THE days are getting longer, colder, darker, wetter and just generally more miserable making winter training difficult.

And I keep hearing people (understandably) complaining. However, being a hard northerner I thought, I’d write about some positives to the winter:

1 It gets you tough. Embrace it.

2 You can look forward to a good old cuppa and bacon butty on return from your long rides

3 Chrismas parties and being constantly hungover ensures winter training isn’t boring because it is mainly a blur.

4 Getting the mountain bike out (I don’t have one, but I like to pretend)

5 Cross country - everybody loves a cross country when they’ve had two months off training, are three stone overweight, have become addicted to pies in the off season and can’t even find their spikes. I know that Bolton Tri Club are totally embracing the Red Rose XC league!

6 Mud - we all love a bit of mud. It makes you feel like a ‘proper’ runner. If you don’t like it, man up and learn to like it.

7 It’s that cold when you’re riding your bike, your body turns numb. This is actually a good thing because you can’t feel the aching in your legs.

8 If you jump off your bike due to that icy patch you have an excuse not to train for a few days. Note: Be careful when practising this, we don’t want any broken bones.

9 When it’s colder outside the swimming pool feels warmer and you can pretend you’re in the bath.

10 When you watch someone run off the bike, they clearly can’t feel their feet and feel like they have stumps for legs. This is great to spectate and always gives you a giggle.

11 Watching someone accidently fall down that hole that was covered in snow (again this isn’t that funny if they never return out of said hole).

12 That annoying guy on the group rides who is always babbling on about things that you really don’t care about. Well his mouth has frozen shut. It’s about time too. In fact...can’t the winter stay forever?!

13 It is acceptable to wear bed socks for training (except swimming obviously...that would be weird)

14 You acquire a new best friend. It’s called the turbo trainer.

15 If you’re lucky (and cold enough) someone else may undress you. Note: ensure to carefully select the correct person for this duty otherwise it could get embarrassing.

16 Winter - That means it’s only three months until Tri Camp. Yeyyyyy.

On a serious note: stay safe, wrap up warm and enjoy this time of year