During Covid a friend asked me to join her in an open water swim for her birthday as no one else was wild enough to say yes. Gaddings Dam, on top of one of the many Yorkshire hills, It was so cold, but so beautiful. I’m find myself fighting a mental battle with swimming, I want to love it as I love being absorbed by the water, but I end up swallowing all the water when I try to smile!
Putting the three disciplines together, a good friend of mine from the run club got me into multi sport. We’ve both travelled across the globe together representing Great Britain at European and world championships. With swimming being my weakest discipline, I much prefer duathlon!
“I really can’t stress enough how much the right fuelling can affect your enthusiasm towards something.”
HOW DO YOU JUGGLE TRAINING, WORK, AND SOCIAL LIFE?
Working shifts, I find it so difficult sticking to a set training program whilst juggling to see friends/family. A social life is important to me, so it gets planned weeks in advance. Google calendar helps me make the most of every minute!
I find that night shifts often wipe me out. Since my job is physically demanding this helps keep my strength up.
My sporting journey has been nearly two decades long. I’ve learnt boat loads, but there’s so much more to learn. My biggest achievement was in 2023 when I became European champion in sprint duathlon for my age group.
Unfortunately, shortly afterwards, I suffered a cardiac episode and struggled to walk for months. I’ve worked so hard to get back up to speed and sourced coaching at Trilab to ensure I didn’t over train. I encouraged my partner to take up running, it’s been an emotional journey having him by my side throughout my recovery. May 2024, I’m back up and running. Competed in my first standard distance duathlon, qualifying for the World Championships in 2025 and looking forward to this year’s sprint duathlon European Championships in June.
Over the years, I’ve worked out what my body agrees and disagrees with. However, fighting the urge to devour a massaman curry less than 2 hours before a training run has caught me out a couple of times.
What works for me;
- A naughty large meateor pizza the night before an endurance event.
- Porridge and a pot of stove top coffee, two hours before a race.
- On the bike, my favourites are lemon OTE electrolytes in one bottle, orange OTE carbs in the other.
- Caffeine gel. Jelly blocks stuck to the top tube.
- During training I’ll usually plan what recovery food I want to treat my body with. Only to find I’ve not been shopping, what I want is not in the fridge and I’m stuck with eggs, again.
Sometimes you need a treat of the naughty stuff. There is a butcher I cannot pass without calling in. I’ve been known to carry two pork pies for miles, stuffed in my jersey pocket, home for our tea.
