Lisa - Fat Girl Fit

Club La Santa with Havering Tri

I’ve recently been to Club La Santa in Lanzarote with Havering Triathlon Club.

My husband is a member of this local club and I know most of the people so when they had a spare space and I was offered it I took the opportunity. I have since joined the club myself so was excited to be going on the trip but equally nervous. I am not sure what I was nervous about if I am honest as I mentioned before I knew most of the people and they are all lovely. I did not know how hilly the island was and I am not good with hills. I am also not good with heat so combining the two was not exactly a thrilling idea either.

I must say I was so impressed with the whole trip. The tri club sorted everything from accommodation and flights to the training schedule. Admittedly when I first saw the training schedule I was terrified – it was very well thought out but there was so much on it but then I was there to train so decided to go with it. They had experienced coaches on hand for sessions, ride leaders and groups for all elements based on ability.

I am easily intimidated and being surrounded by so many accomplished athletes who have all successfully completed so much was a tad overwhelming (there may have been some tears on the first day) but everyone was so friendly and supportive that I forgot about any nerves.

Club La Santa is situated on the north-west coast of Lanzarote and although we were there with a concentration on swim, bike and run there is so much more on offer at the complex including its own lagoon for open water swimming, paddle boarding and kayaking. It also makes a nice loop for a run of 2 miles that can be extended or repeated.

I took my own bike though there are facilities there for hiring bikes also. The cycling was my main interest at the camp and although I do not like hills there is no better way to improve than to train on them. Club La Santa is nicely situated so that whatever direction you leave you have less than half a mile until you start climbing and yes I am being sarcastic here about it being nice not about the climbing. And they are not hills you climb around the island but mountains. But I am so pleased I got up them, at my pace admittedly, but I got up them and didn’t need to stop or walk – I even scratched my bike leaning it against a wall at the top of Mirador but I don’t care it can be a memory!

I also had some firsts on the trip:

I climbed mountains on my bike
I took part in a relay triathlon with two lovely ladies
I took part in my first brick session (I have previously done one duathlon but not before or after done a run off the bike and I still think that will take some time to get used to – I’m still in the legs have a life of their own phase)
I had a swimming lesson
I drank protein shakes (I was in an apartment with a food policeman and was told on his good authority this was necessary)
I learned you can take out as many gas canisters for punctures from London but you are only allowed to return with 2 from Lanzarote and if you try and take more the airport police take you to a back room and make you unpack and remove them as my husband found out.

We also had joker cards given to each of us and when presented the last person to show theirs had to put 1 euro in the pot that went towards the meal at the end of the week. It was funny seeing these be pulled out in the pool or halfway up a mountain on the bike.

I tri’d – see what I did there?

If I could I would sign up now for the next trip – can’t recommend it enough! And by that I mean both the trip to Club La Santa and being part of Havering Tri Club so if you are looking for a triathlon club then look no further.

#thisgirlcan

Category: Fitness

I’m a This Girl Can Essex Ambassador!

I am so pleased to announce that in conjunction with Active Essex I am now a This Girl Can Essex Ambassador! I was previously an official partner with the campaign and now I will be getting more involved and I am truly excited about this.

You may have seen the adverts on TV for the This Girl Can campaign. I can personally say that the campaign absolutely resonates with me and tells my story so far, this is the reason I am so excited to get more involved.

The whole campaign around This Girl Can is to celebrate and inspire women, whilst encouraging them to get out and be more active.

This_Girl_Can_Logo-300x300 I’ve been on my journey since 2015 and you will have seen all of my instagram and twitter posts with the hashtag #thisgirlcan because I am #thisgirlcan. I’m not the stereotype and I’m pleased about that. Let’s ditch the stereotypes!

I recently had a Facebook memory of a status saying I was waiting for my husband and friend to finish an obstacle run and that I thought he was crazy running through mud and water and rather him than me. How things have changed as I am now doing those runs myself and I love them – I have so many photos covered in mud with the biggest smile on my face. I have fun with everything I do and my training and events are now part of my life and I love it and I share it with so many people and so can you.

I am still on my journey and have been so fortunate to find myself surrounded by fellow members of local cycling, running, triathlon clubs (Romford CC, Havering ’90 Joggers and Havering Tri) and in obstacle running (Nuclear Races, PT Barn and Mudd Queens) who I am now proud to call friends. These are people that can cycle, run and complete activities much quicker and better than me but I’m still doing it and they have been happy to help me on my journey. In turn, through my blog, I’ve met many people that I have been able to help and that’s an amazing feeling. Everyone has to start at the beginning, all challenges are different but none more important than others as it’s about your personal journey and achievements.

It doesn’t matter what size you are, you are still doing it.

It doesn’t matter if you run at a quicker or slower pace – the distance covered is still the same.

It doesn’t matter about any of the stereotypes at all, it’s all inclusive.

It’s about encouraging others.

It’s about empowering each other.

It’s about lifting and building each other up.

It’s about positivity.

I have some exciting plans to get more women involved in some of the activities that I do so watch this space and get in touch if you would like to get involved.

#thisgirlcan

#thisgirlcanessex

Category: Fitness, OCR

My second 6 week course with the PT Barn

I did a blog post towards the end of last year talking about a 6 week body transformation course that I completed with The PT Barn (post can be found here). I signed up again and have just completed the second course.

I explained a lot about what the course covers in my original post so won’t repeat everything. The course is structured the same with Monday and Tuesday evenings having a 1 hour bootcamp session, Thursday evening having a 1 hour ‘strike’ session, which I have described as cardio boxing and then a 1.5 hour bootcamp session on a Saturday morning. I did mention in the original post that over the 24 sessions not a single one was the same and again on the second course not a single session was repeated and I mean that in total as in over the two courses so 48 completely different sessions.

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One of the biggest things I love about the sessions is the originality that they include and by this I mean that Scott uses the outdoors to the maximum! We’ve had ropes tied between trees to traverse across, we’ve had cones either above or under trees as a mini obstacle course in the wood where we either climbed or crawled and we’ve used ditches and streams in country fields too.

I’ve tried to explain what the sessions are like to many people and I think most assume they must be similar to a gym circuit class. Couldn’t be further from the truth. I took a friend, Laura, to a recent session and at the end she understood what I meant. She loved it by the way.

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At the beginning of the first course I could hang on the monkey bars but couldn’t move. By the end in our final session I completed three monkey bars, which was epic for me. I can now do 18.

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I started one of our weights sessions picking up a 5kg plate and slowly moved up to 10kg depending on the exercise, I am now given a 15kg plate or a 20kg sandbag.

I started with a 10 minute timed run seeing me complete 14.5 laps of the football pitch and finished completing almost (but not quite) 16 laps.

During the course I ran the London Winter 10k Run and got a pb for my 5k (28 mins and 44 seconds) and a pb for my 10k (58 mins and 22 seconds).

I’ve lost 8.1 kgs and 6.8% body fat!

I’ve gained so much confidence and even though I may not be the fastest or the strongest I am getting there and trying not to compare myself with others as everyone is different and my journey is mine. Before these courses I would have walked into a similar setting and seen others of a better ability and run a mile (maybe not run but walked off quickly).

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I’m finishing the course running a half marathon with a lady I met on the course who is now a friend and I am running it to support her – I never thought I would be able to help someone else with something like that.

I am actually quite sad that I cannot complete the next 6 week course but I have to turn my focus onto the bike so I get in enough training for my next big event in June which will see me cycle almost 200 miles in Sweden in an event called the Vatternrundan but I will make sure I still attend the Saturday sessions.

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I would highly recommend this course! It’s hard work, it’s tiring (as the above photo shows in my face – that was following 50 burpees and although I look completely done in I absolutely love this photo), it will test you both mentally and physically but you will get results and it is worth it.

And you get to train with such a great bunch of people – being part of that team really gets you through, everyone is so supportive!

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Category: Events, Fitness, OCR

Full Day Bootcamp with The PT Barn

Yesterday I took part in a bootcamp. Not just any bootcamp but a full day bootcamp and by full day I mean six hours long. Yeah….that. A lot of people asked why and the answer is that I wanted to challenge myself and see if I could make it through the day without breaking.

This was put on by Scotty PT from The PT Barn, the same coach/company from the body transformation course I have previously blogged about (I’m on the second course as we speak so there will be another blog post about that in the not too distant future).

The full day event was described as 6 hours of full on bootcamp fun! I read into this a little more as I was pretty sure that Scotts idea of fun and mine could differ. We were to expect a wide range of exercises and activities and these would range from individual performances, team fitness challenges and a range of cryptic puzzles to get the most out of your body and mind giving the perfect mix of fun and fitness! Sounded fun, but I knew how intense the bootcamp sessions can be and so expected six hours worth to be more than just hard, especially given the cold weather and the fact that I had already had a hard hour and a half bootcamp session with Scott the previous day.

We received a wristband with a barcode and it had a number on it – I was 123280. We were to memorise that number and would be asked throughout the day – this was one example where if you gave a wrong answer you would get a punishment of some sort. I was last back to the field in a group of five and this saw me doing 50 burpees. I was asked what Scott’s favourite colour was and I said black because at the time I was thinking like your soul (I hate burpees) and this left me with another 10 burpees.

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We had not one but three coaches and the first part of the day was pretty much a three hour beasting! No one is exempt from this – everyone is treated exactly the same. There is screaming and shouting from the start from all coaches. I knew this would be the case in advance and also knew that I would need mental strength to get through and that is weaker than my current fitness levels. The ploughed fields are relentless, making everything harder work, zapping your energy in the process.

Now my blog posts are about my journey trying to get fit and lose weight and are brutally honest (I’ve got a long way left to go) so I will admit that I go into most events assuming I will be the slowest and least fit so not exactly positive mental attitude but something I am working on! That being said I was worried that if anything would break me it would be the first half and I am not too proud to admit that it almost did! I thought on more than one occasion I really shouldn’t be here but there is a massive mix of abilities and it was the support of fellow team mates that really made me dig deep and push on.

The moment when you want to quit, is the moment when you need to keep pushing.

After changing into dry clothes and getting some much need refuelling around a fire and some hot drinks in us we go to the second half of the day, which was structured around team activities and saw us working together pulling a van out of a field, climbing in and out of trenches, huge tyres, through tables, stretcher carries and much much more.

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I almost don’t want to give too much away for those that may be interested in signing up for a future event like this. And you should. It’s bloody hard work, it’s testing both mentally and physically, you will not like the coaches on more than one occasion in the earlier session I am sure, but then the team work builds you straight back up again and I am grateful to have been on this with so many amazing people.

I feel like I achieved something pretty big by completing this and if I am totally honest it left me a bit emotional both during and after (also slightly broken). I did it, and to give a taster look how we finished the day off – pulling a monster truck up and down a field!

https://www.facebook.com/www.theptbarn.co.uk/videos/1843842145861495/

Category: Events, Running

London Winter Run 10k

Yesterday I took part in the Human Races Winter Run 10k in support of Cancer Research UK.

I’ve managed to do this event every year since its start three years ago and have enjoyed it every time and would definitely recommend. This year there was a record 16,500 participants – an amazing amount of people raising important funds for Cancer Research #cancersucks

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It’s a closed road 10k run through the city of London. As I work in the city and this route goes past my office I always find it slightly surreal being able to run rather than dodging people as I am used to Monday to Friday.

It is a slightly different run where you start off entering the starting funnel where you can see snowmen with snow machines to get you in the mood. On course you will also see penguins and husky’s (people in fancy dress just to be clear). Lots of high fives as you go – I always love the little children on the side supporting holding their hand out so tend to stick to the left to high five them.

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The route is marked every 1km you pass so I made sure I stayed comfortable and steady and didn’t look at my watch just decided to enjoy it.

You finish to lots of polar bear hugs before you collect your medal, coconut water and lindt chocolate bar which was much appreciated! At the end there was even a St Bernard for a photo (both fancy dress and real) – she was called Isobel and such a cutie!

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Now from previous blog posts you will know I find running tough and don’t particularly enjoy it (unless there are mud and obstacles at some point), however, I really enjoyed this run. There’s always loads of support on course and I will be eagerly waiting for the official photos, which will hopefully show some smiling and also my funky leggings from Tikiboo that I am sure helped on the day!

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I clocked up almost 6.7 miles on this event in a time of 1 hour 1 minute meaning that I managed some personal bests as can be seen below from my strava – all in all I was one happy lady!

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I will absolutely be back next year and as I said earlier if you are interested I would definitely recommend.

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My race entry was complimentary, but all opinions are my own.

Category: Fitness

Round up of 2016

2015 was pretty much my first year of getting into all this fitness and at the end of last year did a blog post to round up the year and the events I had completed and 2016 was no different but the challenges I took on stepped up a little.

2016

At the beginning of this year I set out some goals in a blog post and whilst writing this took some time to reflect on them. These are what I listed as goals:

Running

Complete 25 Park Runs – this may not sound like a lot but I am signed up to a lot of events and some of those on Park Run days. And I managed a grand total of zero! Every weekend this year up until August was spent cycling for my main event of the year and so park run was well and truly out of the window.
Work on my pace when running and take time to complete slower recovery runs – my runs are always at the same pace and I am trying to go slower to increase my distance and then can work on speed if I want. This seemed to happen naturally as it turned out then training for longer runs meant my pace slowed naturally.
Take part in a team effort of the 24 hour Spitfire Scramble run – a 24 hour run completing a 10k loop (just under) in turns over the 24 hour period with an amazing group of ladies. Completed this and we came third in the female teams leaving with not only a medal but also a trophy cup!
Achieve a sub hour 10k – I have done it once but when out running with the dog and as I have to stop to let her on and off the lead and pick up after her (thought that was the nicest way of putting that) it would be nice to achieve this at an actual event. This happened at the beginning of the year as a one time only result and so may feature on my goals for next year also.
Achieve a sub 27 minute 5k. As mentioned above my pace slowed and so I am now at 30 mins for a 5k consistently and I am not unhappy with that – I have learned I am no Usain Bolt and that is fine with me.
Complete my first half marathon. I managed to complete Brentwood half marathon, Hackney half marathon, two half marathon distances on training runs an then again on an obstacle run so in total completed the distance five times.

Cycling

Complete my first duathlon. Completed at Eton Dorney and learned that running after cycling is not as easy as it looks when your legs have a mind of their own.
Complete a 100 mile ride in sub 5 and a half hours. Again this did not happen as most cycling was geared towards a longer endurance event and so was more about completing miles rather than pace but who knows for 2017?
Complete Newcastle to London bike ride in 24 hours – 311 miles with two lovely ladies and a lot of chamois cream! We started this as a team of four lovely ladies bud sadly my main event of the year ended with me in an ambulance after coming off my bike in horrendous weather and although I have cried a lot over this I have learned that conditions on the day play the biggest part and over 2,500 miles of training for this were not wasted.
Increase my Functional Threshold Power (FTP) to 200. Honestly I have not completed an FTP test again this year and for those of you that have you may understand why – it is evil on a stationary bike. My husband reminded me I needed to do this again the other day and I just smiled and walked away ha ha.

OCRs

Complete my first Spartan obstacle race. I managed to complete my Spartan Trifecta this year (I may have mentioned this one or 100 times) so completed my first (sprint), second (super) and third (beast) Spartan races and have a whopping great medal to prove it (bigger than the husbands).
Get back to Nuclear Races for their obstacle races (which are awesome). I have spent a lot of time at Nuclear this year and fully intend to do the same next year too.
Improve my upper body strength and be able to do more than just 2 monkey bars! This is still a work in progress but I recently managed 18 monkey bars.

Targets

Not be so scared of the weights section of the gym and use it to tone up as I lose more weight. Weights do not scare me any longer – bring it.
Lose my final 28lbs – actually 30lbs as I put on 2lbs over Christmas I just found out with my first weigh in (happy new year). My body shape has changed a lot this year but not my weight and whilst I say to others its not all about the number on the scale I find it hard to practise what I preach and still have a goal weight in mind that WILL be reached in 2017.
Enjoy the events I sign up for and celebrate finishing rather than always being hung up on finishing times. This is the new me – I take part to complete and not to compete.
Be proud of myself and what I have achieved. And you know what I am – everyone has different abilities and a challenge is a challenge to the individual and I am out there trying and happy with that.
Learn how my technical gadgets work so I don’t have to keep bugging the hubby. I laughed when I re read this. I have a Brett for the technical bits ha ha

2017

And I have quite a nice little medal haul from the year too and I do love a medal!

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What else did 2016 teach me? Perhaps to not have such a long list of goals at the start of the year! I think for next year I will simplify the goals:

Reach my goal weight OR be comfortable with my body shape.
Take part in all the Nuclear events (thanks to the husband getting me a season pass for next year) and earn my Mudallion medal.
Complete the Vatternrundan 186 mile cycle ride in Sweden.
Get through a week at the La Santa training camp in Lanzarote and not die on a mountain somewhere.
Enjoy myself.
Smile.

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Category: Events, Fitness, OCR

6 week Body Transformation course with the PT Barn

I’ve not posted in a while and the reason is that I have been absolutely knackered!

Six weeks ago I started a 6 week body transformation course with Scotty from The PT Barn. The 6 week course is an intensive course with four sessions a week; three of which are bootcamp sessions and one is strike, which I have described to people as cardio boxing (pad work). I knew this was going to test me and push me way outside the limits of my comfort zone but I hit a plateau earlier in the year and was determined to change things up so signed up for the challenge.

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I knew Scotty from Nuclear and so I knew fun Scotty, I knew Scotty covered in mud playing at the Nuclear summer party running around and going head first down the Death Slide. I am not sure I was prepared for Scotty PT who is there to get results for every member of the group. I feel like Scotty PT is Scotty’s alter ego – he is harsh and he shouts and means business. Scotty we can put Christmas baubles in his beard and he smiles.

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I am the girl who doesn’t like to go to the weights section in the gym because quite frankly I have no idea what I am doing, I won’t go to a class for the first time on my own, I am easily intimidated and I am also generally telling everyone I am the slowest etc so even signing up to this for me was a pretty big deal.

However, there were 22 people on the course and one massive thing for me was that they were all lovely! The course is really geared around teamwork and is done in such a clever way that it caters for people of all abilities so you never end up in a situation where you feel you are always last or people are waiting for you. For me in terms of confidence this made a huge difference. Now obviously you know who is stronger, quicker etc so I didn’t come away thinking yeah I am like Usain Bolt but I didn’t come away thinking oh god I’ve held up 21 other people – this matters!

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Over the 6 weeks there were 24 sessions and I missed two but this was due to an OCR (Nuclear Fallout 12k) and a duathlon, both of which I was already signed up to. Out of the 24 sessions not a single one was the same. Every session was structured differently so you had no idea what to expect aside from knowing you were there to work hard and push yourself. The bootcamp sessions are held on a rec site and surrounding woods so involves running on grass, hills, trails, difference exercises, intervals, weights, stretchers and many more.

Never before have I played ultimate frisbee – its frisbee but not as you know it! A coded message to navigate through the woods for clues using a map and walkie talkies doing exercises as we got to check points before collecting tyres of varying sizes and stretchers and navigating back.

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It’s not just about weight loss, or strength training, its also about getting healthier all round. There is a private facebook group for those on the course including those past members and so there is a lot of chats, exchanging of hints and tips, general chat and food ideas and again really supportive. Scotty is also part of this group and available for support whenever you need it.

In addition to the sessions there are sets of exercises to complete daily in the morning and evening and access to some equipment should you need to borrow it. There are stretches to be done in addition and you are given a therapy band to use for some of the sets and stretches.

Prior to starting the course everyone completes a consultation with Scotty and you go through what you want to achieve, set goals and also get weighed and have body measurements done – such a lovely process that anyone who has had done will know involving callipers to check body fat and if that did not motivate me then I don’t know what will!

It was not easy and I am not going to say it was as that would be a lie. It was intense, it was hard, I am not sure I have ever sweated as much as I did in some of the sessions, I got used to that feeling of thinking I may be sick at some point during most sessions and I may have had a complete wobble at the start where I messaged Scotty worried I was not good enough and was out of my depth to which I had a lovely reply reassuring me that was not the case and so I gave myself a mental slap and got on with it.

Pad work for me was something totally new and I am still looking for where my power is hiding but I am giving it a good go and pads and gloves will be purchased soon so I can work on this at home too.

At the beginning of the course I ran 14.5 lengths of the football pitch in ten minutes and on the last week I was 1 meter short of 16 lengths in the same time.

In the last session at the barn we tackled monkey bars – before the course I could basically hang, literally no movement and in the final session with a lot of encouragement from my team I managed three in the barn and whilst I realise a lot of people can do loads more I was chuffed with that as it is progress and I moved and didn’t fall in a heap on the floor or on my arse!

All of the above for £150! Have I sold it to you? I’ve signed up for the next course in January as I am still part way through my fitness and weight loss journey – lets do this!

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Category: Cycling, Events, Running

My first ever duathlon

Just realised I titled this my first ever duathlon which would give the impression that I may do it again – maybe I will?

On Saturday I headed to Dorney Lake with my friend Helen as we were both taking part in the F3 Events Autumn Classic Windsor Duathlon. It meant another 5am alarm call, which is never welcome though over the course of this year Helen and I have taken part in so many events it seems the norm to work all week and have an alarm call that early at some point over the weekend for an event we have signed up to.

So it was early and it was cold, very cold.

The event is held at Dorney Lake, which a lot of people will know from the Olympics where the rowing events took place. I’ve been there a number of times before to support my husband in various triathlon events and so knew the course would be laps and go up and down or around the lake. The benefit of this venue is that it is closed roads all held within the ground and for a first duathlon attempt this seemed to make perfect sense.

There were three distances, super sprint, sprint and standard. I was originally signed up to take part in the standard distance though found out afterwards that there was a cut off time and so I decided to reduce the distance to the sprint. This meant I would do a 5k run, 20k bike, 5k run. I’d never done anything like this before where an event is multi discipline and so transition would be a first for me also.

There were quite a number of serious looking athletes, a number of Team GB participants and a whole transition area full of impressive TT bikes. I felt pretty intimidated. But I was there and would take part and complete, of that I was sure.

Normally in a run event I get caught up with the group and start off too quickly, at a pace I cannot maintain, but was conscious that I would not do this on Saturday and was not overly fussed about my time or pace providing I completed having run both legs without any walking breaks as i have been struggling a bit with my running.

The run leg was a 2.5k lap and so I had to complete two laps before I could get on my bike. The first lap was fine and I was not surprised, but impressed, to see the runners at the front taking quite a lead and I even smiled when I saw my friend Helen and she shouted and waved hello.

I finished my second lap and took my time taking a quick drink as I had stupidly forgotten to fill my water bottle so knew there would be no drink for me (silly mistake but not a huge deal with the distances I was completing) then headed into transition. Now this was an odd feeling! I put on my helmet, I had run in my gloves and glasses and started to unpack my bike before realising I needed to put on my cycle shoes so with some pretty cold and numb fingers I took off my trainers and put on my cycling shoes, turned on my garmin and was reminded by a kind marshall that transition time was counted to which I replied “I know’. Having never done this before I was going to take my sweet time so I didn’t make any stupid mistakes.

The bike course was four laps and although it is flat and closed the wind made you work for it for sure. I genuinely thought it would be much easier than it was but soon got my confidence as I overtook a number of people and got into my stride on the bike.

Coming off the bike and getting ready for the final leg was funny. I almost forgot to take off my helmet and then nearly left transition in my cycling shoes. Again I took my time and with even colder fingers got on my trainers and headed out for the run. I say headed out for the run but I walked out of transition fiddling with my watch.

I left transition at the same time as another man and after one lap he was still behind me but came up to the side and asked if it was off putting that he was just behind me, to which I said no and if I am honest if he was not there I would probably walked at some point so I was grateful. As I said it was my first duathlon and I have never done a brick run either. A brick run is a run straight after being on the bike and it was an odd feeling. I felt like my legs were not my own and made of jelly and it took a while to settle into a slow and steady rhythm whilst still focussing on running the entire thing.

The guy I was running with was called Tim and he was a cyclist and this was also his first duathlon and we stayed together for the rest of the run crossing the finishing line together. I had completed it!

Duathlon done! Maybe not the quickest but I am pretty pleased with that and it is another goal for 2016 that I can tick off my list!

Category: Events, OCR

Nuclear Fallout

As you know I absolutely love Nuclear Races. I love the events, love to participate, love to marshall, love the atmosphere – literally can’t get enough of it (in case that wasn’t clear – I love it).

This time last year I took part in the 12k Fallout event and at the weekend I went back for more.

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Once again I was part of the amazing team Scrambled Legs – an amazing group of people and I couldn’t imagine doing it with anyone else. We start together, we laugh our way round and we finish together.

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The 12k course has 100 obstacles and the route had been amended by the Nuclear family to allow for what was feared to be pretty rubbish weather. So it was no surprise that as we arrived it was raining. And cold, I guess I should mention it was cold.

Parking up, registering, bag drop, collecting ordered items everything is always easy and hassle free at Nuclear and so after parking up we were in the event village with the team in no time.

When our wave was called we headed to the start pen and joined in with the warm up and off we went.

Nuclear is known for its mud and as usual (especially with the rain) there was mud in abundance! A couple of our team were new and wearing road trainers so were sliding around like bambi on ice, not that we laughed (much).

Really nice touch to have a couple of fire pits going, jelly babies being given out and hot juice as well – we started dancing whilst drinking those next to the fire and almost didn’t want to leave – was a nice warm up after a plunge in the lake following the Death Slide, which was really cold but my favourite obstacle so no way I was missing it!

Was also following an obstacle being run by Scott from the PT Barn who I am currently training with as always good to see a friendly face and some words of encouragement.

As always there were many Mudd Queens either running in the event or marshalling and as I’ve said before this is a group I am part of for ladies who take part in OCRs and such a supportive group of people, many of whom are now friends, that the Mudd Queen love was amazing as we made our way round the course.

I am a tad gutted with myself that I didn’t even attempt the obstacle Isotope but it freaks me out – one day I will have the courage!

I should apologise to my team members for any feet to the face moments – I am very grateful to their help in getting my up and over a wall or two and don’t intentionally kick them in the face (Adam) – next time I will have more control over my feet.

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Some of the team were lucky to collect their Mudallion medal as well as the medal for the event as they had completed all of the Nuclear events this year (I missed one due to holidays) but I will get that next year!

I am now aching and covered in bruises – possibly too much information but most sore part is always my legs and arms that take a battering but also my stomach and boobs! I think I land on my stomach a lot and boobs just get in the way! They seem to perch going over things and then get stuck as you’re trying to get down the other side – and that’s just on the obstacle course then you have the whole other issue of trying to get off a sports bra whilst muddy and wet, which is a whole other ball game that should get its own medal – pesky boobs! But as always it was definitely worth it and I cannot recommend it enough!

Thanks as well to all the marshalls at the event without whom it would not be possible but their encouragement and energy is so very appreciated!

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#LOVEMUD