“My why? Simple – plan is to be better today, than I was yesterday!
I spent 14 years in the NZ Police. During that time I managed to train up and get into some specialist squads, like the Armed Offenders Squad and the Diplomatic Protection Squad. They were full on selection courses, which required a heap of training and often ignoring injuries along the way. During my time in the Police and on those courses I was shot at, set on fire, broke both scaphoid bones, tore my shoulder, damaged my knee and had my foot run over and broken by a car. Fair to say, when I left in 2017 I was not in a good physical way. I stopped training, hardly exercised and ate and drank my way to being about 30kg overweight, picking up a bunch of health issues.
Middle of last year my wife Serena and I decided enough was enough. We humbly walked into the gym and I was so out of shape I lasted 3 minutes on the elliptical trainer before nearly dying! From there it’s been a slow and steady journey to basically get fit enough to start getting fit!
I absolutely love running now and am focusing on all the little things – from shoe fit, through to mobility, nutrition and programming, to make sure I get a bunch of little things right which add up to big gains. I have recently signed up to my first ever full Ironman which, after a date change due to covid, is in Taupo in December this year. So now I’m training a lot, losing weight, getting fitter and loving it! I’ve set myself some hefty personal goals for Ironman, and once that is done I plan on keeping on going with more of them.
I love the fitness lifestyle and people we are meeting along the way. We are lucky to live in New Plymouth where we have amazing places to run, excellent support networks and amazing stores… like the Frontrunner who I’m grateful to call a sponsor.
And I’m incredibly grateful to my ever supportive wife Serena – she has taken on the roll as the bike support and nutrition supplier on my runs!”
John @johns_ironman_journey
(New Plymouth)
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