Last week I caught myself telling my running group - a group of women new to running - that I can't run in the mornings. I stopped myself. There's a lot of things I thought I couldn't do: swimming, cycling 100 miles, a half-ironman and have proved myself wrong. But because of a couple of [...]
Flinging myself down a muddy hill for the second time on Saturday morning, the £25 pair of spikes I’d bought just days before were proving a sound investment. The marshal at the bottom of the hill shouted out ‘Sharp right turn’ as my legs struggled to go any direction other than forwards. The metal spikes [...]
This weekend I headed back to my hometown half marathon – the Great Eastern Run. Being two weeks after The Gauntlet and two weeks before Frankfurt marathon, my legs were in no position to be attempting to run fast. I had no plan for the race, so when a friend said they were looking for [...]
After I crossed the finish line of my half-iron triathlon I got a lot of congratulatory tweets. Some asked what was next. I staggered to the hospitality tent, ate a veggie sausage in a burger bun and drank a massive coffee . That’s what was next and all I cared about at that moment. A [...]
On Mondays and Thursdays I lead groups of beginner runners. They’re taking part in my 0-5k course and I have no doubt that they’ll all get to that magical 5k in a few weeks’ time. They, however, aren’t always as confident. Every week I meet them and explain the run we’re going to do and [...]
After 45 miles of cycling up and down hills I was broken. I dropped down into my lowest gear to begin the slow grind up a beast of a hill I’d already climbed once more than two hours before, and I began to cry. It wasn’t just tears but big fat sobs coming out of [...]
That's me in the middle. The one nervously wading out into a river at the start of her first ever triathlon. My brain was telling me to turn round, head back to the car park and go home. To run and save myself because this was a stupid idea. I didn't belong here - I [...]
“What training plan have you been using for your half-iron tri? I need a recommendation.” “Training plan. Umm, I haven’t really got one.” “Oh, have you been using a coach?” “No, none of those either.” “Then how do you know how much training to do?” “Well, I haven’t exactly been training either. Not in the [...]
The short answer to this question is 70.3 miles (or 113.13 kilometres if you like your measurements in metric. But I order pints of beer after a race and it therefore makes sense that all units that happen before that point should come in Imperial measurements too). That 70.3 is made up of, in this [...]
Kerri-Anne Payne knows a thing or two about swimming in lakes. She's two-time World 10km Open Water Champion and Olympic silver medalist over the distance. She was kind enough to have a chat with me and offer some swimming advice. I’m not looking forward to winter training in the pool now I’ve discovered the joys [...]
