Goodbye Dairy......

Since I was 18 years old, I have suffered when I consume certain types of dairy products. There were days when I looked 4 months pregnant and a lot of buscapan consumed to relieve the stomach cramps. I managed and learnt how to keep it under control by avoiding milk in its true form, yoghurt and cheese. I was ok with ice cream and cream in small quantities. Whilst I was pregnant with Lily all the symptoms went and I could consume everything and anything in sight (literally), however as soon as she arrived the issues started again and poor Lily suffered too so I had no option but to avoid dairy as it smelt like a stink bomb had gone off in our flat thanks to Lily 🤦🏻‍♀️

Fast forward to today and after a lof of stomach cramps and being bent over double whilst out training, with the inspiration and help of two amazing friends and my husband, I am starting my journey of being dairy free! I haven’t been specifically diagnosed but at the moment it’s a choice I am making until I can get the food allergy testing done. 

I am now Day 11 of being dairy free and also gluten free after learning that I can’t have puff pastry!! So how has it been? Much better, I no longer have the cramps and bloating. I did have one set back over Endure24 but my body was put under so much stress and I consumed a lot of food(dairy and gluten free)  and fruit pastels. It took a few days for by body to recover but now I’m back on track and feeling much better again! 

Is it difficult.... to begin with yes

Am I missing some of my favourite foods.... yes but there are tasty alternatives 

Am I alone... no

Do you have to read the label of everything that comes in a packet... yes

Do I fancy a big tub of Oreo ice cream... yes and no!

With cutting out dairy, it is more important than ever that I take calcium as a supplement and find ways of getting it in my diet as dairy has been removed. There are plenty of tasty foods that are high in calcium but as my mum and aunties now all have osteopenia and with  the running I do, I need to maintain both bone and female health. 

I am so thankful I am not on this journey alone and I’m very thankful to have supportive friends and family 😘 

This change in food habits isn’t for everyone and I would highly recommend you see a nutritionist if this is something your thinking of doing, to make sure you are still getting the correct balance of macro and micro nutrients that your body needs and if you think you have a food intolerance, get the food testing done!

Much love xx 

(Backup) So what is next.....

Before I had even got to the start line of London, I had decided I wasn’t doing another marathon for a while. Why? This marathon cycle has tested me mentally and I had pushed my body to its limits and Lily is growing up so fast, I felt so guilty the time that I spent away training, even though running is my stress relief from her!

I’m not going to lie, days after London, I was looking at autumn marathons and found one mid September before our holiday to Croatia. It fitted in perfectly but as everyone knows, life gets in the way and moving house is more of a priority!

So what is next?....... Speed! The allusive sub 40km and sub 1.30half are on my to do list for this year. Chasing those times started today, with my first proper speed session in years! I dusted off my old cross country spikes as I knew I needed all the help I could get and with a session planned and overlooked by Coach and my little cheerleader, I did it! 

There is a long way to go to get the speed back I had all those years ago when I was younger! My style has changed and I’ve lost some knee lift with all the slower paced things I’ve done during marathon training! 

My calf’s are currently screaming at me! So why wear spikes? I usually run in Hokas and they are perfect for long distance but I have found it difficult to run in them at a faster speed. I recently bought a pair of On Clouds, I’m not the biggest fan but when it comes to doing longer speed sessions and 5kms they are ok but today I opted for my spikes. I also wanted to see how my ankle would cope without me wearing my orthotics, my answer... it’s not just my calf’s that hurt!! . It showed me there is still a long way to go in the rehabilitation of my ankle even though I am pain free when running and walking. 

Plenty of stretching, heal drops and foam rolling will be done in the next couple of days to help my legs recover, so we know it’s bad when the foam roller appears in our home! 

So here’s to trying to get my little legs running faster, wish me luck!! 

Abby x 

VLM 2018

So it’s now 2 weeks after The Virgin London Marathon 2018 and I thought it’s about time i write about it!

The days and hours leading into it, I was a nervous wreck. We visited the expo on the Wednesday, the temperatures were starting to creap up and hydration was key! I kept myself busy with work and looking after Lily until the evening before. We are very lucky to have such a supportive family to help look after her! For me until today, my pre race ritual was always a dairy free milkshake and a protein loaded pasta bake the night before! 

The morning arrived and alarm set at 5.30am to make sure I could plait my hair, eat a decent portion of porridge and allow plenty of time so we didn’t miss the coach! 

Myself and Ben were on different starts. We had been given the option to move Ben to the green start but as we had prepared ourselves and done most of our training on our own, we decided to run seperatly and stick to our own race plans! I cried when he left to walk to the red start, last year he had been my rock during the Brighton Marathon, how was I going to cope without him?! 

I had decided to run with a friend Jo and we had decided on a pace. Looking back, yes it was a bit fast for the conditions but we could only try and reassess on route to the finish! We started in pen 5 which was behind the 4 hour pacer, How?!  Jo had qualified with a 3.28 time from last year!

Anyway... we started and the first 3 miles went by so easily and quickly and I remember saying, “ I hope the next 23 miles go this easily”! I was so wrong! We got to mile 8 and my legs were starting to feel like jelly, I honestly thought that was the end of my marathon! I kept going and at mile 10 I had to put my music on and zone out as I knew it was the only way I would get to the finish. For me, the atmosphere was too much. I have never done a race with so many supporters and personally, I didn’t like it. The heat started to get to me after halfway and I knew it was just getting to the finish line in one piece now. People were already starting to receive medical treatment on the side of the road and I didn’t want to be one of them. At mile 15, I lost Jo and I can’t apologise enough for leaving her, one step she was there and the next she wasn’t. 

I kept counting down the miles and thinking to myself, get to 20 miles and then you can walk! I saw my family and friends at some point around that point, I asked how Ben was and they said, just keep going, don’t stop, he’s fine!! Dam you all, I wanted to do was stop at that point. Throughout the whole race, I walked for about 50 meters, it was more painful than running and I kept telling myself, if I keep running, I’ll get to the finish line quicker 😂.

The overwhelming atmosphere continued all along the embankment and I saw my supporters around a mile before the finish. I had no idea what time I was on for as I never looked at my watch the whole race until then. With my bad maths, I worked out I had 20 minutes to do the last mile to get another good for age but why, as I am never doing it ever again!

The 365 yards sign came and then the finish. Thank you to some very strong friends who caught me as I crossed the line. You saved me from breaking anymore of my front teeth! 

Meeting up with my friends and family..... I cried again but the most important thing was getting to the nearest GBK for a milkshake and burger! 

So how do I describe VLM 2018, BRUTAL! 

How do I feel about running 3.35, I couldn’t be happier. 

Will I be doing it again, HELL NO! 

To my family and friends who supported us on the day( you know who you are) I BLOODY LOVE YOU, and Ben, I am so proud of you and your right, let’s stick to the shorter distances!

Thank you to Phil Jelly Photography for the pictures 😍

4 days to go.....

So with 4 days to go we are on our way to collect our London Marathon numbers. 7 weeks ago, I didn’t think this would be happening....

1 A&E trip, countless ankle sprains, 1 set of crutches, 1 air boot, a lot of tears, days of double sessions of cross trainer and the spinning bike and an awesome team effort we are here!

For some that dream ended somewhere in the last 16 weeks and in the euphoria of the next couple of days, I would like you to spare a thought for them. Try and understand their struggle, their emotions and how they are feeling with the constant social media updates! I know they will be supporting you, whether it’s on the streets of London or motivational good luck messages, they will mean every word of encouragement.

Seeing clients and friends making that decision not to run, is difficult and there has been times I have cried because I know what running the marathon would have meant to them. To those people, use that anger towards your injury to make you even more determined to come back stronger and fitter and conquer those goals you’ve set yourself.

To those who are running, enjoy the expo and good luck! 

Abby x 

My 2015 Marathon Journey

Well, where do I begin. My last blog was back in December when I was super excited to be getting my new orthotics to help with my chronic achillies tendinopathy and I had everything crossed that they would help so I could start training for Brighton Marathon 2015 at the beginning of January.

I was doing minimal running until I got my orthotics and that included a parkrun on a Saturday. Just before Christmas, I was running around the first field of Frimley Lodge parkrun with my boyfriend Ben and the next thing I know I am on the floor, in tears due to the pain in my left ankle. Ben and Duncan carried me back to the benches as I couldn't walk and took a closer look at my ankle. My ankle bone (lateral malleolus) had swollen up and it looked like I had a golf ball attached to my ankle. Everyone was telling me, you've just sprained it, you'll be fine. I was on crutches for a couple of days until I had to go back to work and then had to weight bear on my ankle as treating clients whilst on crutches proved to be very difficult.

With being out for so long with chronic Achilles tendinopathy I was eager to get back running, so I tried running after 3 weeks after doing some cross training. Well... that was a bad decision. I couldn't walk without pain in my left ankle and foot, it was constantly swollen and bruised. 5 weeks later and after dropping a 10kg weight on my toes at the gym, Ben forced me to go to A&E at 11pm on a Saturday night as I was getting constant sharp pains into my ankle whilst laying in bed. The x-ray came back NAD (nothing adnormal detected) but I wasn't convinced. Frustrated and in pain, I went to see my best friend Lucy who is an Osteopath and well it is probably easier to list what wasn't wrong with my ankle and foot. We both agreed there was a stress fracture due to pain I was in but where, we don't know. Myself, Lucy and Ben agreed I would have 1 month off running which would take me to the 12th March, exactly one month before Brighton Marathon!!!!

I had daily massages on my ankle as well as laser therapy, ultrasound and acupuncture. Slowly the month passed, admittedly I was still cross training but no running but it was time to start running again. I started off with 10 minutes of running on the treadmill very slowly and thankfully there was no significant pain just a few niggles. I went to Portugal for 5 days to work on a warm weather training camp and managed to run most days building up to 4-5 miles by my last day there. I ran Fleet 1/2 Marathon with Ben and we ran 1.56. We were over the moon but knew I still had a long way to go to run a marathon! The only pain I was getting was in my big toe (1st Metatarsal Joint) if I wore the Asics Cummulus trainers I was running in. So off I went to Alton Sports and tried on so many pairs of trainers to see if I could find a pair that didn't cause me pain. I was very unsure on buying a pair of Adidas Boost trainers but they were they only ones that didn't aggravate my big toe.

10 days before Brighton we ran the Maidenhead 10. For Ben, it wasn't his best race due to issues he was having with his calfs and tibilas anterior muscle and he couldn't finish it due to the pain he was in. I carried on and ran 86 minutes. Thankfully I had no pain in my ankle or big toe and my confidence was slowly coming back.

The week going into Brighton, we were still unsure whether both of us would be able to complete it. Ben wasn't sure what trainers to run in and we couldn't decide what pace to run! We were both treating each other to help get us to the start line. Friday came and we headed down to the Brighton Marathon Expo with our running friends. We collected our numbers and then started the necessary carb loading!!!!

Sunday morning came around very quickly. We were up at 5am to head to Brighton. The sun was shinning but there was quite a breeze. Myself and Ben agreed on 4hr15 pace so it worked out about 9.20ish/mile pace. With 30 minutes to go, Ben was still undecided what trainers to where! We walked down towards the start line and made sure we where towards the back of our pen so the faster people could go in front of us. We started off and within a mile I was regretting wearing a base layer top. Our pacing was going nicely until about 10 miles. I managed to go over on my left ankle and Ben was starting to struggle with his hips being tight. Running through half way and out towards the 14/18 miles, the support from the crowds was overwhelming! We could constantly hear 'Go on Abby and Ben'!! I saw my family and grabbed some paracetamol to see if that would help Ben but it turned out he just needed to stretch every couple of miles. As everyone says the toughest part of the course is out towards the power station and they aren't lying. We both struggled and Ben wanted to walk but I knew he wanted to watch the Masters Golf when we got home so I may have gently threatened....'If you walk, your not allowed to watch the Masters'. It worked a treat. Our place had slowed significantly but we took on a number of gels, shot blocks and as much water as we could and headed back towards the sea front for the last 3 miles. For those that who ran Brighton Marathon this year, I am sure you will agree the support from the crowds in the last 3 miles was overwhelming. For the last couple of miles, our friend Darren ran alongside us, supporting and encouraging us. My family, our personal trainer (Dave) and his girlfriend (Jen) ran with us for the last mile but we lost them at 26 miles as we headed towards the finish. Ben kept asking 'Where is the finish'! Finally we could see it, and pushed on towards the finish line. We finished in 4.39.31!! 

That's when the tears occurred! I saw my friend Lee who I had met on the training camp, he gave us our medals and took our picture. The walk back to meet our family and friends was so painful and took us a while! Again there was a lot of tears when we met them and lots of pictures to cherish the moment.

Like 2014, I didn't do the proper training for a marathon but I can say I have now done two marathons and want to do more! I have a time of 3.37 to beat and it will be in the next couple of years! I learnt a lot through this marathon journey but it has made me realise how strong I am. To our friends and family that supported myself and Ben through our challenge we can't thank you enough. You kept us going with your motivating messages and supporting us on the course. To David Peddle, thank you for entertaining us in the last 6 miles of the marathon!!! #Coachfudge (my mum) has been the most amazing and supportive coach, making sure I still maintain my fitness and helping us finishing the marathon. Dave, thank you for putting up with my all my tears and tantrums because I couldn't train properly but you have now got me back on track and I feel stronger than ever.

 My biggest thank you goes to Ben for putting up with me through my injury, supporting me, treating me and for running the Marathon with me, I couldn't have done any of it without you.

There were so many of my friends who completed Brighton and/or London Marathons and you all did amazing. Completing a marathon isn't easy!

Lots of Love

Abby xx

Sometimes enough is enough but it's onwards and upwards now

As some of you may know and may have noticed, being able to run has been a bit of a struggle since July. A calf problem, aggravated by speed work, flip flops and walking bear foot on holiday, slowly turned into my previous achillies tendinopathy flaring up again. For a few months I did my best to train and run through it, which included 2 half marathons, a undulating 10km, a few parkRuns and even a cross country race but it finally became too much about a month ago when I was attempting a long run around Virginia Waters. I wasn't even 2 miles into the run and my left calf became very tight and I really struggled to run back to the car.

Enough was enough, I had tried everything that I knew to do for achillies tendinopathy, including stretching, teaching my boyfriend how to do Accupuncture on my calf, hot and cold hydrotherapy, eccentric exercises for my calfs and achillies, green tea, nutrition, wearing a heel raise and a gait analysis to check I was wearing the correct running trainers.

A very good friend of mine recommended I see a podiatrist, Karen Knightly of foot mechanix. At the initial consultation, I discovered I was wearing the wrong running trainers as my right foot/ankle wasn't allowed to naturally pronate like it needed to because of how my foot is made up. I'm no longer allowed to wear uggs, converse, vans, ballet pumps or heels. People who know me well, know I live in these shoes, but it's a sacrifice I have to make. I was also told I was only allowed to do minimal running until I have the customised orthotics that are currently being made for me.

I was upset that I wasn't able to run or train properly until Christmas, especially as I am doing Brighton Marathon in 2015 and was hoping to train properly for it!! After a big think, I realised it wasn't the end of the world; I belong to a gym ( a big thanks to Ben for that) and I have an amazing personal trainer, Dave Cole of Physicole Fitness, who is helping me improve the strength and conditioning side of my training.

So 2 weeks in, I'm training 5 days a week on the cross trainer at the gym. 2 sessions are interval sessions, 1 long rep session and 1 short recovery speed session. I'm having 2 to 3 personal training sessions a week and then making it up to 5 strength and conditions sessions, concentrating on mobility, technique, stretching and getting my glutes to work. 

I have seen this a lot being an osteopath, that a lot of runners who come in with lower limb injuries or lower back pain can be caused by their Glute muscles not working properly. There are a few simple exercises that you can do at home that can get them working but I will share them with you in another blog. 

Being injured is tough mentally. I lost the enthusiasm to train at times and I started to comfort eat therefore my weight increased. Being told I couldn't really run was a massive motivation to get myself as strong and fit as possible so when I can run, I can hopefully start to train properly and get ready for Brighton Marathon 2015. I am also working on my diet and nutrition. Junk food is no longer allowed, my protein intake has increased along with mangesium to help with muscle recovery and repair. This has been done my having a whey protein shake after each gym session I do and increasing the amount of meat that is in my diet. I'm not going to lie, it is difficult trying to avoid the foods that I love but it's all for the best and I feel so much better for working on my nutrition.

To all those who have had to put of with moaning about not being able to run and my weight I'm sorry  but thank you for your support and helping me.

Lotsa love 


Fudgeybum xx

The 26.2 miles that changed my life

Firstly apologies for the delay in writing this, May has been a crazy month!! There are so many things I would like to write about, but a friend said he wanted to hear about my journey to completing the Brighton Marathon and how it's changed me, so here it goes...

My journey started last year... I received an email saying I had been entered for the Brighton Marathon. I had never been so confused as I certainly didn't enter myself but who would be so mean to do that to me??!!!! Obviously my brother in law, Rob had something to do with it along with his friend Andy. His reason for entering me was that I needed to know what it felt like to do a marathon especially with being an Osteopath!!

A lot of people were against me doing the marathon because of past illnesses and not knowing if my body would cope with the training. In December, it was decided that I wouldn't be running the marathon as I had been suffering with achillies tendinopathy for 6 months and it needed to heal rather than make it worse with the extra training.

The 12th of February was the day that changed my life.... I was with my sister when we received   the devastating news that she was suffering with another ectopic pregnancy. I felt so hopeless, so me being me, I decided I was doing the marathon and fundraising for The Ectopic Pregnancy Trust. The panic set in though when I realised it was only 50 days to go until the marathon, uh oh!!

Although the marathon was not my main running goal for the year ( it was to get back racing on the track as I had unfinished business there!! ) my training had to change and so did my mind set and lifestyle. Long runs have always been an issue for me mentally and I had to get over that! So my long runs leading up to the marathon comprised of 1, 10 mile race (Bramley 10), Surrey 1/2 Marathon, Fleet half marathon and Brooklands half marathon and 2, 10 mile runs. I knew it wasn't enough but there was nothing I could do. To do the marathon I knew i needed to do more strength and conditioning training so I joined a gym so I could do circuit training. Jeez it hurt to begin with but that was one of the best decisions I made.

The week before the marathon, I was speaking to a friend, and he went "Abby what is the longest run you've done?" The answer was a half marathon, his reply then was "wow ok, your going to struggle!!" I did my final half marathon and I was told to enjoy it by #coachfudge and I did and smashed my half marathon PB by 6 minutes!! That was a shock and I thought I would be in trouble by my coach for running too fast the week before a marathon but thankfully I wasn't. The days leading up to the marathon dragged and I had to keep myself busy so I didn't think too much about the marathon. The realisation set in that I was doing the marathon when I went to the Brighton marathon exhibition. I went to pick up my number and I ended up with an elite number!!! I was not happy!

Sunday 6th April.... The day had finally come. Time to run 26.2 miles. Some of my amazing running friends came to Brighton to support me along with my family and they all managed  to keep me sane before the start. I knew I would struggle but I just had to  finish it. I wore a 4 hour pacing band just hoping to stick to the pace until half way and then see what happens...... Well that lasted for 2 miles!! It started to rain just before the start, so I said my goodbyes and headed down to the start with rob and Andy in my sexy rain Coat! We went for the back f of our pen so around 4hrs 30 mins. As we got closer to the start, I won't repeat what Rob and Andy said but the polite way of saying what they said was to go off!  The first 6 miles took you through the city centre so the streets were lined with crowds supporting you. I knew I would see my family at some point but not sure when. They were around 4 or 5 miles and I was so happy to see them. I threw my gloves off at them and gave them a big wave and smile :)

From 6 miles onwards you were heading out of town on a out and back loop. It wasn't as supported as much but you can the quicker runners, running back towards half way. I was really hoping to see rob and Andy at this point of the course but I didn't. At 11 miles the crowds started to pick back up as you headed towards half way, and hearing all the support it put such a big smile on my face. You run past the finish before half way, and it did make me realise I still had a long way to go!!! I put my head down but still looking for my family as I knew they would be at the 14 mile mark. I saw them and my friends jumping and waving and encouraging me so I just carried on loving every step I was taking. 14 to 18 miles was an out and back section and I continued to run through the runners. People were starting to struggle but all you could do was give them a pat on the back and some encouragement. At the 18 mile mark I managed to see my mum once I had run past her. She was offering me more gels, they were the last thing I wanted. I had only taken on 3 gels at that point and some jelly beans and I was dreading the next one, even if it was Mojito flavour!! As I turned the corner and headed out on the stretch towards the power station, I managed to spot Duncan, James and Darren. Again they put the biggest smile on my face and just what I needed before I headed out on the toughest section of the course. 21 miles was around the power station. By my calculations if I kept going and even if I had to slow I could still run under 3.45. My hip flexors started to hurt but I kept saying to myself it's 5 miles to go you can do this, just remember why your doing this. From 22 miles I was running blind as someone had hit my garmin and stopped it.

At 23 miles, the pain in my hip flexors really started to get to me but I knew it was just a parkrun to go and I could see the pier!! That was the toughest 5km I've ever run. The crowds started to get thicker and louder, and I could hear people shouting my name so I took out my headphones so I could soak up the atmosphere. From 25 miles, all I wanted was just to see someone I knew and as I was getting closer and closer to the finish I didn't think I would. With 400 meters to go, I saw my mum in the corner of my eye jumping around like a mad woman and I burst into tears!! Running and crying is quite difficult to do. I dug in deep and sprinted for the finish line and crossed in 3hrs 46!!! That's when the pain really set in but the emotion took over and I couldn't stop crying. I had my photo taken with my medal but all I wanted was to get to my phone so I could phone my mum and meet her. As soon as she picked up the phone, I started crying again and she asked why was I crying!! I finally met up with her, there were more tears from both of us, then my dad and sister joined us and we were all crying! My friends arrived and I had silenced them because they couldn't believe what I had done and I was finally told my time 3.37.59!!!! We took a very slow stroll to the beach to wait for rob and Andy to finish. They both did it with some difficulties but a massive well done to you both.

I'm writing this as I lay by the pool in turkey, reflecting on how 26.2 miles changed my life. I proved to myself how mentally strong I am and no matter what life throws at you, good or bad, you can always make the situation better and that's what I did. I raised over £1800 for the ectopic pregnancy trust by completing something that I thought was impossible even as I walked through to the start line. It still makes me cry reflecting on that day!!

To everyone who supported me through this life changing journey, I am forever in your debt and I really can't thank you enough.

So here's to Brighton marathon 2014 and to next one in 2015!!

Lotsa love fudgeybum xx