I live in (relatively, you'd be surprised!) flat Kansas, so losing the granny gear when I moved from a triple to a compact wasn't a big concern.

I'm still getting used to the compact, but as a out of shape beginner, who cruises between 12 & 14 mph, I too used to ride my triple using the middle ring and only rarely used the other two.

Now w/the compact I do find I'm running out of gears on the small ring, and so do more front shifting than ever before.

Next ride I'm going to try the advice of putting it in the large ring and leaving it there (as long as it feels reasonable).