Wendy Walsh
Age
50
Occupation
Pilates / Barre instructor, Clinical Pilates ( rehab / prehab to runners) coach with S&C qualifications too.
I’m an ex Dancer and Choreographer so movement is my world ! After I retired from the dance world I became a fitness instructor and PT , believe it or not that was over 25 years ago so movement really has been my life.
Reason you started running?
I lost my Mum in 2010 , I had always jogged a little and loved XC at school (even though my dancing got in the way of competing) , I realised 6 months later that I was using exercise to cope and decided to channel it positively so with three weeks to get from 10 miles to 13.1. I entered St Albans Half and managed to finish in 1 hour 56 minutes, 5 years later I ran my PB at Watford in 88 minutes and 8 seconds, clearly somewhere along the way I’d found something I could compete at and something for myself , it’s been one of the best things in my life to date .
Favourite race distance?
For a long time it was 10 miles , sometimes 13.1 , sometimes 5 and rarely 5k ! It really depends how I’m training and what is going on with my body which now dictates how I train.
Favourite race and route?
This has to be Fred as it’s a great distance, my PB course , part of St Albans Half and local !
Running goals?
This is really hard to answer now , my answer to the next question will explain but honestly my only goal now can be to do what I can when I can . In my heart I would love to get back to form and run some PBs and get back to being competitive in my age group.
How often do you train?
Normally 3 times a week.
1x track , speed work or hills ,
1x tempo run and 1x long run .
Unfortunately normal is no longer normal , I’m currently working out a lot of health issues, namely Chronic Kidney Disease plus potential Ehlers–Danlos Syndrome - this a product of my hypermobility, it can cause severe exhaustion in which case I have learnt to taper back. As my muscles have to work so hard to control my joints I’m finding strength training harder and harder each month and that’s the very thing I need to underpin my running (this is the short version!) I’m learning to live with joint pain flare ups and fatigue like I’ve never known so that should answer why I can’t really have goals any more.
What motivates you?
Honestly, I don’t need motivating , I love running but I can disclose that getting faster motivated me for a few years😉
Most memorable race?
Maidenhead Half Marathon , I’d spent months trying to knock two minutes off my half marathon time to gain a championship time , that’s where it happened , all the hard work paid off and I sat in the curb and cried after the finish line!
Injuries?
I have had a calf tear, proximal hamstring tendonopathy, currently battling with what I think is hip impingement.
After I’d been running a while I realised that lots of runners get the same injuries often in the same order which is why I started my Pilates for Runners classes in the hope we could have more awareness, core and glute strength and less injury.
Other hobbies
I’m an out and out roadie ( even though I haven’t been on my bike until yesterday this year !) I love the freedom of the bike , the social aspect ( before Covid 19 obvs ) and the cross training effect ,also my bike is really pretty …
I love yoga and some parts of the gym , and my latest love is hiking but I need mountains.
Guilty pleasures?
I’m not sure I feel guilty about anything I like / love . I eat too much chocolate and cake , drink too much coffee and sometimes I listen to really crap loud music …
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