I am so excited to say I have got a fantastic interview by Charlotte Purdue on the blog this week, but let me first start off with a bit about Charlotte. Age: 26 Club: Aldershot Farnham and District Charlotte has recently participated in the the London IAAF World Championships marathon and she finished in a very impressive 13th, which is incredible in a time of 2:29:48 and she is still only 26, so still has time to show us even more. Charlotte also had a hugely successful junior career, and competed for GB for several IAAF World Cross Country Championships. Here are some of the questions I asked her and her responses. What age did you start running and what made you start? I started running age 11 when I first went to Secondary school. I started running because my best friends thought it would be funny to sign me up for the school cross country. After doing it, I realised I enjoyed it and was pretty good :). When did you represent Great Britain for the first time? My first GB was in 2007 when I was 15 years old. I ran an International in Portugal, later that year I went on to run the World Cross Country in Kenya. When did you make the transition to a full-time athlete, was this an easy transition and was this a clear thing for you to do in your career? I became a sort of full time athlete when I left university, I still had a part time job at this time although it wasn't many hours. I am a qualified Personal trainer and Pilates instructor so I was chasing my own hours and it was flexible around training. Injury is something that hits most runners through their career, have you ever had to overcome any major injuries? If yes how did you physically and mentally recover from this? I’ve had a load of major injuries including 6 stress fractures in my career. From the ages of 19-22 were probably the hardest for me as I seemed to be constantly injured. I mentally was able to get through this by focusing on other things such as university, my personal training course and cross training. My family and friends were really supportive. How important would you say diet is as a runner and have you had to make any significant changes as you have progressed to being an elite and full time athlete? Diet is very important as an athlete as it is fuel for all the training that I do. I think it’s key not to over complicate your diet. When people ask me what I eat before a race/marathon I tell them that the key is to eat food that you know agrees with you (tried in training) and that you enjoy. There’s no special diet, just eating healthy 80% of the time and eating enough balanced foods - fats, proteins and carbohydrates! And obviously the treats have to fitted in throughout the week :). You go altitude training a lot, is this something you would recommend to endurance runners? Have you found it has helped your fitness? Yes – I’ve found altitude training really beneficial to my training. I don’t always go to altitude when I go away on training camps though. I tend to spend a lot of my time in Melbourne as my coach and training group are based there. It is good to get away and train with people who have similar goals. You are relatively young, and marathon doesn’t seem like an obvious event to go down at your age. What got you into marathon running instead of 5,000 or 10,000m? I ran the 5,000m and 10,000m when I was coming up from juniors to senior level. A main reason for my move to the marathon was the fact that I always seemed to pick up injuries running on the track. I changed coaches in 2014 and after picking up a stress fracture during a track session we decided that we would change my training and that I would avoid high intensity sessions and track training in order to get my body healthy and more robust! Where are you based mostly throughout the year for your training? Do you travel away from home a lot for training camps? Yes I'm always away for training - but I love travelling :). I train a lot in Teddington and Windsor Great Park when I'm in the UK. What are your favourite pre and post-race snacks? Pre race I usually stick to simple foods such as oats with banana, honey and peanut butter. Post race I always have lots of treats - my favourites are a good pizza, ice cream and lots of sweets! I just have to say a huge thank you to Charlotte for answering these questions following a busy time at the world championships. I think everyone can really learn from Charlotte and she is also really one to watch in the future!
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HelloI'm Grace, a 18 year old runner, and fitness fanatic. Join me on my crazy journey through life, squeezing in an adventure in every second of spare time I have. Archives
November 2018
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