Semi de Paris 2018

My first race in over 10 months! Such a relief to see that my fitness is coming back after only a few months of training. Since December I’ve been focusing on getting back into shape in preparation for Ironman training this year. This race was either going to be a reality check on how unfit I’ve gotten, or an encouraging “pat on the back”. I’m much better with positive reinforcement, so I’m thankful it was the latter!

The Summary

Fastest 5k, 1-5km: 23m 23s
Slowest 5k, 10-15k: 24m 13s

Total Time: 1h 39m 52s

Average Speed: 4:44 m/km
Gender Position: 414 of 12,498

I totally thought this result was a personal best but my post on the 2016 Kingston Half Marathon has reminded me otherwise… Either way, I’m within seconds of my PB and I’m pretty stoked about it!

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Swimming with World Champion and double Olympian, Katy Sexton!

I’m not sure what I else I expected, but wow Katy swim’s fast! Mind blowing-ly fast.

Last Saturday, Katy and I met at the Guildford Spectrum Leisure Complex and started the set doing 8 lengths front crawl as a warm up. I obviously wanted to make a good impression so I attempted to swim at a decent effort-level to avoid being categorized as a “loss cause”. What actually happened… me thrashing-about in the pool trying to not look slow, while Katy effortlessly glides through the water and laps me in the process.

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Should you pace your next run with a GPS watch/ app?

When I was preparing for the Edinburgh Marathon I lived by my Garmin – I used it on every run and kept track of ALL my stats. I was borderline obsessive about my pace and my progress.

After the marathon, I stopped training for a couple months and by the time I decided to get back into a training regime, it felt like I had lost so much fitness. All of the sudden, I hated my stats. I was slower; it was harder; and it was annoying how quickly I lost fitness after working so hard to build it up. As a result, I started to dread going for runs. Something I loved turned into something I avoided… I quickly realised that if I want to keep running, I needed to leave the watch behind.

There are many benefits to tracking your runs though and I’ve recently tried to get back into the routine of it.

If you’re wondering whether you should start tracking your runs, or if you should step back from obsessing over your running data, check out my list of pros and cons below…

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Life in between goals…

This Summer, I set myself a bit of a vague goal: Approach training with a ‘healthier balance’. I set this goal to avoid over-consuming myself in training and to make sure I don’t compromise too much from other important aspects of life.

But what exactly is a ‘healthier balance’? Was I not healthy before?

For 10 years, I have consumed myself in specific functional goals in preparation for “Race Day”. It is something I’m really proud of, but sometimes I struggle to find enough meaning behind it all… a reason to dedicate so much time to it.

So this is what I was trying to accomplish by training with a ‘healthier balance’… less compromise to train and more time with friends and family.

It almost backfired! … I started questioning things way more than before.

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Thorpe Park Sprint Triathlon Race Report

THE SUMMARY

I had a disappointing swim performance but because of it, I was really motivated to push myself on the bike and run. Overall, I am so pleased with the result — I finished third of all the women which is a major milestone for me, my first podium in triathlon!

Total Time: 01:21:07

Gender Position: 3 / 42

Category Position: 2 / 15

More detail on my race below and on what’s coming up next!

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How to Execute an Active Holiday

I’ve always felt that exploring new surroundings is best done from ground-level.

If you’re a runner, put on your runners and run; If you’re a walker, walk; and if you’re a cyclist, grab your bike and ride.

As you may have seen on Instagram/ Facebook, Dan and I are currently in Mallorca!

While Dan and Phil train for the Race Across America. Suzanne and I have been exploring the island.

I don’t want this post to spat out facts about the benefits of exercise, the mindfulness gained from travelling or the therapeutic benefits of being outdoors.

We all know these are good things.

I hope this post helps to promote active traveling and that you walk away feeling excited to execute an active holiday.

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What you need to know about ClassPass

Until ClassPass came along, my Class-IQ was very low. My fitness class experience was limited to a few yoga classes… I had never been spinning, never saw the intrigue in barre, and I never took Pilates.

It’s not that I had anything against taking fitness classes… I just thought they were over priced and it wasn’t clear to me what I’d get out of it, so I got used to doing things on my own.

ClassPass costs £79 ($99 CAN) per month and you can take an *unlimited amount of classes. This is what got my attention… for £79 I can take as many classes as I like… so if I take upwards to 15, than each class will only cost £5.26… that’s a bargain, and I love bargains.

I did go a little crazy with ClassPass to ensure it’d be a bargain… but as a result, I’d say my Class-IQ has sky rocketed. Here’s a summary of my experience: the pros and cons of ClassPass, and a list of my favourite classes around London.

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Team RAAMIN4Charity are getting ready to Race Across America!

Race Across America (RAAM) is known for being one of the toughest ultra cycling events in the World. It involves non-stop cycling coast to coast across America. The route is 3,000 miles long with 170,000 ft of climbing; our team is targeting a place on the podium, which means we’re aiming to finish the race in under 6 days.

When I say ‘we’ I mean Dan (@DanielOJello), Phil (@Tobebythesea), Tom (@CERacing) and a fourth cyclist who is yet to be selected. Me and the others… We’ll be driving support vehicles and doing everything else in between.

The group of us have named ourselves RAAMIN 4 CHARITY (@Raamin4Charity) and our website can be found here.

Our nominated charities are Great Ormond Street Hospital given the fantastic care they gave a nephew of one of the riders and Aplastic Anaemia Trust for the research they undertake in trying to better understand this rare blood condition, which one of the teams suffers from.

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Determination trumps motivation – But Coffee Helps

This past week of training has been really tough. My energy levels feel low and as a result I’m not feeling very motivated… It’s been quite the contrast over the past 2 weeks actually. Two weeks ago I was feeling strong, excited and I felt like my half ironman training was really coming along. This week the weather has cooled off and with it, so has my motivation.

Now this is going to sound silly… but I honestly think that getting through the past few early morning training sessions comes down to two things 1) determination and 2) Nespresso (mainly Nespresso).

My morning ritual: 5:15, the alarm goes off. 5:16, Zombie walk to the Nespresso machine. 5:17, the Nespresso machine is on. 5:18, two Lungo’s made and brought back to bed (one mine, one Dan’s). 5:19, debate going back to sleep. 5:25, we finish our drinks, we get up and go.

I recommend Nespresso for anyone who drinks coffee and has early morning commitments. It’s quick, it’s good coffee and give your sleepy eyes less than 10 minutes, you’ll be up and ready to take on the day. The worst part is getting up to grab your cup… in extreme circumstances I’ve debated putting our Nespesso machine at the bedside table even!

As you can see… I’m pretty dependent on coffee; so lets talk about the benefits coffee when training.

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Electric Muscle Stimulation Training

Have you ever heard of EMS (Electric Muscle Stimulation) training?

Well the guys over at Exerceo Training got me suited up for an EMS workout and taught me all about it.

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