Things are ramping up a little bit now. The JustGiving fundraising page is live, I’m starting to look at programming for the workouts and have made a few enquiries with local businesses to ask for support. The thing I’m struggling with the most is promoting myself. Ask anyone who knows me and they’ll tell you how terrible I am at acknowledging my strengths and downplaying my achievements (that section of your appraisal you have to write yourself – just painful!), so trying to ‘put myself out there’ is proving very challenging in itself. I set up a public Instagram account in order to engage with people, businesses and potential supporters for the event and it feels like it’s going quite well so far. However, I’d say that about 75% of the posts I do result in me totally over-stressing about whether they’re boring, stupid or both and when it comes to posting pictures and videos of myself, the self-criticism reaches another level. Social media is by far the best way to reach a wider audience though, so I’m just going to have to get used to it and hey, maybe making an idiot of myself might get a sympathy donation?

After putting together a flyer about my event to distribute in the community, I asked my colleagues for some feedback. Self-promotion (lack of) was the response. I’m so caught up in finding ways to get support and fundraise for the charity that I’m forgetting to tell people that what I’m taking on is nothing short of crazy and that if I’m going to put myself through this challenge, I really ought to be shouting about it! Fortunately, my colleagues are not only honest but also completely fabulous and I’m lucky to be able to call on them for help and advice throughout this process. The flyer is now ready but rewriting it definitely reminded me that teamwork is going to be key to the success of this challenge, from beginning to end.

Training at the gym is going really well. I’ve learned so much from the coaches in the seven weeks since I joined and the other members have made me feel really welcome. I certainly won’t be winning any competitions in the near future but I’ve started to master a few skills and even achieved a couple of PB’s along the way. I’m trying to attend a variety of classes to practice all the different elements of Crossfit (sometimes tricky when working around my husband’s shifts, my work commitments and family life) and with a few months still to go, I’m fairly confident I’ll be ready to face the 24 workouts, despite the nerves and trepidation that will be ever-present until the those 24 hours are over!

There’s still a lot of planning and work to be done and I doubt that my anxieties or ongoing mental chatter around this challenge will be easing off any time soon. But, with the amazing support of my family, friends and colleagues, as long as I give this everything that I can to achieve my goal and fundraise for the fantastic charity I work for, then it will all be worth it. Not only that, the personal achievements I have gained in the gym, the contacts I am making for the charity and the opportunity to bring our community together for what should be a pretty awesome event makes me feel really proud of how far I’ve come already. Hang on… did I just give myself some credit there?!

If you’re enjoying my blog posts, I’d be really grateful if you could support my challenge. Find out more at www.justgiving.com/fundraise/plantgirl Thank you.

The event itself is daunting – physically and mentally it will be a huge challenge so preparation, mindset and optimum health will be key to completing the challenge. But I’m also anxious about the six months leading up to the event and whether I’ll be able to achieve the goals I have in mind in order to be ready. I know that my fitness level is ok, I need to improve my strength and technique but am fairly happy in most areas of Crossfit and I have also discovered over the years that I have quite a gritty determination that has got me through difficult times in my life as well as challenging workouts. The thing I struggle with (in many areas of my life if I’m honest) is self-doubt and low self-esteem and this will probably be my biggest hurdle. There are many days when I think “who do I think I am? I can’t do this! Everyone must think I’m an idiot for thinking I can get through this challenge! There’s no way I’ll ever be good enough!” My lack of faith in myself is something my husband despairs over but he is also my absolute rock and will be a massive support. I just have to find my own strength on the days I doubt myself so I can keep pushing to achieve my goals.

There has been a lot of talk around impostor syndrome, lack of self-belief and fear of failure in the media recently and how common it is, particularly among women. I can relate to a lot of what is discussed so I’m keen to find out how others overcome these feelings and begin to have faith in themselves. Dr Tara Swart (interviewed in Women’s Health magazine) explains that confident feelings come when “the bonding hormone oxytocin, which allows you to take healthy risks that are more likely to lead to success, is activated in the brain.” She goes on to explain that you can create a habit of believing in yourself – it will take time and practice to establish the habit but by making a decision to change, focusing on achieving that change and holding yourself accountable, it can happen. she also suggests focusing on your past successes, in any part of your life, and drawing on the positive feelings from those moments. When I think about those times in my life that I’m proud of and felt confident, it’s an awesome feeling so I can see how this theory will work – I just need to recall that feeling when the self-doubt starts creeping in and get into the habit of channelling that emotion into this challenge and my training. I’m never afraid to ask for help (another piece of advice from Dr Swart) and I’m always keen to learn from others or try new ideas which will definitely help with my confidence. I’ll certainly be taking on any advice and words of wisdom from the coaches and other members on those first nerve-wracking sessions as ‘the newbie’ at the gym and throughout the months leading up to my challenge.

It’s frustrating that my mind can have such a negative effect on my actions and emotions. However, I also appreciate how powerful that mind is and have every intention of doing what I can to focus on the positive things that it can do – mental strength is going to be just as important and physical strength for this challenge, if not, more so.

On one particular day recently, when I felt sluggish and low on energy but had planned to do a workout, I put myself to the test. Despite my head trying to coerce my body into a mid-morning doze on the sofa, I decided to ignore the messages and crack on with some training anyway. Opting for a pretty challenging bodyweight workout, it wasn’t going to be an easy test but 45 push ups, 90 lunges, 90 burpees and 180 squat jumps later, I felt so much more energised and the feeling lasted for the rest of the day! I proved to myself that I can push through those weary moods and actually turn it around by doing the last thing my body thinks it wants.

It got me thinking about my 24hr Challenge: how would I feel if the pre-event nerves sabotaged my sleep the night before? What if the event landed on a less than ideal day of my menstrual cycle? How do I make sure I don’t have one of those days where I’m on the verge of passing out with the simple act of standing up (a fairly regular issue for me)? Of course, I’ll be spending the next six months getting as much expert advice as possible around rest and nutrition in order to feel my best on the day, but on doing a bit of reading, I found a great article by Olympic Medalist, Courtney Thompson. It was entitled “8 Reasons No-one Cares You’re Tired” and as a volleyball player, Courtney explained that playing in a team means it’s not just about you so you have to get over how you feel, go out there and give it your all regardless of how much “all” you have at the time.

Reading Courtney’s article explaining that getting through a training session or game required selflessness, a commitment to show up and the ability to embrace the fatigue of pushing to your limits was inspiring. I may not be doing this challenge as part of a team but I am doing it to raise money and awareness for a charity and committing to support the gym and community who are facilitating the event. That makes me accountable – to all those people and myself – so I need to show up and push through for that team of people!

Courtney’s article goes on to highlight the power of the mind and how we can train our brains to overcome our physical feelings. It also reminds us to be realistic and understand that we won’t be able to perform at 100% every day but not to let that worry us and instead, focus on maximising what we are able to give. There are so many factors that can impact our energy and motivation but I am determined to give this challenge my 100% wherever possible – that includes the fundraising, training, promotion of the gym, event and supporters and, of course, the challenge itself.

The eighth and final point in the article was “Remember: the pain of not going all out is much bigger than the pain of holding back.” It was a great reminder that regardless of winning or losing, the real satisfaction comes with knowing that you gave it everything you had to support your teammates in reaching your shared goal. I will be keeping that thought at the forefront of my mind throughout my training and the event day – however I feel, I have made a commitment to achieve something and I’m damn well going to do it… for everyone!