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…’ -3rd 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
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