Harley Thompson

Wake Up Call

I know it hasn’t been a month yet but I need to get something off my chest that concerns us all one way or another-so I’m back early. One of our whanaunga passed away last week, an uncle of my wife who was only 44. He was an absolute champion of the community, a loving father and husband. One of those people who says bugger all, has a dry wit but everyone knows is the go to person. We heard many people paying homage to him, well deserved and yet I couldn’t help but be mad with him.

The story behind the story is that he had been crook since before Xmas and his wife; kids and friends had been on his case to get to the Quack. His wife and oldest even took him to the hospital but he refused to get out of the car. He just thought he had a bit of asthma. In turns out he had water on the lungs that played havoc with his heart and he ended up having a fatal heart attack.

Anyway when I had the opportunity to talk on his last night before his burial I told him how mad I was that he was so concerned about everyone else that he did not take time to look after himself and therefore had robbed himself, his whanau, friends and community of many years. He passed away putting down a hangi for a 21st and even though a brother-in-law told him to rest he wouldn’t listen and then we he did it was too late. My message was simple His passing so early was
preventable and that many of us are pi--off because we all love him but are still mad with him for leaving so early. The One heart many lives flow on.

I redirected the message to all the male asking them if they self-diagnosed. When was the last time they went to have a health check? Of course there are no guarantees and yes you could get hit by a bus tomorrow but let’s deal with what we do know. If we keep healthy - apples to apples we should live longer, but we won’t know that unless we get checked out. So in the last week our whanau has experienced front on the waste of life. Don’t get me wrong the bro was an absolute champion the problem was he was that to others and not to himself.

So Tane (Males) ma, we need to take time out for ourselves for the long term benefit for the whole whanau. There are no guarantees any of us will live a long life but I’d rather be driving with the lights on particularly when there is no moon. How about you?

I will still catch up with you again all in a couple weeks.

Harley

Season’s greetings everyone and lets lock and load for
another fantastic, exciting new year.

Inspirational Moments.

A fair bit has happened since the completion of Iron-Maori which has prompted a lot of changes in planning this year. My wife Carolyn, mother – in-law Keri and Sister – in-law Lou have decided to enter a team in this year’s Iron -Maori event and we are all extremely excited about that.

Lots of lessons learnt from last year and planning, preparation is a lot better now. I have set some goals in terms of body fat levels and times I want to achieve for different events. I have committed to Karapiro, Iron-Maori, Rotorua, Tauranga half irons and around Lake Taupo relay over the next 13 months. It looks like I have accidently committed myself to a run in Rotorua in April as well – long story!

I am hoping Iron-Maori run a Dual-Athlon in Wellington again this year. Actually it will be really interesting what the Iron-Maori team do offer this year. During the Xmas break many whanau and friends expressed how they are going to do Iron-Maori this year and after arriving back in Wellington it appears the same tune is being played throughout the nation and Australia too. The interest is so amazing it poses the question how do you manage the numbers wanting to register given the popularity has increased and the event sold out in 15 minutes last year? The healthy lifestyle kaupapa is so empowering the growth is phenomenal.

A group of friends and whanau have been asking me for a while to help with hypnosis and self-hypnosis tools to help them overcome overeating and focusing issues. There is a lot of truth in that to make successful lifestyle changes you need to get the head right first. So – yep I am going to hold a day session early next month for them and I will keep you updated how that goes. I trained and qualified with a Diploma in clinical Hypnotherapy and was taught E.F.T Emotional Freedom Techniques in Melbourne a couple of years ago for self-help to kick start my own lifestyle changes which of course include shredding fat.

I am confident I will be offering my services to Hauora providers and alike to help win the battle against obesity and goal setting this year. So who knows I may be in your region in the near future sharing tips and tools for you to use. I will keep you updated with progress.

Looking forward to sharing with you again this year a monthly snap shot as I move towards new target goals. My target body fat percentage by December 2012 is 15% this should put me around the 105 kilo mark and a total loss of 127 kilograms. Xmas has finished whanau – let’s all crack back in to action and get fitter, handsomer, healthier and happier together, one step at a time – You are all mean!

Harley

Ironmaori December 3rd 2011

Before During After

‘Don’t be fooled by the smiles there was a lot of heartache between -
At times I was yelling while cycling just to release pain’

Over the last few days I have been reflecting on Iron-Maori and the impact this phenomenon has had on my life and the lives of many individuals, whanau and friends. The benefits of lifestyle changes are evident at so many levels. Typically at Maori events you will see dedicated areas for smokers and there would be clouds of smoke. Not at Iron-Maori! Mean! The competitors came in all shapes and sizes, huge range of ages participating in an event usually the domain of the streamlined athlete.

The atmosphere threw the mind back decades to Te Aute – Tipene games. There were many surreal moments during the day. I’ve played for teams that don’t feel like a team and yet here I am doing an individual event with a great team spirit. Whakawhanaungatanga (relationships) without a doubt underpins this event. Non-Maori are blown away how caring others are of each other during the race. I realise there are the elite who are gunning to win but for the majority it seemed helping each other was as important as completing. On the way back during the ride section I pulled over to see what the cousin Terry Crawford was up to and he was helping someone change their tyre. He helped 3 others during the ride as well – an absolute champion.

The event itself was extremely difficult for me. Before the race my fear was the swim and yet that ended up being the easiest section. It took 1hour 26 mins to finish the swim and transition to the bike ride. The bike ride itself was fine on the way out but on the way back during the last 30 k I started to struggle and fatigue, cramps and lots of pain started to set in. I ended up yelling and groaning to work through it. My feet went numb and by time I got to the last incline I was ready to bail and walk it. Then I heard and saw the support band on the side of the road and they were singing ‘Tu tira mai nga iwi’. Well that sunk me back into the zone and carried me through to the end. Nga mihi to the band. The heat was crazy. I went through 4 litres of fluid during the 90 k ride that took me 5 hours.

The Nga Karere whanau The Day after The Whanau

The walk was by far the most difficult section. I made in hindsight a crazy decision the night before when I packed my transition box and chose a pair of shoes that I had not trained in or worn for over a year. The result was after the first 5k plus lap I couldn’t feel my feet and I had 3 laps to go. I was fortunate, grateful and humbled to have mates and whanau to walk with me and help me through. So yes I completed Iron –Maori 2km swim-90km ride-21km run/walk. The feeling of coming over the finish line will stay with me forever. Nana Keri put the finishers medal on me and shared hongi and kisses with whanau and friends. A lot of teary eyes and smiles from them all – simply awesome and humbling and grounding me all at the same time.

The set up for the after function – Dinner/Prizie giving was fantastic at Mclean Park. We all collected our meals and sat in the stands and we were entertained. My daughter Tereihine was one of the singers and we are so proud of her effort. I was hungry as and Tereihine gave me her meal before she went to sing. The entertainment finished and prize giving started. I was to be humbled once again. After the awards were handed out for the division winners the overall winner Kevin Nicholson presented an award on behalf of Iron – Maori . Now this is where it gets confusing because I didn’t hear it but I did hear my name the second time it was said. One mate has posted it was for the most ‘Inspirational Athlete award’, One whanaunga has said it was called ‘The Heart of Iron –Maori award and yet another mate reckons it was ‘The broken A-- award’. Walking down to get it with my whanau was a bit of a mission but humbled yet again – very hard to humble a Hearty Naati but oh well all things are indeed possible.

Join us next year whanau –Put a team together and do a leg each if you wish and start changing your life for the better for yourself and your whanau. There are no ifs or buts you can do it!

Behind the scenes there are always great people and Nana Keri has kept me going strong with fruit cake all year and kept our Teams from Nga Karere well-nourished over the weekend. Of course my wife - my rock Carolyn for her support and doing the house work while I was out training in the weekends. Our girls Jesse and Tereihine for their continuous tautoko.

To the One Heart Many lives team - I absolutely applaud your commitment to the Iron-Maori kaupapa. The positive impact you are having by being involved cannot always be measured. So on behalf of the many whanau you are helping that you don’t know about I thank you.

Finally it has been an absolute privilege sharing my on-going journey with you all over the last few months.

MAURIORA

Harley Thompson

"14 Days to Go to Ironmaori"

Cruising the Iron-Maori 90 km ride course after the swim

I have had the most amazing last couple of weeks training topped off with a fantastic weekend in the Bay.

My family and I were able to attend the wedding of a great friend Keri Neho to Darren Keeling – an amazing wedding! Also we attended the first communion of our god-daughter (Hehani Paku-Davis) and niece (Wanea Paku-Davis) and I had a crack at the swim at Pandora pond and re-visited the cycle and run legs.

My first experience wearing my swimming wetsuit in the Pond caused a lot of laughter for my wife Carolyn. First of all before I even got in the water while pulling the wetsuit up over the buttocks area there was a terrible ripping sound and yep sure enough the seam had given way. Not a very good start but determined to get in I carried on and successfully zipped up. I had a plan that ended up changing a number of times. First you need to realise I have never been a flash swimmer and a month ago I was struggling to put a few laps together in the pool. Anyway, I got in and straight away was freaked out by how buoyant the wetsuit made me particularly in the legs and buttocks. I felt like I was swimming down-hill with my butt in the air and legs practically out of the water. This feeling caused me to struggle and I found it very difficult initially to relax. It wasn’t until my third lap that I got my head around how the suit was reacting. My orientation skills are not to flash and I basically ended up zig-zaging my way to each buoy. On a couple of occasions, somehow I managed to do a complete 360 and head back to where I had come from. So the lesson learnt was to look often and take into account slight tidal drift. This was way different than looking at lines and tiles in the pool. Also back to the buoyancy issue - a couple of times when rotating I ended up on my back. I don’t know how far I ended up swimming but it was certainly more than the 2 km mark which is exciting and quite mind blowing to me considering I am not a great swimmer. I reckon being so concerned about what the suit was doing took my mind off the length of the swim. It was twice the length of my longest previous swim and took me 1 hour 25 minutes and I am really happy about that.

My transiton to the bike was leisurely and I hope I wasn’t the cause of the planned last formal Iron-Maori training ride running late.

I want to acknowledge the tremendous work been done by the Iron – Maori crew. It was so calming knowing George, Heather and other whanau were continuously monitoring the course making sure everyone was O.K. and constantly offering encouragement.

This journey towards Iron-Maori has been extremely humbling and a new chapter in my life and the lives of many. It is so fitting that One Heart Many lives kaupapa and whanau of Marama, Karen and Roy have aligned to tautoko an event, a taonga (treasure) for us all.

I look forward to catching up with you one more time before the event and promise like I have to my wife that I will not rip anymore wet-suits.

Harley Thompson

Getting Ready for Ironmaori 2011

Cousin Terry Crawford and I going through pre-warm up drills

Well whanau the countdown has well and truly started now – 4 weeks to go to Iron–Maori. The Cycling training has been solid knocking out a half dozen 80 km plus rides in the last month. The jogging-walking has also been consistently over 10 km. As for the swimming-well the progress in that area has not been too flash but I will be all good on the day.

I went up to the Bay to check out the Iron Maori course with one of the cousins Terry Crawford. We laughed hard most of the way up and back. Deep in conversation he reminds me while he is driving how sore his hand has been after taking on the footpath the week before just as we were ascending the Rimutaka hill. The first tight corner arrived and we just about crashed by laughing too much. We stayed with Robin Fabish and his wonderful wife Sharon and they spoilt us rotten and gave us fantastic guidance around the course. Nga mihi korua. Next time we will mow the lawn and do the gardens!

Robin introduced me to a hydration backpack and off he went to do the ride. I was looking at him strangely because he had antenna looking things coming from his helmet. I asked him ‘Bro what are those for?’ ‘For the magpies’. Undeterred by this new information, Terry and I went and done the 90km ride. It was fantastic to get that under our belts. Funny as – we meet a few of the Wellington Iron- Maori crew Timoti and Chelsea as they were heading in. On the Sunday we went to the Hawkes Bay Iron Maori whanau swim – squad and Rhys Te Au gave me some swimming hints for dummies! It was Incredible to meet up again with the crew and have some more laughs.

Getting a wetsuit this week – been trying to find one with a built in outboard. Swimming makes me ravenous. I have not dropped any weight this month but am not concerned about that. I have been testing food intake levels for best training results and recovery. Sounds like a great excuse to eat lots. I am happy with what I have learnt this month getting hydration and eating right for me.

So if you are currently involved in this phenomenon called Iron-Maori we will all catch up as one whanau on the second of December in Napier. If you are not and are wondering what all the fuss is about – you need to be there. This will be my first experience and if the Dual-Athlon in Wellington is anything to go by it’s going to go through the roof. It is all about whanau and with that in mind the Iron – Maori team has introduced Iron Rangatahi and Iron Tamariki this year. Rangatahi-Tamariki on Dec 2 and Adults Dec 3.

I will get some swimming footage up once I find that outboard! Looking forward to letting you know how I am going next time just before D-DAY!!!!

Hint for the month:

When swimming remember to breathe (NOTE TO SELF)

"Ironmaori Duathlon - Wellington"

Beginning of ride End of ride and stuffed - bike is ok though!

Well whanau what a month it has been. There have been highs and lows and right now I’m more determined than ever to get my training schedule back on track.

I completed the long course dual-athlon in Wellington comprising of a 10km run – 40km ride and a 5 km run and to be fair there was very little running done in the last section. I am thankful my wife Carolyn walked the last 5 km with me because I was definitely sucking the kumara. I learnt lots like you need to drink often. I found the experience to be very useful and it gave me a gage of where I am at.” Lots more work to do man – everyday” as my mate Karaka is saying.

The Iron Maori team did a great job and all the whanau many that we met for the first time were tremendous in their support and inspiration like Panu from the Bay.

In March this year I took up Tu Taua – Mau rakau or Taiaha training and the dual-athlon at times was similar in that I needed to get in to the zone, gain clarity of what I was doing and block out discomfort-pain and just do the job. So although different in nature, Tu Taua noho have definitely helped my preparation. Ironically a week after the dual, I spent two days with the Tu Taua crew in noho at Rotoiti in Rotorua. After coming home the old body has crashed and I have spent the last week with flu like symptoms trying to get better. The doctor reckons I have just got to let the body recover, but it is hard on the head knowing how much work needs to be done before Iron Maori in December.

I have dropped another 5 kilos in the past month so that helps lesson the stress on the joints and makes my smile even bigger. Never in million years would I have thought I would wear lycra - but I must say it is far more comfortable than wearing rugby shorts. This padded shorts business has taken me in to a whole new world. Yep – need to drop more fat alright not only for health but for the viewing of public and the poor shorts stitching – I’m sure I exceeded the manufacturer’s warrantee-guarantee.

Have a great month and I look forward to sharing a snapshot of my training and life with you next time.

Hint for the month – Use Himalayan salt. It is 100% natural so no processing involved and is mined by hand from the base of the Himalayas. There are numerous health advantages and worth investigating – so check this site out. www.crystalsalt.co.nz/.

"You too can conquer obesity"

My name is Harley Thompson and this is my ongoing weight loss journey from the seriously obese to a healthy positive role model for my family. At the end of my high school years, I left as a solid 100kg bullet proof Māori boy ready to take on the world! However over the next 22 years I transformed into a 40 year old 232 kg negative Maori health statistic and like so many others I have tried numerous diets, health programs and weight loss regimes even to the extent of considering surgery as a last resort to reclaim that bullet proof image. So with the support of my family, acquired knowledge of psychotherapy techniques, personal commitment and a structured physical training program, my goal to being a positive role model was set in place and has now become a reality. This article is primarily focused on showing whanau that it is achievable to win the battle against Obesity – But let’s be honest it certainly is not easy.

“When you can’t wipe your own backside – you know you’ve got a problem” This was me and still I couldn’t change my ways and just kept on getting fatter. It’s important you know where I have come from and how I have come to lose so much weight. Two years ago a group of mates and whānau came into town for what was always going to be a rambunctious 40th birthday party – and while celebrations and partying certainly formed the greater part of what turned out to be a weekend long event, those closest mates to me gave me a grave message that went something along the lines of “we don’t want to be picking you up in a box the next time we come see you bro!” And yet sadly, for a long time, I was never able to curb or change my habits. I had all but driven my good wife Carolyn to the end of her tether with the amount of money spent on eating programs, personal trainers and infomercial equipment over the years. None of it seemed to work.

I know how difficult it is to lose weight by conventional means only. Sometimes at night I would be sitting on the side of my bed with chest pains scared and praying saying “if I make it through to the morning I will change my ways”. I would wake up in the morning thinking yep I need to change my ways and then within a few short hours I would be smoking again justifying it by convincing myself that it was not realistic to give up smoking and change my eating habits at the same time. Then by lunch time I would be at McDonalds.

To cut a long story short, fate landed me offshore studying an advanced Diploma in Hypnotherapy. After graduation I was still a little dubious until I implemented the 5-path hypnosis system for myself. Experienced Hypnotherapists who were on the Diploma commented on how it was a complete approach that is so advanced it sets a new bench mark for the profession. The 5-path system goes far beyond standard visualization that most Hypnotherapists perform. As far as I am aware there are only three of us that hold this advanced qualification in New Zealand. Hypnosis implemented correctly by-passes any internal discussion around decision making, whether that be to stop smoking, drop weight or other goals. In short I have used these tools to get my head right first.

Fast forward a couple of years and I have set myself some pretty ambitious milestones. I can now dream again and accomplish goals. My main goal is to give myself a better chance of living longer by getting healthy. My short term targets include competing in Iron Maori in December this year.

Just over 2 years ago I weighed in at over 232 kilo grams and to date, have lost over 77 kilos so weighing in at 155 kilos. Although not quite there, I know that my goal size is that much closer. With the support of my wife Carolyn, my family and self-support I know I will reach my ideal weight.

My youngest girl and I in the same shorts from the first photo This weight loss journey has provided many benefits beyond my own health issues. Simple pleasures like being able to run and play with my daughter at the park, was only a dream just last year. My energy levels are higher, I have more patience, I can put my own socks on without a Herculean - like effort, I now buy clothes from normal shops and off the front rack and for the first time in over ten years, I am able to sit in a plane without requiring an extension belt! Other family members have been inspired to make lifestyle changes and are also making fantastic progress in their weight loss journeys. The list of benefits, are endless.

Over the next 5 months I am going to keep you updated with what I’m up to, how the training is going for Iron Maori and perhaps even some hints regarding nutrition – But remember I’m not a nutritionist and hints I share with you are only based on what has worked for me.

Hint of the month!

Take 20 mils of apple Cider vinegar (not wine) first thing in the morning followed by a glass of water straight away. Apple Cider vinegar mimics and enhances our digestive enzymes and therefore breaks food down more effectively and as a result better energy levels.