Taking on the challenge of a full distance triathlon is hard enough when you work 9-5 and have access to thousands of miles of open roads, trails and a local swimming pool. But how do you go about it when you live on the Shetland Islands and your full-time job is a production technician on an oil rig?

We have just the person to tell you! Meet #TeamTCUK athlete, Brett Haining. Brett has lived in Shetland all his life and, after completing an apprenticeship with BP on leaving school, has spent the last 10 years working offshore on an oil rig in the middle of the North Sea.

Brett recently completed IM Austria, his first ever full distance triathlon, in fact, his first ever triathlon! Explains Brett: “I first considered triathlon after achieving my marathon PB (3:24) in Berlin back in 2016. As part of my finisher’s goodie bag I got a voucher for the Nike shop, so I went off to buy some new trainers. Whilst there, I saw all these lean looking guys wandering round in Ironman t-shirts. I wondered if I could ever get one of those t-shirts for myself.”

 

Continues Brett: “My boss on the rig, Dawson, has worked with Matt at TCUK for a couple of years and, after he did IM Austria last year and remembering the idea of getting my own Ironman t-shirt, I thought it might be an idea to sign up too. I enrolled the following day! I then had to tell my fiancé of my decision as we’d planned our wedding for 19^thJuly, just 12 days after the race. Luckily, she supported me but told me that after I’d completed the event (she had every faith in me!!) never to talk about Ironman again. We’ll come back to that later…

 

“I got in touch with Matt and he put a 24-week programme together. Not the easiest of tasks since I work 12-hour shifts and have three weeks offshore, then I’m back on Shetland for four weeks off, then back on the rig for three weeks. To put it into perspective, I was unable to swim for six weeks and there’s certainly no option for open water swimming off the platform!

 

“Since I’m used to my fairly unique work-life-work rotation, and training for the marathons I’ve done in the past, I’m more than happy running on the treadmill in the rig’s gym. Over a three-week period during training for Berlin Marathon, I had ran 55 miles per week on the treadmill. I keep myself sane by listening to music and chatting to others.

 

“I’m also really lucky that, since Dawson’s the boss and a triathlete, we have two Wattbikes to train on. It’s definitely a real mental battle training indoors but I actually think that prepared me well for the race, and I really enjoy that side of the training. Being mentally ready to face and endure a 3.8k swim, 112-mile ride and marathon is just as important as being physically equipped.

 

“Matt kept my training volume very manageable while I was offshore but as soon as I returned back to Shetland, sessions would always ramp up both in duration and intensity. The roads on the islands can often be pretty tough going with poor surfaces, not to mention how the weather can change in an instant from blue skies to thunder, torrential rain and high winds. This all combines to make long rides pretty interesting. They also take a while – 6 hours 37 minutes to cover 100 miles to be precise! I have a turbo trainer set up in the garage too and spent many hours in there completing 3-4 hour rides (Netflix was a saving grace).

 

“Fast forward to July and my fiancé and I are on the plane to Austria. I’m ready to race but I did feel quite apprehensive when I saw the 15km long lake we’d be swimming in. I only managed to get one open water swim in during training: an 800m loop at Knockburn loch which I didn’t particularly enjoy since I have a phobia of anything that might be lurking in the depths, sharks for example!

 

“As a result of my nervousness, I did a couple of practice swims in the lake on the Friday and Saturday. Once I got in and got going I felt really comfortable and I really enjoyed each of the swims. I forgot to start my watch for the second one though and was quite mad with myself: if it’s not on Strava it didn’t happen, right!

 

“Race day finally arrived and I was in transition bright and early at 5am to check my bike. After putting on my cap and goggles (no wetsuit required!) and setting my watch to beep every 500m, I made my way to the swim start. IM Austria is a rolling start which put me at ease and, after the first 100m of dodging other competitors, I found my rhythm and concentrated on getting from buoy to buoy as quickly and efficiently as I could.

 

“I finished the swim in 1:18 and was absolutely buzzing when I got out of the water. I couldn’t wait to start the bike leg and was delighted to be on normal, smooth roads that made cycling so much easier than it had been in training.

 

“During the last hour of the bike we had to battle against thunderstorms; Shetland was the ideal prep for that! As a result of the heavy downpours, I daren’t take my hands off the handlebars so I didn’t eat anything during that hour. That meant I started the run under-fuelled and empty as I’d missed out on 90g of carbs. Plus, my stomach was feeling dodgy.

 

“I took advantage of a Portaloo and made sure I took on nutrition at all the aid stations and soon my energy returned. There was no way I wasn’t going to finish. Marathons were something I had completed before and I was adamant this one wouldn’t beat me.

 

“4 hours, 17 minutes after leaving T2, I crossed the finish line in a total of 11 hours and 38 minutes. It was one of the best feelings I’ve ever had. So much so, I have signed up for IM Austria 2020!

 

“The coaching I received from TCUK was great. I really enjoyed the process of following the plan and think I managed to stick to 95% of the scheduled training. As such, I would definitely recommend TCUK to friends and family. You won’t regret it!”