My fitness story in 2022
When I started at Mixchange I had some physical conditioning and it mostly involved walking and body weight exercises and I was consistent. I thought I was fairly fit but I realized there was so much room here for improvement however I could not reach it before. I remember around June, July I still ran and walked in intervals of 20secs each and then progressed to 40seconds run and 40seconds walk and remained there for some time. I just remained consistent and eventually building to now 2min run and 1min walk (Nov 2022). I now enjoy running a lot more and with hill training my endurance has increased.
I started cycling around April 2022 when I was blessed with a bicycle to use. The first time I went up a hill I thought I was going to pass out and my vision was distorted and I was standing hanging over my handle bars trying to catch my breath. Again I just remained consistent and was persistent to improve. Eventually I did a 40km MTB race in Nov 2022 and hoping to improve a lot further.
I am extremely grateful of the mixchange and slipstream team because without a group training with me like this I am not sure I would progress like this. I have never enjoyed training alone and need the accountability and the push from others. I thank the Lord every day for this opportunity. Conditioning means a lot to me personally as I have been through back injuries in the past and being able to move pain free and to grow is a great blessing.
Swimming in the rain...
Sun City Ultra
I was really thrilled when I arrived at MiXchange and heard that we have daily conditioning as I have developed a lifestyle where I really enjoy conditioning and training! When I arrived they asked me to sign up for goals and somehow I ended up being the swimmer for a sprint team for the sun city ultra. I have never had swimming training before and I had no pool to swim in and didn’t have a clue how far 600m was. A couple of weeks later we started swimming in the reserve pool at 6am and soon it would be winter (May approaching) and we swam in the dark, in the rain, in the mist, sometimes with dead animals in the pool, and it was the best fun. I knew in the back of my mind that the biggest challenge is to come, open water swim in Witbank dam, and it happened on the 1st coldest day of the year at 6am! My mind and my body was against me all the way, it was a huge challenge for me and my mind tried every angle to be get out of it. But I knew this would be the only opportunity to experience swimming in open water before race day, for which I have already entered and paid!
All I said was “Lord all I will do is show up!” And I did, and I swam 1km that day which I didn’t know I could do! I was however so happy to see the end!
Race day, it was another mental challenge as suddenly I doubted whether I could do it and the distance seemed really far. I asked Tarryn again if we really did swim 1km previously and she assured me I would be fine. Another cold cold morning with rain.
But I showed up and did the swim! I had a very comfortable rhythm, and breathing was easy and smooth, I was surprised to see the end and that I ended in very good time, received by our support team all cheering us on! That was the best part, and Ps John also cheering!
Then came handing over to my team mates in the transition area where we hand over the ankle timer chip and send them of with an “all the best”! It was the bestest experience to have, and it was such fun and joy to wait for everyone to finish their part of the race!! I loved every part of it and cannot wait to do it again! That specific day will always hold a dear part in my heart. I will return to do the full sprint.
Turning up the heat
Hear the heavy breathing??!!
Recently we’ve been turning up the volume at conditioning and it includes hill repeats and sprints both in running and cycling. All I said was yes to the challenge. It feels rough in the moment but yet I want to do it every day. Sometimes when I have a bad run the prominent thought is that a 21km is so far out of reach how will I ever get there. But I know many others have done it and made it and that I am putting in the work. The plan is to run a half marathon in Jan 2023. I really enjoy pushing as hard as I can and i have started to experience the increase. When I started here I could not run up the hill in the reserve at all and would always walk, then I started running it in 30 seconds jog and 30 seconds walk intervals. Now I run it all the way, 14 times in one training session. Wow thank you Lord. We are also training for Alzu and 40km will be my longest ride and I am excited. Madi and I have the declaration “we are athletes and we are runners”!!!
Alzu tour de Farm
My first 40km cycle
This was such a fun journey and worth all the hill repeats, the early mornings, the burning legs and lungs and the pushing through when you really feel like you can’t. Madi and I trained together and we agreed to do the race together. Leading up to this race I only cycled 22km at a time so I was prepared to feel some discomfort on a 2 hour race, but I underestimated how uncomfortable it turned out to be. The first mistake we made was to try and stay with a group that was way faster than what we could manage (won’t make that mistake again, a wise friend reminded me to remember where my capabilities are and not to ride in someone else’s capabilities). After about 5km we dropped that idea and let our heart rates settle. The first 10km included a lot of corrugation and grass areas which increased the impact on our hands and bums, this is where the pain started and it was persistent to the end and we had to stop often and help each other mentally through it all. I drank litres of water at the water points as it was a warm day with high humidity. I am certain what got us through was the life words that we spoke in training and during the race. We always prayed saying thank you to the Lord for bringing His super to our natural as we bring our part in the natural. We always pray for protection and wisdom and allowed no fear on technical rides.
We ended the ride with a gratefulness and we are so blessed to be able to move and grow physically. We then had what tasted like the best Nandos meal and a coffee and then some fellowship with the rest of the team.
My Fitness journey 2023
Cullies to Dullies April 2023
This has been one of the highlights of my life and God really touched me through this whole process! He arranged this event for me and just that knowing got me through it. I had some moments where the moment felt big and the investment was big with lots of hard work and training and fear wanted to creep in that the investment and opportunity might be stolen from me in some way and the Lord told me which words to speak into this event and it was in line with the step up and step into word and the New season of Greater Blessing prophecy. I held on to that word and God came through for me with great peace and everything coming into alignment for an incident free ride for everyone! My bike was perfect, my nutrition and energy and I had no fear through the entire ride! I did more than what I planned on doing and it was a great achievement and harvest for me!!! I will hold this event dear to my heart forever! God touched me in this beautiful way!!!