For every action there is a reaction...

Sorry I haven’t written in awhile, 'stuff' has just been happening the last 2 weeks that I have been focussing on and making very important decisions is all part of it. It's funny that when people say: ‘you know that happened for a reason’. I fully agree with that because in life every action, every word you say, everything you do- has a reaction. If my husband and I never experienced what we did (over the past 2 weeks) we never would know where we want to be going? Right? We would just be plodding along with no real vision... But opportunities have happened for us and not have happened for us, which has made us realise a couple of things- and what we striving for (If you know what I mean). It's great to have a vision and then a confirming word to direct you!

I am so happy to have my husband back home. He was away at his best mates wedding in South Africa! Wish I could have been there… But it was a good time where I could rest and get better as well as go to the SHARKS game (of course)!! You see my hubs is a BULLS supporter. Well I kinda am too - when SHARKIES are not playing though! It was a great experience watching them against the Crusaders at Twickes. What a stadium!! My sister got the tickets so that was nice. Family came from far and wide so we had a little ‘Moore’ reunion. Good times… But I am so happy to have my best friend back safe and sound. My soul mate, my SHMILY!

The last 2 weeks have been tough for me not being able to train, I have tried not to think about it much and have focused on getting better and just embracing this rest period. April is going to be a very big month ahead in the training programme- a very important one. The half ironman is in 6 weeks time so this month is key. I feel rested and ready to go so bring it! I am actually looking forward to seeing how far I can push myself and see how fit I can get. I'm on holiday in 1 week, for 3 weeks, so what a pleasure to train and rest and eat and sleep- looking SO forward to it:) The clocks are turned forward and the sun is shining and out until 7:30pm, which makes training that much more appealing ;) yes please! Bring on some hills!

I have 3 days left of anti biotics, so when Friday comes I am going to take the bull by the horns and ride that mother! I am in my starting blocks, waiting for that gun. I am NOT going to go arrive in Bolton on 31st July unprepared. Preparation is KEY!

Have an awesome week everyone, when u face trials and tribulation just know tribulation produces perseverance, and perseverance character, and character HOPE. That’s what my life manual says. I am going to have hope in my heart this week and know that all things work together for our good!!

Much love, will write again soon- I promise!!

Lou xxx

Competition is key!!

'm sitting here at heathrow airport terminal 5, having a little taste of what a pro triathlete must feel like. Im such a amateur traveler. I'm 3 hours early I can't even check in my bags yet. That's how early I am!
Well at least cafe Nero is open and I wander on over and buy some water and chips to keep me company. Feeling a bit sad sitting here because I'm leaving my wife at home and this is never a great thing. As some of you will know once you are married and you become one, it's just a case of never fully being able to function at 100% without the other. Or at least I feel happy we are like this.

Ok enough of the soppy stuff, I think I have secured some serious browny points. Babe my birthday is coming up ne wena!

Well before I came to the airport today I went for a bike ride around Richmond, can I just say thank you Lord for such a amazing day. I have been sick a few days so this was the first time I could head out on the road on my machine in a long while. And what a pleasure, so much on the brain and man alive I could just release it all over a few laps of the park!
I did the first lap on my own as usual, but was soon joined by one fit looking bugger, he rode a beaut of a dog and I knew by the way he passed me it was on! We picked up another straggler and of the three of us went.

It's such a funny sport cycling, un written rules fall in place immediately as soon as three riders meet up and are of equal ability. One takes the lead and pushes as hard as he can, the other two will then sit in the slip behind him taking a breather and try to get the heart rate down. On we go until we have crushed each other and that my friends is how respect is built, one cyclist for another! In two seconds you have something in common and that draws you in, even as strangers there is that respect that understanding.

Back to the ride, as I sat behind the one oke, I thought finally some guys to race, to pursue, to test my steel, to see what I was made of and how far could I push in the space of a hour. Well one lap in the one guy really opened up, my heart rate shot up to 189 but I bit my lip and said yes please give me more of that sir! I knew he would never last, he would have to be special. I was right, he left the park after this round licking his wounds, that left me and the other brother, on we went. Each taking a turn seeing how much more we could match each other. Further down the road we picked up another rider, this guy thought he was the Pirate going up the Pirenese ( French mountain range ) he kicked and tried to attack on the hill. I thought yes please brew, I look like a muppet but I'll have you. On I went leaving the Pirate behind. Now came the straight home, I left the other two and picked up a cat on a Look machine. What a bike! Well this guy sat in the slip and also decided to attack on the hill. I sat waiting biding my time until 300 meters before the turn of. Cavendish would have been proud I pulled put behind this brother and let lose on a flat pushing 50km/h what a pleasure!

I rode four battles and I took them all, empty legs I rode the 5km home and felt absolutely finished. Now this is the theme, competition is everything. In all fields of life I think you'll encounter some stiff comp, but how will you react to it? Steel sharpens steel, I now relish it because if I hadn't had those dogs come ride today I would never have pushed myself half as hard!

They say competition brings out the best and worst out of people, well with maturity I think it can only be the best! If you lose or don't make the team you need to work harder, nothing worth having in the end is going to be free or without masses of effort!  A football guy once said your best defence is a strong offence.

Break that weak, I'm not good enough mind set this week and go find some competition and try to show yourself what you are made off!

I would rather be challenged daily than go through life never knowing what I was made off!

Have a beautiful week, know God has made you a winner, it's your decision to make it real.

God Bless
AD :)

Unwavering Confidence

Have you ever seen a pack of Lions hunting? Or have you ever seen a Great White swim in the ocean? They never and will never, doubt themselves. They walk or swim with poise and move effortlessly- a kill is never in doubt. They rule the territory they posses, their confidence is electric whatever they have been given they use to the maximum. Every muscle fibre working together to create this magnificent creature... Unwaveringly confidence!

What has this got to do with Ironman training? well, everything!

You have got to be confident in your ability, you have got to train and compete with that unwavering confidence in yourself. Ironman for me is not about winning the thing, though I'd love to, no, it's about stretching myself beyond what I thought possible becoming confident within, to always do whatever I put my mind to.
Have a look at the story of David and Goliath, David was quietly confident never wavering and always knowing he would defeat the giant, slay the mother down! He was in a battle, but that battle allowed him and his people to win the war.

You know every day we all face small battles. Every day we try to become more confident. I'll be the first to admit some battles are pointless, but the ones that do matter inwardly give you that sense of achievement and allows for confidence to grow, it's like chucking manure on the fields to nourish the crop. Each bit of nutrient that hits the earth allows it to grow adding more, giving more to it's fruit.


I have lately started to face small battles training wise; get to the pool, swim the distance, go run, do the job, go do hills- break them! This phase of training sucks, it's hours at a time and gets boring, but without it the Ironman is lost! I need these smaller battles to nourish my confidence to go break that beast come July end.

I was walking passed the Ironman start point last year the night before the race and as I was watching myself run over the finish line with the big timex banner over my head. I felt that unwaveringly confidence about me. I knew all about bursting gasping lungs, muscles aching, more pain, pushing deeper, my old nemesis pain, the one I always welcome knowing for well, soon I will be tasting the beauty of the day. I will break his back! As my confidence grows so he diminishes.
You win the war by each small battle. Only by winning the small battles will you conquer and become quietly confident.

When I played ball, the coach used to say: win your line outs, win the scums, win the collisions and push back on tackles. Rugby broken into facets and each battle needs to be won in order to win the game! Once we won the line outs, broke them in the scrum, and dominated the collision there was no chance we would lose. Little battles allowing us to win the war, every battle won creates that unwavering confidence...

Back to my Boys, school again, and can I tell you every time we left that farm 300 boys strong in a bus out on an adventure to play rugby against a 1000 boy strong school, we had that unwavering confidence because we believed in our abilities. No doubt we could beat anybody any day. This is life: you determine your confidence if you don't try a battle you will never know if you could succeed, and with every victory comes confidence!

Fortunately my best selling training manual says my God has overcome all battles for me so that I may live and have life in abundance. In abundance, I certainly hope at the end of this dance i have done this journey, body and soul justice! Praise God! Confidence suddenly is not the issue any longer.

Keep going, the victory in the small battles will secure your confidence!

Have a great week all! Much love:)

God Bless
AD

Haunting Hills!

The topic for my blog today is: Haunting Hills!

When AD was training for France Ironman last year, he showed me some of the hills he used to train on. Now when you go to Bath you realise that this place is not short of hills.

Whichever way you try get into Bath, you will have to overcome some or other monstrous hill as it is built in a valley. Throughout the cycle on Saturday the song: Ain't no mountain high enough, ain't no valley low enough was in my head! We did four massive hills: The first hill we did I was petrified. It was one that has haunted me ever since I had seen it from the safety of my own car. It's the main hill leading up to bath and it seems never ending. At the start I was so nervous I couldn't find the right gears and I couldn't clip in! Ha what a clown! But there was no way out, I was in the middle of a valley and the only way out was up, so up up we went!

15 minutes later: what an achievement! The hill that haunted me became a trophy:)
Now for hill number two: oh my word! When your bikes front wheel is lifting up from every peddle stroke you know you are dealing with a beast, but you know what? I broke it's back and the beast has become the puppy! That was the toughest hill I have ever ridden to date...

Then a casual ride through the country side was not all that bad;-) anything seemed better than climbing a hill that only allows you to ride at 6km an hour- sheesh!

The worst over, hill 3 and 4 might had seemed daunting two hours prior but has suddenly become another part of the ride and the way home. I am not saying I am now an expert on hills, I am saying I reached new frontiers by not getting off my bike in tough situations and not giving up. Mentally, the hills box can now be ticked thanks to my encouraging husband!

This of course is what we have been saying all along that preparation is key, now I look forward to another week of overcoming some more mountains and preparing even more.

Until next time, God bless and know that you only limit yourself by not getting on 'that bike' and at least trying! What may seem tough and impossible, might not be so. You will never know until you try. 

So have an amazing week,
Take care

Lou xxx

New Frontiers!

The English dictionary definition for ‘New frontier’ is the limit of knowledge in a particular field.

This is the heading of my blog for today:  New FRONTIERS!!

The limit of knowledge in a particular field, I think every day in our lives may lend itself to being new frontiers. My blog takes me to Wiltshire this weekend and as my wife and I am huffing and puffing up some massive hills I realise that this is her new frontier today. The question I asked myself is what do I do when we step into that new frontier? As I see it, the only way to overcome any new frontier is by acquiring knowledge. So back to the hills and watching my wife, my motivation this week, she has never taken on four different hills of 12 gradient plus in one day while cycling 70 km plus. She must feel that she married a fool some days, but on we go! She never moaned once, she pushed hard, in fact she asked me to push ahead and let her get on with it because when we do the ironman she will be on her own!

She took this new frontier and acquired the knowledge and made it her own, making that new frontier something of the past! The next time 12 gradient hills come calling Lou will be ready able and surely willing to mess them! I am so very proud of her!

What new frontiers are you taking on this week, I can honestly tell you the only way to make this new frontier old is by hitting it head on and acquiring that knowledge to break it's back and make it your own. I heard a great sermon this week with the heading 'It's too soon to quit' only by pushing into this new frontier and never quitting will you ever acquire the knowledge to make it old!

Ironman training is like this daily, you don't always feel like it, I can honestly tell you if you know it's a 3 hour session it hangs over your head some days like a cloud, but can I also tell you when I get off the bike or out the pool or step onto the pavement after a long run, I have conquered that frontier, because each day is one day closer, each day is another day you either won or lost!

Ironman training has no fans there are no high fives or well done bud most days, or not even when you go over the line at most events, but that's exactly what it is all about!

You pursue that new frontier, you prove to yourself what you are made of, and in doing so obtain knowledge to make the impossible suddenly seem possible!

I now have to take this hard headed approach of training, onto my daily life and pursue new frontiers and make them old. I do however; have an amazing faith that tells me I am capable of everything through Christ who gives me strength. I am also told in my best selling training manual that I can claim victory and I can believe it to come true!

So guys put your head in the fire and acquire the knowledge to make those massive hills seem like moles heaps!

Much love and have a great week God Bless.

AD

It’s not the dog in the fight, but rather the fight in the dog!

I heard this old saying pass through my mind as I was drudging up Box hill Saturday morning. With only 500 meters to go, the thought struck me that maybe I should just walk the last bit; I have achieved my time and I have done better than expected and even if I walk now I’ll still have done well!

Obviously this thought had to be squashed and quickly. It’s thoughts like this that will sink you! It was then that my old  U15 coach’s words came to mind: “It’s not the dog in the fight, but the fight in the dog!” I went to a small boys’ school of 300 boys and all 300 were in the boarding school, the school was an agricultural college so everything we ate in the school we produced ourselves by hand from planting to slaughtering the meat. (Oh how the organically minded would have loved us, we had no idea we were organic!!). We played rugby against schools of a 1000 boys and usually did well, but never really dominated in the younger years. The fact was we always went into these games knowing we were the under dogs and to be fair we were always smaller than most teams we played against. But this was all to change, 4 years of hard labor changed our minds and bodies and as we went into our final year of school we were the favorites we started to dominate, we became harder and could play harder, 4 years of lessons did this to us. In my final year, our team ended 5^th in South-Africa.

Amazing how you can pull up past experiences to help you get through tougher times! Back to 05/03/2011 and I’m pulling myself up this hill! It made me realise I needed to push harder, dig deeper. It’s called digging deep, and that is exactly what I had to do! Long story short I made it all the way and what is more my amazing wife did so well aswell!

I watched this story or flick (movie) a week ago that really appealed to me. It’s called “True Grit’’ what a name! I loved the fact that there were real men in this film, staunch cowboys never say die kind of okes! But what was even better was that these guys stood for something and would not play second belief to their belief. They followed through and did not stop until the job was done, like I said last week, it cost them something, but at least it was worth something!

As this Blog is about motivation for me it’s always good to reflect on what motivated me through this week? Well honestly, it was the challenge, breaking away from everyday mundane things and drinking life as I know it! If I had the sea and waves I probably would not have taken up the sport, but this is where I am at this time in my life and while I’m here I will drink this thing called life and thank God for my health and my life partner that I am sharing it all with! The fact is that this adventure has only just begun!

Have a great week all and may God Bless the socks of you all!!

AD

Ballbuster Experience

This week has been a really funny week for me. It was the first week back at school after the half term and it started off with one big BANG! School life is always going to be busy, more so after a week off :) After getting through the week and all its up’s and down’s I came out on top and I conquered the week that nearly had me at the throat there at one point.

On Friday I came home in tears. My hamstring has not been good at all and my back has been in a spasm since Thursday. I haven’t been able to run properly since I did the half marathon 2 weeks ago. I never stretched properly before the race or after as it was FREEZING! So to cut a short story shorter, my hamstring and back was not loving life. I visited a sports masseuse/physio on Thursday evening to take a look at my hamstring. When I say she got stuck into me would be an understatement. She literally was putting all 65kg of her elbow through my hammy and my back. It was not a pleasant experience at all!! She then referred me to her Physio to see her on Friday as she thinks I may have some deeper problems. I have had similar injuries when I played hockey so I kinda know where they were going with this. So on Friday I came home in pain, and thinking that there was about 20% chance of me doing the race the next day. After some prayers and visiting the chief Physio (who by the way was the sweetest lady and SOOOO good!) she sorted me out and got my confidence up to do the race. She even offered to come and strap my leg beforehand at 6am in the morning! She was just lovely. So I came home so happy and ready to start the race, praying I would finish and not get spasms!

Saturday was my first Duathlon, and I absolutely loved it! It was super tough but it was really a super day out and we were done by 12:30pm. I am just so happy that I could finish it and complete what I had started. I hate quitting. It takes a lot for me to quit something that I have started. My two goals were: to enjoy it and to not walk. I was very close off the bike, but then I got strength. My hammy’s felt like they were about to rip off by the end but I got through. I love this sport. You meet all different types of people along the way, old and young. I met this girl on the first run lap and we chatted and chatted and time just flew by. I got to know her story and her journey and plans it it is inspiring:) Then on the last run lap I met this American guy from New Jersey and he was cramping in his right quad. We helped each other out and pulled each other through. It’s like life, we meet people along the way that come into our lives for a reason, be it a brief second, few minutes or for an eternity. It’s these people that help you in that moment, and that was what I had on the weekend. I am so grateful that I was able to complete it and to ENJOY it! It was a stunning day and how amazing to share it with my best friend, my beautiful husband! So all in all, we ran 13km cycled 40km then ran 13km. I ran further than 2 weeks ago, carrying an injury! I am amazed and so happy! Thank you God.

I am seriously stiff sitting here but I love this feeling as I know I have worked hard and I am on my way to achieving my goal. I thank God for my health, my family, my friends, my job, my church and my amazing husband. All your support, your prayers and love mean so much to me. If it was not for all you guys I would not be where I am! I love you guys so much!

Have an amazing week everybody. This week is going to be a good one- I can feel it in my bones! Take this week by the horns and run with it, giving everything! That’s what I am going to do:)

Love you guys,

God Bless

Lou xxx