Discipline Over Motivation | Lisa Hounslea on Becoming an Ironman

What does it take to become the kind of person who can complete an Ironman?

In this conversation, I sit down with Lisa Hounslea — working mum, triathlete, and newly minted Ironman finisher — to explore the identity, discipline and mindset behind a goal that most people would dismiss as impossible.

We talk about the moment Lisa decided, just after completing her first 70.3, that she was going all in on a full Ironman. We explore the imposter syndrome she felt around calling herself an athlete, how that identity evolved over six months of relentless training, and why her deeper WHY — including being a role model for her daughter — became so important when motivation faded.

This is a conversation about more than endurance sport. It’s about standards, self-talk, community, flexibility when life doesn’t go to plan, and the quiet discipline of making something non-negotiable.

We also talk about race day — managing fear, breaking the challenge into chunks, the internal dialogue that carried her through dark moments, and the emotion of crossing the finish line in New Zealand.

There’s a lot in this one for anyone who has ever doubted whether they belong, questioned whether they’re capable, or felt held back by responsibility, time or self-belief.

Because Lisa’s story is a reminder that the turning point often comes when you stop waiting for the perfect conditions… and simply begin.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Welcome to the Turning Point. This isn't just another self-improvement podcast. This is about decisions, action, and ownership. Because at some point you hit a moment where you either step forward or you stay exactly where you are. This podcast is for those who know they're capable of more, but need to draw a line, raise their standards, and to follow through. Today's episode is about identity and what happens when you stop negotiating with yourself. Because my guest today didn't just take on an Iron Man, she committed to months of early mornings, long days, relentless consistency, and as a single working mum with real responsibilities. Lisa Hounsley didn't wait for the perfect time. She made a decision to complete an Iron Man and became the person who could carry that out. So Lisa, welcome to the turning point.

SPEAKER_02 0:47

Thank you. Happy to be here.

SPEAKER_00 0:49

Yeah, thank you for for coming along. So how's things since you've been back?

SPEAKER_02 0:52

Oh, being honest, I got a bit sick. Yeah, I got ill, which was quite a surprise for me after managing to go through just over six months of training, having not really been ill at all during that time. And international travel back from New Zealand did me in, and I uh I have been a little bit poorly, so I am just coming out of that now. Feeling much better now, thank you. Yeah, uh it's been um a couple weeks of recovery and just slowly get back into more training at the moment.

SPEAKER_00 1:20

But it happens though, don't it's the the w the body's very good at putting off an illness when we're busy, and and so many of us, whether it's work or training or whatever else, we're operating at such a high level that when we do finally stop, it's that classic go on holiday, relax for a day, you get ill for the rest of the whole day.

SPEAKER_02 1:36

Yeah, I think your your immune system will catch up with you and it will, you know, take a nosedive in terms of keeping you healthy when you stop, when when your body starts to take check and your mind starts to focus on getting back to a different reality. So, yeah, here we are.

SPEAKER_00 1:51

Right, so thanks for coming in. Um we've um we've got a few questions to to dive into today. And you're actually the first female guest on the podcast. Yeah. So welcome along. And that's absolutely it's had a slight rebrand because although I I only coach men, because I have experience of coaching men, particularly my demographic, females are inspiring to men as well. Um and there were so many of us in the tri-club that watched your journey, who did the 70.3 with you in tours last year, and then kind of watched your journey that you shared online, who got inspired as well. So I thought, yeah, let's get Lisa on.

SPEAKER_01 2:22

Thank you for having me.

SPEAKER_00 2:23

Thank you. Right, so let's dive into a few questions here. So uh for anyone who doesn't know, you completed the full Iron Man New Zealand, which is swim for 3.8 kilometres, bike for 180 kilometres, and then run 42.2 kilometres, which is a full marathon. No, no mean feat by any means. You did the half, which I did, which was our first half Iron Man uh last June. So to walk me through, was there a specific moment when you actually decided you were going to commit to doing a full Iron Man and what this did that decision look like?

SPEAKER_02 2:53

Uh I guess it was probably about 10 minutes after crossing the finish line of the 70.3, because I mean, you know yourself, when you pass the the finish line, there is a lot of emotion. And I I was excited, I was also just like overwhelmed, like there was a lot happening at that moment. And then we sat down and we had a beer in the um the sort of after care area that they have in Iron Man, and I felt good.

SPEAKER_01 3:19

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 3:19

And I felt like I still probably had a bit of energy left in the tank, and I was thinking to myself, well, why not? If I can do a half and um, you know, train like this, what's to say I couldn't push it that little bit further? So the the the seed was kind of planted um at uh Iron Man 70.3 and then I uh I think it was probably a week or so later where I started on the WhatsApp chats with some of the guys from the Tri-Club. Um and I was talking about what if what what if we we looked at doing um 2026 Iron Man? Um and then I'd also uh separately to this had desires to travel back to New Zealand. So um a very quick Google search uh confirmed the the dates for Iron Man New Zealand and the two goals kind of converged at that point. So two weeks after finishing um Iron Man to uh uh 70.3 tours, I'd signed up for Iron Man New Zealand.

SPEAKER_00 4:16

Almost like it was meant to happen.

SPEAKER_02 4:18

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 4:19

Yeah. You you mentioned that um kind of recovery tent that was serving pizzas and beers and things that walking through there reminds me of like the chill out tent at the end of a two-day rave with some of the sights and smells and sounds you'd see in there.

SPEAKER_02 4:33

And the war stories where everyone's talking about how it was, how it was your race and uh the debrief zone as well. And and I loved that. I loved the fact that they had that because I felt like that was a really important step for us.

unknown 4:44

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 4:44

Because so often when you do um big races or events, the finish line is is the end, and then it kind of Iron Man and Half Own and do dissipate quite quickly, but I felt having that little bit at the end, uh, so it's not just like right, off you go, go home now.

SPEAKER_02 4:58

Yeah, for sure. One thing that I noticed um about that area was that we sto and maybe it was because we had so many from the club there.

SPEAKER_01 5:07

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 5:07

Um they were all ever all of your pals are still waiting. Like the ones that were faster were waiting in that area to congratulate you to see you over the line. Um and knowing that people were gonna be there was also like a big push towards the end.

SPEAKER_00 5:20

Yeah, no, I agree. It was great. There was a chap who I'd um actually came out of the swim at the same time as him, a French guy. And then we were kind of overtaking each other on the bike. Kind of he would overtake me and I would overtake him, and we both finished at a similar amount of time, and then we had a chat, a guy called Fabrice from France. Actually, we had a hug and a chat in the uh in the chill out tent as well. It was nice. So uh that that was the when when you first signed up. So at the beginning of your was it a nine nine-month training journey after that, nine, ten maybe?

SPEAKER_02 5:47

Uh it was it was six months. Um I gave myself six months, so I'd set myself a bit of a deadline after training, obviously, for the 70.3, that that takes a bit of time.

SPEAKER_01 5:56

Yep.

SPEAKER_02 5:56

Um, I'd also at similar point signed up for my second marathon. So doing um the Jersey marathon for the second time. Um, so I knew that was also on the cards. And I also had a very fun-packed summer. So I set a date of the 1st of September 2025, would be the first um day of Iron Man New Zealand training. So yeah, that that was kind of the the beginning of it. I knew that it wasn't just going to be following an online training plan, semi-coached uh training plan like I did for the 70.3. I needed to kind of lock in. So found myself a coach, um, had some meetings with a couple of people and found a coach that fit my style, shall we say? Somebody who is like-minded, who also has been fantastic in terms of the psychological element to endurance racing. And I think that um that was probably the the best thing that I did at the beginning of the Iron Man journey was securing that coach.

SPEAKER_00 6:51

So at the start of that training journey, did you view yourself as as an athlete, or do you think the identity morphed over time?

SPEAKER_02 6:58

So I had a big problem with the label of athlete. Um, pretty much maybe I think the first week or so into um into the Iron Man training, my coach asked me the very same question. He says, Do you think of yourself as an athlete? And I and I was quite aggressively answering no to that question. In fact, almost a non-athlete was the label that I'd given to myself because I certainly don't look like an athlete. I have never been particularly athletic in my life. I haven't come from having, you know, competitively swam, cycled, or run in my lifetime. And so I didn't really feel like that label was for me. I'm also, I'm a mum. I'm approaching 40. It's not, it's not a word that we would associate or I would associate with myself. And I guess that comes from, you know, the imposter syndrome about entering into something which is considered, you know, in the triathlon world, there is no, there is no beyond Iron Man. That is the top uh longest race that you can do. And so there is this element of I don't belong necessarily here and I certainly don't feel like I earned that title.

SPEAKER_00 8:02

Yeah, that's interesting, isn't it? Because when with the men uh who I coach, a lot of it comes down to identity and and self-belief. And if you're not identifying as a person who is, you know, an athlete, a triathlete, or whatever you're trying to do, it's going to be twice as hard to actually achieve it because your brain is going to be telling you, as you said, you don't belong here. Um and I can certainly identify with that. Turning up um to the to the uh half in tours, looking at everybody's bikes that cost you 10,015,000 aerodynamic fonts and things, it's like, well, I I don't belong here. But then you kind of get over it and you complete it and and and you do, and certainly in most people, when you think 1% of the population will ever complete a marathon, less will complete a full Iron Man.

SPEAKER_02 8:47

So absolutely 5% or something. I don't know, you see those things on Instagram. But actually, I think that I've I kind of lent into the non-athlete label and kind of tried to own that in my own way, that showing or trying to show myself and others that you know if a s a single mum approaching 40 who doesn't fit that label can do it too. So that was also kind of spurring me on um at the beginning stages, but there was a turning point where the athlete label did kind of readjust. Yep. Um, and I I had to rethink what I thought athlete meant. And that only really happened, I think, towards the tapering period just before I I headed off to New Zealand to do the race.

SPEAKER_00 9:29

I I think it's a very good point because it's so what is an athlete? Define athlete, and to a lot of people an athlete, someone that they see on the Olympics competing at the top level of of sport, and it's not that really at all. It's people like us who who do marathons, Iron Man's, half Iron Man's. I now see myself as as an athlete and a triathlete and an amateur one, that, but it's an athlete at least. So taking on the Iron Man uh is no mean feat. So was there a deeper reason in actually taking it on beyond the event itself and the finishing line?

SPEAKER_02 10:00

I mean, yeah, there there's this thing, isn't there an Iron Man and every um it's find your why. I think it that translates across many different sports and and I think find it uh it was easy to kind of hang my hat on on why I was doing it because I enjoyed or had become to it to enjoy the struggle of challenge. So putting myself out in in positions of discomfort and finding joy in the process. And so that there was an element there of thinking, well, this is huge, this is gonna be a challenge, and and how can I do it? Yep um but you know, like I've I've mentioned a couple of times, um I am a mum, I have a a a daughter, and and so the biggest why, and you all know yourself as a parent, is to be able to be that positive role model for your children and for them to to see what is possible when you commit to your goals in a really uh and in a really healthy way as well, doing it because you you made the decision to do it, not because anybody's forcing you, there's no one there making you get up at 5 a.m. to go to the gym. It's about that discipline and and teaching. And I think, you know, I I well I hope in years to come that she will be able to look back on this journey, for want of a better expression, that I've been through and and hopefully take something back from that for herself and do realize that you know anything is possible and girls can do hard things.

SPEAKER_00 11:29

Absolutely. Yeah, that's so so powerful. I totally agree with that. And you said the very important thing there at the beginning is is the why. And the uh the people in my coaching group, if they want to achieve something uh and they can't articulate why they want to achieve it, they probably won't achieve it, whether it's couch to 5k, you know, whether it's losing weight or whatever goal. You know, it's the same in the corporate world. If I want a promotion, well, why? Why do you want a promotion? If you can't articulate why, you probably won't achieve it.

SPEAKER_01 11:55

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 11:56

Um and and the other the other point you touched on there as well was it being someone else's goal. It's another classic reason why goals fail. I'm gonna run the marathon because my brother thinks I can't. It's you know, it's not your goal unless you can turn it around and make it yours. So that that's fascinating. Um so as a as a working mum, how did you actually balance that responsibility of being a parent with the actual demands of training at such a high level? Such a good question.

SPEAKER_02 12:22

Um the answer is sometimes you don't. You don't balance, you manage. And so my I guess the label on that element was chief chief plate spinner. The spinner of plates. So figuring out everything that you've got to do in a week and and working out how you keep all of those plates spinning. And also which ones you can afford to drop. So, you know, I have a training plan, it it's stacked. I also have parenting, school stuff, the work stuff, the social stuff, everything that are in and around your life. And so, in order to kind of manage that, it would be like running a military operation. I would be looking at my calendar in the weeks to come and I would block out every single training session in my calendar. I would also be putting in everything to do with my daughter's schooling and making sure that there's sufficient time, but also checking in and talking to her about what that schedule looks like. Um, she's my priority, she always will be. And so if there was a time where I couldn't necessarily fit my training in or around giving her the time that she needed, the training's always gonna come second. And we would manage that. So I would talk to my coach and we try and reschedule things so that the progress wasn't gonna dip too much, but also that my priorities were always held at that at at the forefront. So she was always gonna be number one. And I think that also allowed me to keep my head together because if I felt like, oh, I've I've dropped a session or oh no, I I'm I'm failing somehow because I've had to reschedule these things and that are relatively sort of static in the plan, that that would have actually made it harder for me to make the progress in the long run. So being able to be flexible um and not beating yourself up too much when things don't always go to plan. Um I think that's a that's a lesson of general endurance sports training is things do not always go to plan and how you're going to react and reassess and and replan in a very short time scale is is critical. Not not losing your head during that process too.

SPEAKER_00 14:27

Absolutely. No, that was my my TikTok post yesterday or Monday, actually, was on importance of having a plan, but the importance on having a flexible plan um and and not getting yourself wound up if things don't go to plan, provided your your general trajectory is in the right direction.

SPEAKER_02 14:44

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 14:44

But with training, I noticed from your Instagram you were often out early in the morning. So Katie, my wife, is is an athlete and a competitive rower and does very well at rowing, trains a lot for rowing. She's also doing try-a-try. So we go out early mornings and we used to alternate Saturday and Sunday, but now the children are a bit older. We can both go up really early. So this morning I was in the pool at 6.30. Katie was rowing at 6.30, we got home at just after 8 o'clock, kids were still asleep.

SPEAKER_02 15:11

Yeah. Because it's school holidays, so makes it a little bit easier to manage, doesn't it?

SPEAKER_00 15:16

Um let's have a chat about beliefs now. So what beliefs about yourself supported you through the journey and were there any limiting beliefs that you had to overcome?

SPEAKER_02 15:24

I think I mentioned before around this idea of not feeling necessarily like I belong in that world. And I only really started triathlon what two years ago with with try.

SPEAKER_00 15:34

You were try-try, weren't you?

SPEAKER_02 15:36

Yeah, I think we were the same, right?

SPEAKER_00 15:37

No, I didn't do triatri. I went straight in for a half-hine.

SPEAKER_02 15:40

Oh well, you know, Michael Bain.

SPEAKER_00 15:43

Michael told me to sign up.

SPEAKER_02 15:45

Um yeah, and and so the triathlon journey for me is has only been a short of one, which also makes you believe that perhaps you're not capable or or ready for something like that. So I think there was that to overcome. And having done craft marathons and marathons, I think though my mindset around like what I was capable of had had started to change uh change. So after try, I tried to do my first marathon, but I didn't train for it really, uh, which is not smart and I do not recommend it. You absolutely must train for a marathon. I just kind of um thought I'd have a go. Uh and I did get to the finish line, but that kind of pushed me to have uh or develop that confidence that you can do the hard things and how far you want to push it, and the only competition is yourself. So believing that I could do it or that I'm capable of being able to get to the point of of crossing the finish line was that thing. And and again, it's not necessarily a self-belief, but being that positive role model was was the thing that really got me through like the real hard bits.

SPEAKER_00 16:58

Yeah, awesome. And and and the belief is um I I hear it even from people in the tri-club. Um people who say, Oh, I'm useless on the run, so I'm always really slow on the run, I always blow up on the run. Well, if you're telling yourself that, and that's what you believe. Everyone's got their nemesis, and for me, mine is mine is the swimming. Us work so hard at swimming, but I go to bed every night telling myself what an amazing swimmer I am, um, and and imagining myself swimming really, really well, not imagining myself drowning in the middle of the sea because I'm struggling to breathe and stuff, and it's you know, so it's it's very important self-belief.

SPEAKER_01 17:32

Definitely.

SPEAKER_00 17:32

It's not something you can just switch on and off. It happens over time. Um so over such a long training period, there must have been difficult days. You were quite vocal about some of these on Instagram, and we we love the honesty. How did you handle moments when actual motivation was low and and perhaps life felt overwhelming at the time?

SPEAKER_02 17:50

Um, well, that there's two things I want to pick up on on there. That you mentioned the Instagram thing. So the reason I began that Instagram account was for accountability purposes. Um I only kind of set it up so I had something to look back on. Maybe like, you know, when I'm like a granny Yeah, 80 years old, I I look back and and I look at that Instagram profile and I think, wow, you did that. Um and keeping that going every day and making sure it was part of the routine to make a post and to be brutally honest and what's it all about, it's it's not all just let's go and get PBs, it it's actually like that that process of struggle and build and and teaching. So I think like that really helped me in terms of the accountability element that you need to be able to ignite motivation. But controversially, I I am not a big fan of motivation. I don't I think discipline and consistency will eat motivation for breakfast. You know, motivation gets you to to press that button on the registration page to say, yeah, I'm signing up for this race. But discipline and consistency will always win out. So for me, when there was low days, I just made it a non-negotiable. It wasn't, oh, I don't want to do it, therefore I'm not going to do it today. It was I don't want to do it, but I have to do it.

SPEAKER_01 19:11

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 19:11

Um, and keeping telling myself that I'm not a world-class athlete. I'm not gonna be, I'm not out there to to go and get on any podiums. And I do have to probably work harder than most to be able to achieve that end goal of finishing that that that race. So keeping reminding myself of that every day suddenly helped make it more possible that I was gonna get to the end. And so everybody I think tries to look at motivation as being that, oh well, I don't have the motivation for it, so it's not gonna happen. I'm like, well, just don't use your motivation, use that that grit and determination to get you through instead.

SPEAKER_00 19:50

Yeah, absolutely. So so motivation comes and goes, and and as you said, it's it's being consistently disciplined, and that relates back to your why and and the whole reason. So when my alarm goes off at six o'clock in the morning, um, it's dark, it's rainy, uh, motivation's not going to get me out of bed because I don't want to go get out of bed because it's why would I? Because it's dark, cold, and rainy. But it's the discipline to actually reach that end goal that gets you out time and time again to go and do it, and making it a non-negotiable, like you've just said.

SPEAKER_02 20:19

Yeah, and uh there's waking up in the cold and the wet and it it's not nice.

SPEAKER_00 20:24

No.

SPEAKER_02 20:25

And it but somehow you fall in love with that.

SPEAKER_00 20:28

You feel good when you've done it.

SPEAKER_02 20:29

Because you've yeah, you think, well, that I've overcome a struggle and it's uh it's not even eight o'clock in the morning, which most people would have probably done quite a sensible thing and and you know, turned the alarm on snooze and had a bit of extra time in bed. We we've been up and uh you'll probably see this. You're at the pool at 6 30 and the your pals are there from the tri club. You know, there's you're seeing these people who are who are doing this stuff, and it and it's contagious. You you know, you do keep up and you do go um again the next day and feel great about it eventually.

SPEAKER_00 20:59

But also it's um doing something hard. So I have an ice bath in the garden and I go in it about three times a week, and I love it when it's midwinter I don't love it. I hate it actually, when it's midwinter and it's half past five. There's nothing more uncomfortable than leaving a warm bed with heatings on to go outside in the garden when it's dark and go in an ice bath. But then later on in the day, you'll be in a difficult situation at half five and feel really, really good about yourself. It's the same with training if you go out and do a hard session in the morning. You know, the hardest sessions, the ones you don't want to do, often turn out to be the best ones. You know, a l a lovely run along the front in you know, 18, 19, 20 degrees with the tailwind, you know, they're the easy sessions.

SPEAKER_02 21:39

Yeah. And you don't you don't build that endurance from always going out on the easy days. No. I kept telling myself that, right? So I've been training for this Iron Man. Um, and people said I was mad, which is probably why I've called my you know, my Instagram is based around that. They said, Why are you trying why did you choose an Iron Man that is uh that involves you having to train that hard during the dead of winter and I was like, well if I can do the hard that that's the that's the depths of um you know how hard it can be then the race will be easier. I just kept telling me that it will be easier. Do the hard work now and the race day will be easier.

SPEAKER_00 22:15

So as my mentor Oli Olerton says easy makes life hard and in the special forces they had a a mentality of train hard and fight easy. If you can if you can you know that's why I think I was speaking with someone else from the Tri-Club um Annabelle who you I'm sure you know and when we were both cursing the 40 kilometre an hour headwind we were saying this is good training going into this yeah yes it's fucking irritating good training. Definitely uh right so on to race day now. So on race day so particularly when things got tough as I'm sure they probably did what was your internal dialogue or self-talk that actually kept you moving forward?

SPEAKER_02 22:51

This was something that I was really concerned about actually going in into the race because anybody that you speak to who has done anything longer than say a half marathon or you know in stuff that requires endurance and fitness is they they'll tell you it's not about how physically strong you are, it's about how how your mind works. Yep. And that was my worry that my as I say I'd done a marathon done a couple of marathons and mile 20 everyone talks about mile 20 because mile 20 is when the wheels fall off and and the dark thoughts start to to come in because your body is tired and your brain says you can't do it. And you have to pull yourself back at mile 20 and tell yourself that you can. And so I was thinking well how am I going to manage that over 140 miles? That's that's going to be a lot. So I think like for me it was trying to feel lots of different experiences from friends. So I met with so many amazing people who have done absolutely incredible endurance events over their lifetimes whether that's Iron Man or ultramarathons or running through the jungle um whatever those things were and I asked them how did you deal with that and so many of them gave me tips and tactics of so I did employ some of those of breaking the race down into chunks so it felt like you just do a mile and then your bra you didn't allow your brain to get to that point of saying this is enough because you were it wasn't a marathon it was four times 11k run or something like that. And that mindset shift um does help you through but also I think you know that self-talk for me was I get to do this stuff. I I I'm able and and how lucky am I? Well not not lucky it's it's you know how fortunate am I that I can do this that I'm able to get on a plane travel halfway around the world having signed up for this race and complete 140.6 miles like that. That's and that kept me coming no one's forcing this and some people aren't as fortunate and won't be able to do this so make sure that you get to the end you know make sure that you make the most of the thing I did.

SPEAKER_00 25:03

Yeah absolutely enjoyed it. What did you find was the hardest part?

SPEAKER_02 25:07

So that's a great question. I thought the swim would be okay I'd get through it but actually that turned out to be the the best of the three for me. And your time was really good I had the best swim um because people told me so many horror stories about getting kicked in the face and um Ironman New Zealand is the only only Iron Man I believe that um still has a deep water mass start. So that was just extra extra fear. So I was kind of really nervous about how that swim would go but it went really well. The thing I thought would go would go the best because I have the most experience in it was the run and that that for me did not go well at all. So um a few surprises along the way also I think with with the run that was a that was just a fueling issue. I just needed to make sure I eat more sort of learnt some lessons there. And the bike was just scary I'm I'm a slow cyclist. I am a slow cyclist and I'm alright with that I'll you know I'll work on it and keep keep getting better. But I was worried I wasn't make the cutoff so there is a cutoff time for each element of Iron Man. And I was concerned that that would be where my race would end is if I couldn't make that that cutoff. And so I likened it to the that film that's a 90s film is speed where you've got to keep over a certain yeah so I had like this sort of Keanu Reese, Sandra Bullock thing going on in my head that if I just didn't dip below a certain speed I would make the cutoff time. So going through half of the cycle with that in my mind and then I stopped because you you stop halfway, refuel your bike put your things on and someone said to me uh to me, how's your race going? I said, yeah fine, I'm just worried I'm not gonna make cutoff and she said are you kidding? You're gonna you're you're way above you've got so much time. And having that in my head for the second half of the cycle was just wonderful because I thought well even if I just keep going as I am which was fine I'm gonna make it to the end and I'm gonna make it to the run. And that that was enough for me just to get all of that that worry out of my head about not making cutoff.

SPEAKER_00 27:05

It's not things like that can really kind of make your race and reminds me a little bit the opposite a good friend of mine we we did our first sort of unofficial ultramarathon years ago it's called the Belvoir or the beaver challenge in Nottingham it was awful muddy boggy and uh we we reached a checkpoint and this this lady from the uh women's voluntary service said oh you're the first of the walkers we're like we're running it thank you very much um thanks for the confidence um let's just have a chat about support so how important was the support around you whether it from the triathlon community friends or family in basically helping you stay on track?

SPEAKER_02 27:44

I've got to say first and foremost my coach coach Chris Chris Stevens is absolutely wonderful and goes beyond just putting a training plan in place like he definitely coached me as an individual not just as uh like somebody that wants to go off and do these crazy events. It's like how are we going to get you physically but mentally prepared for this so I think that having him as my support and you know there were he would get messages after sessions where I'm like oh I did really bad and this happened and you know you'd be sort of kind of venting um and he'd always come back with really thought-provoking questions which helped me sort do the necessary self-reflection so that I could build back for the better for the next day. The tri club, you know, you know yourself they're amazing. Everybody in that tri club has been a cheerleader for me and I never asked for it but it was always just given and that was so special really like appreciated everybody's advice and time. And we are very lucky there are so many in in Jersey so many Iron Man finishers both both female and male and I had a lot of experience to draw upon and people were readily offering me their time whether that would be you know I would see that some of the the guys at the swimming pool and they'd be giving me tips and techniques I would say you know um here's what happened on it when I did this race and you know you're absorbing all this stuff all the time you were trying trying to learn from it. Also people uh some some of the ladies you mentioned Annabelle absolute inspiration to me Annabelle is just just that person that will get up and do. And so what I found her energy around Iron Man really inspiring and I kind of tried to carry that through of just get out there and you know get it done. You can do this. And Katie Tangy is another one I'd probably call out so Katie was the fantastic in in just providing me with this really balanced view of what it's like going through these things. And she was great. She's like do you want to come for a coffee? We'll talk about your questions and just that offering of of time um she didn't need to she chose to um and I really appreciated that. So I think you know that community uh was so important actually critical I don't think I could have got to that point that I did without them. And then there's the Instagram community um which I completely did not uh anticipate becoming a such an important part of the journey all of a sudden you're surrounding yourself and you've created this online community of like-minded people who are going through similar things or maybe wanting to get into these things and they are these people who you've largely you've never met and from all around the world and there they are backing you, following asking you questions, just be being there and providing advice again we had the advice is so important. So I think and forgive me friends and family but it's more about that chosen community of like minded people. Your family and your friends might not get this stuff. They might look at what you're doing and go, that's a bit mad, which I hear a lot um or I don't know why you would do this and choose to spend your time and and it doesn't make sense to some people and so I think one of the the biggest gifts you can give to yourself um during any kind of endurance training is to surround yourself with like minded people.

SPEAKER_00 31:08

Yeah I I would agree. So I'm I mean I joined the tri club last year on again when I signed up to this I've I've all historically I've always been a bit of a lone wolf. I've enjoyed doing things on my own. I've not liked relying on people. But then I found you know getting involved with the tri-club has has been been great and really kind of for all the reasons that that you've just said there with kind of the advice and the support and the cheerleading as well it has been a great club to be part of and and not judge at all because I've thought triathlon club they're all going to be really elite but it's everyone from literally just done try a try never swung before up to people who I look at as being well you know your Olympic standard so absolutely. Yeah and everyone's so friendly as well. Right finish line now which is I mean I I can relate to running down that red carpet and crossing the finishing line of a half tell me what it's like to cross the finishing line of a full and talk me through your emotions.

SPEAKER_02 32:01

I think there's a lot of hype um around the the finish line etiquette um when you get into this world and of Iron Man and you start seeing all the you know content and stuff and people say don't ruin your finish line don't don't ruin it savour it. Walk the finish line if you must walk it and soak it all up because especially on your first time that is um an experience that maybe your adrenaline's pumping and you might forget huge bits of it so they tell you walk it and you get to ring the bell as the bell when when you you're a first timer there just before you hit that red carpet. You ring the bell um I don't remember ringing the bell I know I rang the bell but I don't remember it. But I do remember just being quite nervous around crossing that finish line because I didn't know how I would react emotionally. So I did it and I I'd also I had in my head like what are you going to do for the photos? Because the photos you know another big sort of thing that people talk about don't wear when you race line your finish line photo. So I just tried to be calm and just kind of walk it almost and I was fortunate enough to to be able to look back because all you guys had been following me. I didn't realise but there was a live stream of the race and people had been following me and had recorded me crossing the finish line from the YouTube video which was lovely. So I actually got to see that bit of footage so I saw myself crossing the finish line. But when I did get there and I remember the moment actually it wasn't around emotions uh it was about the people and so I Man New Zealand have a wonderful volunteer community and the first person that put the medal over over me looked very excited to see me. And it took me a couple of seconds and she this lady had turned to another one of the volunteers who was the job it was to put the towel round you know you get you finish this towel and they put that round you and they said Lisa's here she finished we finished and they were so excited to see me and it took me a couple of seconds and I realized that they were the same ladies who I dealt with in uh transition two. So getting off the bike into the run. They had been there and they again they go grab your bag for you, they give you your things and they sit down talk you through it and they'd remembered who I was because we'd had a bit of a giggle in the transition you know talking about me eating my bagel whilst they were faffing with my shoes or something for me. But they remembered me and so my emotion really was was the the sort of gratitude or uh of seeing these people who who seemingly cared that of all of the thousands of people they saw that day they remembered who I was and I was like I felt special at that point. Because I don't think the race element had really that that didn't sink in until the next day.

SPEAKER_01 34:40

Yep.

SPEAKER_02 34:41

Because you're just tired right you've you've been out there for hours your your energy is just gone um you're dazed you're you're in a weird state of feeling high but also just wanting to sleep. Yep. I remember you said that on the group when people are congratulating you and you said um off to bed now I'll reply tomorrow even at that point where I wanted to be really excited and and share that moment and just sort of bask in that that finishing moment I just I just needed to rest and reset and then waking up the next day that's when everything started to to come together.

SPEAKER_00 35:18

So the finishing uh carpet says great you got a video of that because I I was lucky enough so my my wife and uh daughters came and watched me at the half tour and they were brilliant cheerleaders. They they came and saw me at multiple points on the route uh including filming my um finishing straight when I I managed to overtake someone at the finish I felt sorry a bit sorry for him but sorry whoever you are um and and just and I love watching that back now and if ever my kind of my motivation fades I'll watch that back and yeah that's what you're aiming for.

SPEAKER_01 35:46

Absolutely so that's great.

SPEAKER_00 35:48

Now finally if there's anyone listening who feels interested in this but they feel a bit held back by time, responsibility, self-doubt what would you say to them? Just start.

SPEAKER_02 35:59

I think we'd we'd love to put in a a barrier to our own success right it's this weird human nature thing where I'll be okay when and you just sort of future gaze I'll I'll wait until I've got this next event out of the way or this next thing that's happening in my life and I'll start I'll start in I'll start in in June and you just look into the future and and you project and you know June will come around there'll be something else that will get in your way and so there is no better time than now just do it and even if you think that you don't have it you'd be surprised what you're capable of when you just commit to something and you I'm chasing those goals and I didn't want to miss out because we're all going to go to France and do another race together in for the tri club so I don't the FOMO was real for that. But you know if it's a goal you need to sign up for a race we're lucky in Jersey for anybody that's based in Jersey where we've got events happening all the time whether that's try-try or um you know any of the cycling events or or running we're always doing stuff.

SPEAKER_00 37:00

So just start exactly just sign up to it and and that's again what I did with my half was I I I couldn't really swim when I signed up for the half. I could swim but not front crawl and I thought well I need to learn to swim because I've got half Iron Man coming up in a few months. Nothing better than an urgency deadline right and and then the the chap who uh who wrote the book who I had the pleasure of interviewing on the podcast George Mahood he signed up for an Iron Man four months after surgery and he said if I hadn't done that I wouldn't have recovered as quick and unless he signing up made him actually train for it.

SPEAKER_02 37:32

I loved listening to that because it just that that for me just helped see what is possible and it's individual circumstances, right? That that what he went through was incredibly terrifying but somehow he managed to pull himself back and complete what he did. And you think well that that can only come as a result of grit termination that having set that goal you knew that that is that's your deadline. Absolutely let's work let's work to it get it done. Great.

SPEAKER_00 38:02

Lisa thank you very much for joining me.

SPEAKER_02 38:04

Thank you for having me.