Fat Girl Fit

Be fearlessly unapologetically you

Category: Fitness

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-300x300I’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.

bootcamp2

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.

bootcamp

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: 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!

medals2016

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.

pt-barn-4

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!

pt-barn

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: Fitness

I get knocked down but I get up again

I’ve been pretty quiet I know and there have not been the regular blog posts as usual and there is a reason.

I’ve been sulking.  It’s not that classy. My funk well and truly wrapped its arms around me after slapping me in the face with a rather lengthy weight loss plateau.

So as you know I had a pretty nasty fall from my bike on my main event for this year and ended up unconscious and surrounded by a fire engine, ambulance and police cars.

It knocked me pretty badly and that combined with the toddler tantrum mood I was in was not a good mix.  Up until that point most weeks I was training 5-6 times per week.  Following my fall I was sore and achy and gave myself a rest break which ended up being quite an extended break.  Don’t get me wrong I’ve had a few events here and there but my training went down to once or twice a week if that.

Before then I was also strict with my food but found myself being easily convinced to have a take away if offered and the 1, 2, 3 glasses of wine.

I  was full of excuses I tried to justify as reasons I was letting it all slip.

At the end of the day I am still on my journey and I have 24lbs left to lose.  Well during my funk I also hadn’t weighed myself and I felt uncomfortable so I knew when I did I wouldn’t be happy with the number that I was going to see and I was right.  I had put on 10lbs!  That is a lot! Pick up a 10lb dumb bell at the gym, several bags of sugar, a sack of potatoes – you get the hint!  It’s like having an extra limb! I am not being brave and putting this in a blog post I am doing it quite selfishly to accept my accountability for it and make me turn it around.

I am getting back to it now and instead of thinking I’ve put on a hideous 10lbs over two months I am thinking that I have still lost 50lbs and that is the equivalent of a small bale of hay which is massive! So the goal posts have just changed and so now I have 34lbs left that I want to lose.

It would be easy for me to beat myself up (which I have already done) but I am just going to get back on track.  I messed up my diet,  I didn’t exercise as much as I should have.  No one died.  I’ve still got this.  I did it before and I can do it again.

My desire to change is greater than my desire to remain the same.

I started back on my bike but shorter rides that I will admit were painful and I was nervous but I did it at my pace.

I’ve started running again and although it feels extremely hard I’m doing it.  A bad run is better than no run after all, even if I do sound like Darth Vader from the moment I start to the moment I finish.

I’ve gone back to spin classes and I am leaving with a red sweaty tomato faced self as usual and loving it.

Most exciting is that I have signed up for a new six week fitness regime that started last night but I will leave that for another post to explain more about it.

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Category: Events, Fitness

The job of an event marshall

Do you take part in events? Have you ever marshalled an event? If, like me, you have then I commend you and take this opportunity to thank you.  If not I would recommend you do.

Most people assume the marshalls on events are part of the company putting the event on or paid to be there.  A lot of people are rude to them.  Not many realise those jelly babies or other sugary treats they hand out they’ve paid for out of their own money as well as giving up their time to be there as volunteers.

Don’t get me wrong when volunteering as a marshall you generally get something in return like a free race pass or item of merchandise for example, which is great, but given that it is a very long day, most people do it to give back or for the love of the sport involved.

I’ve done a number of events with different friends and we always thank the marshalls.  If it’s a run then sometimes I’m struggling to breathe and run and stay upright so can’t always say thanks but if a bike ride or obstacle run always make sure I do.

I’m part of a group called Mudd Queens and you always see other Mudd Queens at most events but especially as marshalls during obstacle runs.  They are always on hand with muddy hugs, jelly babies and a friendly face and that small of act kindness from them makes such a massive difference so those taking part in the event. In my recent Spartan Super when we got to the tyre flip obstacle and at the finish to claim our well earned medals myself and friend Helen were so chuffed to see a fellow Mudd Queen, Jojo, at both!


I thought of doing a blog post about this when someone I know made a comment about the role of a marshall with little gratitude assuming they were paid as an employee by the company putting on the event and not actually realising that is not the case.

A friend from my cycling club, Romford CC, is part of East Essex Tri club and they recently out on a triathlon event and club members are asked to volunteer and then they can race and take part.  Local Tri club Havering Tri did the same recently at their aquathon.  In addition my running club, Havering ’90 Joggers, are often found as volunteers at local Park Runs. These people regularly take part in events and are happy to do their part in return.

It’s actually very rewarding and I have previously done a blog post when I volunteered as a marshall for Men’s Health Survival of the Fittest urban obstacle run and I will be taking part in Nuclear Races Blast event this weekend then on marshall duty for the evening event Blackout and I know I will finish both with a huge grin on my face and either none or very few jelly babies left in my bag!

It’s not just my opinion either, I asked quite a few people who have either marshalled or compete in events for their opinions and they were as follows:

“volunteering was a major part in my ocr journey. i started back in 2014 at a Tough Mudder and then ended up volunteering all year for them as it built my confidence and also the understanding what was involved in ocrs. i still prefer to marshal than run.  From a marshal co-ordinators side most people dont realise how much time is put into organising marshals for a race. My love for OCR running and marshal has found me lucky to work for some great race events. People also need to remember if they say they will marshal then its important to turn up, but also make sure they are prepare for the day ahead.”

“I love volunteering for the fun factor .  I love encouraging the girl at the back the one with no self esteem who just wishes she hadn’t come to the race .she has lots of tears and fears and then she goes over that wall runs through the mud falls flat on her face she picks herself up and smiles . We laugh all the way round the coarse and the demons are left in the muddy puddle and this girl goes of and gets herself fit then comes back fighting them obstacles stronger than ever she then becomes a volunteer and helps the next girl that comes a long .  I give up at least three Saturdays either helping at nuclear taster days or I do local Parkruns .i dont look at it as volunteering but just putting the belief back in people.”

“Only that it’s a saviour when a Marshal says well done or keep going etc.. I really listen all desperately to what they say sometimes & get comfort from it when I’m tired So so appreciate it.”

So next time you take part in an event, gratefully take a sugary sweet that is offered, helping hand over an obstacle, advice at a junction on your bike, claim a medal please say thanks as without these guys those events would not be possible!

Category: Fitness

Trying to find my mojo

After my crash on my Newcastle to London ride I lost my mojo.  I’d trained hard for that ride and it was my main event for the year and I am devastated that mother nature decided instead of me finishing, that a hefty gust of wind would knock me off and knock me out!  I’ve had many messages and kind words from people for which I am very grateful.  I’ve received cards and flowers and yet could not pull myself together.

I worked from home as I was pretty sore and stiff and really emotional so most people I spoke to or saw have had to deal with me in tears (sorry).

Everyone has said that it was out of my control and when you end up in an ambulance that is the time to accept your ride is over.  I know all of this is true but it doesn’t make it easier.  And they are right there are other events and other rides and the training is not for nothing.

I got taken out for dinner by my lovely friend Helen and taken over the park for a picnic by another lovely friend Danielle.  One card I received from the lovely Laura was this and although I didn’t feel neither brave or strong I loved it – I could be brave and strong again.

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I was due to go to Nuclear Races for a training day with Mudd Queens and didn’t want to go there either but the lovely ladies convinced me to go and so I did and I am so pleased I did.  I couldn’t do much as I was still sore but its one of my favourite places and I started in tears and finished with a huge smile on my face.

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The thought of getting back on my bike quite frankly petrified me.  But after a good day on Saturday I asked my husband to go out with me for a short slow ride to see how I got on.  I can see on my garmin my heart rate and it was higher than usual, my breathing was all over the place and I felt completely panicked.  I had hoped I would get on and think I was worrying about nothing but I was freaked out.  To top it off the wind was out to play as well.  I cried at one point as I wanted to get a drink but was so scared to take my hand off the handlebar to get the bottle.  I got there in the end and finished the ride and stopped crying.  It wasn’t pretty but I got it done.

I finished the weekend with friends at a bbq where once again there were tears but ended up an amazing evening finishing in a hot tub in my underwear (trying to forget that part) with lots of laughs and smiles, which did me the world of good!

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Also went back out on my club beginners ride last night and those guys never fail to make me laugh, again was nervous but had a giggle at one member who got a puncture and ended up changing it in front of a tyre sign!

I’ve done a blog post before about how important it is to have a support network and this week showed me once again that my support network is amazing and so this is just a quick post to say thank you all once again!