"I want my daughter to be strong, fit and active, so I need to set that example."

Donna and Amy are now more than halfway through their commitments to feeling fitter and healthier and are seeing great results, but face some new challenges too.

Her Spirit founders Mel Berry and Holly Woodford share advice and tips around technique, kit and staying on track!

In this episode:

• How to mentally prepare for an event
• How to get back on track with exercise if you fall off the wagon
• The difference great kit can make to confidence and performance
• How to get fitted for the right saddle on your bike
• Fitting exercise around your existing commitments
• Getting back to exercise after illness.

At Her Spirit we’re here for you.

We want to help you discover your potential, achieve your goals, ignite your fitness, find your community.

Head to herspirit.co.uk and sign up for our Core Membership, get access to our virtual classes, monthly challenges and expert advice. Plus, track your progress in our heath hub and find your very own cheerleading squad who will support you every step of the way.

Use the code HERSPIRITPOD3 and get three months completely FREE.

It’s time for You

Join us at herspirit.co.uk | Instagram | Facebook | Get the Her Spirit App

Transcript

Louise Minchin:

Hello and welcome to the Her Spirit podcast. I am Louise Minchin and we are back with Donna and Amy. We are eight weeks into their challenges. Congratulations both of you for getting this far. Amy, just to remind you, wants to get ready to run a 10 K on March the fifth, tick tock! How's that Amy? Am I making you nervous? I really hope not. You're doing so well. And Donna wants to tackle her first sprint triathlon on March the 26th. And I'm just gonna remind myself that I am also attempting to do the London Marathon on April the 23rd. So we're all on different exercise journeys and we've been chatting our way through it. I've been loving it so far on this podcast. Today we'll catch up with Mel and Holly from Her Spirit who've been working closely with Donna and Amy to see how they're getting on to guide them on their way and hopefully guide lots of you as well.

We're following them on their journeys, the highs, the lows, the successes, the challenges. And we are really hoping that you're enjoying being along with them. I know that you are and I hope you're setting your own girls alongside them as well. And hopefully what they can do for us, for me as well as everybody listening, is show us that if you set your mind to something you put in the effort, then you really will see a difference and you can see lots of updates from then them and offer them support and advice on at Her Spirit on Instagram that I know you've been doing that too. So, hello Donna and Amy. How are you doing this week?

Donna & Amy:

Yeah, good, thank you. Good, thank you.

Louise Minchin:

Good, eight weeks in which is really something. I'm super impressed by what you've been doing and I know that you've not been trying lots of different things. You've been very, very active. We're gonna talk about what activities you've been doing, how you've been feeling too, both of you but Donna, it's your turn first this podcast week. And I'm just gonna play everybody and I love these audio diaries that you've both been doing. Let's have a little listen to your audio diary.

Donna:

Morning. So I'm away with work again. I arrived at the hotel room about half past eight last night. Ordinarily I would've got to the room and just room service. But what I've decided to do is I brought a pasta pot with me and some fruit and I'm really glad I did. I thought it were a sensible choice. Got up this morning and I'm just about to rearrange the room and just make a little bit of space and do one of the Pilate sessions on Her Spirit App. So I'm just making sure that I fit everything in before I start my working day.

So I've got my bike out on Saturday and I did a 10 mile bike ride. I did stop after five mile and have a coffee. I got the bike out again on Sunday cause I'm just conscious of the weather in the dark night. It felt great to be out on the bike. It made me realise that I have got quite a lot of work to do in the next six weeks. My undercarriage was not very happy after being on the bike for two days. So I really need to look at what I'm wearing and I may need to invest in some cycle leggings or cycle shorts because I still don't think I could get back on the bike today. So I've been away with work and I went to a meeting earlier in the week and I saw somebody who I've not seen face-to-face for six months, at least six months. And I was greeted with “You look really well. What work have you had done?”

Louise Minchin:

Donna? I mean, I dunno whether that's a compliment. It is. It kind of is a compliment. What did you reply when they said that question? Have you had work done?

Donna:

I haven't had anything done at all. And they came back and said, well you must have had a face peel. And I said, I haven't had anything done at all. So then I started explaining my fitness journey and what I've been up to for the last few weeks

Louise Minchin:

And are they gonna join in this colleague? Because clearly you're sending out amazing messages.

Donna:

Yeah, I don't think so. I'm not sure <laugh>, but that's the second time. Cause it's happened to me again last week as well. Somebody asked me last week.

Louise Minchin:

Gosh, that's amazing, isn't it? That actually obviously all this exercise and nutrition, et cetera, kind of, does it show you? Is it your face? Do you think that's changed?

Donna:

I think I've, I think my face was so bright red when I'm exercising though, it's probably just like having a, an amazing facial or something. <Laugh>.

Louise Minchin:

I dunno if there's any science to that, but it sounds like it's good to me. <Laugh>. So where should we start? I wanna start because right now I'm sitting in a hotel room and you have inspired me with that conversation because I was thinking room service tonight. I'm thinking, oh, I'm a bit tired, I can't be bothered. Go to gym. And I know there's a gym that’s down there. So you have inspired me because you've got to try and build these things in when you're working. And especially working away from home, haven't you?

Donna:

Absolutely. So if there is a gym, sometimes I will go to the gym if I've got time, but I literally last week it was just rearranging the room, moving a coffee table. I didn't have my yoga mat so I just got a a towel and then laid the towel out like a mat and just did the Pilate session. And I've also done one of the yoga classes as well in a, in a similar fashion.

Louise Minchin:

And I know hotel rooms are not necessarily known for their size, are they? But I'm just looking at mine here. And there's definitely enough space for a kind of yoga mat style space. So there is, and if you move the furniture a bit, you might find a bit of space mightn't you.

Donna:

Yeah.

Louise Minchin:

So do you know what, that's really, really impressive. Let's talk about also let's talk, we’ll go straight to the bike. Ouch!

Donna:

And I need to find some time to go shopping. I still haven't bought anything yet, but yeah, so I've loved being out on the bike. I did stop after five miles, so I'm quite pleased that I did 10 mile in total. So I've done that a couple of times now. I think what my worry at the moment is, is pulling it all together and will I, will I have the energy to run after I've been on the bike?

Louise Minchin:

Okay, well let's talk about the bike and undercarriages because on this podcast over the many months, last years we've done it, we have talked about undercarriages a lot. And I think this is a very worthwhile conversation. So sitting on a cycling seat I mean if you were, I don't know, commuting to work or something and you've got a nice sit up and sit up bike and all the rest of it is probably okay, but when you start doing, in my view, kind of serious exercise on a bike, you need to prepare Donna. Okay. And I'll, shall I give you my top tips for undercarriage preparation? Number one for me is your seat, your saddle. I mean, for example, I've just changed my bike and I've, I've done a couple of long sessions on it as with the Her Spirit community as I do on Swift and honestly so painful. So I've now taken my favourite saddle off another bike and put it on. So you've got to find a saddle. And this is obviously very personal. It, it's a saddle that fits you <laugh>. Okay. and I, I'll go to bike shop or something and talk to them about it. I mean a brand I like and I use is called Selle Italia. And I, you know, everybody will have their own brand Mel and Holly, have you got your own brands that you like?

Mel:

I'm with you. I love Selle Italia. I've had it for probably the last 10 years. 

Louise Minchin:

It's the little split saddle, I find them really, really comfortable and you can get them different width. And Holly, anything for you?

Holly:

Yeah, I've, I've never actually had my own saddle before. I've just used the saddle I've had on a bike and when we did Lakes to London last year. I thought I needed to sort it out cause I did have some discomfort. And actually I am using the specialised saddle women's saddle and it's got this brilliant gel padding at the front. So it actually means that I can sit further forward and be more comfortable on my bike. Sort of in the reach, I've got quite short arms I think. So I find sort of long, long bike drum actually really difficult. So for me, sitting further on the saddle puts pressure on those bits that shouldn't have much pressure on. So, but the specialised, honestly, it's a complete game changer. And actually the first thing I'd really recommend anybody does that if you're listening to this, is go and get your sit bones measured. So you can actually go into cycle shops and you can actually have them measured and it's this brilliant sort of gel padding that you sit on creates a nice little indent. And they can measure how wide your sit bones are. And I have that done and, and that's actually what led me then to the right size saddle. And I'd highly recommend that for anybody just getting your sit bones measured and then trying to find the saddle that will fit those kind of measurements.

Louise Minchin:

I've never had my sit bones measured Donna, but I think once you do find the saddle, you'll find that, I mean I think this must be my fourth or fifth one of those saddles that I've bought. So saddles number one, number two, cycling shorts, padded cycling shorts. You must have them. They're not, they don't have to be hugely expensive. Don't wear them with pants on underneath cause that's another cause then you get double rub. Honestly. Horrific. I've had some terrible injuries.

Holly:

Well you don't know till, you know, right? So, but definitely no pants <laugh>.

Louise Minchin:

Okay, no pants. This is great conversation isn't it? <laugh>. And then finally third message. You can buy all sorts of different like creams and stuff to put on your bum. Best one ever. Sudocrem. I bet Amy you've got some haven't you in your house, you've got a young child, you've got sudocrem, Donna have you got sudocrem in your house or Vaseline, right? I mean I used to use Vaseline but sudocrem has got the antibacterial everywhere, all on those bits. Marvellous. Okay.

Holly:

I'd just like to say though, I took your advice when you, after you did that long ride across was it Chile in Argentina and you said sudocrem, so ever since been using Sudocrem, but it, it, it's an interesting stripe, it leaves you and slightly alarming but don't be put off cause you're right, it's definitely the best and actually a lot cheaper than a lot of the other products that you can buy.

Louise Minchin:

Yeah, you'll go and buy a branded product, it'll properly cost you 10 to 15 quid. Anyway, I'm sure there are other brands available. Okay. Anything else we should talk about? You've been and eating. We had a good conversation, didn't we, about nutrition and I wanna speed on a bit, but have you been making actual some of your own food as well?

Donna:

Absolutely. I, I've been making sure I'm eating before exercise, post exercise as well. I've been making some protein cookies and just consciously been aware that I need to fuel my body a lot more now that I've increased the exercise over the last couple of weeks.

Louise Minchin:

So fuel your body. And that was to do with the podcast if anybody wants to listen. It was a really good podcast about fuelling particularly sort of pre-exercise actually Anita Bean. So do go and listen to that episode. Donna, I saw you taking notes and I know you'll take them seriously. So next time we speak you can show me your cycling shorts, <laugh>. Amy, you've been really busy. I know you've done some fantastic work. Let's hear what you've been up to as well.

Amy:

Afternoon. it's half term this week, which means Jessica has been joining in with my workouts. She has loved the couch to kilos workout. She's been using her tins and beans for weights and after watching me do yoga on Monday, she's been doing her own children's yoga sessions on tv, which she's always really loved but has all of a sudden got back into them, which is great. Having the opportunity for Jess to be involved in the fitness journey, I think has been really great and hopefully for her seeing me happier, fitter and more confident will have a positive effect on her and her own physical wellbeing. And it's definitely another motivating factor for me to keep on continuing on this journey.

Louise Minchin:

And that's such a lovely message Amy about Jessica, how old does she remind me?

Amy:

She's five.

Louise Minchin:

Oh my gosh, that's just adorable. And she's doing yoga and weights with tins of baked beans. 

Amy:

My plan last week was I was gonna get up early, so I was up at half six doing my workouts last week. I'm thinking, oh, before she gets up, but she's been, she was getting up early as well, so she wants to join in. I was like, oh, you don't need weights. She was like, no, I want weight. Yeah, we've got some tins of beans outta the cup and she loved it.

Louise Minchin:

So two things I'm gonna take out from that. Number one, to do weights, you don't necessarily need weights. There's plenty of things in your house that you can find that weigh a lot including tins and baked beans, which I think is utterly genius. And number two thing the thing about, one of the reasons I started on my exercise journey, what 10 years ago or so now, was because of my daughters because I really wanted them to have this as part of their lifestyle. And Amy it must be lovely for you to be able to see that she's five, but what a great thing to be able to sort of get her to do without even trying it sounds like as well.

Amy:

Yeah, I mean she's always, she's an active child so she always wants to be out doing something. Yeah, she's not a child that’ll sit and watch telly all day. They used to do yoga, she actually used to at preschool, so she started doing it a preschool and then good old YouTube, you can get loads of different, you know, kids yoga sessions that yeah, she loves.

Louise Minchin:

And I know you were very conscious when you had breast cancer how difficult it was for her. Just give us a little bit of an idea how that impacted on you and her.

Amy:

Obviously as much as you try and protect them, when I was diagnosed she was only three, so she didn't really understand what was going on. So we tried to keep as much of a normal life as possible for her. Obviously she, she knew I had hospital appointments, she came to some hospital appointments, so, but yeah, just everything as normal for her as possible. She was too young to explain it, wouldn't understand it. Hopefully seeing that I'm better. Obviously she did get anxious cause she knew something was going on, but I'm seeing me getting better and fitter again. I think yeah, I'll really help her.

Louise Minchin:

Yeah and you've had a bit of sort of reflection haven't you, about how breast cancer has affected you, what you been, what have your thoughts been?

Amy:

I think it just, obviously you go through treatment and treatment is weekly appointments and phone calls and chemo and radiotherapy. You get so used to that routine of, I got this week, I've got this week, week. And then all of a sudden it just stops. You sort of thank you very much and then you left your own devices. So I've had no appointments for what, nine, 10 months now. And it's sort of you left on your own and it takes a while to yeah, sort of get your life back and sort of back into a normal routine again, I suppose..

Louise Minchin:

Do you know Amy, you've really explained it to me very well. I suppose it was very much part of what you did. And Mel, you've done a lot of work, haven't you with Breast Cancer Now. Is this something that's familiar to you as well?

Mel:

Yes. And when, you know, Lou, we worked closely with Breast Cancer Now last year through our crazy challenge Lakes to London. And for myself, Holly and Sarah, that that did the challenge in its entirety over those two days. It was so humbling to know that many women within Her Spirit have been on their breast cancer journey and it still is today. And I wanna take this time to do a massive shout out to El Ellie. And she was a person that you signed a book. She starts the next chapter of her breast cancer journey on the, on the 1st of March. And I think the inspiration that she gets from the community, the inspiration she got from you, Louise, from a signed book will give her that confidence to know that she can continue to be active while she's on the next chapter of her, her breast cancer journey.

And, and it was brilliant that we all love the virtual world of Swift and we all shaved our heads to show that, you know, we were supporting her on that journey. And, and look, I can't say strongly enough, if you are on a breast cancer journey, it's okay to be active and seek the advice and support that you know that you can get from organisations like Breast Cancer Now. But be active and think about what you're eating and think about the alcohol consumption that you're having because those factors just help that prevention stage of. So any woman that's listening to this that's on a breast cancer journey, please, please come and be part of Her Spirit, let us support and help you along your journey.

Louise Minchin:

And Amy, if it's not too personal how is running with a mastectomy? How has that been for you?

Amy:

It's actually it's been all right. It's probably one of the things I was worried about. Cause sports bars aren't great but I have got a really good sportswear. But it's not actually a sort of a specialist bra, but my prosthetic fits in it, it doesn't move and I have no issues whatsoever with it.

Louise Minchin:

That's really encouraging for other women out there. Okay, so just I've got, I know that Mel, you got a message for Amy in a moment, but just a reminder to everybody, Donna and Amy are posting all about their progress, their challenges, and their successes regularly on Instagram. I love your posts and your stories by the way you can find them at Her Spirit UK. Please go and say hello. Give them some advice and encouragement whenever you can. And we all know that when you have a support group, and I feel I've got my own mini support group here, thank you by the way. Everything is a little bit easier and that is what Her Spirit is all about. So do get involved and you can get lots of advice different things to do. It's feet first February at the moment, isn't it? Which is a walking challenge to walk every day. And you can support yourself, find support for yourself at herspirit.co.uk. Right, Mel, you've got an important message

Mel:

I have. And it, I guess there's a variety of messages. First of all, it's picking up on Donna and Donna, you've been brilliant, been really great to see how your swimming's improved. And the one funny thing that I'm gonna tell, last time Lou we talked about her red lipstick. So not only did she come onto pool side and told me about her face peel and you know, we, we laughed about that. But the, the second was she got out and she went, look, my swimming costumes too big for me now. I've lost this weight. My body shape's changing, all the water's flowing down the front and front of my cossie. So it's about body confidence. And Donna, you just look so confident on, on poolside and yeah, I can't wait till the 26th of March to support you on, on your first triathlon. A thumbs up. You've listened, you've changed the way that you've eaten, you've changed the way that you've trained. You've now got all the swimming toys, Lou that I'm sure you've got in your kind of kitbag. She's got a paddle, she's got her fins, she's got the kind of the work she's gonna get her padded pants, you know, how much the, Her Spirit padded pants, you know, cycle shorts are are really good. Yeah, an important part. So yeah, look, that's all my kind of shout out. It's been a pleasure, Donna, to support you and I can't wait for the next four weeks.

Louise Minchin:

And you've also got a message from the community, haven't you, Mel, for for Amy.

Mel:

We certainly have.

Jules:

Hi, it's Jules here. I just wanted to say a really big well done to Amy for how she's getting on with all her training. Like you, I've had breast cancer, I know how hard it is to, to rebuild your, your fitness and strength after all the treatment. And I also just wanted to reach out to anybody else who's listening to this has also been effective by breast cancer. There's, there's a lot of evidence now of the benefits of keeping active after treatment with now evidence that it can reduce your risk of recurrence. So good luck, Amy, with your training for the next few weeks.

Willo:

Hi Amy, Willo Wilson here. Just wanted to give you a big shout out and say well done. For everything that you're doing. I'm on that journey that you've been on. I'm halfway through chemo, I am exercising as best I can and I'm watching what you are doing and I am full of admiration and also a little bit of envy cause I cannot wait to get to where you are and be able to, to have so much energy to be able to go smash it like you're smashing it. So keep going. It's not just about the exercise, it's also about the community and having a bit of a bit of a laugh, which hopefully you're getting an abundance from the Her Spirit crew. So well done.

Louise Minchin:

Oh, Willow and Jules, thank you for those lovely messages. They're gorgeous, weren't they, Amy?

Amy:

Yeah, that was yeah, really lovely. Obviously it's, it's, it's good to know that obviously people that have been on my journey or are going through it yeah, have been on the other side and are active and doing stuff. It's like Mel said, there's a lot of evidence that comes up about about being fit and healthy after and it would reduce the recurrence. So yeah, I think that's really important.

Louise Minchin:

And I love that you, you know, your inspiration to people who perhaps are a little bit behind you on that journey as well, which is lovely. Holly, I know you've been working with Amy. How's she doing?

Holly:

Oh she's, she's been incredible. And obviously you know, I sat down to think about the journey that you've been on, Amy, but listening to the conversation tonight. It's hard to remember the person that did that very first podcast when we first met you. And I remember you saying that your, you just didn't know what your body was capable of having been on that breast cancer journey and that was your biggest fear, you know, what was it able to do, what can it do? Everybody I can tell you is doing amazing things. And the reason I think one of the big is that Amy is being so consistent. It's one of those words that if you ever talk to anybody around physical activity, coaching, consistency, consistency, it sounds really dull and boring, but you know what? It really, really works. And in such a short space of time, Donna as well, you know, getting those amazing comments from people about how she looks that's a, that's a consequence of being really consistent. So she's running three times a week. I don't think she's missed the run. She's been doing couch to kilos every single week. Pilates, religiously. She's tried a bit of yoga, not, I'm not sure Amy's convinced by it yet. So we've had a bit of a conspirator conversation about…

Louise Minchin:

You two don't like yoga, you and Amy, do you? I love yoga. My, yeah, I'll come to that in a minute. Anyway, carry on….

Holly:

<Laugh>. Yeah, and I think and I think week on week Amy's seen some rewards and it's not been easy. It sounds like I'm painting this amazing, glorious picture that's just always been peachy. It hasn't, it's been tough. I think there's been self-doubt along the way and the conversations we've had probably in the last week or two is it's amazing that, you know, Amy's now run 5k. So she started 8 weeks ago. She finished it this week. She was run walking at Park run 5k. She did park run this week and she ran the whole 5k, which is incredible, but obviously Amy's mind's going, but I've got to do 10 K.

Louise Minchin:

Amy that’s fantastic.

Holly:

It is. And then part of the, the challenge I now have with Amy is to hold her back. She's like a, a race hourse ready to go. So we've been talking a bit about pacing and how she can pace her 10 k in a couple of weeks time and her sort of walk run strategy. So yeah, I'm honestly, I'm so proud of what she's achieved and I can't wait for her to get 10k, as we, as I keep saying to her, this is just the start. This is one or one of her 40 things she wants to do this year. So it's very exciting for her.

Louise Minchin:

Well I'm a massive fan of a yoga and walk run strategies. Now I wanna talk about it being kind of late February now. And I didn't know this until you told me this Mel and Holly, this is the peak time for giving up on resolutions. Well I'm really proud of myself cause my resolution is to do some yoga every day. And literally this week at one minute to midnight, I remembered I had not done any yoga <laugh> and I saved it by doing a quick sun salutation. Anyway, it's really it's a, it's important to have goals, isn't it? And I know Mel, that you went and asked people from the community what they do when they fell off the wagon. These were some of their answers.

Community Messages:

I remind myself how good it felt years back when I was doing the exercise and how it really lifted my mood and really made me feel better and I just make myself like a zombie, go out and do it and then afterwards I feel better. And I think yes.

I'd probably enter something because I love a training plan <laugh> and that training plan, even though you don't have to rigidly stick to it, it gives you the impetus to think I've got to get my backside out. So for me, a little bit of self pressure works, the weather works as well and actually a training plan really helps when the weather's really rubbish because you go.

 I think it's really just accepting what I can do and just going, I can't remember that like I used to. Let's just get out and if I can walk a bit being grateful for what I can do instead of what I can’t do.

Louise Minchin:

I'm really interested in what one of the community members said there about, and you said it, I think it was Mel, I come up with you, Mel or Holly early in the podcast saying, try not to remember, compare yourself to how you were. So I did this half marathon. I think this may have been my problem the last week. Last week I did a half marathon, right? Two years ago I did it in a cracking time or three years ago just before covid, right? This time I was 22 minutes slower. And that's kind of devastating. But then you have to go, you know, I'm doing my, I'm being a my own psychologist here. Everybody I know, I know you can help me with this. I had a knee operation in July, I couldn't walk, but it's very difficult. Who's gonna, who's hands up? Who on this podcast gonna give me top tip to deal with my head around that problem?

Holly:

Comparison is the thief of Joy. Louise and I think it was the, the Reverend Kate Bottley on this podcast who actually said that to us and I've never, lost that and it's so true, isn't it? It's all about context. It's all about what you are comparing and you're comparing apples and oranges, right?

Louise Minchin:

Well it's myself, but it's myself in two different centuries. Nearly <laugh>.

Holly:

Yeah. Yeah. And we change, don't we over time, you know, it's not just age but it's just the things that happen in life, your priorities in life change, the amount of training you can do, you know, all of those factors, you know, no one can be super fit all of the time unless you train, you know, a lot all of the time and life just isn't like that. So, you know, you've had a big life change since you left the BBC

Louise Minchin:

<Laugh>. I've, I've had a life change, I've had two operations since I'd lasted that run and one was only I suppose nine months ago. So give myself a break. Is that what I'm gonna do? Amy and Donna

Amy:

<Laugh> definitely <laugh>.

Louise Minchin:

Right Amy, I don't wanna put more pressure on you, but the next time we speak what's going to have happened?

Amy:

I will have run 10 k, I will have done, wouldn't have run it all, but I'll have have got round 10 k.

Louise Minchin:

You will have got round 10 k, you will have done 10 K Amy and I cannot wait to see you. I just wanna say lots and lots of good luck in the run up to it. That's such a bad cliche isn't it? <Laugh>? are you looking forward to it in some sort of funny way Amy?

Amy:

I am looking forward to it. I think the closer I get, I think the more nervous I get. Obviously it's like Holly said I can run 5k but obviously I've got to run twice a distance in two weeks time and Holly's saying don't run any further than 5k. Cause you don't need to. But you think, well perhaps I should.

Louise Minchin:

No, don't just do what she says. Promise you you're in safe hands. <Laugh>. Look where you look where you've got so far, Holly.

Holly:

Yeah and and that's a real classic actually a lot of the times when people sign up for an event, they think they have to do the distance of that event before they get to the event and actually it's all about the quality of the training that you do. So everything that Amy's done is not just run but it's the strength training. So her legs are really strong. She really hasn't felt sore at all with running. So she'll absolutely be able to get through that 10 K and all of that time building up slowly, gradually. That's what's gonna see a 10 k. You, you don't need to run that distance. The thing that we've been really working on, Amy's biggest challenge is pacing. So I don't know Amy, you wanna share your pacing from last week we were trying to work on that, weren't we? And it probably didn't quite go quite to plan?

Amy:

<Laugh>. No, I was trying to go on how I felt and I thought I was running slower, but I did it exactly the same time as yeah the week before.

Holly:

So, and that's great that we're starting to sort of get Amy to think about pacing now because actually her running fitness is there, she's doing, doing a lot of it. And now it's about trying to get the field for running. So she's been looking at her her Fitbit just to sort of see what her pace is now for each kilometer and that's gonna give us a bit of a guide of what kind of pace she's gonna start running when she does her 10 K. And the big thing for Amy now is to actually have the self-confidence when everybody else is racing off around her, which they will. Cause everyone gets excited at the start. How many times have we all, and I've done it a lot cause I tend to be quite speedy at the start and then hang on at the end you get carried along with the crowd. So that's gonna be the biggest challenge is just really sticking to that pace right at the beginning. You can always speed up but it's really hard if you've used all the energy in the tank before you kind of get to the last half of the half of the event.

Louise Minchin:

I'm not gonna blame my daughter, but I do blame her because on that half marathon basically we set up at her pace. Her pace is not my pace anyway. Hey Donna, you've got lots of preparation to do as well. Lots of luck to you. Anything particularly you can concentrate on over the next couple of weeks?

Donna:

Just continuing with the increase of the cycling carry on with the running and, and focusing on my strength as well.

Louise Minchin:

Okay, well listen, I can't thank you enough. I feel like we're in a sort of group help. I don't know what podcast here. I feel you help me. I don't know if I help you. I know Mel and Holly certainly do, but you're both honestly, everything is just makes so much sense to me and it's really helpful to all be on our own. Kind of like we're on a different journeys, aren't we? But having the same problems. Yeah,

Mel:

And I think one of the things that shines through in all of this is motivation. The two things that myself and Holly, you know, really passionate about is people say, I don't have enough time because ordinarily they're not motivated. And, and if I bring that back to Donna and the audio clip and you talked about it, you've now become proactive to find the time because you're more motivated cause you have a goal, you feel better, people are telling you that, that that you look better. Whereas in the past, before you'd have gone eff it, I don't want to do it, I'm just gonna go have a a pint and a pie downstairs. People have told you how you look. How do you feel eight weeks in? And and the second question is, why do you prioritise time and why are you now motivated?

Donna:

I feel so much better. I feel like I've got a lot more energy. And I think I like that feeling and I feel because I've committed, I think it's this thing about committing and planning. That's what's keeping me on track. I've committed to, but also I've got the plan each week. So when I am away I'm focused cause I know I can fit things in. So I think it's just keeping that momentum and, and I'm just loving this journey and just feeling good and having more energy and feeling stronger.

Louise Minchin:

You know what, thank you because right now it's 20 to seven, there is no excuse, there is a perfectly good gym downstairs. I can go and lift weights. I have no dog to walk. I have no dishwasher to unpack. Thank you Donna. <Laugh>. <laugh>. I'll send you a picture, Donna. It's not for broadcast, but I'll send you a picture of me looking sweaty in half an hour. <Laugh>, you're awesome Ladies, Amy. Donna, thank you so much Holly, Mel, absolutely brilliant. That's been one of my favourite podcasts so far. I'm so proud of what you've both been doing. Thank you so much for listening. I’ll just remind you that Donna and Amy will be posting all about their progress their challenges and their successes and also, you know, when things are bad as well because it, as we've been discussing, it's not always brilliant. If you want to challenge yourself for 2023, you can find regular updates and reminders of all the challenge we have going on and get advice and encouragement herspirit.co.uk or on the Her Spirit App as well. And thank you so much for listening. Good luck wherever you are on your exercise journey, whether it's starting, finishing, you're planning a marathon, a 5k, or just being part of feet first February, which is one of my favourite of all our challenges. We do go for it. I'm Louise Minchin, and the next episode of the Her Spirit podcast will arrive in two weeks. We will be talking about my all time actual favourite subject. The importance of sleep, cannot wait.