BBC Breakfast's Louise Minchin: Swimming, cycling and running, in that order

One day last week BBC Breakfast’s Louise Minchin spent some time talking about one of her extra-curricular activities, training for the ITU World Championship Triathlon in Chicago.

What is it that you’re doing?

I’ll be competing in the ITU World Championship Triathlon in Chicago for my age range. But the thing is, you have to get the sports in the right order. That’s really important: it’s swimming, cycling and then running, all in a race, as fast as you can one after another.

It’s a big deal for me. I’m competing in my age group. I’m obviously not good enough to compete with the elites, but I have managed to qualify for the World Championships. I had to get a qualifying time in a qualifying triathlon. Which I did, in the second triathlon I took part in this year.

I do seven hours training a week. The actual triathlon should take about two and a half hours.

How did you first get into triathlon?

I remember seeing the Brownlees win Gold and Silver medals in London 2012. I was blown away by their achievement. I was new to the sport then, but started getting interested in it after that

I’d never thought of doing sport competitively, certainly not at my age. It wasn’t until the BBC Breakfast Christmas challenge in 2012 – a bike race between Susanna Reid and Bill Turnbull against me and Charlie Stayt in front of 4000 people – that my competitive spirit was triggered.

I am very competitive – I think I must have been to want to get on in journalism. But, I’d never really thought it extended to sport. I’d never been on a racing bike. So the odds weren’t great. But what inspired me, which I discovered right at the last minute, was just how competitive Bill was. There’s nothing like a spot of friendly rivalry to get things going. Bill was so set on beating me, that I felt suitably inspired to pedal harder during the race. Charlie and I won and I beat Bill by a hundredth of a second. Beating Bill was – I’m sure he won’t mind me saying - incredibly satisfying.

But it was a friend in the village where I live who had seen me running who’d suggested trying out triathlons to me. If it wasn’t for her a couple of years ago, I may not have picked it up as a potential sport.

What do you love most about triathlon?

I love the cycling. I’m quite fearless on my bike in a way I didn’t think I would be. I’m fearless in a race – I won’t brake – I have a willingness to go fast. And in the swimming – I used to race at school until I was 14 or 15 and then I stopped, so I don’t really think my swimming is what I’m best at, although I’ve done quite a lot of training and I’ve now got quite fast. Even so, its still a tough one: swimming is free style or crawl, 1500 metres in open water. It’s deep, its cold and there’s a lot of people around too. I’m quite fearless at that too, I suppose.

Isn’t the training, well, a bit boring?

Not at all! Quite the opposite. You train in three disciplines. You’re not overtraining in one thing and getting bored. I do all of them twice a week. You’re also much less likely to get injured. So variety is what triathlon gives, but it’s a stressful sport too. You’ve got to be ready for the swim, then get out of your wet suit, do the bike ride, and then change again to go running. There are loads of things which can go wrong. I love triathlon for that - for being challenging on a technical or logistical level.

How has training changed you?

I’ve had to be very disciplined in order to accommodate the training. So, today for example, I will go to the pool for a session. Then I’ll have a sleep, then there’ll be a bike session. Yesterday I had to run 10K. I train for around seven hours a week and should probably do more. But it’s the discipline of thinking ‘I’ve got to do this now’ that has been very very helpful for my job. I’m fitter than I’ve been. It helps me get up early. It’s had a significant effect on my mood.

My colleagues have been very surprised by what I’ve done over the year. They’ve been incredibly supportive of the ‘Sofa Girl’ having got off the sofa, trained and qualified for the championship. I didn’t think I would get in the team, although I think they had a better idea I would. I can’t thank them enough for their support.

Louise Minchin was speaking to About the BBC Blog Editor Jon Jacob on Wednesday 9 September 2015 in the BBC Breakfast studio in Media City UK.

• Louise's final preparations for the ITU World Triathlon Final in Chicago will feature in BBC Breakfast on Friday 18th September at around 6.50am and 7.50am, plus there'll be a report of her competing in the race on Sunday 20th September.
• Watch Louise Minchin talk about her triathlon training on the BBC Sport Get Inspired website.
• Louise Minchin presents BBC Breakfast Mon-Weds from 6am.
• Follow Louise on Twitter.