Mum on the Run

I have become ridiculously competitive in the last two years since I took up running. I have also started looking for challenges that will push my body to the limit and not only test my physical but also mental strength. (300km overnight bike ride, anyone?!)

Last October I won my first race. It was a 10k run around a lake and the prize was a pumpkin! My time wasn’t very good, (well over a minute slower than my PB of 42minutes, which isn’t that great for that distance either) there just weren’t any fast people taking part (only two guys beat me.)

Two weeks ago I ran a 3 mile race. I didn’t want to do it, but had promised a friend I would and couldn’t get out of it. A lot of people expected me to win, but I wasn’t feeling too confident. In fact, I was nervous! I ran behind a young girl at a comfortable enough pace. My plan was to sprint past her right at the end. However, just before the 4k mark I saw another woman behind me. She was catching me up quick, and I there was no way she was going to beat me. I picked out a guy in front of me and decided to catch him. I sped past the young girl who had been in the lead, and left her and the other woman quite far behind.

That was a win I was actually quite proud of, as my time of 18.26 was decent enough. Also, there were a lot of speedy people there – the male winner ran the course in 15.30! I didn’t feel sick at the end and managed to smile at the finish line, which made me think I could probably pushed myself a bit harder.

I do sometimes wonder if it would be better if I didn’t have such a competitive streak in me. Would it be nicer to do a race where you weren’t trying to beat your PB and all the other women taking part? I will never know, as I am unable to
‘take it easy.’

I am fully aware that some people think I am totally nuts. But if I wasn’t signing up for all these different challenges, I wouldn’t get people telling me how I’ve inspired them to start exercising again after years of doing nothing or upping their own training to see how much further they can go.

Not everyone will want to do an ironman like me or sign up for a single race, but knowing that I’ve gotten people who have previously done nothing to make fitness part of their lives makes me seriously happy!

Muireann Carey-Campbell, or Bangs, as everyone seems to call her, is the fabulous and fit lady behind one of my favourite blogs, Spikes & Heels. Described as “a fitness site for badass women who train hard,” it’s an inspirational read. The site has just recently turned one, and if you haven’t bookmarked it yet, you are seriously missing out! I talked to Bangs about the weirdest fitness class she’s ever tried, her favourite brands and our mutual hatred for the term ‘bikini body.’

Your blog Spikes & Heels is inspiring so many women to get fit. Was the idea for it long in the making?
Ahh thank you! Well, it kind of came about almost despite myself. The more I was getting into fitness, the more frustrated I was feeling towards the traditional media aimed at women who are into fitness. I really disliked the pink/fluffy/all about weight loss approach to fitness. It didn’t reflect what I, or any of the women I was encountering on my journey, were about. At the time, it seemed more and more people were associating me with fitness anyway, so it just looked like all roads were leading to me starting a site. And no one was really doing my kind of site with the specific ethos and message I wanted, so I decided to do it. From inception to launch it was about three months in total.

You studied fashion, but have you always been into sports?
Gosh no! I’m not a natural athlete by any means. I played netball in primary school (as we all do), but by the time I was in high school, I was a dancer and that was my focus. I didn’t do any sports at all in school. It was just dance, dance, dance from the age 11 to 22. Then there was a period of prolonged inactivity until I was about 29!

I’m glad I’ve found someone who hates the concept of ‘bikini body’ as much as I do! Do you think the magazines will ever stop using that phrase and encourage people to get fit for life instead?
Man, I detest it. It’s such an unhealthy approach to fitness. Apparently women should only work out two months of the year to prepare themselves for two weeks on the beach. I think in general, the ethos of women’s magazines when it comes to fitness is all backwards. I work out because I love my body, not because I hate it. But the message they put out is that I should always be unhappy with some part of my body and something should always be improved. Sadly, I don’t think the ‘bikini body’ thing will stop any time soon, as women who haven’t yet found a healthy relationship with being active totally lap that nonsense up.

You love running, but have only quite recently started cycling. How do you find it and have you got any tips for anyone thinking about buying their first ‘proper’ bike? (Besides wear a helmet, of course!)
It depends what you want to use it for really. I have a great fixed wheel bike that I got second hand, that I love. My road bike is obviously a bit flashier. I had a proper fitting for that. I didn’t even know that was an actual thing, but it’s been invaluable. If you want to get into cycling more seriously, I think a bike fitting is imperative to get done. It makes sure the bike is properly set up specific to all your measurements.

What clothes do you feel the most comfortable in? And when it coms to sports gear, what are your favourite brands and items?
At the moment, I pretty much live in workout kit because I’m constantly training. I do love to dress up though and look very feminine and put together. When it comes to sportswear, I probably wear Nike the most and Rapha when I’m cycling. I also really like Sweaty Betty and Lululemon for really nice kind of cross over fitness/every day wear.

Lastly, what is the most bizarre fitness session you’ve ever tried?
Definitely aerial yoga, but it was amazing!

I’ve been running for just over two years. I started from scratch, as I always used to hate it before. I’ve gone from ‘I will never be able to run 10K’ to ‘no way am I ever doing a half marathon’ to contemplating doing a full one in Helsinki in August when I’m back home, and have already entered the London ballot
for next April.

Everyone can run, so just make sure you get properly fitted for a pair of trainers and you’re good to go, right? Well, so I thought, but apparently it’s not quite as simple as that…

I’ve been looking into this whole barefoot running thing for the last couple of months, as I have a few friends who do ultra distances, and swear by wearing thinner soled shoes and landing on your forefoot as opposed to your heel. And if you saw any of the London marathon and checked out how the top women and men ran, it was short stride on fore or mid foot. There are also a lot of people who claim ‘barefoot’ trainers have saved them from a strain of injuries.

Thanks to Fit PR, I was lucky to have a one on one three hour session with Rollo Mahon, an injury and athletic performance specialist, who has been teaching the skill of barefoot running for the last couple of years. I met him at the Battersea running track and after a quick chat, he told me to run a short distance as I normally would. After that, he asked me to do the same with no shoes on. All this was filmed and it was intriguing to see myself run.

I am, of course, a heavy heel striker! So we spent the next two hours or so at a gym doing various stretches and strengthening exercises. We did a lot of deep squats, which seem to be one of the key moves to strengthen the muscles and learn about the balance points and posture to nail this running style. Rollo also gave me some drills on the treadmill, so I would get the hang of the pace that would be the most beneficial with the landing that will not only save  energy, but put less strain on your joints and therefore prevent possible injury.

I have been lucky so far and haven’t been injured from running, so I am not thinking I need to tweak my form because of that. For me, it’s all about the potential to become a much more efficient runner, which means more speed! Being as competitive as I am (against myself just as much as against others), anything that can make me run faster and longer has to be a good thing!

So after an excellent session with Rollo, I decided I was going to give this ‘barefoot’ running a go. My plan now is to get a pair of Vivo Evos that have a 4mm sole and see how I will get on with changing my strike from heel to more forefoot. It will take me a while to build up, as you should take it really easy to begin with. And by easy I mean start from just running a maximum of 1km in them to see how your calves feel afterwards. You should also do various strength and stretching exercises alongside the running training.

As soon as I get the shoes, I need patience, which isn’t a word in my vocabulary! But with this, I have no choice, as if I try to go for my standard 7-10km run route in the minimalist shoes, I will without a doubt be in so much agony, I won’t be able to run for days after.

I could write a serious essay on this subject and my session, but I’ll spare you! Instead, if you want to find out more about the session I had, check out Rollo’s expert opinion about me and my running… And I now have a 6 week program he has designed that I need to follow.

I would love to hear from anyone who has done the transfer to barefoot trainers! What shoes did you go for? Was it difficult to get used to the new stride, and has the new technique made you a better runner?

Get bikini ready in 7 days, Bikini body in four weeks, Start getting your bikini body now, Bikini body shape up plan… These are just a few of the magazine covers or article headlines around at the minute that drive me absolutely insane.

In short, I’m strongly of the opinion that it should be ‘fit for life,’ not ‘go on a ridiculous diet so you can strip off for the summer and once the weather gets colder, put all that weight you have lost right back on.’

I had a chat to a good friend about this the other day and she totally agrees. She had been at the local magazine store and told me to go by and compare men’s fitness magazine covers to the women’s. And sure enough, the male magazines talk about getting strong and fit whilst the female ones use the worlds diet, weight loss and so on.

As much as I can’t stand this whole bikini body concept, I have the same frustration towards people who lose a lot of weight for their wedding, only to put it all back on straight after the honeymoon. ‘I went to the gym and did spinning religiously for six months before my wedding,’ said one friend who dropped 2 dress sizes and then put on 3, so she’s now heaviest she has ever been. Another one spent quite a lot of money on three pairs of J Brand jeans on her honeymoon. They now sit at the back of her wardrobe as she says she’ll never be able to fit into them again.

I just don’t get it! I really wish more women would realise that crash diets aren’t the answer. Because more often than not, you will put the weight straight back on when you start eating normally. It really should be about fresh, healthy food and exercise. Lose the weight gradually and incorporate fitness into your lifestyle and I guarantee you will feel more energetic, productive and happy. And the weight loss (although I am also more into measuring yourself for monitoring success, not getting fixed on what the scales say!) will be a lovely added bonus!

I’d love to hear your thoughts. I know that Bangs, who writes a fantastic fitness blog, Spikes and Heels, agrees with me. In fact, she probably hates the bikini body concept even more than me…

Those of you who have been reading my blog know about my new ambition of doing triathlons and (I can’t believe I am saying this…) and Ironman! I’ve always exercised, but I used to hate running up until two years ago and haven’t cycled since I rode my bike to school as a teenager. And the whole journey totalled up to about 2K! And up until a few weeks ago, I had not swam in over 13 years and never in my life done front crawl. So I definitely have a lot of work to do.

I think I’ll be OK on the bike – we’ll see when I get my first ever road one on Friday this week – but the swimming will take a while to learn properly, for sure! It’s quite hilarious that my first swim in over a decade was with Duncan Goodhew, as I got invited to a bloggers’ masterclass by the Olympic gold medalist. Then the following week I went along to a triathlon club’s session at David Lloyd. And a few days later I was back in the pool with Duncan!

I received an email after the masterclass asking if I wanted to join Duncan, Tim Lovejoy, a Swimathon competition winner and Marie Curie Cancer Care supporter  for a 5K team swim at the London Fields Lido. We were all to swim 1K. Being a sucker for any challenge, I said yes.

It was a freezing day and I’m not kidding, my knees turned blue when we were taking pictures before getting into the pool! Once in the water though, it was lovely and I breast stroked the whole 1000 and came in at just over 23minutes. Not bad for my 3rd swim in ages. I also discovered what a difference swimming in a 50metre pool makes…

Anyone into swimming should check out the Swimathon Challenge, as there is still time to sign up! You just look up a pool near you and choose to swim either 1.5, 2.5 or 5K between 26th and 28th April. You can also sign up as a team. Good luck and have fun!