Travel Tips

As I have been training in California for training quite a lot over the last year,  I thought I could share some things I have learnt for how to make flights and traveling easier.

As an athlete you need to be learn how to travel, during the competition season people are travelling every week and you want to be in the best shape possible when you get there.

Put all essentials you need for competition in your hand luggage the last think you want is to get to the destination and they have lost you bag and you don't have shoes or things you need to compete.

Check in online for a good seat! 

HAND SANITISER! airports, plains and travel are a feeding ground for bacteria, high traffic of people causes spread quickly, keep sanitiser

Vicks first defence! 

Take snacks/food for the journey, you can take food though security as long as its solid, its more expensive at the airport. 

GET WATER! make sure you get water, I normally get 2l, traveling causes major dehydration, even get some electrolyte tablets/sachet

Take entertainment, music/laptop/book 

Try and get some good noise cancelling headphones, the ones they provide (long haul) are awful and you can't really hear what you are listening/watching. 

ear plugs and an eye mask are good to.

Flight Socks!

Put your watch back as soon as you take off, it starts the process of time change.

When you arrive stretch, jog, move around to get blood flow

Do things at the right time! when I travel to California I normally arrive around 3pm (11pm UK) I am so tired and just want to sleep, DONT, try and stay awake until a normal bed time same with food try and eat at dinner time, it will help with jet lag, try and keep occupied, go for a walk anything just don't slob on the couch!

Don't forget your passport!

If you have any more tips please leave them below! :-)

Sophie 

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Event Discrimination

I want to start this post by saying that I love my event/job and I don't do it for money ext but if I did I certainly wouldn't be in the event I do. 

Some people may expect that I have a lot of money and live a lavish lifestyle but that is defiantly not the case. I am not going to go into specifics of what I earn but I live and train fully on the Annual Personal Award (APA/Funding) I get from UK Sport/British Athletics each year, I don't get any extra money from any sponsors, only from the few competitions and appearances, which is not a significant amount also this year I was dropped a level and moved from C to D which also means a drop in my funding, so I am living on a tight budget but I can train full time which is a privilege and all that matters to me. 

The first issue is that the hammer is not in the Diamond League which I feel is where most of the problems stem from. The event have reasons why the hammer is not included but don't make sense to me and a lot of people, even when the UK have Grand Prix we still are not included. The hammer and throws in general have a lack of coverage on TV so makes the event less desirable for sponsors as their brand won't be televised. Like I said in my "About Me" post I get kit off Nike but not all of the yearly sponsored kit, I came 24th in the world after a shakey year but some athletes a lot lower down the list get the full kit and a contract just because they have a few appearances in the Diamond League. People have been campaigning for the hammer to be included but to no avail. 

If you were to compare an athlete in another event who had the same accomplishments as me its highly likely they would be in a completely different place commercially than me. After I won the World Junior Championships in 2010 I thought that maybe I would get some interest but that didn't happen. Going back to my first comment of I DONT do it for commercial/money, I do it because I want to win, like most people in throws. It sometimes feels like people think throwers are second rate athletes but I feel like there is more involved than another event which is why the peek age is higher in throwers as there is so much more to perfect. 

I know that not all events are going to be the same and it is very hard to compare but I feel there is a big separation between some events and I feel like this is discrimination especially to hammer and also throws in general, do you agree? This is partly why I started my blog to get myself and throws more into the public. 

Again I am hugely thankful for the people that make it possible for me to train full time and I do it to be the best I can be not for the amount of money.

Sophie 

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2014

When I think about the 2014 season I have very mixed feelings. It is fair to say that this season hasn't been the best of my carrier so far but I still came out of it with things that I am now proud of. If you asked me after Europeans how I felt my season went, my reply defiantly wouldn't have been positive but after a lot of reflection I am proud of what I did this year considering I wasn't in the best shape of my life.  

I had a great winter of training before the season and I was throwing well but I struggled in the season to get my throwing stable with that came the stress of not performing the way I wanted. I had a seasons best of 71.53m back in May this year in Halle, Germany which is always a great competition and I felt like my throw was coming together but the next few competitions were disappointing and agin felt my throw was unstable. The European Team championships was another good competition for me, even though the distance wasn't the best the throwing felt good. 

Then we are into the main part of the year commonwealth games were next and my preparation was far from smooth but when I got to the village things stated to come together. Unfortunately it didn't come in the competition I felt like my last throw was good but when it landed I knew it wasn't enough and I finished 3rd, getting a medal at a championships is great but I expected more for myself. After reflection getting the bronze medal was a major achievement with all the problems I have had this year. 

European Championships was a disaster for me, after commonwealths I came down with a stomach bug the day before we were going to fly, I didn't know if I was going to make it to the championships but I wanted to at least try and compete, you never know unless you try, I had no energy in the comp, my finial attempt was good but was out of sector, I was bitterly disappointed for a long time after, I felt like it was a great opportunity that I had missed. Now I am so glad I went and I tried to compete I learnt a lot and didn't want to look back and think "what if?" thats where my season ended. 

This was the first season I haven't had a PB, it was hard and a lot of struggle but I have learnt a lot, things are sent to test us and success isn't a smooth climb, its a bumpy road but feel more determined than ever. I am back into training for a great 2015!

Sophie

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Sunday Review : PROMIXX

I want to start with a quick disclaimer, yes these products were sent to me but I always give my honest opinion! I would never recommend a product of I didn't honestly think it was good!

Iv been lucky enough to try out both editions of the PROMIXX vortex mixer and I thought I would give you my thoughts on both. As the name suggests the bottle creates a vortex from the liquid to mix powders, I used mine to mix my post training protein but it works with all powders, you can also mix eggs and make pancake mix! Although it doesn't have blades so won't blend solid ingredients like fruit. 

The original PROMIXX PRO1 comes in 3 colours, black, white and pink and retails at £18.99

Upgrade pack available in all 3 colours, comes the a Nutripod and the rechargeable motor. retails at £16.99

The PROMIXX 2.0 has brushed aluminium and comes with a Nutripod and rechargeable motor. It comes in 3 colours, blue, silver and black and retails at £39.99

 The main difference between them is the motor RMP the 2.0 is a lot higher and creates a stronger vortex which does mix the powder quicker and smoother, don't get me wrong the PRO1 mixes great and is smooth with no lumps but the 2.0 is just way more powerful also the way they are charged is different to, the PRO1 is run buy 2 xAAA batteries and the 2.0 is electrically charged by a USB cable, you can buy an upgrade pack for the PRO1 but to be honest I think your better off just buying the 2.0 and having both just incase you leave one in your training bag or car! I have done that a few times, they are both made of strong plastic which is easy to clean doesn't stain and doesn't start to smell and doesn't leak! like some regular shakers.

The other difference is that the 2.0 has a ml measure down the side where the PRO1 doesn't, to me that doesn't really matter but I know some people want to be precise with the amour of liquid, it also come in handy when you can't find the measuring jug!

The 2.0 come with a Nutripod that fits into the lid to transport your preferred supplement, its a great addition and is very convenient. 

In my opinion I think the 2.0 is amazing and the best for your money but if you are strapped for cash there is nothing wrong with the PRO1 it still mixes smooth lump free protein. I love the look of the 2.0 its sleek and stylish. If I am to be honest I can be very lazy with my supplements but with the PROMIXX I look forward to having my post training protein, its so easy to use and is great after a really hard session when you just can't be bothered. Its quick and easy and creates lump free, smooth protein! I love it and couldn't recommend it more! 

You can buy all the PROMIXX products HERE UK only 

For the US you can get the PRO1 from Amazon HERE 

Sophie 

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Body weight

As I posted in my last blog I said I would do a blog post about my body weight, I always get comments about my size like "oh you don't look like a hammer thrower" peoples stereo type of a hammer thrower is still very large women, possibly with moustaches, but thats not necessarily the case, you need to be strong and athetic but ultimately you are trying to throw a 4kg (women) as far as you can body weight does become a factor.    

To explain further, at the start of this year (2014) I was around 73kg, when I got back from Europeans I was 65kg!, I had been very sick with a stomach bug for around a week when I recovered form the sickness I was 68kg so over 6 months I had lost around 5kg, hammer is such a technical event that the slightest of changes can put off your rhythm and timing which is what I was feeling all year and of corse when things are not quite right we look at the most minuscule aspects instead of the most obvious things, as I have never had a problem with my weight it never occurred to me that it would be a problem.

So after my season finished it was the first priority to get back up to where I started at 73kg, obviously I didn't want to do it fast and just put on fat, I want to put on useable lean muscle mass. We have been doing skin fold tests to measure body composition over the past 2 months and I have got back to 73kg and put on 2.1kg of muscle, over the next few months I would like to put on a couple more kg of muscle and get to 75kg by next season. getting back the weight hasn't really been difficult I have increased my overall protein and calorie intake, also increased post training protein shakes, it hasn't been a massive change I will keep up to date on another changes. there is so much I could of wrote about this topic but I didn't want it to be to long, so if you do have any questions I will do my best to answer them. 

To help me with this I have teamed up with Myprotein and become an affiliate and I have a few discount codes to share with you!

10% off for New Customers NEW10
Free Mystery Gift when you spend £10 MYSTERYGIFT 
ends 31/12/14

http://tidd.ly/2410576c

Sophie 

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