Going for the big one!

I’ve talked about goals before and about pushing ourselves out of our comfort zones. Well here’s me walking the talk. Well, me and 10 of my clients.

Rather than the usual Autumn events, you know, the Brooks 10k in November and then the Santa Dash in December, we are taking on our biggest, scariest goal so far. For me personally, it’s a very exciting challenge which I’m intrigued to see develop. For my clients, it’s a bit terrifying and very exciting!

What are we doing?

On 19th December, that’s 12 weeks away, we’re going to go for a World Record (yes!) on a Concept2 rowing machine rowing 100,000 metres as a relay team. Our target is to beat 6 hours and 40 minutes.

Now, if you’ve ever been to a gym, you’ll have noticed the Concept2 rowing machines; they’re the ones sat empty while everyone is on the treadmills, bikes or cross-training machines. Why? Because they are the hardest machines to use, the most tiring, the hardest to get the technique right and the most unforgiving (needless to say, I didn’t mention this to any of the team before they agreed to this challenge 😉 )

I have seen all of our team on a 1:1 basis and taught them the basics of how to row. Suffice to say there is a lot of work to do. But rowing is as much about mental strength as it is physical and (my stomach is churning as I write this!) I’m feeling pretty optimistic about how we’ll get on. But the reality is that 12 weeks is no time at all to train from beginner to world record holder UNLESS you are a) already very fit, b) mentally strong, c) totally committed and d) focussed 100% on the goal. I believe our team are all of those things, but there is risk involved – so many things could go wrong but fearing failure will get us nowhere and neither will staying in our comfort zone. GULP!

Our rowers will be following my plan of completing 3 rowing sessions per week every week for the next 12 weeks. There will be tears, there will be tantrums, there will be doubts and (I hope!) there will be a whole lot of fun, progress, teamwork and success too!

I’ll keep you posted.

Oh and look out for my own World Record attempt too (about which I am seriously terrified) on 5th December, that’s only TEN weeks away.

Gotta go, gotta row…