Sally is a regular contributor to Realbuzz, one of the UK's favourite health and fitness websites.
Hitting the hallowed track...
Updated: 20 April 2012
I found myself with a cup of tea and half an hour to think. A rare occurrence at the moment. I thought “I know, I’ll write to the Realbuzz faithful!”
All this hoo-haa about Royal Mail restricting the supply of stamps comes just a couple of weeks after an amazing announcement. During the Olympics, the Royal Mail will be issuing stamps commemorating our Gold Medal winners. Think about that; they’re going to capture the golden moment and within 24 hours, people will be able to buy a stamp to commemorate the occasion! They must have some seriously clever people working on this. I enjoyed the launch day for this excellent initiative, but don’t ask me how on earth they’re actually going to do it. I just hope they’re nice and busy…
You might remember me angling for a go on the Olympic track a couple of months back. It didn’t happen then, but I got my chance recently, along with 6,000 other people. We all did the Olympic Park 5 mile run, which ended up in the Stadium itself, on the very track that our boys and girls will be racing on in a few months’ time. Now I like to think of myself as a no-nonsense, down-to-earth Essex Girl, but to be honest, I got totally over-excited by the occasion. I found myself waving at other runners and at the spectators; it took me right back to the excitement of my racing career. I felt a bit silly the next day, but that’s what the Olympics do to you. I can hardly wait.
I’ve spoken to a few of our athletes in recent weeks. It’s all getting quite serious now. Most of them are away on their last stint of high altitude training before they come home to sharpen themselves up for the summer. Things are going very well indeed for quite a few of our medal hopefuls. High altitude and warm weather training camps are designed to give athletes a bigger “take-out” from each session. In simple terms, it’s harder to train in the heat and altitude, so a 90-minute session at a camp is worth a good couple of hours plus at home. The other side of the coin is that a break from an athlete’s normal routine can be disruptive, so it’s not necessarily a given that you’ll do better if you go on a camp. That explains why some athletes have stayed home, where they can carry on with their (very tough and grueling) routines.
I got asked the other day how I would advise today’s athletes to approach the Games. That’s not an easy one to answer. Everybody has their own pressure points and motivating factors. I’d say that attention to detail is crucial; don’t leave any stone unturned. Think through the whole experience from start to finish…over and over again. Imagine what you’re going to do and when. I spent days visualizing. Would I have won if I hadn’t? Hard to say, but I know one thing; I wouldn’t have had so much fun out on that track if I hadn’t thought hard about what every step, every hurdle would be like…
You think you know someone...
Updated: 17 February 2012
Sometimes you just think “Wow. That was an easy, fun job.” I was asked to attend a fundraising dinner in Guernsey. Sir Clive Woodward was also on the bill. “Great,” I thought. “Interesting podium partner, lovely setting…why not?” If only all my jobs could be like this one. The top man at Leicester Tigers rugby club laid on his private jet. I waltzed up ten minutes before departure, hopped on board (no queues or fighting for a seat) and we were off. The perfect start to a great evening. Lots of money raised, a short hop back to the jet and another simple journey home. Fantastic!
I recently spent a day in the Newcastle area, visiting schools and talking to the children about the fun of sporting competition. I did five schools, one after the other. Lots of lovely kids, all sitting politely and listening to me…but it was a challenge, because after the third one I started to forget what I’d said and not said. My guess is that some schools will have got the message quite well, whereas others will have left thinking “Why did she say the same thing 4 times?”
My mum recently turned 80 and we’ve had a whole series of celebratory events to mark the occasion. She announced a while ago that she’d like to go and see Arsenal play at the Emirates. “Really?” I said. “Yes,” she replied, “I’m a big fan.” OK, I thought; sure. We can do that if you like. I rang up and managed to get some tickets organized.
We got to the ground and my mum was so excited. I thought, “Well, she seems to be having a good time.” It was a great match, actually; we saw the Gunners beat Blackburn 7-1. Extraordinary. But not as extraordinary as my mum. She literally knew all of the terrace songs and she joined in. She knew who all the players were, where they were from, how many goals they’d scored…I was just sitting there, staring at her. I had absolutely no idea she was so in to the Arsenal!
I asked her how come she knew so much about them. “My dad was a season ticket holder,” she said. “In those days, he felt that it was a man’s pastime, so I never got to go, even though I would have loved to have done. But that’s fine. I’ve been now and I’m completely satisfied. You’ve taken me to Wimbledon…so many places. And now I’ve been here to see Arsenal, that’s the end of my list; I think I’ve done everything in my life. Thank you.” Not much you can say to that!
An interesting footnote, given the recent football news…in Guernsey Sir Clive Woodward talked so passionately about the importance of the team ethos, the common purpose and how just one little cog can ruin it all if it’s not right. “It’s one of the very biggest challenges in elite sport,” he said…
Pirates of the Caribbean…?
Updated: 04 January 2012
Here we are in Olympic year! After seven long years of waiting, the Games are almost upon us. For the first time, I’m hitting January and thinking “Great! It’s a new year!” Normally I’d be pulling myself together and trying not to moan about the weather…
I’ve got no right at all to complain about the wind and rain that has battered my poor old house over the last few days. For the first time as a mum, I spent Christmas with my family away from home in much warmer climes. We were lucky enough to be invited by Royal Caribbean to enjoy a cruise from Florida to Mexico, via Haiti and Jamaica. Non-stop sunshine and so much for the kids to do. Jon and I felt able to relax and let them get on with their own fun; quite a rare treat with three very lively boys. There were 5,000 people on board, but the ship was so vast and the service so good that it never felt like that. Those crew members earn their money, let me tell you. The only disappointment for my youngest was not seeing Captain Jack Sparrow and the Black Pearl; I said that perhaps they were pillaging elsewhere on the high seas and that we couldn’t expect them to catch a modern ship with their sailing boat.
Christmas Day itself was spent in a seaside house on the Floridian coast. I’d been quite unsure about being away from home, but I needn’t have worried. Some of Jon’s family joined us and made it feel properly festive. We had a tree with stockings under it, a very early morning and a long day enjoying all the little presents that Santa brought. Best of all was the Christmas Day swim; I’ve heard people talk about it, but I never thought I’d do it! That plus a sirloin steak BBQ made it a very different, but very enjoyable day.
The highlight of the whole trip was running bare footed on the beach. It feels so different running like that. The sand was just right – not too soft, not too hard – and even Jon noticed that I was beasting it. I just felt so great. A long, sandy beach, no people in sight; what more could you want? Even the two massive blisters I got under my big toes didn’t spoil it for me!
Despite all the running, I managed to put on some serious weight, due mainly to a daily breakfast of pancakes and maple syrup. Oh and a margherita in mid-afternoon! When we first arrived, the pancake stack looked impossibly huge; by the last day, I was eating the lot without batting an eyelid. Yum!
And now it’s back to reality. But like I said, this year is a very special one, so although the diary is mad from now until September, it’s going to be a year that we’ll all remember. I’d like to think that by the time the Olympics actually arrive, I’ll have lost the excess poundage I picked up in Florida. And on that note, I’m off to paddle down the lane in my running shoes…now where’s my wetsuit??
Monsters big and small, plus a man with a javelin....
Updated: 19 September 2011
The “big monster” was the long-awaited First Monster Challenge at Loch Ness. Actually, it was my second Monster, but I suppose it’s unreasonable to expect the organisers to change the name just for me! Those of you who read my blogs regularly will know that this event has been on my mind for several months. I’d spent a lot of time in the spring and summer getting fit, in the hope of improving on last year’s performance. I’d had my setbacks along the way, but arrived in good spirits with my teammates. I’ve decided that Duathlons are like childbirth. Once they’re in the past, you forget all the bad bits and focus on the happy memories.
However I found myself halfway through my hilly one hour run thinking; “Why on earth am I back here?” I was climbing a particularly nasty section that I’d blanked from my memory and I felt awful. I genuinely wondered if I’d picked up flu or something. It was horrible. I didn’t believe the timing when I got back; somehow, I’d run 3 minutes quicker than the previous year. I shouldn’t have been surprised; I felt lousy before a couple of big races when I was an athlete and ended up doing well.
The mountain bike section was more fun and I got in to it in a big way – I guess my early summer South Downs ride had given me a head start. Overall, I was very proud of my team; last year we finished 40th and this year 23rd, so we’ve improved (or maybe lots of the good teams dropped out in 2011!) It’s a well organized event and if you fancy some scenery while you sweat, it’s hard to beat.
I recently spent an afternoon with javelin man Steve Backley. Normally when I take to the stage at a corporate event, I’m up there for an hour at the most. We were on the platform for 3 hours, taking questions, swapping ideas, discussing the similarities between peak performance in business and sport. I’d never listened to Steve’s story before; it was amazing to hear how he kept himself in the hunt for the medals at three Olympics. Talk about delivering despite setbacks! If the delegates enjoyed it as much as me, they had a very good day indeed.
And so to my little monsters. Part of me was looking forward to the return of the school routine, but I was also dreading the “up and out” feeling in the morning. Not to mention the “come on and get your homework done” speech each evening! My eldest is now in Year 9 and I’m as dismayed as he is by the amount of homework. There’s already a shed load and I can’t help with 90% of it! I can hear the nagging tone in my voice as I try to get him and the other two focused on what they’re supposed to be doing. I need to structure things better for them in the evenings, so that they (and I) can get on properly. Running up that monster Scottish hill suddenly doesn’t seem so bad…