So, being pregnant is an amazing journey and experience – everyone tells you that…but now I’m really realising that. The changes to ones body is just incredible and defies all science and logic!

From being a “get up at 5.30am most mornings buzzing with energy to go and exercise and then finish my day with another training session at 7/8pm most evenings” type of person to now getting up most mornings c7am and starting my day with a power walk around the streets and fields of Shinfield, I must admit there are a few things I am missing…

1. “The endoprhin rush“ I used to experience twice daily most days… There isn’t anything that can really replace that feeling when you’ve pushed yourself beyond where you thought possible and your body is SCREAMING at you…but they are feel good endorphins and give you a glow!! Maybe the next time I experience the endorphin rush will be on/around 21 June and until then I’ll be content with my “pregnancy glow!”

2. The social side of exercising – a lot of my training was done at a local pilates class like this one in Bristol with other people and I do miss the interaction with these people. Although I am still training and exercising, the people I used to train with would leave me for dust within 2 nano seconds at the moment!!

3. Having structure to my training…I must admit I never thought I would say this… My life used to be dictated by my training plan that Clive Alderson wrote for me in Training Peaks. Those daily emails and reminders of what I was meant to be doing and uploading my Garmin (training watch) data to it everyday as well as my comments on the training session were part of my routine and structure. I am purely doing what I feel like and when which is an “alien concept” having always had a training plan ever since I can remember… Now I don’t have anyone to be accountable to or watching me like Big Brother…instead I have taken on more clients and am being their Big Brother and structuring their training. 

4. Having a REASON to get away from my desk…It is just too easy to “carry on working”. I mustn’t grumble though as I LOVE WHAT I DO…helping people of all ages and stages Believe To Achieve their fitness potentials. Every day is different – whether it be planning our next event, writing a training programme for an athlete, updating our website, meeting with potential strategic alliances or developing Reading Rascals.

BUT YOU KNOW ME, don’t dwell on the things that I miss – what has being pregnant enabled me to do MORE OF:

1. Spend time with my husband; whether he likes it or not! It is great to have Ian around working from home a lot more and helping develop our business. It’s not for everyone living and working together; but it works for us (so far!)

2. Appreciate that fitness really is a temporary “thing” and takes a lot of discipline and structure to achieve what you want to.

3. Work towards my Open University BSc (Honours) Sports, Fitness and Coaching – a lifetime dream of mine to have a degree as I never finished the Tourism Management & Spanish one I started when I was 19…