Everyone seems to be doing a wrap up of what took place this year…so thought I would follow suit, especially seeing as we are nearing These Girls Do’s first birthday!
It’s been a great journey so far – met some awesome people, taken part in some awesome activities and I don’t think we ever appreciated that people would actually enjoy reading what we wrote…
So without further ado, here are a few highlights!
January.
Tackled dry January for the third year under much duress from everyone else for being boring. Did not give in. Decided to write a blog whilst Kate was a few drinks down and I was not. Held her accountable. Struggled for blog name. Launch of This Girl Can. Found name for blog! Kicked things off with some thoughts around women’s sport not being that exciting, heavily prompted by some interactions with a fairly high profile rugby coach who thought that as girls, we wouldn’t be interested in rugby, despite attending a talk specifically on rugby. Followed by a similar view on women’s cycling, including pink clothes, fixing punctures and overtaking men. Kate attracted some attention chatting about the use of plus size models.
I might have mentioned this once or twice before: I love the outdoors. I love walking, hiking, trekking, scrambling, whatever you want to call it, so imagine my delight when Trespass – UK outdoor wear brand extraordinaire – wrote to us to say that they’d like us to test out some of their products!
The boots on the left are my trusty old walking boots looking a little sad. I must have walked at least a couple of thousand miles in these old things, but they’ve served me very well for a fair few years and are super-comfy, but when Trespass sent me a brand new pair of Trespass Yukon Womens Walking Boots to try out (right), I was only too happy to oblige.
Soooooo because I am a really stupid person, straight after my first foray into the world of triathlon at Thames Turbo at the end of May, I had a bit of a ‘two days post race haze of euphoria’ which lead to me deciding that joining the rest of the Chasers at Hever (being used as our Club Champs race) was a sensible idea (and not only just doing another, but jumping up to the Olympic distance from a ‘sprint but with a short swim which is good because I really hate swimming’) and I, er, signed up.
And then realised about two days later what I had actually done. Yeah, so 1500m is a lot for someone who is not a fan of swimming. And puts off swimming. And spends 30 minutes on the phone trying to convince people to tell me that it is OK for me not to go swimming and have a night off from ALL the swimming I do…(you know who you are)
So, without further ado – here is my Hever Castle Triathlon race review! (10/10 for rhyming)
I, like many 20-somethings apparently according to MULTIPLE EliteDailyarticles, am a bit flakey, easily distracted and always looking for that bit more, therefore finding it hard to commit to what I’m doing tomorrow, let alone agreeing to something for months on end.
This is especially true when it comes to classes. Races and team sport, I’ve got down to a fine art. I know what I’m doing, when, where and for how long, and it’s highly structured because I get a bit type A with my training plans. Classes, meh, I dip in and out depending on how I’m feeling. With a class, I won’t let the team down, it won’t impact my training…(answer – because yoga and cross-training are good for me and actually will benefit my training, but let’s move swiftly on) There are SO many classes I could go to at the gym, but I rarely do – preferring to use it for weights and swimming – so if I’m not going to use what I’m already paying for there, why would I pay for single studio access on top of that?!
Enter somuchmore. They’re the new kid on the London multi-studio block, bringing tonnes of sought after classes to you in one single membership, meaning that you need as much commitment to individual studios as you do to the colour of your nail varnish or which pair of leggings you’re going to wear today…#win.
Unfortunately, this has become a bit of a habit. My grandma has a house in the lovely Roussillon fishing village of Collioure, and sitting some 650m above sea level is a little thing called the ‘La Tour Madeloc’. It is basically a tower. On top of a big hill. Quite a steep hill. Here is it from a distance. You can just about spot it on the middle peak.
A few years ago I accidentally joked that I was going to run up to it. Previously, the thing we joked about was running to a windmill that wasn’t very high up a hill. However, I have this little problem that when I say I am going to do something, I feel like I have to do it. So I did. Took myself up with a Camelbak, having no idea how long it would take, met a few new friends at the top who asked if I wanted to head down and tackle the next hill along as they were doing three big climbs that day (NO are you crazy you mad French people, I’ve nearly died doing this one), smashed it back down and promptly lay on the front porch not moving for 30 minutes.
Well. It’s Friday, I’ve been running twice since Sunday and the best feeling on each of those runs was that I didn’t.have.to.go.again. Well, not within 3 hours anyway.
“adidas Thunder Run is a 24 hour off-road relay race against the clock. Whether you run solo, pairs or teams of 5 or 8 it’ll test your tactics, endurance, speed and team work. It’s an exhilarating, rewarding and tiring race with a great atmosphere. You’ll find TR24 physically challenging and mentally tough but an experience not to be missed”
(100% agree with this entire paragraph)
Last Friday, I had a 5pm panic-phone call to my mum about what to pack. I thought I had everything, however she gave me the (much-appreciated) reminder about a pair of gloves. I shoved everything into my trusty blue and yellow fluoro rucksack and got an Uber to our meeting place at Clapham Junction because a)it was raining and I didn’t want to start the weekend wet and b) I couldn’t be bothered to carry everything. Plus it only cost me a tenner.
If you are anything like me, afternoons can seem to draaaaaag. Meetings run into meetings, calls into calls and you often need a bit of something to look forward to that isn’t just “going for a run as soon as I am outta here” (by run, sometimes I mean pub)
My previous poison was hot chocolate. Yes, even in July. Or sometimes a little trip to M&S for a Belgian chocolate flapjack (seriously, if you haven’t, go right now and buy one. You will thank me. Or maybe hate me for giving you an addiction). I’ve got better recently – snack packs of chicken and protein shakes have been my saviour for the past year or so, but I reckon you’ll still find me with a hot chocolate at least once a week (eek!)
It’s official! Katie and I are bona fide World Record holders!
Admittedly, breaking this record didn’t involve some life-threatening feat of daring, or anything really gross like not cutting our toenails for a couple of years, but it is still a real record, honest guv.
Last week British Military Fitness ran a special event to celebrate National Outdoor Fitness Day, where they attempted to beat the world record for the greatest number of people performing jump squats simultaneously at a single venue and These Girls were very kindly invited to join in! So, off we toddled to Wandsworth Common on a sunny Saturday morning, thinking this was as close as we’d ever get to being on that show Record Breakers with Kriss Akabusi. Anyone else remember that? I must be getting old.
My answer now to the question ‘have you done a triathlon?’ can now officially change from ‘no because I hate swimming’ to ‘yes, I still hate swimming but the fun of the rest of it made it alright really’ . And by alright I mean quite fun. And by quite fun I mean I will probably do another one…
I picked Thames Turbo on the sole reason that my club was running a novice programme where this was the end goal.I also had several glasses of wine when I agreed to it. If I am honest, I basically ignored most of the training sessions and made up my own thing because a) marathon training took up a vast proportion of my time and b) I moved back home at the start of April and away from club sessions. Oh and c) I really don’t enjoy swimming in case you didn’t know that already.
Basically, there was a bit of googling and some laid back assumptions that I would get by. Actually, my training was pretty much useless if you want to think about dedicated triathlon training. I think I swam about once a fortnight on average and I just relied on my base running and cycling to get me by. I went to about one spin class and heavily relied on the fact that my commuting and every-other-weekend (ish) cycle legs would get me through (except for the fact that I stopped cycle commuting about 6 weeks ago). Oh and my first ‘proper’ brick in this block was two days before the race where I did a hilly parkrun and bashed around some Chiltern Hills for fun. I did no transition practice (but having done duathlons, not completely blind to it) and tested out my tri top on race day.
We’re on a bit of a review rampage this week, here’s another one for you folks! This time it’s all to do with fun, fitness and flinging paint…
When we were emailed by the lovely people at Run or Dye to ask if we would like to run their crazy, paint-filled 5k in North London last week, we jumped at the chance! Given I’m not much of a runner at all, I was surprised that that was my reaction, but the thought of prancing around a 5k course to some bangin’ tunes whilst hurling powdered paint at K-Ferg just sounded like good, clean (or not so clean) fun, and a great way to kick-start my half-marathon training. So off we trotted to Cockfosters on a breezy but dry Saturday morning to join the throngs of other runners for some fun!
We were treated on arrival to some face-painting to get us in the party mood – courtesy of the ladies at Artyful, who had come to support the event – it certainly worked! Then we changed into our very own Run or Dye T-shirts; just by entering the race, every runner is given a free t-shirt, a wristband, some snazzy transfer tattoos and some powdered paint to get messy!
Soon enough it was time to get going. As we took our place at the starting hold, we were struck by the variety of people who were in attendance – from those who were there to try and knock a few seconds off their PB, to whole families including small children in buggies or being carried on shoulders – Run or Dye really is for everyone! We loved the fact that the staggered start was not done by predicted finish times. There is no elitism here, it’s truly inclusive and has a great family, party atmosphere as a result. The tunes were blaring (Katie did a lot of singing to Taylor Swift… gutted I didn’t manage to catch it on video), and as we waited to reach the start line the DJ almost caused a riot (I’m obviously massively exaggerating, but people did get very excited…) as he threw free gifts of sunglasses, tutus and packets of paint into the crowd, and then we were off!
The course was set out around some parkland, taking us over fields, pavements, mud tracks, through woodland and most importantly through the ‘Colour Zones’ where paint is hurled at you by some very enthusiastic volunteers! It was pretty windy on the day, so the paint had a tendency to just float away rather than stick to the t-shirts, but just running through a big blue cloud full of squealing people was good fun in and of itself.
We made it to the end with big old grins on our faces, and a fair bit of paint in our mouths (it’s not the best tasting, but it’s totally harmless, and frankly you’re having so much fun you barely care!). I was so pleased to have actually run it without dying, but I was so distracted by the music, cheering and paint, I barely had time to think about the actual running. Runners, joggers and walkers alike, cheered each other on as we went, and there was plenty of support from the side-lines too.
To top it off, you finish with a party – hooray! The DJ gets spinning and everyone bops away in a final flourish of a paint-throwing bonanza!
For anyone who wants to run their first 5k in a fun and friendly way, this really is the race for you – and for all you seasoned runners, RoD is a fun morning out, and something a bit different to do with your Saturday, for £25 we think it’s a bit of a bargain!
30 May – Exeter, Great Fulford 6 June – Liverpool, Aintree Racecourse 27 June – Cheshire, Cholmondeley Castle 5 July – Kent, Penshurst Place 11 July – Bournemouth, Kings Park 18 July – Perth, Scone Palace 25 July – Ipswich, Chantry Park 1 August – North Yorkshire, Castle Howard 5 September – Paris, l’Hippodrome de Chantilly 12 September – Galway, Ireland, Lough Cutra Castle 26 September – Oxford, Cornbury Park 3 October – South London, Hever Castle 10 October – Derbyshire, Chatsworth House 18 October – Edinburgh, Hopetoun House
These Girls Do 