This was, without question, the toughest OGBL mission to date. It consisted of three parts:
ONE: Complete a Sprint Distance Triathlon [750m swim; 20km cycle; 5km run],
TWO: Complete an Olympic Distance Triathlon [1100m swim; 44km cycle; 11km run],
THREE: And, most importantly, complete Ironman 70.3 [1900m swim; 90km cycle; 21.1km run]
The training programme proved extremely challenging physically and, before long, became an exhausting mental game owing to the four-month long commitment required to achieve the primary goal of successfully completing the Ironman 70.3 triathlon. The race took place on Sunday 22 January 2012 and, in a time of 5 hours 25 minutes and 55 seconds, I DID IT!! It was certainly a day I’ll never forget but, with that said, it was my ability to make it over a couple of seemingly smaller hurdles which makes me truly proud to have crossed that finish line.
The first of these hurdles was getting back on a bicycle after having an accident two years ago. After incurring a concussion which impaired my vision for 30 minutes after the fall, as well as breaking my right collar bone and fracturing my right forearm in the process, I had a substantial amount of fear and apprehension to face down before I could even begin to channel my efforts towards training for the races I had signed up for. It took a good few weeks before I could ride down steep hills without intentionally tethering down on the brakes, or until I could cycle with my group without worrying that I would somehow collide with one of them, or that we would end up in a catastrophic pileup. I knew that I had to overcome my negative feelings and stop allowing an unfortunate past event from affecting my future goals, so there was no way around it. Overcoming this personal setback certainly made the victory that much sweeter.
The second of these obstacles was far scarier. I knew that – had I wanted to make it through the training programme and the three races themselves – I would have to gain some weight. As a fitness specialist I am well aware of the fact that an endurance athlete’s body weight, especially during times of competition, has to be within a specific range. If too heavy, you’ll place yourself at a disadvantage since you will have to expend more energy to carry extra “dead weight” from the starting line to the finish. However, the opposite end of the spectrum also poses a threat in that, if you are underweight, you may be putting your performance at risk in that you won’t have sufficient muscle tone (and enough power) to propel you through an event which requires your body to work for an extended period of time. At the start of this journey I found myself in the latter position. With a Body Mass Index placing me at the tipping point of the “underweight” and “normal weight” categories, there was no way I would have been able to complete this challenge had I not made a plan to gain weight, and fast. Putting on weight may seem like an exciting prospect for most people, but for me it was utterly terrifying. Once overweight, having lost over 25kg to fall within an ideal weight range, and making a consistent effort to maintain a healthy lifestyle to avoid relapse, weight gain is undoubtedly one of my biggest fears. Before long – as a result of training between 1 and 4 hours a day – my appetite had escalated to an extent I had never before experienced, and the scale indicated that I was, indeed, becoming heaver by the week. By the end of the programme (as reflected by the final health assessment) I had gained a total of 4.69kg of muscle, and 1.31kg of body fat. There were, admittedly, times when I looked at photographs of my new physique and completely freaked out. What made it even more difficult to look at my weight gain as a natural response to the volume of training I was doing was that just about everyone else in my training group was LOSING weight. I had to keep reminding myself that the majority of my teammates started off being above their ideal racing weights, whereas I started off below mine. But the scare tactics didn’t end here. I started to notice that a few items of clothing from my wardrobe were a lot tighter than usual. For instance, my extra small shirt sizes were definitely not in agreement with my newly reinstated swimmer’s shoulders which hadn’t been sported since earlier days on my High School swim team. If you have ever faced a weight-related struggle, you would agree that – for people like us – these are the things nightmares are made of. By the third month, the degree to which my body’s response to the programme was messing with my mind and was affecting my motivation to train was absolutely ludicrous. Fortunately my coaches, Kim and Richard Woolrich – managing Biokineticists and noted tri-athletes running the Tri-fit Programme (High Performance Centre, Sports Science Institute of South Africa) – provided constant reassurance that my weight gain was healthy, and that my body was simply adapting to meet the challenge at hand. This made it easier to process and, by the time they had seen me off to complete the final month of training on my own, a decision to make peace with it had finally been made.
This brings me to hurdle number three: training on the farm, and the many temptations brought on by the festive season. It took just about every ounce of resourcefulness within me to stick to a reasonable amount of training in the Karoo. Swimming in a murky river where physical contact with fish (or what I presumed to be fish) was not unusual, cycling on cement slab paved (multi-directional single-lane) roads, and running along mountain paths are just a few of the things I had to work with. What made these four weeks even more difficult was that my sessions were no longer accompanied by my teammates, and that the most incredible food – the kind of food which only presents itself once a year – was in plain sight. I won’t deny that Christmas Weekend saw me share in the festivities, but I had my sights set on race day, and I had to snap out of indulging for too long. By the following Monday I was back in the rhythm of things, but I could tell that my body was starting to take strain as a result of nearly four months of intensive training. Once again, it was mind over matter. I had to hang in there for just a few more weeks. Race day was fast approaching.
The day had finally arrived. Up at 5am for a high-carb breakfast, one final walk through the transition area, and a brief warm up swim, sixteen weeks of training had come down to the outcome of one race. Before I knew it I was behind the starting ribbon, facing seaward in anticipation of what would be my greatest physical challenge to date. The energy was magnificent. With hundreds of like-minded triathletes around me, stretching and moving their bodies to keep warm in their wet suites, the reality of what I had gotten myself into was more vivid than ever. I had prepared my mind to assume endurance mode (a mindset best described as focused on moving forward, but welcoming distraction from the inevitable physical discomfort experienced during exercise), but the 5 and a half hours that followed were, dare I say it, a pleasant experience. The feeling of swimming, cycling and running alongside people who personify health, stamina, and physical excellence was such a reward. To be one of “them” was just as gratifying as making it to the end. To trial your body’s frontiers is extremely empowering, and I would bet you that, despite your body hurting and your energy entirely depleted, you would also be smiling as you run down that red carpet towards the finish line.
One of the things which motivated me to keep going was that this mission was intended to be a gruelling one. Let’s face it; tough challenges are the most rewarding when overcome. This is why I wanted to take on an assignment that would not only prove arduous for myself, but isn’t generally something that many people are prepared to tackle. My journey through this life thus far has taught me that you have to be willing to risk being defeated and being made a fool if you ever want to amount to being someone worthy of the respect of others and, far more importantly, someone of SELF-worth. Yes, there were times when I wanted to give up, but I knew that I was better than that; I knew that pain was temporary and that the reward would be something no one would ever be able to take away from me. Physical challenges are way more than just sweat and intensity for me. They symbolize the ability to be able to overcome just about anything in your life if you truly give heart to whatever it is that stands in your way. That’s what this mission represented, and that’s what I would like my readers to take away from this post. You are capable of doing anything. All you have to do is believe in yourself and your abilities!
I wish you life’s greatest gift: perfect health.
