Episode #16 - Unfinished Business: The Ironman Comeback Journey with 10 Ironwomen

In this inspiring episode, we dive into the journeys of Becca and Rachel, two members of 10 Ironwomen who, after not finishing Ironman Barcelona in 2023, returned stronger than ever to complete Ironman Kalmar in 2024.

Join us as we explore their stories, from the raw emotions of their DNF (Did Not Finish) to the triumph of crossing the finish line. 

Becca and Rachel share how they found the courage to face the race again, revealing the physical and mental transformations they underwent and the powerful lessons they learned along the way. 

They open up about the invaluable support they received from the 10 Ironwomen community—and each other—that helped them make their comeback possible.

Whether you’re an athlete, a goal-setter, or simply someone who loves stories of resilience, this episode highlights the strength it takes to turn a setback into a comeback.

To learn more about 10 Ironwomen and their incredible support network,
click here.

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Transcript

[Music] hi I'm Celia Boothman founder of LTR coaching and I'd like to welcome you to the inspired triathletes podcast where I'll be bringing you stories from female triathletes and taking on topics that are important to women in the

sport hello and welcome to today's episode today I've got with me Becca and Rachel from 10 iron women who have recently completed Iron Man calmer um and they're going to talk about their experience you both did Iron Man or entered by Iron Man Barcelona last year didn't yeah last year and you didn't complete but this year you completed Iron Man calmer and with the support of 10 iron women you got around the course so we're going to talk about that experience and I'm going to ask you both how it how it went so to kick things off um I'm going to start with Becca if you could just take us back to that moment you know when you didn't finish the Iron Man Barcelona you know what were your emotions like how did you feel and and kind of what what happened immediately afterwards so I think I knew pretty much from coming out the swim because I did the swim in two hours and 18 minutes I knew that unless Miracles happened I wasn't going to make the bike cut offs so I had a very I had 120 to come to terms with the fact that I wasn't going to make the cut offs which was both good and bad because I was I was very much like trying to make the cut offs but you know when you know you know you're making it because you do the maths and there's no chance of it so I was trying to enjoy it and also there was part of my brain was like well you could just get off because it's you're gonna not finish anyway but I was like no I need to go until some I need to go until someone tells me to get off and then yeah they would didn't let me round around about for the third time or the second time whichever to start my third leap and so I remember going through town and like was on my bike like crying because I was I I I mean I cry very Ley so there's a lot of Barcelona where I was just having a little SOB um and I remember going through town and I was it was with PE like you everyone was cycling back through town and cheering because they all thought I'd finished and I was like I don't deserve to be cheered to I didn't finish it um and yeah I remember just being s in transition having like racked my bike and getting my day stuff and some very nice man obviously saw I was quite upset and came over and asked if I was all right and I was like oh no I didn't get to finish it and he was just like it's just a race like yes you trained really hard and yes you tried your best but it is just a race like it'll be okay you can look back on it and be really proud of yourself and I think he said lots of things but I remember at the time it being really reassuring and like he let me out the side entrance so I didn't have to go through all the people but yeah I just remember being I think it was a combination of being frustrated because the SE conditions meant that I couldn't be like my best self that I trained for and I think a lot of there was a lot of exhaustion because the S was so hard that I remember that even though I tried to eat on the bike I was really struggling to eat enough so I think there was a lot of like exhaustion and then just like sadness that I wasn't going to complete it with everyone else like we've done a lot of sort of runs together in Cycles either back in the UK or like in Barcelona on the run up to it and I like met lots of new people and I was like it's really annoying and frustrating that I'm not going to get to like be with everyone at the finish line so I remember yeah I think it was probably yeah frustration sadness and just like exhaustion probably when I finish or didn't finish yeah well you know to to get that far on the bike as well knowing that you're not going to finish I think mentally must be so tough to to just not give up as well so kudos for for getting what you did as well you know you've got to be proud of that definitely and and yeah saying it's just you know that that kind of it's just a race it is just a race but it doesn't take away from the kind of like it was just it's not quite what he said but I think it was very much just like make sure you look back on this and be proud of yourself but don't let this sort of little moment ruin sort of like the previous like six months of training I think he was trying to just like make sure I had it in perspective rather than like this was the end of like the world but it's hard it is hard to put things in perspective immediately after when you're when you're in that kind of very emotional and vulnerable state so yeah you can easily look at it later and go yeah it's okay at the time you must have felt really yeah you know upset and and disappointed so yeah Rachel do you want to let us know how you felt so yeah I guess it was it was a really similar experience so I guess I went into the race banking on the fact that I would do the swim quicker than the fulltime to kind of buy myself that extra bit of time on the bike that I knew I needed so me and Becca pretty much came out of the sea at the same time so we did really similar time swims and so again from the minute I got on my bike I knew I was almost setting myself up to fail um but then I'm I think generally my um I tend to be very like glass half full and so there was kind of points where I felt like I was going really quick and I'd be like oh maybe I will make it even though you know everything was pointing towards there was never a chance I would make that um cut off um and I actually had so to kind of compound the experience a bit um somebody about I think it was just after I had finished the first Loop because Barcelona's a three Loop bike track um there was a motorbike behind me who kind of informed me that I was the last so the absolute last person in the race yeah and I remember saying to him well what does that mean does that mean I'm not going to make the cut off and he was like no keep going so again I think that gave me almost false hope because I was like oh well if he's not telling me that there's no chance then maybe there is a chance um and then the motivat Then followed me the whole second Loop which was quite um made it quite stressful because um yeah it yeah it just made it even more stressful and then when I got to the point where the kind of the intermediate cut off was which was um as Becca said the second Loop of the bike as I was approaching and I could see the road was blocked off and I knew they were going to tell me I still wanted to go round the roundabout to the point where someone physically told me I had to stop rather than like me giving up because I really wanted to kind of have put everything in it into it and then I don't know I just felt so strange because I think I hadn't really ENT entertain the thought that not finishing was going to be right an outcome um and then I just kind of yeah I just didn't know what to do with myself because I just I just really wanted to do that third Loop and then go on the Run um I remember the other thing is that I like really really thought I hope Becca made it because Becca was ahead of me on the bike um and it was actually Becca's mom was at the roundabout um to kind of give me a hug and you know say Well done and she said that kind of Becka had had the same experience so yeah it was just yeah really disappointed I guess a little bit in denial for a little bit um yeah and frustrated I guess yeah well that was nice in some ways that there was the two of you had the same situation as well like to you know you have the support of each other rather than you know if you're on your own and you've just I suppose you've got your family probably you know a lot of people have family to to go with them but if it's someone else that's actually doing the race with you it must be a different experience as well yeah sorry I was going to say my but my overwhelming feeling was even kind of in the second you know when I knew that I wasn't going to finish I was like oh well at least I can go and cheer Becca on on the run I was like Becca will definitely have finished I can go and chair her on on the run so I wasn't in any way kind of glad we'd had the same experience yeah you didn't want that for her but it helped you with the support yeah it was yeah and it was when yeah it was not forgotten we come out the swim together but yeah it was really nice well it was really helpful coming out the swim together cuz yeah cu the swim had been so hard with the current and stuff and there was points where I swear I was next to the same boy for like 15 minutes not going anywhere because it was going so much in the opposite direction that having ra come out the swim behind me and just be like and my rign had basically given up being like I put so much energy into swim I can't do any further and you were so like no no eat banana get your cycling shoes on get on your bike like full frog marched me through transition that I was like right no I need to keep going Rachel's told me to get my bike I need to go remember be we don't have time for this come on we need to go there are no time for Tears eat banana suck it up and go yeah well that's happen you know I've had that coming out of the swim before it's like oh that was so horrible just a horrible swim really bad conditions and not the time I wanted to do as well at all and and a lot of people you could kind of feel it in the air of everybody kind of feeling like oh this was just such a bad start to the race and I remember this woman coming zooming past me near the end of the bike and you could tell she was really frustrated CU she done like obviously a very slow swim because I'd looked at the results afterwards and she came ahead of me eventually but her swim was way slower and I thought she must have been really angry about that swim and you could just yeah you felt it of the energy going past like so yeah it can you know having that knowing that other people have been through it and and are going through the same or similar experience to you can really help support um so going forward from there what what was your mindset like kind of what did it kind of knock you back knock your confidence back or did it motivate you a little bit more to try next time you know what did you sort of immediately think yeah I'm going to go back or did it take a little bit of time Becca um so I'm pretty sure so we picked so my husband eventually found me outside transition and we walked back to a hotel and I'm pretty sure sat on the balcony he was like he I he' said that I could not that I could only do one but the agreement was that I would do one because it's a lot of like commitment and stuff and yeah I'm pretty sure sat on the balcony he was like if you wanted to do it you can do one in 2024 because I think he saw he knew how much work I put into it and he was like now if you want to do another one to finish it off you can and I was I remember being a l like I don't know if I could do it again and then I was looking back through my messages with ra earlier today to make sure I my facts right and I'm pretty sure we both like about the week after were like we're not finishing 2024 without a T-shirt and a medal and so I don't think there was don't think there was much discussion that we weren't going to try again so I think it motivated me more than made me um like put me off because I was like I was close like yeah I think without this s being horrible we might like I might have finished like it was definitely a harder cycle than I thought it was going to be but I think if I'd being able to swim the swim that I thought I could swim I might have been able to finish so I remember just being like if I just do this again but find somewhere that's either a lake or a flat swim and make definitely a flat cycle then it would be okay so yeah I don't think it put me off I think it was again just yeah frustration that I couldn't do the what I wanted to do and therefore I wanted to be able to do it the way I thought I could yeah and could us to your husband as well for you can do I think such a lot that I can't I would have been like I'm going to do one anyway yeah yeah but like that's really nice you know to to say that straight away immediately to see you know because it is you do put a lot of energy and effort into it and to have to you know to not get that kind of finishing I I have had people and it's happened to before and it's so tough you know it is it's really tough and then sometimes the same thing will happen again we we had people training for Iron Man when there was the pandemic on and and it kept getting postponed and so they were having to do that like oh I'll have to train for it next year and then it was the year after and it just you know it eventually got too much but yeah you were you were lucky everything kind of like sort of pointed you in that direction and you must have found the right race as well and Rachel how about you you you had the same experience or you were yeah I think there was never a moment where I wasn't going to go back and finish a race because I think it had been such a big goal for such a long time that I want wanted to achieve it I didn't want to I didn't want to walk away thinking oh well I could have done it if this and I could have done it if that I wanted to you know kind of prove to myself that I could do it and finish a race yeah and how long did you two sort of before doing Iron Man contemplate it so again I think looking so Rachel and I I've only even done tries with Rachel like okay we um I think we did London it would have been London him T 100 we did that back in I think it was 2018 and then during the pandemic we were like let's do half Iron Man and then I think I spotted 10 iron women and signed up to do Barcelona and Rachel got fomo and was like I'll come do it too I think I look yeah I looked back through our um chat history and I think the first time we were like oh maybe one day we could do an Iron Man was literally in about 20 8 so it's been a it's been a gold Horizon for a really long time yeah yeah yeah I think it you know it is for some a lot of people some people just go I'm doing it and then do it and then like that's it and it comes out of nowhere but you know for most people I think it's kind of a like a slow buildup I mean to do Iron Man really you need a bit of a slow buildup don't you yeah honestly to get your head around the idea of like what am I doing this for you know it's kind of crazy so um what what kind of things did you learn about yourself you know after after that event in between the time kind of like going from not finishing to then successfully completing Iron Man was were there any things that you learned along the way uh I'd say I think I've got mentally lock stronger over the last year I think having to do the training all over again I think and knowing that it's a lot and like because I think going into the first training for Barcelona like you see your training plan and you're like yeah sure I'll do this that's fine and then you don't have an appreciation of actually the volume of it until you're in it and I think that was my biggest maybe stumbling thing that was like I don't know if I can do go back to doing six days a week um and so I think keeping going when it was like the weather wasn't great or trying to jugle that and work um I think that's and just I think keeping the training going even when it was hard was probably yeah I think I got mentally a little bit stronger and just a bit more like resilient and so did you go out in worse condition you know like you just got out and done it more second time round or did you I think I stuck to the harder sessions a lot more this time I think doing stuff on the sort of interval sessions on zwift and stuff like that I think I st to a lot more um I still definitely didn't hit I think each two of each sport each week never really happened but I think I was more consistent even if it wasn't every session I think because I think yeah I think knowing that if I did more than what I did the previous year even if just a little bit would keep me would be what I needed to do I think helped as well so yeah I think just knowing getting on I used yeah get on the bike what's the word I'm trying to say um it was easier to get on the bike for the harder sessions I think I think I don't I don't know you knew what you knew what to expect as well the second time round so you're like in one way it was like I know what to expect so oh god I've got to do that again but also like I know what to expect and I've done this before and I know I think that helped quite a lot is that I've done it before and that there were the weeks when it was a lot of training but you knew it was only like a week here and a week there and you just had to push through it and have a a Juggle week and then it would be over um but yeah so I think it was up I think it was positive and negatives having done it before yeah okay how about you Rachel um yeah I guess I was um humbled a bit by the experience of kind of having a goal you know get to the the day thinking that was going to be the day that you achieved it and then I think failing is a strong word but you know not not achieving it so I think yeah definitely mental resilience and an appreciation for you know you can't just like well Iron Man's are hard really hard races and you can't just you know you can't take it for granted that you are going to finish so I think that was definitely a learning piece for me yeah so it was kind of like has that happened before to you then that you've set a goal and it's and you've not achieved it okay before yeah I think that's what yeah I think that's I think it was yeah a good lesson to learn yeah definitely and kind of how did that affect because you know I I always find I learn a lot about me as a person and how I deal with things through racing because you're like oh God I didn't like the way I dealt with that it wasn't you know great and so you kind of take that away did it kind of bring up anything like that was it kind of like oh you expected to just breathe through that because everything else is easy or um I didn't know I didn't expect to Breeze through it I just didn't expect to not finish it I think was was the thing and I guess you know physical challenges in the past none of them have ever been as big or as hard as um as an Iron Man race so yeah it was just it was just kind of put everything into perspective and I guess yeah just made me want to try again and yeah try and learn from the first time around and you know you said failing is a strong word I think what you said there is it's not failing it's learning yeah from the experience you don't you you can't fail you know both of you like went until you were told to get off the course you didn't kind of go oh there's no point carrying on I'm not going to make it which is you know understandable you know I've done that before not when I'm not going to make it but when I've had a a mechanical on the bike and I thought I wasn't going to do as well as I was and as I thought I pulled out on a run and I know I was really upset with myself so you know it is like these learning things that you find out and you're like why did I behave like that why did I do that and you can you can kind of find out quite a lot of information about how you react and deal with life as well through the races um so we kind of talked a little bit Becky you talked a little bit about your training being a bit more consistent the second time round was there anything else that you changed or did differently within your training so I joined one of the local Tri clubs to join their swimming sessions because again like I think the swimming was the thing the first time around that I did probably didn't do enough of just because trying to get into pools and stuff stuff in Bristol is absolutely manic trying to find sessions that you can squeeze into so I was like right now I'm going to join the tri Club um and that means I'll go swimming definitely twice a week so I think um I think that really helped just I don't know how much quicker I actually got because I don't really have anything to compare to from my time from Calmar to Barcelona because it was entirely different conditions but it definitely made me more confident about swimming and just more relaxed around it all and I think that really helped on race day because I just came I remember being in the water and being calm and out the water and being calm and it just being like it didn't take as much effort out of me I think so I think that's probably my biggest like positive from the like what I changed was yeah the swimming stuff um I think everything else was quite similar in terms of trying to keep the bikes and the runs going but I think joining the swimming club has really helped make it easier to be consistent was probably the biggest difference in training Cycles I think that's something that people do find really challenging is swimming in pools and public sing times it's just like you have to either get up at the crack of dawn or you know go quite late at night quite often it seems to be when the sessions are and it can be you know if you're tired from other stuff it's another I've got to get get myself out the house to go to the swim session so like having a club is really really I did that at the beginning when I was training cuz it was the only way I could get out the house when you sat down after you oh I'm really comfortable here got to go out and go yeah no it definitely helped and like they were slightly coached and I did have a filming session at one point where they absolutely whipped me to shreds and how I swam I remember watching it watching it back and just being like but it doesn't feel this doesn't feel like like this doesn't look like how I feel like I swim um I think which helped quite a lot as well because I think I knew I was wasn't really going to get noticeably quicker but if I could just be more efficient and they definitely helped with that so yeah I would be like probably my one biggest thing that I'd ever recommend to anyone wanting to do triathlons is like unless you like have always swarm I think joining some sort of Club is definitely like a helpful thing to do yeah definitely even if it's just getting Lane time and you don't actually take that much away from the coaching just being able to have like you like Wednesday and Saturday or whatever is your swim days then yeah yeah for sure that's that's definitely helpful and the swim coaching the analysis and that really helps people when when you're starting out and swimming and you haven't been doing it for long because you have no idea what you're doing in the water you cannot tell was when they were like oh when was the last time you swam and I was like well I swim on holiday in like the pool but like swam swam would have been doing like when you're like six and you get your badges for doing like wits and stuff yeah yeah so yeah it' been a while yeah so Rachel how about you did you make any changes or do anything differently the second time around um so I guess I knew I I kind of knew going into Barcelona that cycling for me out of the three disciplines is by far my weakest um I'm not a strong cycl I'm not a quick cyclist and I guess it was it was that really because even if kind of the wave conditions hadn't been um as strong as they were in Barcelona and I'd done a quicker swim I think I would have still been cutting it quite fine to make the cycling cut offs so I put a lot more into cycling just getting a lot more time on the bike um I found a Cycling group that had like quite good um different time is that the right word kind of different speed groups because oh something that I'd really struggled with the year before when we were training for Barcelona is that any group cycle I went on I was always so far at the back always felt like I was kind of holding other people up and it meant that I just didn't enjoy doing it and I didn't enjoy going out on my bike so I found a group where the the speed groups there was kind kind of a group where I knew I would be kind of in there with the group with everybody else and I think that made a big difference and it meant I actually enjoyed the sessions um I put a lot of T of time in as well on kind of an indoor turbo which I don't think I'd say I enjoyed those sessions but I think it definitely improved my cycling um and then from a swimming perspective I found somewhere where I actually enjoy swimming as well so kind of um somewhere you can open water swim where the water was really clear the place was really lovely and I actually looked forward to going and again it just made the session so much more enjoyable and yeah I don't know how much it changed in terms of you know how strong a swimmer I am but it just made the whole training a lot more enjoyable right so you it was more you were more motivated to do the sessions then yeah exactly because you made it you knew how to make it more enjoyable for yourself which is a really good thing to learn as well because you know when you're doing that much time it's got to be you've got to have that you've got to have that reason and that and that motivation and the enthusiasm to get out I think the bike Cycling group thing is brilliant that you managed to find a group like that because it is it can be really hard when you're like at the back and you you feel demoral ized all the time you know that must be really hard to to deal with every single time you go out and if you're trying to train for an event like that then you don't want to feel like that every time you go up that's great that you managed to find that and I don't think anyone enjoys turbo sessions weird you can kind of make it more entertaining but it's pretty hard isn't it um yeah I was watching the um the T of France series on Netflix while I was doing them which got me in the in the mood because in my head I was imagining that I was in the T yeah yeah I like doing that as well I know there's lots of like mind tricks you can play on the turbo but it's you have to play mind tricks to do to to get on there and enjoy it really and uh some people get super into zwift and all all the sort of things that you can get on there all the game in stuff but I never really got into it I would go out every time over being indoors if I can because it's just there's so much nice stuff to look out outside isn't there much more even when it's horrible weather I think know I'm very much a fair weather cyclist like if it was leing a little bit wind he I'd be like oh no I'll go inside which is which was definitely harder like but I always go I went with the attitude that like I'm building up my like mental resilience if I can do like two and a half hours or three hours in doors then that's good for my brain true if not for my legs or like good for my legs as well but it helps with the brain because I was like at some point I'm G to have to cycle for eight hours and so therefore yeah yeah and and you would have and it's more you know when you're outside as I said you've got more distractions there more things to kind of take your mind with it when you're on the turbo it's just like there's nothing there to think about except you know unless you can distract yourself with the tour to France or whatever or music or you know but yeah I think there was the last year that I was training for um like half Iron Man event and my coach had put in some three-hour turbo session and it was because it was gale force winds out here it was horrible and I was like do you know what it's not that bad I thought if I choose this rout then and just do loops on it I'll be able to do it a bit better than and I did it like that and I remember seeing this other guy out there and we were

like just horrible but it was like I couldn't face D I wrote in my notes I couldn't face this I went out but yeah and and that builds mental resilience as well cuz you know so both have got you know both ways um but it sounds like you made some tweaks and and did things slightly differently to help you um so did you have like a a big challenge was that what was your kind of biggest challenge when you were when you were training the second time round would you say Becca I think it was just why I like it was probably the same challenge I had the first time in just like the work life trying to have little bit of a social life balance um try and film the training I think it was just I think it was just the doing it again was probably the biggest challenge of like I knew that like the vend diagram of like work training and life like the life one would be smaller but it was going to be for one summer and then having to do it I think it for a second summer and yeah like Rachel and I were chatting about this maybe like a couple of weeks ago is that I I was trying not to become obsessive with it so that I would still have that life balance but I definitely I think struggled with trying to keep some sort of like um seeing people who weren't Triathlon related and or like cycling related or swi related um because yeah I think I sort of Lent into it like a little bit too hard probably that was and just ended up being very training or work or eating or sleeping and there wasn't very much time for anything else so I think that was probably my like biggest challenge was just trying to keep some sort of balance put your life on on a again and not and I think forgetting probably between not finishing Barcelona and starting up in like February forgetting how much actually it does take over your life and then I remember getting to like May and being like Oh I'm not sure I can do this again like I just miss having spontane I think it's the spontaneity like training is very like when you're doing the M training plan it's very like Monday cycling Tuesday running Wednesday swimming and like someone texts you being like o can you do dinner or like do you want to quickly go to the pub and you're like I can't I'm doing this and I just yeah I think that was yeah I struggled with the juggle and balancing it all and having to sort of put yeah put life on hold a little bit and yeah I think well it's a certain part of your life isn't it that has to go on hold and it is that kind of spontaneity of like oh I need to go to bed early I've got a g in the morning I don't really want to get drunk it's going to make me feel rubbish in the morning and have to train and you know all that kind of thing that happens yeah how about you Rachel was yours similar so B did you have any other yeah so my biggest challenge was um I badly sprained my thumb um about six weeks before the race um which I did it playing tag rugby and on reflection maybe I should have stopped playing tag rugby while I was training um but that meant for quite a significant trunk of time just before the race um I couldn't go out on the roads on my bike because I I physically didn't have the grip strength and I didn't have kind of the movement in my thumb that it just wouldn't have been safe so I did so many indoor sessions on the turbo um I couldn't swim for a while because again it's that kind of it was just putting so much pressure on my hand and it was so painful um so all I could really do for a while was run and do indoor sessions on the bike and I guess that was kind of yeah just added an extra challenge to training that I yeah could have done without really yeah so how long was that out again did you say I think it was about so I did it just before um through 10 women there was a 10 there was a training weekend which I think was about six weeks out from yeah race and I'd done it the week before that so maybe seven weeks before the race yeah um yeah were you worried that it was going to still be bad for the race at all or yeah it was um I'd kind of thought to myself whatever the um what I mean not this is not good medical advice obviously but what whatever the they said in A&E I was going to do the race anyway kind of when I went in after injured it um and unfortunately it was it was fine on the day um but it definitely impacted training in particularly in the last kind of six weeks or so yeah yeah definitely and that's kind of quite an important that's the time when you want to be like full into training so yeah yeah it must have been really frustrating it was but it was also my own fault to an extent so I could didn't so what did you learn [Laughter] about no was just think um yeah we' you know it happens doesn't it but like the the advice is always like take out risky activities and and make sure you don't do this kind of close to your rent because it is that last sort of three months is quite important when you when you're coming up to an event and yeah when You' put all that work in you don't want to you were lucky it was a sprain yeah I know I was I know I was Lu I feel like you just even if You' had a cast on your thumb you'd have just like walk taped it up anyway you'd have probably like because of thumb you'd probably been I don't know it's the it's the bike it's breaking on the bike that would have been the real issue the biggest issue isn't it yeah but yeah okay um so yeah how how important was your support system I know you two have supported each other but how important was that support system when you were going into the race and and kind of training together and and that leading Becca um i' so really important like having R and knowing that there was someone else there was also Shay and Louise who didn't finish Barcelona who also doing calma so knowing that we wasn't going to be like there was a group of us um going to try again um my younger brother actually also signed up for kma and did it with this so um although he very much didn't train properly so he is not the one to follow um apart from apart from calma he'd done two Sprint triathlons and that was it so he fully was not like the advice I would follow to do an Iron Man um but yeah I think having 10 women like the training weekend um and I think it was just even though there was maybe less bigger group of us doing like the official 10 Ison woman race this year there's still so many people doing their own like every sort of Monday it would pop up everyone had done something other weekend and it was just nice knowing that there's this community of ours where everyone's trying difficult things and you knew that everyone was doing lots of training and it just made it feel l alone when like I think in Bristol this year there was there was only me doing calar and I think there's another couple of the girls who were doing other Iron Mans so we didn't really have like we don't really have as much of a network for like the longer rides and stuff that like London was having um but it still felt like there was a group I don't know it was just you weren't alone when you were having your like big training mutans there was other people out there also doing eight hour rides or six hour rides or really long runs and you're like okay cool it's not just me that signed up to do this because yeah I'd say quite a lot of my friends don't do these big things so when you're like oh or at work and your colleagues and they're like what did you do this weekend and you're like well I cycled for six hours on Saturday and I run for four on Sunday and nothing else they like oh okay why so like having rage and 10 iron women and um yeah was just it just makes it all feel a bit more relatable I think and a little less like you're doing something really odd and weird yeah and different definitely and your husband as well was supportive and help you yeah yeah he definitely was he um yeah just picked like a lot of slack up around the house um he he's into like cycling and stuff but we have a dog as well so that's sort of makes things harder in terms of that I think if he didn't if we didn't have the dog he'd have come out with me for a lot more of my rides but trying to do juggle that didn't really work my dad's very inter cycling as well so he came out with some of my long rides with me um like I did a couple of sport EES with a couple of the other 10 iron women um yeah I think yeah there's def yeah I think you can't do one of these mad big challenges without having the people around you to help you even if they don't do it even if it's just friends who are there at the end the phone when you've had a long day who they there for a chat who very much don't understand why you've signed up for something like this and baffles them but knowing that they still support you even if they don't understand why yeah and they know it's important to you so it doesn't matter whether they get it or not it's just they want to be there to help you and be there for you yeah I had friends like that when I was doing my training and it was nice cuz I had um my kids were a bit younger at that point and I remember there was one point when I was like I've got to do this ride when I had my son with me and I was like can you just look after him for a bit and I'll meet you for pizza afterwards it was such nice I can remember that really vividly that one because I didn't really ask for help from friends that often with with the kids that one time I did and it was like it was really nice just went did my ride and had some really good

pizza how about you Rachel um yeah I think definitely having the 10 iron women support network was amazing um there was there was a lot of us who did kalar and as Becca said there was a lot of people who were kind of London base which is where I am so they did seem to always on any given weekend be someone who'd Post in the group saying they were going out for a ride or going out for a run um and then there was other events in the calendar as well so um I think both of us did um Olympic distance with everyone we did a um a middle distance try oh no we did the middle distance try really by ourselves but kind of having other events as well kind of in the buildup again just it makes it so for me it's making it more fun and more more enjoyable and less like I don't know it kind of becomes part of your life rather than you kind of giving anything up like for me it was kind of adding to things rather than yeah giving anything up um and yeah as Becca said just having other people who can relate because yeah trying to explain to someone that you've done a 30 kilometer run at the weekend just just doesn't complete doesn't make sense so yeah it was really nice to kind of and as well the other thing that I thought um was really nice and I found really kind of in inspiring and it really kept me going is seeing how many of the group had finished in Barcelona and kind of thinking okay I want to be one of those next year I you know I need to be one of those people who finish next year um and yeah just having a network of people you can ask questions to um yeah like there's no was never was never any questions too silly to ask in the group like was like even to the point of being like how do I wash my bike and like s's put up a really good video of like her fully like step byep how she would wash her bike and it's just it's just a really yeah and everyone would be like lending bikes or lending equipment or being like suggestions for Kit you could have yeah like there was it was yeah it's a really good Community like everyone is totally support yeah that sounds amazing and did you because you'd not F you were doing it again for the second time did you also get to support people that were doing it the first time this year did People kind to come and ask for help or support I guess a little bit but I guess I felt under qualified yeah exactly like a little bit like a fraud if I was you know trying to dish out advice um but yeah there was there were there were kind of people who were new to group who had signed up to kma who yeah I guess if if I did have any nuggets of wisdom I felt like I could share I would but yeah it was just it was just always nice to have other people in the same doing the same thing training for the same event yeah and did anyone not finish in C count been people that didn't I think there was two I think someone didn't make the cycle end of cycle cut off and I think someone got caught on the last lap like you had to start start the last lap of the Run by some point and I think someone didn't make that cut off um but I know the person who didn't make the bike cut off has already said that she's going to come either go back to Calmar next year or which I think it's a media the Italian one that 10an woman have picked um okay and I think yeah I think she was disappointed but again probably like R and I very much just like well I've come this far we've seen you do it we've seen you do it as well but and do it the second time around as well so you know by being part of the group you're also able to inspire other people like we didn't do it that last year but yeah the year after we did we we managed to do it so yeah it's that's really good so on race day the second time round how are you feeling like mentally and and were you feeling confident or was it like okay I think I was feeling more confident than the time before but I I think the whole experience the second time right I was much more relaxed like there wasn't the anti like there wasn't the nervousness that comes from not knowing like I always like right I understand how everything like racking your bike goes how set everything out what goes in your bags like how race day starts um so I think there was a lot less nerves and like the swim I think it was the fact the swim was not quite pancake flat but it was so entirely different to Barcelona that I was like well like the first bit the bit that went wrong is going to go better so therefore therefore the whole day is going to go better which is probably I think I went far I went probably too far the other way and was wildly overconfident but um yeah I remember just yeah not like a I think normal nerves on race day rather than than like the heightened nerves I had in

Barcelona I'd go with okay yeah how about you Rachel um I think I was just really excited um I think I knew I'd done everything I physically could I was definitely a lot fitter than I was the year before um although we kind of never got to the Run Part of the race I'd kind of done much more running much further runs was kind of my you know my Pace was better so just my general thickness was better um so guess yeah I was I was nervous but I was excited nervous and just wanted to kind of get in there and enjoy it really yeah yeah so did you say that you didn't run and Cal on I know we never got we didn't oh Barcelona sorry I was thinking did they S no no no no not do yeah no in Barcelona the year before obviously I I don't know kind of how my run would have been but right okay I was just done so much more training I was so much fitter that I felt kind of yeah excited and confident going into it yeah and I think also you know sometimes people don't realize the like that amount of endurance training the first year round the first year that you're training for an endurance event you're kind of like building a bit of a foundation still especially if it's your first year doing an Iron Man and then the the year after you're building on that endurance from the year before so you are in a better place physically you you know it can take quite a long time to build up the endurance that you need for Iron Man it doesn't always come straight away to people so you know having that extra year definitely would have helped you and and got you fitter um and I don't think people always realize that they think it can oh yeah I'll just get around it really quick and I'll do six months training and it'll be fine it's like uh you might need a bit longer and everyone's different some people can wing it and and do that but you know most people can't and they need a little bit longer to prepare for the for the race and were there any moments during the race that you had to like dig deep mentally and kind of give yourself a bit of a talking to I don't know it goes without saying that that's going to happen just run a through a thing that stood out for you I feel like we'll probably have at least one place at the same and it was because you basically calma you cycle out to an island over a bridge you cycle around the island then you cycle back over and cycling back over that bridge felt like periat Tre because there's a headwind coming either way and there's like a 5K like flat bit to get to like the bit that went up and over like where the boats go under and honestly that 5K that bit of Hill never came any closer like I felt like I was cycling for hours back across this bridge and then you hit the hill and I was just like this is the end there was points on that bit where I was like I can't keep cycling anymore like I'm going nowhere so I think that was probably the bit I had to dig the deepest and then I think because once you done that that was like a and come back to I think it was like 120k and then you did a different 60k Loop and I think it got I got like a little bit lonely on the end of that Loop when there was no longer people coming the other way and like occasionally people catch you up or pass you we'd pick people up he'd like stop for a we or whatever um and I think that took a little bit of like a lot more brain energy than I thought to keep just get that last little bit because again I've never done I think the The Longest Ride I do was 100 miles and I feel like that last 12 miles was probably quite

long yeah it's a I mean it's a long way to cycle isn't it yeah how on the run you felt good like the Run um I think the last I think on the Run weirdly like I had I think the longest i' run in training was like 25k because running is the bit that I really struggle with um but I knew that I was never ever going to really need to run that far because I was only a going to run between a stations and now it's just like as long as I can keep doing that like it took me I think a lap to get into the swing of things um and then I basically ran a lap with one of the other girls Laura um and that was fine and she sort of sped off a little bit she was a little bit quicker than I was and the last lap it was fine and then I got a stitch basically halfway through the last lap but I never the thought of never finishing didn't cross my mind like I saw my mom and my h husband maybe with like four or 5K to go and I had a little bit of a wobble being like it hurts my Stitch really hurts um it's been so long like I've been on my feet for like 15 hours like when will this stop um but even then I was like I just have to keep putting one foot in front of the other and there's a little grou there like a couple of people caught me up and we all like sort of finished is together so it was just the cycle CU I was very much like once I'm on the run I just have to move keep moving and I'll keep going yeah so I think it was just the cycle where I was like I think because I think I've gone into again I thought we like I was reflecting on it like the day after and stuff and I think it never felt like my cycling legs fully kicked in like cycling is like my favorite thing and the thing that I think I am strongest at but it never really felt like the training I'd done and like the sessions I'd done where we've done like long sort of of race Pace intervals like that never SW like those legs never really appeared so I remember I think that's what didn't help my like I sort of gone into it feeling very confident I was going to do it in like seven under seven hours the cycle that it was going to be great because it was flat and it was like a nice Loop and stuff and then just watching my clock like my laps time go up not as like and knowing doing my math and like hm like not quite playing fire with the cut offs but like this is taking longer than I thought it's going to take um yeah I think weirdly I found the cycle the hardest even though that's a bit I was looking forward to the most so I think that's what that's yeah that was the bit I think yeah I probably found the hardest brain found the hardest when when youve set yourself a time like that or you've sort of you know subconsciously cuz sometimes we sort of Pretend We're not doing it we kind of go oh well I'm not really putting any pressure on myself but you actually are putting pressure on yourself or or you're setting a kind of goal but you haven't quite realized it you know initially your goal might have just been to finish and then you thought yeah I'm going to do this time on the cycle and then you can see it's not going to happen that's a really hard thing to deal with and that's and that is when mentally people can struggle because they're like but expected to be finished at this time and I'm still going you know wrapping your head around that is really not an easy thing to do so I'm not surprised that that's where you felt it if if you had that expectation and it wasn't going as you as you definitely like you said like was an unofficial expectation like I wasn't going in with times but I had like a like you know when you have an idea from like training and you're like oh well I could probably do it at this point don't know where those expectations came and you have to let that go as well like on the it when it comes up in the event you have to let it go really fast because otherwise it can affect your your whole event and like I said when in that event the Iron Man I did with the horrible swim with a woman like racing past me I remember being really upset about my SW you know it was like and the whole day like I was just kept thinking about my swim because it was going to knock on obviously on the rest of my time and I had an idea of My overall time and and mentally that's draining and it's it's hard to deal with and you can learn techniques then to let that to have the goal but then be able to go I'm just going to let it go on the race day but it isn't easy it's not an easy thing to do either so Rachel how about you were you um yeah I think it was it was at a very Sim I think I read a race report of someone doing the same as well online I was like yeah so I the swim I really enjoyed I really enjoyed all of it um the cycle again set off to a really good start the you know the conditions were amazing on the day the support was from kind of crowds was amazing and I really kind of like really draw on that like that really gives me a boost when kind of you know if people are kind of out and clapping and cheering that kind of really Spurs me on um but yeah when when I got to that dreaded Bridge a second time and obviously there was nobody out cheering because it was you know very long straight um it was almost like a Motorway over the bridge wasn't it yeah and at that point as well kind of everything hurt my kind of my shoulders and my arms hurt from being in the same position um my thighs were burning from kind of I think the the down side of it being a really flat course is that you don't stop pedaling for you know seven seven and a half eight hours um and it just felt like the lactic acid in my thighs had built up everything was hurting and it was making me feel physically sick and I like I felt like I really did hit a wall and it was kind of at the same point where there was this incredibly long stretch of road and there was a headwind and there was a slight incline which felt like a mountain even though was probably not if we were um and I guess that was the bit that I had to really push through but then after that kind of when I got to the other side of that I did then enjoy the rest of the cycle and then I did really enjoy the run so I think it was just kind of getting over that bit in the middle um like I had a bit where I had to just like stop have a bit of a stretch kind of move my body get back on the bike and then was like right okay let's go and then I felt a lot better after that yeah definitely yeah did um I think they make a feature out that bridge on there sort of blur they like look you can cycle across this lovely bridge and then I read someone's race report and she was like it was a horrible going over this bridge I was really looking forward to it and it was horrible the first time it was lovely going out it was great because you've got you know water on either side you're head into what I mean Carell was absolutely beautiful as a place so the scenery is gorgeous everything was amazing but yeah then it was a completely different story coming back either way like get me off this thing yeah okay so just sort of reflecting a little bit do you think that because you didn't finish the first time round did that make the second time round a bit more rewarding or you just glad to get the thing done you know was it like um I'd say a bit of both like it definitely made it all it all bit sweeter finish like I I don't know I think actually my overwhelming relief emotion was relief at finishing being like I never have like I can choose to do this again but I don't have like because I was always like oh if I don't finish this time do I try again and the relief of not having to make that decision because I had finished I think was quite High um but also the whole like Karma Iron Man I cannot recommend it enough like the support and just the day and the way the town like buys into it was incredible like the whole day was just everyone like everyone was out there cheering everyone was out there willing you on like it just felt like you were so incredibly supported the whole way around that it was yeah it was just the best day and like going down that Finishing Line was I still don't really I think like I watch my Finish Line videos back because thankfully I have like three different angles from because I was the last person to finish there like so many people in the crowd filming like I watch it back but like I don't really remember going down the Finishing Line like I think I was so tired and so empty that my brain just hasn't like recorded it because it's just but I just remember just being yeah I think regardless of whether it was the first or second time like I think it just so incredibly like proud that I did it and I got to finish um that I think it doesn't matter so much anymore that I didn't finish the first time like I think it sort of wipes a little bit that experience out yeah or like adds to it as well kind like you you didn't but you'd managed to do it again yeah how about you Rachel yeah I think I think there was a little bit even more of a sense of achievement having work towards something for the best part of two years rather than one year um it yeah you it kind of I felt really proud and like i' really achieved something when I guess kind of as I I don't know how it came across and I said this before but I think because I'd kind of the first time around I'd gone into it thinking I was going to finish and then I obviously didn't and I knew how therefore how hard it was how much you had to put work in and effort in and so I felt like I had really worked for it and therefore I felt a lot more proud of the achievement um yeah and I think any any bitterness of not finishing the year before is has gone and I think I think there is an element as well as you kind of said before CIA of um you know I had that base level Fitness and I was building on that and I think that then allowed me to actually enjoy the race more because I was fitter and yeah I think I think all of it meant that the day was just really enjoyable yeah well it sounds good amazing I'm really happy you both finished honestly I'm so glad I finished like like I yeah like the thought of trying to decide if I was going to do it a third year in a row I think I don't think I don't think I could have done it like yeah because I remember one of the girls last year Jillian who she didn't finish the swim in Barcelona she wasn't she wasn't feeling very well anyway and then didn't in a few months I was like I don't know if I could have picked myself up that quickly her not having finished to do it again and like I know it was slightly different she wasn't feeling very well maybe she would have if she was feeling well she would have finished but yeah I think it's Tak I think that's yeah why it took quite a while for me to be like oh no I did do it it is it is real like you don't have to do you can choose to do it but you don't have to do it anymore like it's done yeah yeah definitely I know the first time I did Iron Man I was like thank God I'm don't have to do that again like I'm not I'm never doing that again I did but you know at the time I didn't want to I was never doing that again so um do do you think that doing that going through the Iron Man training and and not completing the first time but then going and completing it the SEC the second time do you think that's had an impact on your life you know have you I'm going back to like what you've learned about yourself again but but it's kind of like looping back to that has it having an impact on you in other areas of your life at all would you say or can you see it having an

impact I don't know I think I probably have a little bit more self-belief but I don't I I don't know if it's yeah how

much oh I think we've lost we lost her yeah what else it might have had impa okay hang on we lost you a minute then oh I've got an unstable yeah sry my internet sry you just said you had a bit of more self-belief I think yeah I think I think probably getting through it the second time I probably have yeah a little bit more self-belief that I can do the hard things I'm not convinced that you you're not convincing

me I think sometimes like I I just sorry I'm just interrupting there but because I the way you're saying it feels like you don't quite have that self-belief yet so maybe it hasn't quite kicked in yet and it's something that um you know it's we we know we can do it you know you can do it you've done you put yourself through Iron Man twice and You' you've got to the Finish Line the second time after put investing all that work and and that effort in there but sometimes because it's in that context we don't then take it into other areas of our life we just go that that was Iron Man that was something different but it's like you can do that you can do that in other areas of your life so you know do believe in in yourself that you can put that into practice in other areas because it's something that I I realized at one point as well I was like I'm trying to do all this other stuff and oh I can't do it and then I was like come on you've done like Iron Man and you know you you did all these very disciplined things you applied yourself mentally you know there's a lot that you learn and and that you do when you're training for an event like that that is very high level and not a lot of people will do that or put themselves in that position so you know kudos for doing it and also um I can't think of the word but you know appreciate what you did don't underestimate it don't undervalue what you did and and use it in wherever you can because it will help you but sorry I kind of like took it took over there no I don't believe

you no I think you're probably right I think because it's taken so long to sink in the yeah I think I don't yeah I don't know if it has had an impact I get the feeling that you haven't you're not you're still not quite realizing that you did it I I feel like you're still not you still not acknowledge that yet so maybe you need to do that write some stuff down I always do that afterwards how about you Rachel um I think uh I don't know if I'm going to articulate this particular well but um when I was like quite a bit younger than I am now and kind of when me and Becky first started doing triathlons and stuff kind of fitness and like particularly endurance events were such a big part of my life and something that I really enjoyed doing and were almost kind of not part of my personality but kind of like everybody knew that like I you know liked running and like doing things like that and then I think after particularly after lockdown and like in the last couple of years I've kind of lost that enjoyment and kind of lost that bit of myself a bit and I think even when I was training for Barcelona um I never really regained that and I think I found it really frustrating that things that I used to find really easy I was now finding really hard and I it was it kind of something that I had to come to terms with that you know obviously people age and if you if you don't keep your Fitness up then you do lose it you know you can't just expect to turn up and everything be the same again um so I think kind of going uh through training for Barcelona and then training all of this year I think I'm finally back where I kind of feel like me again and I feel like the kind of the me from from before which I did think had kind of lost um and I think that yeah that I guess that's the that's the kind of the the thing that then does you know even though it is very specific to kind of exercise and endurance events it does then kind of seep into other areas of my life and kind of impact my self-confidence and I think I've definitely gained a bit of that yeah yeah and it's you've not gone back to the old you although there's part of that with you now you're a new and improved verion now because you went through all that stuff yeah I guess it was just it was just I felt like I'd lost part of myself for quite a while and I feel like you're saying improv but I've got it back yeah you've got that that part of you back but it's in a different place than it was back then as well yeah awesome okay um so I'm conscious of time so I'm going to try and try and kind of wrap up a little bit now so if anyone you know what advice would you would you give to anyone that's experienced a setback like this and you know what would you say to them I'd say you can like H you can always try like I think there's no harm in trying and if if yeah if you do if you don't finish you can always try again like not it's not yeah I think like Rachel said earlier it's not failing it's just it's a learning experience like because and also like I wasn't always a massive fan of using the phrase like Victory lap for the day like you've done all the training and this is Victory lap CU I was like it's a very long Victory lap it's 16 hours of Victory Laing but it is like one like what happens on the day like as much as it is disappointing not to finish like that shouldn't tarnish your reflection of the how hard you've worked to get there um because there is so much effort that has to go into before you even got to the start line that yeah I think that was it took me like a while to see that after Barcelona like all I could see was the fact that the day didn't go well and it took me like a month to realize that i' still committed so much to to the whole process that like getting to that start line is still such a big deal so yeah I think that's I think that's probably what I'd say is that make sure that you are proud of yourself for what you have achieved even if like the big medal isn't there um and then yeah I think give yourself time to have like be sad about it be frustrated about it but yeah don't go back to the same one try a different try a different location but yeah try again don't do things the same way basically isn't it it's like you've got to if it didn't work the first time then something's got to change and it could be the race it could be like the amount of time you trained there's all sorts of things that that you can tweet can change and to make things and like I think is frustrating because I think it was the weather like there was the sea conditions that made and like that's not always something you control but I think yeah and I think that's what took me why it took me so long to maybe like reflect on like the effort as a whole not just the day because it was something out with our control that meant we didn't finished and I think that's yeah that was quite hard to accept but I think yeah I think just yeah making sure you're proud of yourself at the end of it all yeah and that's you know all you can do at the end of the day is you prepare yourself for the things that you can control which is your mental attitude your your training and and how you're prepared going into the event everything else is like you just got to see what happens on the day and it is tough and it's not you know it's it's a hard sport for a reason it wouldn't be any fun if it was easy anyway you wouldn't want to do it would you so yeah um Rachel how about you what would you say to someone that was um yeah I think I think Becca actually gave me credit for something that you said earlier Celia because I was going to the same thing but I think I think seeing it as kind of learning and not a failure and I think obviously in the in the kind of very immediate after theath of a like that no one wants to hear like oh but you did really well you tried but I think there is an element of it that is you know you've actually achieved so much and you can learn so much from what you can you've achieved and you can apply that to either if you do want to try again and do another race or actually if you don't I think it's still an achievement and I think you've still there's still so much you can gain from it yeah yeah definitely I think that's true as well you know you don't have to necessarily go and and try and do it again it's going to depend on on you as a person and what you want to do you know you might like take some people I know take a year or two off I've had people that go I'm not I don't want to do it this year but I'm going to try next year so yeah there's that option as well and yeah so finally thank you so much for your time you've been great I really appreciate um you coming on and chatting with me but I just want ask you more thing um so what have you got lined up

next uh nothing um fair enough I think T I'm doing Royal Parks half so I've signed up to do that and I've got a really nothing like as in I've been not trained for job like so I haven't really run since the I'm so it's going to be an interesting uh party Pace R London but I thought I've not really done that many of the non like Iron Man 10 iron women events that it would be nice to go and see some people that I've not seen since Barcelona last year um and then I've got a um there's a thing near braist called I think it's the 12ks of Christmas and it's a little it's like I think it's two Saturdays before Christmas and fancy dress is encouraged and I'm doing it with some like non- Triathlon friends and there's a mince Pine and mold slider Halfway Around The Run so that something fun um but yeah other than that um yeah no no big no Big Adventures Adventure planned I think yet yet I think I need I need to summer off and I think I think one thing I need to learn this year or like the next calendar year is how they don't have to do the big events that I can do something small um that's not an Iron Man and to work out what I actually enjoy doing like sport wise I think I think I've still I'm yet to get the balance right between all or nothing so I think that's probably my biggest thing for this year is to be like find some sort of balance between no Sport and six sessions a week St yeah and I mean to be honest like with Iron Man we can talk about balance but you can't really you just just can't you have to sort of embrace it and it has to become part of your life like like you were saying earlier right sure it kind of like for you it added to your life and you made it part of your life so that it worked that way for you but it's not not everybody wants to do that and that's fine know I did it for years and this last few years I haven't been racing at all and it's like I've found a different way of being and my life's changing quite a lot and I'm doing different things and and it's just it's great I'm really enjoying it but part of me is like oh I quite I might want to go back at some point you know but I don't know you know at the moment so sometimes you just need a bit of time to reflect and kind of figure things out for how you want to move forward and you know live your life basically because it's got so much free time now yeah I bet it's like we've got chickens now and all sorts of extra bits that I can deal with before um how about you Rachel have you got any plans for um I'm really tempted to do another full Iron Man next year um just because of how much I enjoyed it how much I enjoyed the day how much I enjoyed the training um as Becca mentioned the T women next year are targeting um ailia Roman in Italy and they've got it's a full there's a full distance on the Saturday and then a half distance on the Sunday so I'm kind of in two minds as to whether to do the full or the half but I'm kind of thinking if I'm going to go and do it I may as well do the full get fomo aren't you so um so I haven't signed up to that yet but I think I might just because of how much I enjoyed it oh amazing that sounds good so if you were thinking of doing another one maybe you could look into that not next

year no my husband's doing Iron Man whales next year so we can't have both of us training for it's not going to happen but yeah no oh that's really good I'm really pleased that you know you learned so much you've got so much from the women Community as well I've really enjoyed helping out and you know you're such a great group um yeah enjoy Bristol hopefully I can you know join in next year I'm in the middle of putting all the training or putting training plans on training Peaks um that you know the plans I wrote for you guys so I'm going to get in touch with roow and tell him so yeah your plans are really helpful like I definitely didn't stick to it as much as I could have done but I know that people can't stick to it gave me like for like I stuck to the bike sessions and I think that gave me ideas and then I sort of just ran and swam as much as I could but in and they were really yeah some struct person yeah it yeah gave structure I think to something that I think I went in quite not quite blind to but yeah it it helps a lot yeah well thank you well I'm God the helps and yeah well done for both of you you know amazing amazing job on calar and yeah celebrate more if you need to just ride the celebration how long was ago was it not month and a half right okay it's not long no I am the week the week after K though um I climbed to K manjara so I had like quite a big two two really big life Challen physical challenges and a very short amount of time um and it it's kind of really compounded the trying to get down off the high bet my God so next year after Italy what are you gonna do see Everest yeah I was gonna say it wasn't it wasn't planned but um well killer mjara was planned and obviously I thought I was going to finish Barcelona and then it was only after kind of okay not finishing Barcelona and then um t women announcing that they were going to do kalar that I looked at the dates and was like oh they're quite close together but I'm just gonna all right yeah and it was all right and yeah I really enjoyed both so it was amazing oh cool that's amazing well done congratulations yeah you've got to like come back down to earth now a little bit yeah literally well have a lovely evening and uh yeah I'll hope maybe see you again next next year and if not good luck with everything and uh thanks for your time thank you very much thanks no worries see you soon see you soon by thanks for listening today have a great day take care bye for now

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