Royal Marines Charitable Trust Fund

I have been asked to get involved in an Easter Fundraising day to raise money for the Royal Marines Charitable Trust Fund on Wednesday 6th April 2011 to be held at Plymouth Albion RFC, Brickfields. The day is being organized by The Goodbooks Group and when I heard about it I jumped at the chance to get involved for such an amazing cause.



The day will include a rugby 7’s tournament, schools Tag rugby tournament, various static displays, Rib/Viking rides and a parachute display team, and the Royal Marines Band to name but a few events happening. I have been asked to head up a 4x400mtr relay team to take part in a relay race. The batons themselves are going to be stretcher handles that have been actually used to carry injured servicemen out in Afghanistan and these batons travel around the country to various fundraising events.There have been 6 teams confirmed to participate in the relay race which will happen at around 1630 on the running track at Brickfields, the teams are Albion, Argyle, Raiders, Katherine Endacott celeb team, Royal Marines Team, and a Goodbooks team.

It is intended to be a family day out,there will be various bars and food available throughout the day and an Easter egg hunt and entertainment for the children. So I am hoping to see as many of you there as possible, I know it is along time away but please do write it in your diary it is going to be a fantastic day. I mean just coming to see me die over 400mtrs has got to be worth it!!! 200mtrs is my limit so I am going to be pushing the boat out a bit here. haha.
So now I am busy trying to workout who I could have in my team and I am hoping I can throw in a few surprises. I know it is a few months away but I will be sure to blog about this again soon to keep reminding you all

Welcome back legs

So after last weekends set back with my back and hamstring I have spent most of the week on the physio bed getting myself fixed through enormous amounts of pain and the other times laid on my back with my feet in the air!!!!

I have to say my physio has done a fab job and I now finally have my legs back.

I was told by my physio that I have to test my back and hamstring out so on Friday I warmed up extra long did my sprint drills and managed to stride, he even told me to try some bounding so I did and managed so do a Pb in the distance between the hurdles ;-) so today I went to training and put my spikes on and hit the speed and it felt good and touch wood no aches or pains felt at all.

I'm now into my speed element of training in prep to the UK Trials next month so everything is about 100% effort with good recovery, plus a lot of block work after my weights sessions, however I need to make sure my back is 100% before I lift again and I am hoping that I will be able to do that on Monday,s session. So next week will be a hard speed week for me as I prepare to go into my next run of competitions. I have been fortunate enough to be selected to run for England Indoors in Vienna and Linz on the 1st and 3rd of February which I am really looking forward too and fingers crossed I can perform better than last weekend and without any niggles setting in. So this week i shall again be spending a lot of time on the physio bed as I don't want to go backwards and with the UK Trials only a few weeks away I cant risk anything!!

I cant believe that this time next week I shall be celebrating my birthday, I would like to say I am going to be 21 again but then that would be lying. I am going to be 31 and I plan to spend my birthday training, however I do plan to have a night out with loved ones and paint the town red hahaha. Mia keeps asking me if she is invited to my party?! trying to tell a three year old your not having one has not sunk in yet i wish I was three again........

At it again

As I mentioned in my last post I kicked off my indoor season on the 9th with a visit to Cardiff and I was delighted with how I performed. I opened up with my quickest openers ever and ran 7.42 over the 60mtrs and I didn't even get out of first gear so it gave me a lot of confidence in knowing that I can go faster.

Training has been going great and I have only just in the last two weeks began my speed element of training alot of my training has been based on getting stronger with over distance work and a lot of lactic.Now I have dropped the distances down and concentrating on achieving maximum speed and the times I have been producing are the quickest I have ever run. I now just need to carry that over into competition and hopefully come to the UK Indoor Trails when it counts most I can do that.

As many athletes know things don't always go according to plan I had five years of that but last year I put all that behind me. When things are going so well there is something that is sent to try us and for me this happened last Thursday during my last run in training when my hamstring decided to go tight, I took a visit to the physio and had some work done and was told to rest up before racing at the Southern Champs. Come the Southern's I decided to run anyway as my leg felt ok but as I got through the rounds it got tighter and tighter and as a result it has effected my back. So I've been resting on my back with my feet in the air and having lots of physio to try and get myself fixed. I am a firm believer that things like this happen for a reason maybe I am meant to save myself till next month and get my body back to full fitness. I'm not going to lie it's painful but I'm sure in a few days my physio, who has magic hands, will have me back on the track and ready to roll again. I'm not going to be racing anymore this month and will step back on the track in feb at the Birmingham Games, failing that I will be at the trials!

I just have to be patient at let my body heal, I know I am in good shape and ready to roll.

I do have to say how great it was to see the return of J'nette Kwakye to form after a few years plagued with injury and see her open up her season with European Qualifier, Stadium Record, and fastest time in Europe that's how you do it ;-)

Cool Runnings

Feel the rhythm, feel the ride, let's give it up it's Bobsleigh Time.........COOL RUNNINGS!!!!!!

As you may have guessed my little secret which I couldn't share was that I had trials for the British Bobsleigh Team this week at Bath University. This all came about after I had tweeted a comment following one of my tracks sessions saying 'I think I should try out for the British Bobsleigh Team after my track session on the ice and snow' I then recieved a tweet back saying 'well get in touch with me then' with a link about a Talent Transfer Programme for the 2014 Winter Olympics! So I made contact.

I travelled upto Bath on Tuesday the 4th with my daughter and went out onto the Push Track where we where all given some coaching on how to push the Bobsleigh and more importantly how to get in! I really enjoyed this as it shows you what it's like, I pick up things quickly so had no problems jumping into the sleigh. After we had done some coaching we then had to run three 30mtr time trials through the timing gates, as a sprinter I would have been very dissappointed if I hadn't achieved the standard required, I did mine in 3.95 seconds which I was happy with that not the same as coming out of starting blocks but I didn't mind. I had a good day and even Mia thought it looked good fun although she did keep telling me be careful mummy don't hurt yourself bless her :-)

so now everywhere I look it says that I have made the team and this is true, I do have to have more training and then hopefully very soon I shall be stepping onto the ice and doing it for real! This is when I'm sure I will be SCARED and thinking what have I let myself in for haha.

I do have to clear up though that I am not giving up my athletics, this is just a new challenge for me and I will be doing this in the Winter and my athletics all year round I would love to do both the Summer and Winter Olympics not many people could say that they have done that!
So now I am getting ready to start my indoor season which kicks off tommorrow in Cardiff so I can see where abouts I am in form at the moment. I'm doing the 60mtrs followed by the 200mtrs so it would be nice to have a decent opener and then next weekend I will travel to London, Leigh Valley Arena to do The South of England Championship where again I will be doubling up and hoping to do better than last year and come home with two Golds. I have been busy updating the iPod to get me in the zone, I've been burning up the track in training and I'm looking forward to getting some races under my belt before next months European Championship Trails where it counts the most.

So all that's left to say is let 2011 season begin ;-)

Happy New Year

The New Year is fast approaching and 2010 is coming to an end and what a year it has been.

Three National Championship medals, Two Commonwealth Games medals, The Herald Sports Personality of The Year and BBC South West Sportswomen of The Year, all this achieved after five years away from the sport. I really do feel blessed after such an amazing year, but as the year draws to a close I am busy making my own New Years Resolutions and my Short Term Goals for 2011 so I thought I would share them with you..........

Resolutions
1) GIVE UP CHOCOLATE
For a diabetic I have a real bad sweet tooth and love stuffing my face with chocolate, so from January I am going to limit it to one day a week this will be my treat day


2) HEALTHY DIET
No more fat food shall pass these lips!! NOTHING so if anyone See's me sat in McDonalds tucking into a burger feel free to come over and take it from me and remind me what I have wrote ;-)

That's it for my resolutions as if you have too many you won't achieve them all so now for my short term goals for 2011...........

Short Term Goals
1) ? ? ? ? Number one will have to remain a secret for now I am afraid as I have something coming up in early January and if all goes well I shall write a Blog and inform you - it's a big one!!

2) Run sub 7.3 over 60mtrs, Sub 11.3 over 100mtrs, Sub 23 over 200mtrs

3) Double medallist at both Indoor and Outdoor National Championships

4) Make the European Indoor Championship Team

5) Make the World Outdoor Championship Team

6) Increase my 1RpM by 10K on Cleans, Bench and Squats within three months

That's my Short Term Goals complete, it's always good to set goals so you have something to work towards and I strive to succeed and do my best to achieve them. At least now I can tick off when I achieve any of my goals and then I can set myself new targets
so here is too 2010 and hoping 2011 is an even better one. Wishes you all a great 2011 and may all your dreams come.



You got to believe to succeed

Merry Christmas Everyone

I would like to take this chance to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and I hope you have had a fantastic time with loved ones, ate loads, and got merry ;-)


Since having my daughter Christmas has a whole new meaning, just seeing Mia's face when she wakes up in the morning and sees Santa has been is priceless. Mia is so grateful I could have given her a cardboard box and she would have said "thank you mummy your so kind". This year as one of her presents I brought her a high top bed so me and my dad spent about four hours on Christmas Eve while Mia was asleep in mine putting it together (the things we do for children ay) when Mia woke up in the morning and we walked out of my bed room she saw her old bed in bits, she asked what had happened. I told her the Father Christmas had broke her bed as he was tired so he laid down on her bed for a sleep and it broke. She turned and said " but I don't have a bed now mummy!" so I told her we had better check her room and see, when she walked in and saw her hightop bed her face lit up and she turned to me and said "do you know what mummy your the best mum in the world, your so kind, good girl" bless her that for me was the best Christmas Present in the world and it came out of the mouth of a three year old ;-)

I'm not going to say I had a lazy Christmas Day as I didn't, although I do have to confess that I have eaten WAY to much food the last two days BUT while my parents and Mia where chilling on the sofa watching the telly I was busy doing a weights session!! How good am I?? Haha. Every now and again Mia would stand up and count my lifts and during circuits join in. I did get a Twitt from my coach telling me to REST but that was after I had finished, never mind I took today off instead and spent the day at my parents house with my brother, sister in law and my nephews and niece. It was our second Christmas dinner so now I'm not going to eat for the next week as I have probably put on all the weight I had lost!!!!!!

This is what Christmas is all about enjoying family time

Thought I would share some pictures with you guys and show you the conditions I have trained in the last few weeks

BBC SouthWest Sportswomen of The Year 2010

Friday the 17th I was invited to BBC Spotlight Studios for a live interview to talk about and reflect on the year I've had after the last five years of setbacks, well this is what I was led to believe anyway.

There I was sat in the studio talking about how hard I found the last five years and everything I had been through, and how I felt after my success this year when Natalie Cornah confessed that she had told me a bit of a lie to get me into the studio, and then I was presented with the BBC SouthWest Sportswomen of The Year! I was totally gob smacked I had know idea that was going to happen, I was blown away. I really can't believe how fortunate I have been this year it really has been the best year of my life. Not only did I come away with two Commonwealth Medals I have picked up two amazing awards and really has capped of a fantastic year. The down side is I now have alot to prove next year as I don't want this to be a one off. The bar has been rasied and I have up'd my game and can't believe that in under three weeks I will be back competing again and starting my indoor campaign!! Man it's come around fast but I'm excited to see what I can achieve in 2011 I'm confident it's going to be an even better year.

This year for the first time ever I was invited to attend the BBC Sports Personality of The Year as a VIP I was intending to go but due to the bad weather I was unable to attend, my daughter had her christmas Nativity the day after and I didn't want to get stuck up in Birmingham and not make her Nativity, I was gutted that I didn't make the BBC SPoTY as it looked like a fab night and was full of amazing Sports stars but my daughter has to come first. She has to put up alot with me and my athletic, I'm always away from her either training or away competing abroad and she never moans about it so when Mia has something on I will give up anything to be with her