I am so excited to say I have an interview with Jemma on my blog this weekend. I'm sure many of you know who Jemma is, especially following her incredible U20 1500m European title, but for those of you who don't here are some of her PBs and recent achievements. PBs: 800m - 2:04 1500m - 4:12 3000m - 9:11 Achievements: 1500m and 3000m British Champion U20 European 1500m Champion 2017 4th U20 at European 3000m in 2017 What was it like when you won the u20 European 1500m title? What has it been like since this, have you noticed more press, etc.? Winning European U20 1500 was surreal. It meant the world to me. I still can’t believe it’s happened and I often watch the video back to relive it. It made it even more special not doing as well as I wanted the day before, to come back and prove myself. Also showing my mental strength which is something I have worked on. Since winning it’s boosted my confidence and a lot of papers wanted to talk to me but everyone was friendly and not pushy, so it wasn’t too intense. I think the main thing was I just carried on as if I wasn’t European champion. Yes I remind myself of this amazing achievement but I now want to better being junior champ so I have to keep my feet on the ground and my eyes on the stars. Not letting it go to my head. This experience was amazing and I am trying to use it to help and expire more athletes. At what point did you know that running was something that you wanted to do as your career? And what was the decision like to become a full-time athlete? I started running at 9 years old and fell in love with it. I worked hard in school I was never the smartest to say the least I scrapped my way through. At 16 years old I couldn’t get my head off running. I’d be sitting in maths class working out splits I should do at training. After my exams I said to my mum and Dad I don’t want to go to school, all I wanted to do was run. Of course I got told education comes first but I’m very grateful they supported me with my decision, to leave school and attend college for two years focusing on sports coaching where I was much happier and excelled in my classes because I was doing something I loved. I then went on to studying fitness instructor/personal trainer and I finished my studies for the summer. Through the summer I was busy racing and didn’t have much thought about studies. By August (2017) I was working in a local pub to have some money to do my next course. Around October I then decided I wanted to just run, I can study at any point in my life so I thought why not take the opportunity, grab the chance to give this my best shot. My parents very supportively helped me along. I then signed a Nike contract in November I cried when I got home to tell me family. This was my big chance to prove myself and develop! A dream come true! Since then I’ve officially said I’m going to focus on my running until the right time comes to return to study and use this opportunity to my best advantage. Have you always been at the top from a young age, did you start running competitively at a young age? I started running at 9 years old in schools races, I then swiftly went to kilbarchan aac. Where I competed and trained. Nothing serious just had fun as I developed and done running when I wanted. I was never up top, I was always about average. I had never competed in a serious race till I was around 16 years old. I started to win a couple of scottish champs then medaled at English champs. So it took me around 7 years to start winning champs but I never really understood winning these champs because to me all races were the same I was just doing what I loved. What is your favourite pre-run and post run snack? Porridge is my go to snack before running or a naked bar. Post run must be peanut butter on toast or bagel! You have been on a training camp in South Africa over this winter. What was it like to be out on a training camp with lots of the senior British team? Before coming on my first senior camp I was slightly nervous because I was the youngest. I didn’t know if I’d fit in well. Being on the camp is amazing everyone is lovely and I’ve been included in everything. Trainings going very well and I’ve been working with loads of different people. It’s been a great experience and opportunity. It is very expiring being around the best of British athletes. What are some of your aims for this summer season and what races are you focusing on? This summer I have no junior or u23 comps outside of the UK. I am hoping to travel and race abroad getting new experiences. I’d like to run quite a bit faster than the times I did this year. A big aim would to be selected to run at the European Senior championships. I know it will be very very tough to get this as our endurance athletes are smashing it, but I like to aim big. What’s your favourite session? My Favourite session would be some quick 2s. We don’t do it very often so it’s a nice treat. Have you ever been effected by injury badly? If yes can you talk a bit about it and how you recovered and stayed motivated? I’ve never been effected by an injury but my asthma has took a year to get right. Since May last year till December 2017 my asthma was out of control and it consisted in a lot of hospital and doctor visits every week. It was hugely frustrating for me and everyone in my team. I felt so down, knowing I wanted to run faster but not being able to breathe properly wouldn’t allow me. Thankfully I have the right help and now I hope I’ll not struggle with this much again. And having the support from everyone looking after me, helped a lot. What does a typical training week look for you, do you do high mileage? Monday; session track Tuesday; 2 runs and circuits Wednesday; sessions track Thursday; 2 runs Friday; rest Saturday; session on grass Sunday; long run I don’t think I do very many miles it’s more quality not quantity. At 19 I don’t think it’s too good either to hammer in miles as I’m still developing and want room for improvement in the future instead of peaking too early. I just want to say a huge thank you to Jemma for allowing me to interview you, personally you are a huge inspiration to me and I am sure you are to so many others too!!
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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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