Ali went along to the Women's Adventure Expo in October 2015 where she picked up a leaflet about the Tough Girl Podcast, and by May 2016, she was pedaling her old Alpinestars mountain bike on a 767-mile, 13-day adventure from South Wales to Chamonix. At the age of 41 she had found something exciting to give her a new focus, after forcibly retiring from sport due to old knee injuries. The ride to Chamonix took Ali to mental and physical places that she had never been before, and she climbed almost the height of Everest on her way. This journey was significantly longer than her first bike packing adventure, which took her on the Whitehaven to Sunderland Coast2Coast route back in 1995 on the same bike. Ali is a Sport Psychology Coach and works with individuals and groups to teach them how to implement sport psychology strategies into their training, event and competition programmes. Since her bike ride to Chamonix, she has itchy feet and is making plans for a new bike packing adventure. Show notes When Ali & I first connected at the Women In Adventure Sports EXPO in Bristol Finding out more about Ali and how she came to become a sports psychologist coach Growing up sports and wanting to try anything and everything Getting into hockey and starting to break into the National League squad Trying to prove it to her body that she could do things, even after two knee injuries and who she tried overcoming the mental barriers she'd created Dealing with further set backs & losing her identity as a sports woman and as an athlete Deciding to get a bike and do the coast to coast challenge Going from being part of a team to being an individual doing a challenge How life can get in the way! Taking part in the game show - 'Total Wipeout' in Argentina - Google Season 1 - Episode 2 to see Ali wipeout!!! Rebellion and why its played apart of her life How she made the decision to cycle from South Wales to Chamonix Starting to secretly plan and having to tell her partner what she wanted to do When the challenge all started to become real! Training for the challenge at age 41 and starting from a low fitness level and doing what she could when she could Getting to the start line and what normally stops people from getting to this point Tips to help you to overcome your own negative thoughts and why you can find your own evidence of what you've done before Break your challenge down into smaller and more manageable chunks Day 1 of the adventure! Dealing with the challenges along the way and being outside her comfort zone When Ali started to think she wasn't able to finish the challenge - what kept her going and why pausing helped her The good moments - the unexpected times Advice and top tips for you to go after your own personal challenge Learn more about Ali - by visiting her blog and her website Ali is on twitter @alimahoney74 @ithinksport Support the tough girl podcast and become a Patron!!! More information about the other tough girls I have interviewed is available on www.toughgirlchallenges.com

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