Life as a pro athlete is certainly not an easy one. It’s not all plain sailing, winning medals and jet setting to exotic locations. There is some hard graft involved and several ups and downs. It’s very unusual for an athlete too have a consistent and perfect year. Unfortunately there are bound to be some setbacks.
Although I’m training at Loughborough uni I decided to live in Nottingham with my boyfriend. Having lived in Bristol for the last 8 years and been quite attached to the beautiful architecture in Clifton, I was pleasantly surprised by parts of Nottingham. Some of the buildings on the Nottingham uni campus are impressive, and not to mention Wollaton Hall. I have certainly found my running and cycling routes around Nottingham now. I say ‘routes’ (plural) but actually I just need one route for each, and one day I might go the other direction!
Although I’m training at Loughborough uni I decided to live in Nottingham with my boyfriend. Having lived in Bristol for the last 8 years and been quite attached to the beautiful architecture in Clifton, I was pleasantly surprised by parts of Nottingham. Some of the buildings on the Nottingham uni campus are impressive, and not to mention Wollaton Hall. I have certainly found my running and cycling routes around Nottingham now. I say ‘routes’ (plural) but actually I just need one route for each, and one day I might go the other direction!
Obviously with the decision to live outside of Loughborough there is a commute to training. With recovery being a large part of being an elite athlete this is certainly a disadvantage but I’ve found some pros as well as cons. Previously in Bristol I would roll out of bed for an early session about 15 minutes before it started and I’d eventually be awake about half way through the session. Not ideal! Now I even grab a quick bowl of cereal with the extra time to digest and take a thermos mug in the car. The mug also doubles up as a great microphone when GEM106 play a classic 80’s tune. I’m still mastering Adele’s latest single too. OK, so some mornings I’m not that awake that I’m screeching the roof off, but it can put me in a good mood by the time I get to the pool. Other pros include making sure I do a thorough warm down after training and not sit in the car straight away (did that once...NEVER again!) and saving time by eating my recovery food on the way home. I’m no good at steering with my knees like some people, but soon I’ll be an expert at peeling the shell off a hardboiled egg with one hand. Look out Britain's Got Talent..... It’s really difficult by the way.
One major con.....more driving = more speeding fines. I’ve had a couple of very close calls. I blame my new 2.2L car, it’s too tempting to drive fast. My rule of the speed limit plus 10mph (as a max) no longer applies and now the speed on the sign is the speed I go. I am now that really annoying person who drives 30 in the 30 zone at all times and if you’re in a hurry and drive up my backside then I am not going to go any faster!! Then I’ll accelerate away when entering a national limit.
One major con.....more driving = more speeding fines. I’ve had a couple of very close calls. I blame my new 2.2L car, it’s too tempting to drive fast. My rule of the speed limit plus 10mph (as a max) no longer applies and now the speed on the sign is the speed I go. I am now that really annoying person who drives 30 in the 30 zone at all times and if you’re in a hurry and drive up my backside then I am not going to go any faster!! Then I’ll accelerate away when entering a national limit.
As part of the World Class Programme and UK sport funding, athletes are asked to go to schools, communities and clubs to inspire others. I thought I’d start in my comfort zone, so I went back to my old senior school, St Mary’s School in Colchester. I’ve done a couple of talks before so this wasn’t too daunting, and when it comes to talking about triathlon and training then most people would have a hard time trying to shut me up. So, a 6.30am swim session first before heading over to the school to give an assembly. I certainly don’t miss the Lexden road traffic. Whose idea was it to put 4 major senior schools on the same road within about a mile of each other?! Back in the day it proved useful for doing unfinished homework though (usually English).
Just a small crowd of ~250 girls, (yep, that is the entire school) and I described how I went from sitting on that floor in year 7 to getting to where I am today. I was once asked by a friend in year 9, what I wanted to do when I was older, and although I was too afraid to admit to most people and perhaps didn’t have the self belief at the time, I said ‘professional athlete.’ Now I have the biggest grin on my face when people ask me what I do now. I get to do this sport I love, day in and day out, and EVEN in the bad weather there’s no other thing I’d rather be doing. I even got a Christmas card from UK Sport – awesome! I explained to the pupils that it took a lot of hard work and if I had more belief from the start then maybe it wouldn’t have taken me so long. But I got there in the end! I spent the rest of the day in all the Games lessons, playing volleyball, basketball, netball, chatting to the girls, and then I did my run session around our old school cross country course – that hill is still just as hard as it was back then, but I loved it!!
Just a small crowd of ~250 girls, (yep, that is the entire school) and I described how I went from sitting on that floor in year 7 to getting to where I am today. I was once asked by a friend in year 9, what I wanted to do when I was older, and although I was too afraid to admit to most people and perhaps didn’t have the self belief at the time, I said ‘professional athlete.’ Now I have the biggest grin on my face when people ask me what I do now. I get to do this sport I love, day in and day out, and EVEN in the bad weather there’s no other thing I’d rather be doing. I even got a Christmas card from UK Sport – awesome! I explained to the pupils that it took a lot of hard work and if I had more belief from the start then maybe it wouldn’t have taken me so long. But I got there in the end! I spent the rest of the day in all the Games lessons, playing volleyball, basketball, netball, chatting to the girls, and then I did my run session around our old school cross country course – that hill is still just as hard as it was back then, but I loved it!!
Despite the ‘celebrity’ life there’s still time for racing. At the end of November I entered the 9Bar Chilly Duathlon at Castle Combe circuit in Wiltshire, and it certainly lived up to its name! The coldest week we’ve had this Autumn/Winter and I think I spent longer deciding what to race in than I did actually doing the race. Trying to find suitable clothing without getting too cold on the bike but not overheating on the run. This event runs alongside the BUCS Duathlon and since I loved the BUCS race last year I thought I’d race on the circuit again. Unfortunately no longer a student, I had to enter the Open race. After an hour and a half drive to stay at a friend’s overnight and then a further 90 min drive to the venue, I realised I don’t live in Bristol anymore and I need to find some local races!
I was excited about racing again and with no pressure or expectation, I was just doing what I love doing. I wanted to see how my times compared to last year, oh, and I had to beat my good friend and ‘bike sponsor,’ Chris. I am competitive after all! Having not done a lot of speed work in training I was intrigued to see how this race would go, with only a 2 mile run, 10 mile cycle and 2 mile run I’d need to go hard. Now I was NOT going to have a repeat of last year so as soon as I was given it, I put my timing chip ON! An improvement from last year already.
This was a mixed gender race so I let the fast guys sprint off and I settled into my own rhythm. I overtook a couple of girls within the first kilometre and it was only when I was about 500m from transition that I saw another girl ahead of me. Oh no! I was going to have to cycle hard to get enough of a lead on the second run that she won’t catch me. I soon overtook her on the bike and found my rhythm. My legs were hurting from the off and my muscles were still sore from gym 2 days before. You easily put those things to back of your mind once you’re racing though. Once again, I lived up to my middle name – consistent. 5 laps: 4.56.3 (let’s account for getting my feet in my shoes here), 4.51.2, 4.49.3, 4.50.3, 4.51.7. I don’t know how I do it. It was getting harder and I thought I was getting slower?! I went onto run 2 in first place and my legs felt surprisingly good given how they felt on the bike. I held my position to finish as first female, and I beat Chris. However, all my times were a little slower than last year but I was happy with my performance after a solid week of 20+ hours training. It’s always nice to come away with a win too!
I was excited about racing again and with no pressure or expectation, I was just doing what I love doing. I wanted to see how my times compared to last year, oh, and I had to beat my good friend and ‘bike sponsor,’ Chris. I am competitive after all! Having not done a lot of speed work in training I was intrigued to see how this race would go, with only a 2 mile run, 10 mile cycle and 2 mile run I’d need to go hard. Now I was NOT going to have a repeat of last year so as soon as I was given it, I put my timing chip ON! An improvement from last year already.
This was a mixed gender race so I let the fast guys sprint off and I settled into my own rhythm. I overtook a couple of girls within the first kilometre and it was only when I was about 500m from transition that I saw another girl ahead of me. Oh no! I was going to have to cycle hard to get enough of a lead on the second run that she won’t catch me. I soon overtook her on the bike and found my rhythm. My legs were hurting from the off and my muscles were still sore from gym 2 days before. You easily put those things to back of your mind once you’re racing though. Once again, I lived up to my middle name – consistent. 5 laps: 4.56.3 (let’s account for getting my feet in my shoes here), 4.51.2, 4.49.3, 4.50.3, 4.51.7. I don’t know how I do it. It was getting harder and I thought I was getting slower?! I went onto run 2 in first place and my legs felt surprisingly good given how they felt on the bike. I held my position to finish as first female, and I beat Chris. However, all my times were a little slower than last year but I was happy with my performance after a solid week of 20+ hours training. It’s always nice to come away with a win too!
I returned to my usual training regime with a greater incentive to improve and I was adapting well to the increase in hours. I was making good progress and just carrying on with a spring in my step and a grin on my face. It wasn’t a completely smooth path that’s for sure, it was a rocky climb. We were just pushing a little further each week to see where my limits were. Then a couple of weeks ago my setback appeared and we found my limit. Abnormalities are very easy to notice when you have such a firm routine. Simple things such as going to the loo during a swim set when you never normally would, or even not singing at the top of my voice in the car can be indicators that something is up. Perhaps if I had paid more attention to how slim I look in some of the duathlon photos I could have avoided it.
A combination of things led to a high level of fatigue which a couple of days rest didn’t shake off. As my training hours increased my food intake didn’t. Poor fuelling for some sessions, low iron levels and overtraining meant I was cooked! Despite my iron supplementation, the high intensity training and impact of running meant my iron levels had dropped even lower than back in November. So, I was given the golden ticket to most people’s dream Christmas. I had to sit around, not really do much and eat a shed load of food. Very different from my usual lifestyle but I think you’d all frown if I complained. Although I did miss my Christmas day run. :( Thankfully I have a lot of support from all the practitioners at Loughborough and I’ve regained some of the 3.5Kg I lost over the last 2 months. Currently I’m still resting and refuelling, but I’m on my way back up which is the main thing.
2015 hasn’t exactly finished the way I would have liked it to but it has been an epic year for me. I thought 2010 was unbeatable, when I graduated with a BSc, was offered a PhD and I got my first GB cap in Modern Pentathlon. Well, I’ve surprised myself and 2015 has just topped it – I joined the Paratriathlon squad as a guide, graduated with a PhD and now I’m training as an elite athlete. A big thank you to EVERYONE who has supported me and made that happen! I thought it would be rude not to see the year off with a bang so I’m doing the whole London fireworks thang (yes I just said thang). Whatever you’ve achieved or discovered this year, I hope you enjoy celebrating it! Finally, I wish you all a merry Christmas and a happy New Year. See you in 2016!
2015 hasn’t exactly finished the way I would have liked it to but it has been an epic year for me. I thought 2010 was unbeatable, when I graduated with a BSc, was offered a PhD and I got my first GB cap in Modern Pentathlon. Well, I’ve surprised myself and 2015 has just topped it – I joined the Paratriathlon squad as a guide, graduated with a PhD and now I’m training as an elite athlete. A big thank you to EVERYONE who has supported me and made that happen! I thought it would be rude not to see the year off with a bang so I’m doing the whole London fireworks thang (yes I just said thang). Whatever you’ve achieved or discovered this year, I hope you enjoy celebrating it! Finally, I wish you all a merry Christmas and a happy New Year. See you in 2016!