Overcome

Where to start this week? So many thoughts and ideas came through my mind this week I don’t even know where to start. Well let’s start at the beginning: all guns blazing Monday, I stepped in and took the day and was expecting to take the week for all it had training wise- but alas this was not to be.

Monday and Tuesday went very well and I was on track, doing 2 hours plus a day right on it, I got my bike ready for my long ride on Wednesday and half way around Richmond park, not even 20km in, I realized there was nothing to give today, or even the rest of the week. I was not operating at 100%, not even 60% and this was no good! I had a technical ride home to try and avoid riding over my bottom lip- I was hacked!!  Ironman training teaches you many things, and this week passed was one of the lessons you unfortunately only learn the hard way: this lesson is called ‘listen to your body!!’

Thursday, Friday, Saturday and finally Sunday I’m feeling better, much better in fact and once again ready for a new week of training. Now let’s get down to motivation this week and the real reason for this blog after all.

To be honest, motivation this week was so very hard to find. It was grey, it rained most of the week and yes it was so very cold man, but fortunately I know I am an overcomer as my favourite book states, I have been given life and in all it’s fullness. I’m still breathing, I still have a beautiful wife and I still have the ability to get healthy and move on... and yes most of all I’m still Blessed! So all in four days off training really doesn’t seem that bad.

Ironman training has the ability to put a lot of things out of perspective, and the last time around everything went out the window. If I had missed four days of training I would have been shattered and would be trying to make it up, but probably would have just pulled myself even further down, fortunately we live and learn; so this week will be a massive week of training, but it won’t ever become all consuming again, and that in itself is a bit of motivation as well!

On the up side: Lou and I found a triathlon shop getting rid of all their gear. It is amazing how a little bit of new apparel can also make you hungry for training again :) I can’t wait to hit the water tomorrow!!

So at the end of the day, I will overcome any obstacle, because my life training manual says so.

Much love to all God Bless!

AD

High's and Low's...

BOOOOOOOMMMMMM! This weeks training really came down on me hard like a tonne of bricks! After SUCH an amazing weekend of training: long bike Saturday and 11km run on Sunday, feeling on top of the world- to a shocking and disappointing start on Monday morning- swimming with the school’s swim team. I am constantly finding myself super hungry and feel that I need to eat all the time! My body obviously isn’t used to doing 3 different sports in a week. So after 30 minutes into the swim I realised I made a massive mistake and never ate a banana before the session. My tummy was rumbling and I was swallowing water at a rapid pace. It was disappointing as I have really enjoyed the last 3 weeks of training and this swim didn’t go too well. But hey, I guess that is why they call this part of the training manual ‘The adaption phase…’

Tuesday didn’t get any better either, I was planning on doing a 90 minutes turbo session but only could manage 50 minutes!! Eeeeek! My legs felt like lead and I was not feeling well. I thought to myself, I am definitely getting sick or there is something seriously wrong with the way I am doing this. Disappointed again. Hungry again. Even after eating a banana before hand. Eish wena's.... It didn’t get much better in the afternoon either- paranoia started to creep in as I thought ‘I CANNOT get sick now!’ Please God! So after a heavy dose of paracetamol and Vitamin C I felt right as rain the next day and did a fantastic 3.1 km swim. That was that...

Ran to work on Thursday, a good 7km. I felt OK but not the best. I had all the intentions of running back home after work, but around 2pm I had a temperature and was not feeling myself. I couldn’t believe it! So I decided to count my losses and tube it home. I felt like a dog with his tail between his legs. I felt sorry for myself and really was keen to have a great week’s training but this was not going to happenL

After coming home on Thursday I found out my gorgeous hubby was struggling too and was still trying to shake off his chest infection. We both were not is a ‘good place’ when it comes to training but we knew that we had to listen to our bodies and not push it or else it will be a whole week of licking our wounds! So we came to the decision to take the weekend off and look after ourselves. I am feeling much better and really had a super weekend. It was tough seeing people out and about training and cycling, but I knew what I was doing was the hard, but right thing to do.

I am now ready for the week ahead. The next two weeks are key and we need to put in the hours. I pray to God that I will be healthy and fit for the week ahead! I am more than a conqueror!!

High's:

-          had my hair done Monday night so that is all good and I am not looking like skunk anansi anymore.

-          Feeling good after the swim on Wednesday- technique is coming along.

-          Knee in check.

-          Purchased some super Ironman gear, at bargain prices to keep us motivated J

Low's:

-          Struggling on the swim and the bike early in the week.

-          Feeling ill on Tuesday.

-          Not seeing my hubby much this week. I miss him so much… My bestist friend.

-          Feeling ill again on Thursday, Friday, Saturday and had a weeping eye SundayL

To all of you legends that are following our blog- thank you so much for all your support and love. We appreciate it so much!

Habbakuk 2:2-4

Then the Lord answered me and said: “Write the vision and make it plain on tablets, that he may run who reads it. For the vision is yet for an appointed time; But at the end it will speak, and it will not lie. Though it tarries, wait for it; because it will surely come, It will not tarry. Behold the proud, His soul is not upright in him; But the just shall live by his faith.”

This week I am going to run with my vision in my hands and stand firm for what and who I believe in! I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength...

Blessings and Love,

Lou xxx

Lou's bit... :)

Triathlon has always appealed to me. When I was living at the High Performance centre in Pretoria, South Africa, I always saw the tri-athletes training… HARD. If they weren’t swimming, they were running. If they weren’t running they were on the bike. A blog is all about honesty, so I am going to be just that. So, why was I so intrigued by the sport? Yes, it’s very challenging, but man alive they all had the hottest bodies!! I thought to myself one day I am going to do one of those… And that day has now arrived. I am well on my way to my Ironman Journey UK, 2011. What a feeling!

For as long as I can remember I have been playing hockey. I ate, drank and slept the sport and really enjoyed it when I was in my teens and in my early 20’s. God gave me a gift and I was using it. I loved the ‘team’ atmosphere and playing my best, not for myself but for my team mates around me- and oh those were the days! Such amazing friendships were made and what a journey that was. Some of my closest friends are still on their journey and doing our Country proud! You go my sista’s! Having the privilege to play for 2 Country’s in my life time has been a dream I never thought possible. Nearly 2 years ago I chose a different path to lead and decided after my knee operation that I was going to give it a break and ‘hang them booties up’ for awhile. I was newly engaged to the man of my dreams , the love of my God given life and my life just had new meaning. I loved my hockey playing days, but a new chapter was about to unfold and I was going to give it EVERYTHING, give our marriage everything. I was going to enjoy every waking hour and not worrying about always performing and being the best. I have had a great 2 years off, but now my knee has healed and I am ready for a new challenge. My husband did his first Ironman last year in Nice (2009). He triggered the interest, but being off for so long because of injury, it really had knocked my confidence. I always wanted to do one, but never really BELIEVED I could. Now here I am, 3 weeks in and loving every minute (except 5am starts to the day!) but when I am out there- ‘I have never felt so alone, I have never felt so alive…’ -3^rd eye blind :)

I have never done a triathlon. My first triathlon will be a half ironman. Crazy I know, some might say silly, but this is the way I am going to do it. I have the hockey fitness base so I believe I am strong- I now just need to fine tune some aspects to the sport, learning and soaking it all up i.e. nutrition, swim technique, time management etc. It is all a learning curve and everyday is something different which really appeals to me. My husband’s reason for doing this blog is to look back and to see what motivated him to train to that extent, throughout his 24 week journey. My reason for doing this blog is to keep me motivated and to see how far I have come, and how I got to the end of the Ironman race. I want to look back on our blog when we are old and grey and see what we did ‘back in the days!’ maybe even show it to our kids one day. I also want to write about my journey, as maybe I can help others who have never done anything like this and have always wanted to try, but has never had the courage or believed they could. So that is my reason.

So come with me on this journey over the next 24 weeks or so. We have a busy schedule the next 6 months which is really exciting!

I hope you enjoy reading this blog as much as I do writing it :)

All the best,

Lou xxx

If you had told me a few years ago that I would become an ironman I would have laughed at you. I was a rugby player first and foremost and everything else was just sport other people did. Well was I in for a surprise two years after I had hung up the boots. I started training to uphold my fitness and just to look the way you would expect a trainer to look. I was weighing in at a light 94 kg at this stage and having to do a lot of weight training to maintain this form and having no goal began to take its toll. Something was missing; I needed a goal. And so started my time on the bike, first just commuting and eventually I bought my first second-hand racer. I thought this boy was the best bike in the world until I set foot in Richmond Park, London’s cycling Mecca – this is a story for another day!

Well long story short, I cycled past a bunch of guys in Richmond Park training for an Ironman. Throughout all my years of playing Ball I always said once I’m done with this I’ll go do something completely different and I realised then how much I needed a goal. All this training for nothing just didn’t work for me anymore, and, of course, who doesn’t want to train in lycra?! At the end of 2009 I bought a book called ‘24 ‘Weeks to Finishing an Ironman’. Well, it first taught me that ignorance is bliss, and so started my story of becoming an Ironman. I obviously had a few doubters, but to me that is fuel, the more opposition the better, and of course I had many people that thought I could give this thing a go.

First I had to drop weight in order to actually get my body over the distance in 8 months. I started with a change in diet from what I was use to; I’m not going to go into all that today or this week all I’ll say though is it was very stupid and even though I lost 18 kg in the space of 8 months it wasn’t pretty!

So what is this blog? Well it’s not a training schedule or a blog with fitness tips, it’s a 6-and-a-half-month journey with me. I’ll tell you about the highs and lows of training 13 – 20 hours a week and I’ll tell you about the motivations each week holds. Louisa and I will be doing most of this together so I’ll even be throwing in some marriage tips and let you know how that works out for us!!

Most of all I would like to look back on this blog and see what motivated me to keep going each week. I think every week is different when you put in so much training; at the moment it all about changing our bodies again and we are seeing some results already. The fitness is getting better, the fat is coming off especially over the festive time and already we are trying to push ourselves beyond what is expected from the programme.

I would say inspiration and motivation are two different things. What inspires me to keep going is a form of thanks giving to God for giving me this body to enjoy and push beyond what I thought possible. This year it’s a sub-10 hour ironman. Motivation is what triggers you to wake up at 05:00am on a Sunday morning, put on your wetsuit at 05:30am in March and get into the serpentine while most of the world is still sleeping. So what is that trigger? Well, just that no one else is doing it!!!

If it doesn’t cost you anything it’s worth absolutely nothing!!

With that I’ll say have an amazing week.

Until next week, much love God Bless

Ad Foster