At the start of 2017 after feedback from the Tough Girl Tribe. I started 7 Women - 7 Challenges.
Throughout the year I will be interviewing 7 women as we follow them on their journey of going after their own personal challenges.
We will learn what really has to happen for people to achieve their goals, we will hear about their frustrations, disappointments, set backs, as well as their successes and achievements.
It is real stories, from real women, living real lives.
This is part 3*
*We will be catching up with Rae Red in Part 4
You can listen to Part 1 of 7 Women - 7 Challenges here.
1st January 2017
You can listen to Part 2 of 7 Women - 7 Challenges here!
12th February 2017
Part 3 is now LIVE!
2nd April 2017
Order & Timings
Jen Dykxhoorn - 4 mins
Jo Jo Rogers - 33 mins
Georgie Akin-Smith - 1 hr 7 mins
Gemma Smith - 1 hr 35 mins
Rachel Wise - 2 hr 09 mins
Laura Try - 2 hr 47 mins
Jen Dyxhoorn
@ 4 mins
Visiting friends and family in Canada
How our last conversation reinvigorated her training plan
Signing up for 1 month gym membership and doing 20 classes
Feeling strong, powerful and feeling even more energised
Moving back to Sweden for 3 - 6 months
Update on her everyday magic goals - from reading more books to flossing her teeth everyday
Being inspired by the adventurous women from the Tough Girl Podcast
Being inspired by the book “Wild Women”
Cultivating good habits
Champagne Goals - are in progress and her first goal will be checked off soon when she moves back to Sweden
The planning and preparation for her August cycle ride - LEJOG
Working with her sister to plan the trip in more detail
The power of lists
Sorting out the route and accommodation
How her PHD has helped her to plan for her adventures
Using permanent lists
Her city break to Poland and taking a break from life and being able to switch off
The 3 Ps - Packing - Planning - PHD
Her end of month check in - “Structured Reflection”
Feeling good about the progress she’s made in both her training and her PHD
The Passion Planner - Why she loves it and has used it religiously for the past 2 years
Filling that space when you’ve finished your goal
Her focus for the next few weeks
Thinking about an ultra marathon!
Looking for an ultra marathon race in July somewhere in Europe - Any ideas!
Continuing the, Year of the Mighty Thigh!
Sunning 6k to get to wifi!
Why she’s also going to focus on strength training as a use for injury prevention
You can follow Jen’s adventures at lovelyoutliers.com, or on Twitter @jendykxhoorn and Instagram @lovelyoutlier
Follow her Sister - Karen Dykxhoorn on Instagram @hopefulgoat & twitter @hopefulgoat
Jo Jo Rogers
@ 33 mins
What’s been happening since we last spoke
The snowshoe races!
The World Snowshoe Championships… with no snow!
Getting ready to race when the course conditions were so terrible
What the route was like and being fearful of getting hurt
Finishing 3rd in the world for women aged between 50 - 59
How she celebrated
The National Snowshoe Championships… 10 ft of snow!
Her race strategy
Watching her daughter race
How she deals with nerves before a race
Travelling next year to Spain for the World Championships with her daughter
Mother daughter bonding
Her next race in Texas
Starting to pick up training again
Training for snowshoeing in the dirt and the grass
Mixing up her training
The challenges she is dealing with at the moment - sleep, nutrition,
Weekly millage… 130
Junk miles?
Running easy miles
Overtraining and how she knows
Happiness
Speed work and how she does it - her favourite is progression training
Sleep habits
What she’s learnt from the races so far
Feeling selfish, because she’s doing what she loves
Living the life she wants to
Jo Jo has written more and provided us with a March Update.
Georgie Akin-Smith
@ 45 mins
2 of her challenges have been completed!
How she was feeling before her duathlon in Windsor
Getting to the venue super early
What the course was like
10k run - 40k bike - 5k run
What was going through her head on the start line
Trying to remember to run her own race
Her race strategy
What she learned from the experience
Why being prepared helped her
Her “oh no” moments
Her final transition and what her legs were like
Trying to fit another duathlon into her schedule for this year!
Her 2nd challenge
The Cross Country Ski Marathon in Switzerland!
Training for the Ski Marathon in Hyde Park!
Not being able to get into her rhythm
The downhill and why it was harder
Her next challenge - The London Marathon
Suffering with a hip injury
Why you have to listen to your body
120 mile cycle ride, 10 hours in the saddle with few stops
What she was eating on her cycle ride
Going for a Bike Fit
Feeling nervous about her next cycle challenges
Her current fears about the upcoming races
Mantras and visualisation to help with her challenges
Georgie is blogging about all her challenges at www.gwhodares.com
Gemma Smith
@ 1.35
What Gemma has been up to since we last spoke
Working hard, making the most of her weekends and spending time in Chamonix
Skiing, climbing and heading up North in the UK to head into Snowdonia in Wales
Some low level hiking just below the snow line
Enjoying ice climbing and leaning new skills to help in the mountains
Heading over to Italy to climb and being one of the few girls out there
Practicing screwing in ice screws and different ways of belaying on ice
What good ice should look like
Thinking about the long term and why she’s learning these skills now
Having the aim to be skilled and fit enough to face any challenge on the mountain
Working with her personal trainer
“Hurricanes” a new fun way of training!
Working in a hypoxic way
Trying to maintain everything she’s doing
Heading back to Chamonix in Easter
Getting everything ready for her trip in August
Getting her accommodation all booked for August - staying in mountain huts on the way
Dealing with Raynaud’ s while out in the cold
The £200 pair of gloves…
Starting to blog - Adventures of a Novice Mountaineer
Why she’s going to start upping things now
Trying to do more ridge walks to get as much exposure as possible
Her next challenge in Chamonix and planning another trip to Scotland
Finding a good guide through - Adventure Base
Tips from her guide - John
The challenges over the past few weeks, especially trying to balance work
How she keeps her motivation going especially day to day
Collecting local art work and reminding herself why she’s doing it
Why music helps to keep her motivated as well as talking to people
Why you have to be a little bit crazy to pursue what you love
Nutrition for mountain days
The Sandstone Trail in Cheshire - potential training walk for me!
Gemma is on Instagram @GemLaurenSmith & also on Twitter @GemlaurenSmith
Rachel Wise
@ 2.09
A reflection on how she was feeling a few months ago
Turning a corner
The website is now live, and she’s up and running on twitter @slowtravelfam and Instagram @slowtravelfamily
Air BnB is starting to make money which is great going into the savings account
Speaking with their landlord about being able to sublease the house while they were away
Being able to come back to the same house in Switzerland once they finish travelling
Paying for the flights and being all booked up as far as they can with regards to flights
Planning the budget per day for each place they visit
Progress regarding the girls education
The focus for the coming weeks
Trying to figure out what to do with their dog!
Feeling more organised and getting on top of things
Documenting the journey through the website and via social media
Not getting twitter, and not seeing how it can work for her
Enjoying Instagram and finding it fun
Feeling more positive about everything
Training for the Geneva Marathon
What’s she learned so far
Telling work…..
Blog post - “Are we who we say we are?”
Ignore the haters and the negative comments
Feeling proud of the website, and crossing of items on her to do list
Applying to be a house sitter for July
What else she’s be working on in the coming weeks - from running the Geneva Marathon to sorting out accommodation for their trip, and planning the US road trip
You can read about Rachel’s family’s adventures at slowtravelfamily.com!
Laura Try
@ 2.47
Life is tough
Formulating a plan
New members of the LT Support Crew
The issue of raising funds for the challenge
The struggle of getting in front of the right people
£6k raised and another £15K needed to reach her target in 9 weeks or else she will be kicked off the team
New strategies every week e.g. last week cold calling
How’s she's handling the pressure
Having a melt down a few weeks ago
Not being able to rest, if she rests, then nothing else happens
Trying to remain positive
Waking up at 6 am - working all day and then back on the laptop working (every day)
What the options are?
Feeling embarrassed if she doesn’t do it
Focus on the positives
Being featured by Health & Fitness Magazine!
New videos being made
Making progress
Speaking with Lauren Morton
Connecting with local business people
Speaking to Jamie Sparks
Cold calling!!
Learning new skills!!
Making changes to sponsorship brochure
No time for training
Having to sacrifice; food, sleep and training to focus on sponsorship and funding
Mental health
Feeling on the edge
How its become an obsession
The focus for the next few weeks
Wishing she done crowdfunding first