....reflections....

On reflection, my journey to IronMan actually started 8 years ago, when I decided during yet another endless bout of bronchitis, to step off the path of pharmacies, doctors and drugs to treat my asthma. I remember it clearly, in an 'aha' moment of sudden clarity I said to myself "enough! there has to be a better way". So with no knowledge of any other form of healing or treatment, I started out in blind faith on a new health path on 1st September 2000 (Spring Day, here in South Africa - very appropriate). My journey led me to Vicky, my trusted Accupuncturist, Doctor of alternative medicines and friend. Vicky has led me through 8 years of an incredible journey of healing, learning and spiritual understanding. Without those 8 years, I could not have even considered training for IronMan. Thank you very much Vicky.

This is where my incredible journey started and with only 16 days to go till the big day, I have very mixed feelings...... .

I took a decision on some knowledge of my brother Andrew's IronMan experience, but as he lives in New Zealand I was unfortunately not as close to his race as I would have liked to have been.

Ashleigh was sponsored by Puma for her first IronMan and her words in this Puma advert in Runners World magazine "It was eight months filled with enlightenment, frustration and accomplishment....the benefits and learnings will remain with me for the rest of my life." that made me commit to the goal. I made that decision purely on faith again. And I am really grateful that I did ! Training for my first IronMan has been an incredible experience ! The journey has given me way, way more than I could ever have imagined. When I started out, becoming an IronMan on race day was my goal and it took Ashleigh's message to make me realise that I should focus on the journey to my goal. I have come through 180 degrees, beause this journey has been so incredible, that I am now wondering how the actual race day can top it ! From what I have heard, it will be absoluetly awesome, but I cannot see it, so I am again taking it on faith.... .

The other great decision that I made at the beginning of this journey, was blogging it.....it has been great documenting my progress and sharing it with you. It really has added another dimension to my journey. Thank you for your support.... .

But now as race day looms (16 days to go and inside the 17 day 'training window') I am actually very sad that my journey is over, as there will always only be one 'my first IronMan'.

I have been training for nearly 6 months in total now, the last 4 months have been training twice per day and my body is showing signs of wear; (if you are the "oooh too much info" type, please skip ahead to the next paragraph now!)....I have a slight chest cold from running into a cold south easter before work, I have sores on my chest from my heart rate monitor, my nipples are still sensitive after bleeding on a long run the other day and I have a toenail which is blacker than Robert Mugabe's heart, which I hope stays on till after IronMan....but these don't bother me, because I know that I earned them all ! (and I am sure that I will be 'good to go' shortly! ....and I have a new respect to women with young babies!! :-) ).

I still have to get to Port Elizabeth, then on race day, swim through the 'war zone' of 2,000 other competitors and finish the bike course and run my first 42km marathon after over 8 hours of swimming and cycling, to actually become an IronMan but I can already understand, what people are telling me, that "IronMan changes your life" and "after IronMan, you can do anything".

I realised yesterday morning that I have spoken to many IronMan finishers, but never actually seen an IronMan finishing medal...WOW...I am really looking forward to seeing 'my one' first!

It's quite wierd actually, 6 months ago I was worried that I may not be able to finish IronMan and my thoughts were of concern, now I am confident of finishing (barring any major problems of course), but I am still the same person!

But when all is 'said and done' the biggest thing that I can take away from this journey, is this: If I believe that the goal that I am setting for myself is achievable, then I am not aiming high enough! From now on I will strive to always have goals that I cannot believe are possible initially, because that is where the excitement is.... .

"find your passion" / perfect day

Most 'self-help' books will tell you to "find your passion"...... I know, because I've read loads of them (though the authors will never tell you how to find your passion, but that's a whole new subject!)

I love riding my bike. Yesterday I went cycling again in 50km/h winds. I wanted to cycle far enough to test my nutrition plan for the 180km race day, so I had a basic plan of where I wanted to ride and a basic distance in mind......

I first headed to Cape Point (straight into the strong wind) and reached there eventually. To show how strong the wind was, I reached Cape Point with an average speed of only 20km/h. There I turned and rode right across Cape Town to Melkbostrand, then across to a third 'outer limit of Cape Town, Durbanville ..... then home.....175km later.

Here is my point; I got so involved in my cycle and the enjoyment of it, that somewhere I completely forgot about the wind! I guess that for nearly 8 hours I had "found my passion" and was living it. "When you are living your passion, life is good and your problems are diminished"....maybe the books are right......?

When I got home I went for a short 5km 'brick run' (so called because in triathlon; during the early stages of the run leg, which follows the cycle; your legs feel like bricks, so training for this is called a 'brick run'). Heres the joke..... after nearly 8 hours and 175km on a bike saddle, followed by a short 5km run, a neighbour asks me when I get home "how can you run in this wind?"!

The following day the weather was perfect (again), but this time it didn't bother me at all..... my previous day had been perfect in every way......

enjoy the journey...

Let me pre-empt this post by reminding you that I am not yet an IronMan; this blog is about my journey to IronMan and the life lessons that I have learned, and been reminded of, along the way.......

So this is the goal.....

Well done Andrew (my brother) for earning three of these in New Zealand.

But I'm a guy..... guys are goal oriented..... I only thought of the goal; becoming an IronMan.

It took a girl, to point out to me that the process of achieving the goal is just as important, just as rewarding and just as enjoyable. I have really enjoyed every single day of working towards my goal. I have learned, enjoyed, celebrated, been dissapointed, even crashed, recovered, lost 10kg's and made mistakes, every day has been different, exciting, challenging. Thanks again Ashleigh, for telling me about the road to the goal; the process of getting there.

Guys, enjoy the journey, enjoy the day......

success can be simple...

It has been troubling me, that I have posted a blog in a while, but please be assured that I will only post a blog, that I believe is a useful lesson. So it has been troubling me that if I cannot post a blog, have I not been learning anything?

This became the thought that consumed me while I ran for over 2 hours before work on a beautiful, quiet morning in Cape Town.

Eventually I worked out that I had nothing to say, because success can be simple. Basically, success at anything can be broken down to 3 simple steps;

1- Know your goal and understand why you want it.

Life can be very hard when you don't understand why you are doing something. Sometimes you may start doing something on intuition, then you need to keep doing it until the reason becomes clear, like my experience with this blog.

2- Commit to it. Success requires commitment - full stop / enough said / law of the universe type stuff....

3- Pay the price. In IronMan the price is early mornings, facing the daily challenges of balancing work, chores, training etc.
There is always a 'price', sometimes measured in money, sometimes measured in time, measured in sweat, mental toughness, discipline......or all of them. You need to know what the price is and you need to be prepared to pay it... and more often than no "inflation" will hit that price hard *smile*, meaning you will be asked to pay more than you initially calculated - prepare yourself for it, and be prepared to pay it, even if you need some creative problem solving to achieve this.

4- Thank God repeatedly every day that you have the money, lifestyle and health to pursue your goal

If you start having difficulties with your goal, then you quite simply need to go back to steps 1 through 4......

There are a number of things that you can do to help you with those 4 steps;

have a good support group (family, friends, training buddies, coaches, doctors, running shoe specialists, nutrition experts etc....and yes even blogs!). Obviously, unless you are a pro, you are gonna have to pay for some of these, but you need to know who you can count on.

Focus; you cannot chat to your friend, talk to a business prospect on your mobile, eat a chicken salad with a triple decker chocolate cake, all while driving! (though many have tried!). Focus.

Talk about your goal; you never know who you will inspire! (but please for everyone's sake, ensure that the person who you are telling is interested! Understand that you are enthusiastic about your goal, but we are all different, most other people are focussing on their own goals [or lack thereof] and may not be interested in your goal).
Or put another way by the legendary Shaun Thomson; world surfing champion, who lists this as one of the 12 'commandments' that he lives by: "I will pass on my stoke to a non-surfer"
I always wanted to do IronMan, especially after my brother Andrew had done 3, but it took Ashleigh's message of her "journey of personal growth through IronMan" for me to finally make the commitment.

Visualise. I cannot remember ever finishing a training run without imaging running down the IronMan red carpet finishing straight and up onto that stage.....and how I will feel....and what I will do.....

Remain positive. (about everything) .....fact !

Now that I have posted this blog, I feel I have had an energy injection.... wouldn't you like to feel that?