Studying in my office with help from my personal assistant
I started off with the longest module, Nutrition and Weight Management. I figured it would give me a good review of nutrition topics I had covered in my personal training course with more detail. There were 16 lessons all together in this module, each of which took 20-30 minutes to complete. For this course, I had to be online to play each lesson, which features an audio track of the text. There are knowledge checks periodically within the lesson to see if you retained key bits of information or to see if you have prior knowledge about the next topic. The information delivered so far is simply put and broken down into little chunks that were easy to digest. If I didn’t finish a lesson, it would save my place and offer me an option to resume where I had finished or to start at the beginning of the module. Before passing each lesson, you must complete a five question quiz and score 100%. You can repeat the test immediately of you missed one or two questions but if you take too long to pass, you will have to log out and back in to restart.
Each lesson also has a resource folder which includes a transcript, relevant forms, and sometimes a glossary. Any time I had a question, I could either email my tutor or submit a question through the website. Most of my questions were around the technology side of things, rather than the course material, because computers are not my forte. The Future Fit Training team were always quick to respond and very helpful.
No joke, this cookie is as big as my head. And when I get stressed, I eat the whole thing.
Part of the course is a case study working with a client to help them learn more about their food habits and emotional links to eating. It was actually hard to find a volunteer that was willing to work with me for eight weeks. Through Twitter, I found two competitive male cyclists who wanted to drop some weight to improve their cycling performance. One of them was travelling a lot of work and was unable to check in with me on a regular basis. I am happy to say the other client was able to check in regularly and found the accountability very helpful. He tracked his food three to four days a week for me and started choosing fruits and vegetables over convenient processed foods. He didn’t loose any weight but he was sleeping better and feeling more energized during the day.
My tips for online study success? Give yourself deadlines to complete each lesson or modules by writing them in your diary. Think of them as exam dates that you cannot change. Set aside studying time in your diary each week too. I prefer to have the same slot every week (although that hasn’t be possible with marathon training the last two months) and keep plugging along but your schedule might be better to spend one day every other week. Set up a place to study that is free from distractions- no TV, no music, no kids (or dogs) interrupting you. You are taking this course to improve your health and knowledge, as well as to help your clients. Make it a priority. Have a notepad to take notes or print out the resource info to annotate as you go along.
Most of all, enjoy it! All of the information will help you fuel your body properly, feel energized and maintain a healthy weight that is appropriate for you. As they say, “health is wealth”.
Thanks to Future Fit Training for their support of furthering my nutritional education. All opinions are honest and my own.
If you are in England 20-21 October 2018, you should aim to stop by Bristol for the Wild & Well Festival that weekend. Their tagline is “a new style of wellbeing festival for anyone who want to live in a healthier happier, more connected way.” This totally resonates with my ethos and offers many different classes, workshops, talks, and activities at six venues around Bristol.
I wanted to attend last year but was in the USA for the Chicago Marathon. This year, however, I am giving a talk about my time in Tanzania, climbing Kilimanjaro. I am super excited to share my story with you, giving tips on how to plan your trip and what it takes to go on adventures big and small. The final program is still being developed, but my talk will be on Sunday at Ashton Court.
My aim to have my e-book about Kilimanjaro available by this time too. It will includes tips on preparing, a training guide, packing list, and stories from my trip. All proceeds will go towards my fundraising goal to help a special needs classroom in Moshi, Tanzania, that we visited on our trip. This classroom does not have any desks or chairs, which means the special needs children sit on the floor for their lessons.
My goal is to raise £420 (£1 for each kilometer I climbed) towards the £1250 needed to buy this furniture. If you scroll to the bottom of my Kilimanjaro post, you can read more about the project.
Thanks to friends, family and my local community, I have raised £173 so far. A desk/chair set is £95 ($135). You can donate through PayPal any amount you wish with this button.
I didn’t stop at Stella Point, but kept going (very slowly) to the tippy top of Kilimanjaro.
Come to my talk at Wild & Well to learn more about this unforgettable experience in nature.
This post will quickly become TMI, so only continue reading if you dare. If words like incontinence, vagina, vibrator, fart, and poop make you uncomfortable, stop reading now. This isn’t the typical vocabulary on my blog but I want women to know they are not alone on a few embarrassing bodily functions. Mom- you have been warned.
When I go out for a run, my main objectives are not to pee or poop my pants (aka underwear or leggings, depending on where you are from. Either way- it wouldn’t be pretty.). Lots of planning goes into what I can eat in the few hours before a run. I prefer fasted runs first thing in the morning as the risk of uncontrollable bowel movements is minimized. With urination, it is a different story. Usually, I leak a little when I cough due to hay fever while running. This problem doesn’t seem to be as big an issue when a coughing fit strikes while I am on my bike. During another episode, I was climbing over a stile on a trail race when I felt a slight release.
Black leggings are good at hiding wet patches.
I can never tell how much volume of urine actually leaves my body. It feels like an uncontrollable rush, which is mortifying. Questions like- “Will anyone be able to tell?” and “Does it smell?” go through my mind. When I finally get to the loo, it is always much smaller than what I originally thought. It just seems illogical that I have this issue. I have never given birth, nor do I suffer from chronic urinary tract infections. I am still on the younger side of 40, so why do I have the problem of sometimes urinating when I run?
Being a member of Run Mummy Run‘s Facebook group, I know this is a problem for many women. On the spectrum of severity, my problem isn’t bad at all. It doesn’t prevent me from being physically active and I don’t feel a need to wear an absorbent pad. But what I can’t understand is why women don’t talk about it more? As a creative problem solver, I decided to create a survey to help me gauge how much of an issue incontinence with running is and who women are turning to for help and advice.
First, I would like to thank everyone who took a few minutes out of their day to share their story with me and also those who shared my survey. You can see we had a variety of ages represented, as well as running experience.
One hundred and eighty one women and one man completed my survey. Only 25% of the respondents talk to someone about the problem (compared to 53% who keep it to themselves). Of the 98 people who answered why or why not do you talk to anyone about your incontinence problem and who if you do who, the majority said they were too embarrassed to speak about it. Another large proportion said that it wasn’t enough of a worry to bother talking to others. Those that do talk to others rely on family (mostly moms and sisters) and their running friends to confide in. I was surprised to see a few women didn’t’ know how to bring it up and another said it was “frowned upon” to discuss it in the spin community.
Ladies- let me tell you that you are not alone. Half of the women who do not have kids and completely my survey have some sort of experience with incontinence while running or playing sport. Seventy three percent of the moms who completed my survey suffer from some degree of incontinence after the kids arrived (both by vaginal birth and C-section). Yes, it is embarrassing, but know that chances are the lady next to you at Parkrun is having the same worries as you at the start line. Besides, everyone can relate to your body doing something that you cannot control (like farting when you sneeze, or is that just me?).
For those that answered my survey, 63% felt it was a minor problem that didn’t require any protection, while 23% wear thin liners or nappies. There where two big things that also stood out to me. First, that this problem keeps women from being physically active (33% in my survey will “occasionally” to “all the time” miss workouts because of their concerns). Other women purposely drink less on a run to avoid the issue. I would really advise against this, especially with the hot weather we have been having.
The second is that of the few women who were brave enough to bring this up with their general practitioner (GP, aka doctor in USA) (although I hate to use the word brave as you should be able to talk to your GP about anything. I acknowledge that this is a difficult topic for most though), the GP was dismissive. In my experience with the National Health Service (NHS), the doctors are too busy and too budget-aware to address things that don’t inhibit you from going to work. Perhaps if you have a good relationship with your doctor, they will recognize that this issue is important to you and make suggestions on how a solution can be reached.
Most women in my survey knew what kegals were and 99.8% knew what pelvic for was (maybe it was the man who didn’t). To ensure we are all on the same page, kegels (named after the doctor who first described them) are exercises that involve tightening and releasing the pelvic floor muscles. Both men and women can benefit from performing kegel exercises. The pelvic floor is a group of muscles at and across the bottom of your pelvis. It holds internal organs, such as bladder, bowel and uterus, in place. A strong pelvic floor can help you control urination, defecation, flatulence, and sexual function.
Reading a few comments from women who took part in my survey, it sounds like medical experts just see occasional incontinence as a fact of life after birth. Some women said you can ask for pelvic floor physical therapy through the NHS to get help. Over the years, women’s magazines report you can interrupt your urine stream when peeing to help strengthen your muscles “down there”. But as a personal trainer, I can’t see how that will work as the “sets” would be fairly short.
I have not yet given up all hope.
Recently, I was contacted by V-Sculpt to try out their pelvic floor toner and vaginal rejuvenation device. Sold exclusively by medical professionals, it is considered an authorized medical device. I have never used anything like this (or any “toy”) for that matter so wasn’t sure how this would go. It uses LED light therapy, gentle heat and vibration to help tone and health the vaginal cells and muscles. You can use it if you have an IUD (which I do) so I was good to go.
To start with, the V-Sculpt recommends six minutes a day of toning over a few weeks, building up to eight minutes and then ten minutes four times a week. I find I need to lay down to use the V-Sculpt so will check social media or read a book while sculpting.
Ten minutes a day sounded totally doable when I first agreed to try it out, but I am finding that it is still hard to fit it in. I need to put a reminder in my calendar or go to bed before my husband (who thinks this whole thing is hilarious) so I can be left in peace. Apparently, he has never felt the urge to pee or poop his pants while running and therefore cannot relate. Some guys get all the luck. After nine weeks of initial vaginal training, you just need to be on a maintenance plan of ten minutes one to two times per week.
I have been using the V-Sculpt once a week since I got up the nerve to charge it. It was a bit weird to ask, but in my survey 68.2% of the women have had or still do have a vibrator. Therefore, the V-Sculpt might not be awkward for them to try.
There is a photogenic gel which helps the V-Sculpt work more effectively. It is extremely runny and I welcome any advice on how not to waste it when applying to my V-Sculpt or myself.
Why did I agree to review this when I don’t usually talk about lady bits? The V-Sculpt does have a peer-reviewed study supporting its claims. I have nothing to loose and everything to gain from not worrying about peeing when running. Plus I want to help other women out there find a practical solution to this very common problem. I will be checking back as I get into a routine. It takes about three months to see results if you use the V-Sculpt every day. I can say my weekly sessions are not working in my favor so far but hope to better commit to my training program and post a follow up in a few weeks time with some good news.
This year I have been so lucky to spend time outdoors on various adventures. Packing for these sorts of trips can be difficult as you don’t want to pack too much but you also want to have the kit that you need. When Keen contacted me about their new Terradora Ethos hiking trainers, I was super excited to try them out. As you may have read previously, I am very familiar with the US brand Keen. I have had a pair of their Newport sandals (or something similar) for years and wore them a lot in Thailand (every beach trip and even when snorkeling to protect my feet from sharp shells). The only thing about them is that they are very bulky and make my feet look very large compared to my dainty ankles.
Keen Terradora Ethos
The Ethos are designed to be a versatile shoe you can wear on the trail but also through water. They are very light with a sleek design and I love the purple colour. I wore them on a few dog walks on Wanstead Flats before taking them to Love Trails Festival. They were instantly comfortable to walk in at camp. The cut outs on the side allow for a cool breeze but unfortunately the occasional pebble. The secure-fit laces make it quick to put them on or take off as I popped into my tent.
The water crossing
At Love Trails, I took them out for a 10k trail run and didn’t experience any Achilles pain. Whenever I switch shoes, I usually experience some discomfort. I think it may be due to a change in the height of the heel but haven’t tried to confirm that yet but looking at the shoe stats. Also, we had a high water crossing on the route. When everyone else was faffing taking off their shoes and socks, I smugly went straight in and out on the other side. Running in the wet Ethos didn’t pose a problem at all. In fact, it was really nice to have the cool water on my feet while the temperature approached 30 degrees.
I also took my Ethos on another camping trip to Wales the following weekend. This time, we stayed at a proper campsite with indoor showers. I wore my Ethos in the shower and around camp to give my feet a rest from my heavy trail shoes. Even though they were wet in my bag for the long drive home, they didn’t stink when I unpacked them late that night.
With the flattering slim design of the Ethos, I think they will be replacing my old Keen sandals on upcoming trips. The are a little more “dressy” if I paired them with jeans while travelling and won’t take up as much room in my suitcase. I can also wear them over multiple types of terrain, apart from snow! I found out they are also very durable as our local fox chewed mine overnight while they dried in my garden. No more drying outside! Lesson learned.
Do you have shoes that are versatile for adventures and travelling?
Thanks to Keen for the complimentary pair of shoes. All opinions (and urban foxes) are honest and my own.
Can you believe the heatwave we have been having in England? It has been a real treat to have so much sunshine, but I will say it is impacting my marathon training plan and the quality of sleep I am getting. I thought I would give you a training update and a few of my tips on how to cope with the heat.
Training update I am on week eight of my marathon training plan in preparation for Marathon du Medoc and more importantly NYC marathon. The runs up until now have been endurance building. Saturday I was meant to do a 90 minute progressive run where every 30 minutes I increase my pace. In an ideal world, I would have left the house just before 8am, got 60 minutes of solid running in before parkrun and finished with a big effort and new course PB. However, I slept much later than my alarm because the hot weather is making it very hard to sleep. We have an oscillating fan but Friday night it was just blowing hot air around the room. I don’t sleep soundly on a good day so the combination of worse sleep and increased mileage is making me feel exhausted when I get up. I read a quote the other day that said the snooze button is the ultimate form of procrastination. It is so true. I am going to see if I can turn off the option to have snooze on my phone alarm as a way to get me out of bed once and for all.
But I digress. On Saturday, I did 20 minute slow pace (10 min/mile) before parkrun with my Opsrey running vest. I didn’t wear it during parkrun and took a different approach in terms of effort. I started off in the front and run just under threshold for the entire route. My average pace was 8:30/mile which is very speedy for me. I did have to take my top off towards the end of the 2nd lap because the sun was intense even though it was only 9:15am. I was the 4th female finisher and 2nd in my age group. This demonstrated to me that my hard work is paying off and I am indeed becoming speedier, as well as more confident in my abilities.
I need to work on my tummy tan
Last week I also managed a 200 meter and 400 meter PB at track. I joined group 3 and hung on for dear life. This is another testament to running and strengthening work I have been doing. Here is a brief summary.
Sports massages Taking advice from Charlie at the Runner Beans, I have been scheduling regular sports massages at Function 360*. In the past, I only had sports massages when my periformis had acted up. Hopefully, this preventative work will help keep my leg muscles in tip top form. Ben has also been working on my crunchy back to loosing up the musculature keeping me upright. He worked on it on Wednesday and taped it up as a reminder for me to stand up straight. Camping outside this weekend will hopefully not make my back any worse.
Strengthening Ben is also giving me new bum strengthening routines every six to eight weeks. Now that I have a training plan to follow, there isn’t as much time to commit to this. After working on my back, he said I am to focus on core work only until I see him again. Up until now, I have gone to the gym Monday nights after spinning for leg curls and hip ad/abductors. At home, I use my fitness bands for clams, squats and hip extentions. These are tried and true and seem to be paying up with my newfound speed.
Hip extensions in my messy dining room
Stretching Stretching is something I do after every exercise session, be it track, spinning, or run commute. I start with downward dog, move into pigeon pose, then child’s pose. Then I foam roll my calves. Hamstring stretch next, then butterfly. I will also roll my feet over a spikey ball to loosen my fascia. All of these stretches should help reduce the risk of a repeat Achilles issue and/or periformis pain.
The thing I haven’t been doing, and 100% should be, are eccentric heel raises. These are so important to stretch and strengthen my Achilles. This weekend at Love Trails Festival, I will probably be kicking myself for not doing them these past eight weeks. I find the uneven terrain while trail running really set off the discomfort.
And now the bit you have been waiting for……
How to cope with the heat 1. Get up early or go to bed late. Yes, I know this isn’t ideal but if your work is flexible it is a good way to get the miles in without too much disruption. Don’t forget to embrace napping when following this tip or break up your runs into smaller distances for a morning and an evening run.
2. Cross train. I ended up doing abdominal work when I couldn’t finish my progressive run last weekend. You could also try swimming or using cardio equipment at the air-conditioned gym (elliptical, indoor bike, treadmill) to continue to build endurance. Pay As You Gym offers reasonable drop-in rates or monthly memberships if you just need to get by until the autumn weather kicks in.
3. Slow it down. Marathon training is really about time on your feet. Slow down your training runs and don’t worry too much about your pace. If you are sticking to your training plan the best you can, you shouldn’t get too far behind. Don’t forget that race day might be really hot too, in which case you will also have to let go of your dreams for a PB. Try to stay on the shady side of the road for a noticeable temperature difference.
4. Stay hydrated. When you are not out on a training run, don’t forget to keep drinking water. You can also start adding a wee bit more salt to your foods to keep your electrolytes in balance. Or continue to drink nuun or Lucazade to replace the lost salts. Remember your urine should be nearly clear when you are properly hydrated.
5. Dress for the weather. Choose technical fabrics that are breathable and moisture-wicking. Cotton is not always the best to wear in the heat. I found myself removing my top to reveal my sports bra on a few runs this month. It isn’t something I normally do but I was really struggling in the heat. Wearing a light baseball hat or visor will also keep some of the sun off of your face.
What I am doing differently from your marathon training? Leave a comment below and let me know.
*If you would like to work with the team at Function 360, I highly recommend them. Their staff’s skill set is diverse so you just need to go to one clinic to receive many services (corrective exercise, massage, dry needling, physiotherapy, etc). Use code #F360MM15 for a 15% discount and let me know how you get on.
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