I’m going to be a Strongwoman!

I’ve done it.

Ever since I tried out Strongwoman training last year the idea has been in the back of my mind. And now after months of thinking about it, mulling it over, wondering if I was strong enough, worrying about making a fool of myself, I’ve bitten the bullet and signed up to my first novice Strongwoman event. I’ll be taking part in Camberley’s strongest novice competition on April 17th.

I’m currently feeling as nervous/excited as I did when I signed up for my first marathon back in 2011 and when I decided to take on my first Tough Mudder a couple of years later. It’s the kind of nerves that come from signing up for something which you’re not 100% sure that you’re going to be able to do but being 100% sure that you’re going to give it your all.

Since hanging up my long distance running shoes I’ve really missed having a significant event to focus my training on. Of course I enjoy training towards other goals but having a ‘big event’ goal motivates and focuses me like no other – there’s a set date and a set ‘thing’ that I need to be able to do by that date. Or in this case, a set number of heavy things that I need to be able to shift around as quickly as possible!

I’m excited at the prospect of focusing my training on building the strength, power and speed that I’m going to need for this event. My strength training so far has pretty much always been targeted towards my overall fat loss goal. While I’ve absolutely no intention of piling on fat during the next four months it’s going to be a nice change to be training with a specific performance focus for a few months.

I’m also excited by the possibility that I might actually be quite good at this. I’ve never been good at anything athletic. Yes, I’ve completed two marathons and many other races but that was more through sheer bloody mindedness than because I’m a natural runner. I’m far from it. Since I started strength training it’s become clear that I have a reasonable aptitude for it and am relatively strong. I’m excited to see what I’m capable of when my training is completely focused on being as strong as I can be.

I’m also pretty nervous. I’m competing in the over 75kg category and some of the weights that we have to lift look daunting to me at the moment. Top of that list is the 120kg deadlift for reps. I’ve not tested my deadlift for a long time but my previous best is 100kg for 2. So yeah, that one is going to be interesting.

But there are 15 weeks to go before the event and I have a fantastic trainer, Jessica Wolny, who has been there, done it and got the t-shirt (that’s her wearing said T-shirt while carrying a yoke). Jess is going to develop a specific programme for me to follow, training once a week with her, a couple on my own and then over at Skorpion Fitness with James most Saturdays.  I’ll commit to that programme and give it my all and see what happens. My only goal for the day is to come away knowing that I’ve done my absolute best.

I’m going to keep a weekly training diary on this blog – it’s what I did when I started marathon training for the first time and I love looking back at those posts and seeing how far I came in a relatively short space of time. Fingers crossed the same will be true with the Strongwoman training! Wish me luck. No, better than that – wish me strength!