As I hinted on social media, I have a big announcement to make this week. I am thrilled to say Simplyhealth is sponsoring my 4×4 challenge for the next five months. Be on the lookout for some great posts and vlogs about my upcoming races and the preparation that goes along with it. My challenge offically started over weekend with a wine tasting/fancy dress marathon near Bordeaux, France. I left London Friday morning on a crisp morning but the weather was lush on race day. Some of my team were wearing proper costumes during the run whereas I had a t-shirt with tulle sewn all over it (see my Instagram for some pictures of the day). Thankfully, no one suffered from heat exhaustion as we made our way around 20 wineries in the sunny French countryside. We were able to sip wine along the way to stay cool and eat local cuisine to refuel. It is a pretty famous marathon and I am had an amazing time running with my Advent Running friends.
Included in my sponsorship with Simplyhealth is a year-long membership to their new Active Plan. If you are physically active like me, you might put off seeking treatment or professional advice due to the expense. Simplyhealth wants you to stay healthy and the Active Plan can reimburse for: sports massages, osteopath treatment, prescriptions, dental cleaning, trips to the optician and more. There are four levels of cover to select from, helping you to choose a rate that’s affordable to you. I know I will be taking full advantage. Having a big birthday coming up in February (eek) made me realize I need to start sorting out my health, like how I sometimes have blurry vision and how I need to see a dental hygienist on a regular basis.
Over the next five months, I will be sharing my story through each of the challenges along with my experience using the Active Plan to help me keep my body in tiptop shape. Luckily, the plan can also be used internationally if need be (touch wood). If something happens before or after a race abroad, I don’t have to worry about waiting until I come home to the UK to seek treatment. Some of my posts will also be shared by Simplyhealth meaning you can also track my running and health adventures through them as well.
Follow me on social media (click on pink buttons to the right) so you don’t miss the links when I share them.
Big thanks to Simplyhealth for believing in me and my lifestyle choice to remain healthy and active. I really appreciate their support.
As I hinted on social media, I have a big announcement to make this week. I am thrilled to say Simplyhealth is sponsoring my 4×4 challenge for the next five months. Be on the lookout for some great posts and vlogs about my upcoming races and the preparation that goes along with it. My challenge offically started over weekend with a wine tasting/fancy dress marathon near Bordeaux, France. I left London Friday morning on a crisp morning but the weather was lush on race day. Some of my team were wearing proper costumes during the run whereas I had a t-shirt with tulle sewn all over it (see my Instagram for some pictures of the day). Thankfully, no one suffered from heat exhaustion as we made our way around 20 wineries in the sunny French countryside. We were able to sip wine along the way to stay cool and eat local cuisine to refuel. It is a pretty famous marathon and I am had an amazing time running with my Advent Running friends.
Included in my sponsorship with Simplyhealth is a year-long membership to their new Active Plan. If you are physically active like me, you might put off seeking treatment or professional advice due to the expense. Simplyhealth wants you to stay healthy and the Active Plan can reimburse for: sports massages, osteopath treatment, prescriptions, dental cleaning, trips to the optician and more. There are four levels of cover to select from, helping you to choose a rate that’s affordable to you. I know I will be taking full advantage. Having a big birthday coming up in February (eek) made me realize I need to start sorting out my health, like how I sometimes have blurry vision and how I need to see a dental hygienist on a regular basis.
Over the next five months, I will be sharing my story through each of the challenges along with my experience using the Active Plan to help me keep my body in tiptop shape. Luckily, the plan can also be used internationally if need be (touch wood). If something happens before or after a race abroad, I don’t have to worry about waiting until I come home to the UK to seek treatment. Some of my posts will also be shared by Simplyhealth meaning you can also track my running and health adventures through them as well.
Follow me on social media (click on pink buttons to the right) so you don’t miss the links when I share them.
Big thanks to Simplyhealth for believing in me and my lifestyle choice to remain healthy and active. I really appreciate their support.
As someone who was cut from her high school football team for being slow, I never imagined I would be running marathons in my spare time while in my late 30s. Currently, I am pursuing the six World Marathon Major races, but when an advert for a desert ultra marathon caught my eye, I suddenly wanted more.
I started running in 2006 to fundraise for a local humane society. From 2011-2015, I supported RODS Racing as a way to grieve for my stillborn nephew. I have been slowly gaining my confidence from being the slowest girl on the team to a confident athlete who is up for a physical challenge. My latest adventure was climbing Mount Kilimanjaro in 2018 to summit on International Women’s Day.
This year by committing to Track Tuesdays and working with the amazing team at Function360, I have never felt fitter or faster. I have also started to drop excess weight by working with a nutritionist and staying focused on my goals.
With this in mind, I am super excited to announce my 4×4 Running Challenge!
Over September, October and November, I will take part in four different running challenges in four different countries. They are:
8 September: Marathon du Medoc– fancy dress and wine drinking marathon on Bordeaux region of France
7-13 October: Wadi Rum Ultra, Jordan- 250 km over 5 days in the Jordan desert with temperatures over 30 degrees C
4 November: NYC Marathon, USA- Mollie’s 4th World Marathon Major
#TeamLikeAGirl, who are my new friends
Wadi Rum Ultra will be the hardest race for me. Although I am currently feeling strong in body and mind, the only experience I have in multi-day events is as part of a relay team for Spitfire Scramble and Fitbit Fifty. Plus, I have never run in the desert or an ultra (anything over 26.2 miles/marathon distance). To successfully train for Wadi Rum, I will need to add more miles into my marathon training schedule, more strength and conditioning to keep my body strong through the challenge, and somehow acclimatize my body to the heat for running for 30+ degree C temps (although the London heat wave is certainly helping).  Can I do this while working full-time and having a (mostly) understanding husband at home? Time will tell.
I was lucky enough to take part in a Wadi Rum training weekend where I met lots of the racers. Everyone was friendly and happy to chat all things running (my kind of people!). We have another training weekend coming up in September where I hope to learn more about how to prepare effectively. There is so much to learn about running multi-day challenges, as well as caring for your feet.  I need to sort out what I am going to eat along the way and make sure everything fits into my bag. Somehow, I will manage a way to fit it all in.
Salomon Agile 6
I am so blessed as a blogger to have developed relationships over the years with various brands. Many that I have worked with in the past are once again showing their support for my enthusiastic and adventurous efforts. I would like to say a huge thanks to these companies for sending me samples of the following kit to put to the extreme test over these next few months. Reviews will be posted after the challenge is complete.
One other aspect of this challenge will be verbalizing my ‘why’. Non-running acquaintances keep asking me why I signed up to do all of these races, why would you rather run 20 miles that have a BBQ, why do you over-commit yourself with fitness activities every day of the week? I can’t yet answer them. I think some of it stems from being cut from the football team. Another is that I do find it fun (when I am not injured, of course). Some of it might be to draw attention to myself as I am so far from friends and family back in the USA, I don’t want to be forgotten about. Lucky for me, I have plenty of long runs coming up to think this through more carefully.
If you want to keep tabs on me and my training over the next few months, please follow me on Strava. A little kudos goes a long way.
We raced down this huge dune near Brecon Beacon. I am pretty sure a local 9 year old girl (not pictured) won.
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 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.
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