistic in their outlook and how they approach the whole process of losing weight as well as being far too strict with ourselves at the start.”

A recent study by popular magazine, Men’s Health revealed some of the fattist and fittest cities in the UK but rather than letting the fact that you live in a so-called ‘Fat city’ get you down and make you believe you can only ever be fat, Midgie said: “The right thing to do would be to think, ‘Right, I live in a fat city, so why don’t I prove these critics wrong?’ If you don’t want to be labelled like all the people around you then go to the gym, start eating healthy and you will feel a lot better within yourself.”

If you decide to take part in the triathlon, you can either buy your own place directly from the Mazda London Triathlon or you can apply for a Diabetes UK charity place. Every entrant will be provided with a fundraising tool kit and either a runners vest or a T-shirt. Deadline for individual entries is 31st January but people can still sign-up after via charities or for the team relay.

No matter how you improve your lifestyle this year, be it healthy eating, keeping fit, doing your bit for charity or saving the planet by recycling, lets make 2008 the year of good health!