RUNNING & READING

I'm pretty big on reading. I've been known to read all seven Harry Potter books in 6 days, had finished the Lord of the Rings trilogy (and The Hobbit aka the best one) by the time I was 11 and can get through my 3 books and move onto someone else's in the space of a week-long holiday... However my busy life schedule (and addiction to the Walking Dead/lying in bed eating cake with Ben) means that my epic book-reading escapades are now reserved for special occasions only. I've had to find other ways to get my weekly dose of 1 million word, so thank GOD for my favourite invention in the entire history of the world - THE INTERNET!

As trained journalist/social media/digital person I spend a lot of time on the old interweb and although YES social media is frying all of our brains etc etc, I actually have learnt a hell of a lot from it. I follow a fair few amazing writers and runners (and some are both!) on Twitter and they're always sharing interesting articles, opinion pieces and inspiration on loadzzzz of different subjects.

I am a huge geek at heart and love researching topics in depth and basically becoming a bit of a know-it-all about them and telling all my mates while they smile lots and pretend to be interested (hahah thank you girls for your everlasting support).

My saved articles pretty much follow the same pattern because I am a creature of habit and feel like knowledge is power when it comes to running/food/life in general:

I read a lot of running/fitness-based articles (obviously) because it's something I'm always trying to improve at. The HUGE amount of info and different training methods can sometimes get a bit confusing so I try to take it all with a pinch of salt and work out what's best for me. Also I love a good interview or profile on a professional athlete - the work they put in is unbelievable and they always have great abs and mostly great hair. Well done gals.

Another big topic in my internet history is the prominence of eating disorders among female (and male) athletes. I've seen it happen to a few people I've trained with and can 100% understand why/how people can get into a vicious mindset that losing lbs = losing minutes on the track. As one of the 'stronger looking' middle-distance runners in Bristol I know how comments about weight or size can impact you and it's SO important to make sure disordered eating in athletics is a conversation that is had in coaching courses and club meetings across the country (and maaaaaybe this is a rant for another day hahah..).

Also, FOOD! I love food and spend the majority of my day eating, thinking about eating or texting Ben to ask what we'll be eating for din dins. Food food food. I also have coeliac disease which means I can't eat gluten (haha, I can see the eye-rolls from here). Frankly if you think coeliac disease is a 'trend' then you can absolutely fack offfff - nobody would choose to cut out an entire food group and go to their grave having never tried a pork pie. Also, to be at risk of cancer, infertility, osteoporosis and in very real danger of shitting yourself if you eat a piece of bread is at best extremely annoying and at worst a very serious disease. ANYWAY, I also think all these 'healthy food gurus' are making nutrition more complicated than it should be and like to read ranting articles that agree with me.

FIIIINALLY (sorry, this post is going on longer than I imagined it would), I am a big advocate of getting girls involved in sport from a young age. As a little whipper-snapper I tried loads of sports, from ballroom dancing to tennis and it made me some amazing friends, taught me about teamwork and all that kind of stuff and won me a few medals along the way (heheheh). It also made me aware of what the human body is capable of and I think female role models in sport are WICKED. As are blokes, but ladies are more inspiring to me because we all have VAGINAS in common.

Aaaaand now to the actual point of this blog post. Here are a few very interesting articles I've read this week:

• 'The women to root for at Rio' - the AMAZING sportswomen to look out for at Rio 2016: https://www.the-pool.com/people/women-we-love/2016/31/alison-kervin-on-the-sportswomen-to-root-for-in-rio-olympics-2016

• 'The return of Caster Semenya: Olympic favourite & ticking time bomb' - great article about the favourite to win the women's 800m at Rio, and what her high levels of testerone mean for the sport: https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2016/jul/29/the-return-of-caster-semenya-olympic-favourite-and-ticking-timebomb?CMP=share_btn_tw

• 'The dark side of distance running' - the first paragraph resonated with me SO much (strong thighs) that I couldn't not include this. Still lots more to be done in athletics to stop this type of mindset: http://www.strongrunnerchicks.com/dark-side-distance-running/

• 'Alexi Pappas: The mind of an Olympic runner' - Profile on Alexi Pappas, Greek 10km runner as well as film-maker, poet star of semi-biographical film 'Tracktown' and all-round super-babe: http://www.rollingstone.com/sports/alexi-pappas-the-mind-of-an-olympic-runner-w431532

• 'Hurdling blind' - Interview with Aisha Praught, Jamaican middle distance runner as she tries her first season of steeplechasing. I want to try steeplechase, so this is mega #INSPO: https://spikes.iaaf.org/post/aisha-praught-hurdling-blind

• 'Could you stomach Huel, the food of the future?' - The Guardian tries to live off 'Huel' for a few days, basically a glorified protein shake. NO THANKS MATE: https://www.theguardian.com/science/2016/jul/31/huel-human-fuel-hi-tech-food-powder 

• 'When being Varsity-fit masks an eating disorder' - the sad story of Alex Devinny, a very promising US athlete who died of an eating disorder, and what's been done since: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/14/fashion/14Fitness.html?smid=tw-share&_r=0

• 'The shocking truth behind Clara gluten-free water' - a very good blog from a very angry chef as he kind of explains why everyone has such an issue with the gluten-free crew: http://angry-chef.com/blog/the-shocking-truth-behind-clara-gluten-free-water

(Image credits in articles)