A decade of sports and fitness trends in 2009-2019: did you take part in these?

The past decade has seen a steady rise in the number of women taking part in sports and people taking up a huge range of sports and different types of exercise. Some of those started off as trends but are now fully ingrained in our culture and daily lives. Comedy films now exist about our desire to achieve goals, like Brittany Runs A Marathon, meeting up with friends in Sweaty Betty lycra is as normal as wearing wearing jeans and social media has given rise to more people taking on extreme challenges.

Becoming a book guerrilla: Just why?

Recently, I tweeted about the lack of visibility of the books by or about women in sports at a Waterstones branch. It resulted in a huge conversation on social media and The Daily Mail publishing an article about it. I thought I’d share my thoughts around it and why I did what I did. 

An active weeked in Tenerife: winter sun and hiking in the Anaga Mountains

Tenerife: The place for winter sun. Many people associate Tenerife with cycling breaks and winter beach holidays, but did you know the island's vast mountain ranges is also the perfect holiday destination for running, hiking and many other activities? After taking part in the 8km race on Saturday, we spent the Sunday hiking in Taborno.

An active weekend in Tenerife: The Tenerife marathon, half marathon and 8km races

Google 'winter sun holidays' or 'weekend in Tenerife' and you'll be forgiven in thinking that the only things to do in Tenerife are the sun, parties and beaches. Sure, these can be fun, but most of the time I'm on holiday, my idea of a fun involves food, exploration and getting a thrill out of having an adventure. A trip to Tenerife in November recently changed my perception of the island and opened my eyes to what you can do there. Come with me, and let's see what else there is in Tenerife.

Which running distance is easier?: A 5k, 10k,marathon or ultra marathon?

Running has changed so much over the past few years. I remember when I did my first marathon in 2016,  it was just starting to get more popular. Now, running marathons has become almost quite normal. I guess it's not met with the same sort of shock as it used used to? The ultra is now becoming the new marathon in many ways. I've just started training for Comrades 2020 - what I've found with ultra running, is that I often get people commenting that the shorter distances must be easy. So that got me thinking - are the shorter distances easier? I asked a few ultra runners what they thought.

Reebok Ragnar Relay Race: Lake Malaren - June 2019 race review

You're in Sweden for 48 hours. What do you do? Run 250km around a lake of course. Want to know more? Intrigued about running in a relay? In this post, I'll tell you all about my experience taking part in the team relay race that is the Reebok Ragnar Relay Malaren. Was there anything I found disappointing? How did I find running at 3am? What was lack of sleep like? Did I even sleep? And, what did we even eat?

How to train for a hot race

With the events that I've done, some of my favourite ones have been in hot, hot weather. I love it. Besides the memorable tan lines that appear (strong tan lines make for good storytelling afterwards), people often ask me, how do I train and prepare for a hot race. After all, most of the time, the UK isn't exactly known as having a hot climate. When you're running or cycling in hot weather, if you're not used to it, it can hit you hard. So if you've got a run or triathlon coming up in hot weather, here's some tips that will help you prepare for it.