2017 has been quite a year and I still have a number of goals, both fitness and business wise to complete before the year is out. One thing I strongly believe is the need to set fresh goals for a new year before the current year has come to an end. Why? For me, conclusion of a goal set, whether successfully or unsuccessfully completed usually results in a hiatus and often a sense of deflation. The lack of direction that can result may last a day, a week or even a month so it’s important for me to start planning for 2018 to maintain the momentum. As some of you may be aware, my fitness goal for last year revolved around helping someone else achieve their goal. Fellow Forever Business Owner Matt Turnbull set himself the challenge to complete 7 back to back full Ironman challenge distances over 7 consecutive days. I pledged to accompany him on the first 6 of those days on the bike which for me meant developing a different type of fitness. It was great to see Matt achieve his goal and I had a lot of fun ….. and a lot of time (sitting on his back wheel) contemplating – what next?

So the challenge for 2018 is to complete the Ironman distance myself. That means a 2.4 mile open water swim, a 112 mile cycle followed by a full marathon. I know I can cycle the distance and in the past I have run a number of marathons. There are however 2 major challenges; doing all the distances back to back on the same day and ….. I can’t swim! To clarify, at the time I committed to doing an Ironman, I could swim only a length or two of breast stroke at best. I’ve been working hard for the last 2 months and with coaching have improved my stroke considerably. I have also started the tricky discipline of learning front crawl. With a healthy fear of swimming in open water, this is going to be my biggest challenge to date.

For those of you who have an interest in triathlon and who would like specific information on the event I’m doing, it is called the Outlaw 2018 – (click here) I will from time to time update this blog on progress, training and nutrition. In the meantime, I better get my armbands on! Why not start planning your 2018 goals today?!

“IT TAKES 4 WEEKS TO NOTICE YOUR BODY CHANGING, 8 WEEKS FOR YOUR FRIENDS AND 12 WEEKS FOR THE REST OF THE WORLD. COMMIT TO BE FIT. YOU CAN DO IT.” Mike Butterworth.