Friday with Heidi: What I learned up the mountains…
Whoosh! This time last week I was in Scotland contemplating whether I’d packed enough stuff for the Three Peaks Challenge.
And now here I am some 7 days later with it all behind me, even the achy legs have disappeared.
If you were following us on Facebook you’ll know that we had a trip of three parts.
- Ben Nevis was gloriously beautiful. Superb views, blue skies and just stunning.
- Scafell Pike was wet, wet. wet. We didn’t get to the summit because the guides were worried about the high winds, so we turned back with 1km to go.
- Snowdon was wet, windy and tiring because of the duration of the challenge. But we did get there.
I was going to summarise our weekend for you, but actually I have realised that I have enough material for about the next 5 months of Friday with Heidi’s if I wanted, so today I want to share with you a well used cliche that now sits so much better with having experienced it.
You can relate a mountain climb to any challenge you face in life.
Whether it’s improving your fitness, losing weight, gaining weight, making money, creating a career, raising decent children or learning a new skill they all have a similar path they follow.
If you weren’t aware I didn’t do any hill training for my climbs.
I am not endorsing this training method one bit. However I knew that what I was doing each week would be as beneficial as going for long walks in other hillier parts of the country. My exercise of choice is walking but also strength training. I do it once a week and it’s moving very, very heavy things, very, very slowly for maximum muscle breakdown. I knew I was strong enough for this challenge.
Tip one: You don’t always have to do what others do or say you need to do to get the same results. There are many ways to lose weight, get fit, make money and raise kids. Find the way that works for you and your goals.
I knew that I would complete this challenge. It was done before I set off. That’s not to sounds arrogant, but if there had been any doubt in my mind I would have used it as a reason to quit at some point. There were times when I wasn’t too chuffed with how I was feeling, but I never thought I wouldn’t do it. I took responsibility for my choices, decisions and mood on each mountain to make sure that I did complete it.
Tip two: Take personal responsibility in all you do. You’ve cheated on your diet? It’s your choice. You skipped a workout because your mate isn’t going? It’s your decision. You don’t scan the job sites every day for a new opportunity, it’s your doing. Take responsibility, always.
Climbing Ben Nevis went something like this. Leave Youth Hostel, cross road, cross a small bridge, climb for 3 hours. It was that instant. No warm up, no flat run up. It was literally cross bridge, climb.
Tip three: Getting new results, learning a new skill or bettering yourself takes work and it usually starts with a steep learning curve. It’s tough, we don’t like it and we want to give up. But that’s the bit you need to work through. That’s the warm up. Once you’ve done that for a bit you get used to it, it becomes easier and you get more confidence. So if you’re giving up sugar it will be hell at first, but only for 3 days. If you’re starting a new exercise regime, you will ache like mad for a bit, but it won’t last and if you’re saving money to make money you’re going to have to give up Costa’s at lunchtime, cinema at the weekend and meals out when you can’t be bothered to cook. It’s tough to start, but so worth it.
About two thirds of the way from the top, the cloud came in and we were walking through, what seemed like, another planet. It was much cooler, visibility was low and I had thoughts of ‘how much longer’. It was a tough spell, but within 30 minutes or so we came through the cloud to the most amazing views, to the summit and groups of people all having already achieved their challenge.
Tip four: When it gets really tough, when you’re tired, when you think that nothing is improving know that you are on the brink of something very special. Keep on going, keep on doing what you’ve done and you will see your body shape change, your times improve and your kids answer you nicely (well, maybe!). Giving up won’t get you what you want. Starting something new won’t get you closer. Persevere through the mist and clouds and obstacles and before you know it you’ll be on top of the world.
The team and I would like to thank you all for your comments, generosity of donations and general good wishes. We raised over £5000 for Younger People with Dementia which we’re very delighted with, as are they.
Here we are at the end of the final peak in Wales. We’re tired (33 hours on the go), we’re unwashed and smelling like an old damp PE kit and we don’t want to see a banana or a cereal bar for a very long time. But don’t we look chuffed!
If you’d like to sponsor us still donations can be made by clicking here, thank you!
https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/heidi-strickland-clark
That’s all for this week.
Have a great weekend.
Heidi
