I am grateful

I am indeed grateful for the health insurance provided by my newest employer.

Having had to fight for the last 3 months with a health insurance provider who had me by the short and curlies as I was mid-claim when I left the employer who I was covered under.  I had the choice of paying thousands of pounds for the treatment I was in the middle of, or a few hundred pounds a month in insurance premiums to cover that treatment *and* chasing up every single invoice 4-5 times because my account wasn't transferred properly from the corporate account to a personal account.

Now, all I had to do was call the insurer, answer some questions and make an appointment.  Of we go.  Seen & much more confident in my rehabilitation.

That's the positive bit.

The less than positive bit is that tomorrow is the end of week 12 after surgery and there's no way on god's earth I'm going to be running a single step tomorrow.

Despite the physio saying the power is there in my calf, the movement involved in running simply doesn't work.  I can walk, but I limp like a pirate unless I concentrate.  I can go up and down stairs and up on my toes; both legs at once or battling hard through pain for the lower section of it with one leg (it's easier in the upper range of being on my toes).  And I think that's the main problem with running as I don't strike with my heels; I mid-ish foot strike so that last few mm of the up/down-on-toes range is exactly hit.

The physio noted that my foot collapses inwards and takes my leg with it.  She's given me exercises to help with that and I think I'm progressing with those.  She also noted that my ankle is still swollen and congested in the joint, and my foot is still a different colour to the other one, and she's planning on working on that in our next appointment.  Annoyingly, due to choices I've made with travel for work, that'll be 10 days after the first appointment, rather than only a few days as the physio would have preferred.  Hey ho.   My choice.  Tough poop for me.

But.  I am grateful that I am being looked after properly now and I feel like things are moving better and I'm getting decent feedback from someone who's in tune with my preferences around sport.

This Girl Can

"We just come as we are. We don't *look* at each other. We might have our rough days. We don't mind that. We don't see that." [Netball lady in Behind The Scenes]

This has to be one of the most powerful and appropriate campaigns to get more women into sport.  It hits on the head one of the main contributors preventing women getting into sport: the fear of judgement/what other people think.

I'd say almost all women have thought or still do think a combination of the following when they consider doing sport either at all, or if they already do sport, when they get their kit on to do it (there's only one on the list I *haven't* thought myself):-

• I look lumpy/like a bag of sausages
• My boobs are uneven
• My belly is huge
• My back spills out around my bra straps/my belly/sides spills out of the top of my shorts/tights
• My arms/thighs/boobs/belly will wobble
• My knees are fat
• Someone will see my stretch marks
• I can't do $particular_movement elegantly
• I'll go red and blotchy/get sweaty patches in embarrassing places
• My makeup will run
• I might fall over/off (my bike/scooter/horse/treadmill/stepper...)
• I'll come last

And it either results in putting women off starting to do sport (or sometimes starving themselves if they already do do sport).  The thing is... none of that list matters, nobody will actually care and nobody will point and laugh at you.  Most people are in their own little world, most people are thinking those things themselves and focusing on their own difficulties and the rest are enjoying themselves.

This campaign focuses on the fact that most of us aren't perfect, most of us do have blemishes and jiggly bits (even elite and professional athletes, trust me) and that's OK 'cause you can enjoy yourself, push yourself physically, have your own "you" time when you're not just a label (wife, mother, carer etc.) and how you look doing it, compared with a fantasy ideal, doesn't matter.

This is me (below) after a triathlon last year.  I would usually pick a photo where I look muscular, slim and have no visible bulges and lumps, but this is how I looked on the day.  I wasn't quick, I didn't look slinky, I had lumps, jiggly bits and dimply legs, my boobs were wonky and spilled out under my arm-pits.  But I had fun!  I enjoyed it!  And nobody at all laughed or pointed at me.

So, watch the film and pass it on.  (Cry a bit, like I did.  It's OK.)  And watch the behind the scenes clip too... I love the first quote, "We just come as we are. We don't *look* at each other. We might have our rough days. We don't mind that. We don't see that."

And go do some sport!

Countdown to @thelondontri

The little countdown timer has gone under 24 days to The London Triathlon now and I'm feeling a mixture of emotions.  It's been quite a while since I've raced at Olympic distance (and, to be fair, I've only done 3 anyway) and I've really not managed to race much this year at all, so it's feeling unfamiliar.  That said, London was amazingly good fun when I did it in 2011 and despite lots of rookie errors I felt great and it was such a rush crossing the line that I cried with happiness!

I've come on a bit since then, so I really want to put in a good time this year.  And given that I will have a good base and some consistent training in place, along with good nutrition and relaxation choices there is absolutely no reason why I shouldn't put in a good time this year.

The other good thing is that I'm enjoying the training; as one World Champion said to me once at a workshop "Enjoy the journey, don't focus solely on the race. It's a long journey!".  So I am.  And it's great! Sometimes I have to keep reminding myself that I've only been doing this triathlon lark (well, any sport at all really) for 3 and a bit years, it's such a big and joyful part of my life I can't remember how it was before.

New Year Thoughts - Finding A Coach

Something many aspiring athletes think about at this time of year is; I need a more structured training plan next year and I need help to do that.  I want to get a coach.

Having a coach who has years of experience, study and practical understanding can really help you avoid the common pitfalls of training for sport; of which there are there are many and various.  And the comfort of knowing that someone else is looking after your training schedule and optimising it for your event calendar and keeping an eye on how you're doing can make life simpler/less stressful.  And when you get closer to an event and start worrying about things, they can really help you stop doom-mongering, stop worrying about things that aren't important and reflect on all of the great work you've done and forgotten about.

But how do you find a coach that's appropriate for you?

1. Budget
2. Frequency of interaction
3. Training plan
4. Chemistry

First of all, you need to work out what your budget is.  But that can be difficult if you have no idea what the going rates are for the levels of service you get.  So, we'll come back to that.

Secondly, do you want to work with your coach face-to-face on a frequent basis, or are you happy with an online coach who you speak to on the phone regularly, or do you not need a personal interaction at all?  If the former, you may well be best off working with a personal trainer (PT) at a local gym or with a coach at a local club for your sport.  PTs aren't cheap (central London prices at a top-end gym is around £50 per 1 hour session), but you do get 1:1 training time and if you need that kind of interaction, then you're going to have to fork out for it.

Online/remote coaching can have quite a high level of interaction.  There are many companies who have a range of coaching plans that include a weekly (or even more) call with your coach and training weekends through the year (which cost extra on top of your monthly fee).  A weekly call with your coach in the off season can feel like too much, but you don't have to take them every week if you don't want to - companies are happy to take your money and you miss out on part of the service ;o)  These sorts of coaching packages cost anything from £60 a month, for up to £300 a month depending on interaction, personalisation, response times to questions, extras like sports psychology support.

Thirdly, a training plan is quite key to most people's need for a coach.  You can purchase training plans, from many companies online, which are just a general written plan and not tailored in any way.  These can be quite economical (e.g. £30 or so for a 12 week programme) and effective if you just want to get a structured, consistent plan and you're good at self-motivation.  You'd be surprised how self-motivated you can be if you have a plan that's written out for you already.  Some people need or want a bit more personalisation or interaction than that and that's when you probably want to get a coach who will personalise a plan for you, that you feed back your achievements from each training session and they modify the plan as you go along; on a weekly or monthly basis, usually depending on how much you're paying.

Lastly, if you are going for a personal coach or trainer rather than an off-the-shelf training plan, you want to check out the chemistry.  Having been through 4 gym PTs and 2 triathlon coaches so far, I can vouch for the benefits of really getting on with a trainer/coach.  You need to have faith in their ability and understanding of you and the sport and they need to instil confidence in you.  You'll only find that out by spending some time working with them.

My first triathlon trainer/coach didn't give me the level of confidence in him that I needed for me to believe I'd achieve my basic goal for 2012 by working with him and that meant I had to change quite close to the wire for the tough part of the season.  I'm so glad I did change coach and I've ended up with one I have a lot of trust and faith in now.  He really helped stabilise my mental as well as physical preparedness for the Ironman Ultimate Challenge events this year and with his help I made it through 3/4 of them (OK it was outside of both our control that I didn't make it to the start line of the 4th one, but I have no doubt that I would have completed the 4th one, had I not smashed up my collar bone at the 3rd one).  And I didn't feel silly asking him about the terminology in the training sessions he gave me.

So, back to budget... you need to think about the frequency, type of interaction and training plan you want in order to inform your decision on budget.  You can see you can spend anything from £30 for a 12 week generic training plan to £300 per month for a highly personalised, all the extras, fairly unlimited phone/online interaction arrangement.

So, now that you know what to look for, how do you actually find a coach?  Ask around, see who's advertising in the press of your sport, ask other athletes at events.  Or look for a coaching company that's doing a training day or weekend near you, or one that does a course familiarisation day for a race/event you're doing and go along.  Yes, this will cost you money, but you'll get to meet some coaches and see if you get along with them.  This is pretty much how I found my current coach, though I didn't meet him on the familiarisation day I thought the other coaches from the company were switched on and easy to get along with so I took a punt.

When you decide on a coach or trainer, don't be afraid to have a trial period to see if you get on.  Talk to them face-to-face or on the phone before signing up with them, if you can.  If you don't get on right away or after a few weeks, or even months, or you don't feel you believe in them in the right way, don't be afraid to change coach.  There is utterly nothing wrong with that.  You need to trust them to train and coach you well and you need to believe that they will do you good, support you and boost your confidence when it's needed.  The best thing I did during the 2012 season was change coach and it made a huge difference to my mental state, confidence, performance and ultimately my enjoyment of my sport.

Cutting the cost of taking part (win a £25 voucher!)

Photo from www.b2psports.com

[competition at the bottom]

There's no doubt that taking part in triathlon can cost quite a bit of money, if you let it.  Things like bicycles aside (you can often get a bargain on last year's models at the end of the season) and although race fees can sometimes be eye-watering, the majority of the cost isn't actually racing itself but the nutrition and sports kit you get through while training.  Good quality sports clothing really is very expensive and you can't get away with a cotton t-shirt and old rugby shorts from 10 years ago if you're going to be doing more than a jog a week as you'll run into problems with being wet while you exercise (cotton is great at absorbing water but it doesn't wick it away from your skin into the air) and then either cold or chafed or both, plus the risk of bacteria growing in particularly sweat-prone bits of the garments.  However, if you are a bit clever and let a couple of companies keep you informed on discounts of up to 70% off swim/bike/run gear and build up a good collection of decent quality kit that will keep you warm, dry, cool and protected  from sun, wind, rain and chafing with good freedom of movement for years without breaking the bank.

One company that has been coming to the fore recently, in cutting the cost for the athlete (Yes, you! You're an athlete if you do regular sporting activity!), is Sport Pursuit.  It's a members only web site - i.e. you need to sign up and create an account with them and they'll send you email notifications of upcoming/opening sales - which has timed sales on top brand sports kit.

"We love buying sports kit.  In fact, we’ve scientifically proven it’s not possible to have too much.  But we got enormously frustrated at how difficult it was to discover great sports products at great prices; not just brands we already knew and loved but also those innovative cutting edge, hot off the pro-circuit, show off to your mates brands that no one else has.  

So, with no other option we decided to go out there and build it for ourselves, our friends and all our members.  "

"Pop-Up Sales from Winning Brands: New sales from top sports and outdoor brands start on SportPursuit every few days and typically last for 7 days. We’ll drop you a quick email to let you know when new sales are starting.
Exclusive Prices: SportPursuit gives you the chance to trial and discover great products and brands at the lowest prices anywhere - guaranteed. Our exclusive members-only site gives brands the confidence to discount, and we achieve the best prices for our members by ordering in bulk at the end of each sale."

This means that when you order, you have to wait until the sale ends before your stuff is shipped.  But it does mean that you get some pretty hefty discounts and you generally don't have to wait too long.

The range of brands is pretty impressive, with pretty much all active sports covered (not sure they have darts-wear ;o)) and there's a countdown on the main page that gives you an idea of when the sale ends...

And it's not just clothing and accessories, but there are nutrition sales as well...

When an item is sold out of the number they're planning to buy, you're not left hanging on the product listing page to click through to a product that's no longer available as they're clearly marked "sold out", which is handy.  And you can filter by gender, size and price which can really help when you have a set limit of what you can/are willing to spend on any given item.

That Polar RS300X with footpod is £55 cheaper than on Wiggle even with a Wiggle 12% Platinum discount!  So if you move quickly, you can get some really really good bargains but even if you don't, you're looking at 40%+ discounts on stuff. 

What I'm finding particularly useful, and it's the reason I first went to Wiggle years ago, is the range of women's gear.  It's great, there's loads of it with decent choice and proper sizing charts so you don't run the risk of being drastically wrong with sizes.

So, all in all they're pretty darned useful to help make life a bit less horribly expensive while enjoying the sports you love!

Now, here's the bit where you can win a £25 voucher with these guys.  All you have to do is three tiny things:-

1. Sign up with them, using this link here or by clicking on any of the images in this post and signing up through there.
2. Post a comment on this post, telling me what your most favourite bit of sports-wear is; brand, function, sport and why it's your favourite.
3. Come back to my blog on Monday 5th November to see if you've won! (I'll be choosing a winning comment on Sunday evening, so closing date for entry is 6pm GMT on 4th November 2012).

So, good luck, get your thinking cap on and let's see who I can make happy with a little extra spending money for their sport habit!