1. What do you do for a living? If you could ‘design’ a new role in line with what you do, what would it be?
I’m a freelance Software Developer. In an ideal world, I’d love to be developing websites for local clients, with the flexibility to work from wherever I choose, and working the hours that suit me best…not too much to ask!
2. Which Brawd training location do you prefer training at? Is there somewhere in the Swansea area you’d love to train?
Caswell Bay is my ‘home’ ground. It’s a fantastic location even when it’s raining or blowing a gale, although I’m not quite sure how we’re going to manage in the evenings during the winter months! Regarding other places to train, I reckon we’re blessed with alternatives around Swansea (beaches, clifftop paths, parks, river trails, etc.), so we’ll never get bored.
3. Which 3 activities do you enjoy on your leisure time?
Training, Saturday nights ‘in’, Saturday nights ‘out’.
4. What do you eat before and after training sessions? What works best for you?
I definitely train best first thing in the morning. For a Brawd boot camp, I prefer working out on an empty stomach (probably not recommended), but if I’m going for a long run, I’ll try and have a pasta dish the night before and something like poached eggs an hour before I go out. Once the session is over, I try get some food inside me as soon as possible…I’m normally gagging for something by then!
5. Which would you prefer: the ability to see – but not change – one event a week in the future, or change one event, one week in the past?
Got to look to the future…even if you could change the past, probably best not to.
6. What’s the best training session with Brawd so far? What’s been the best laugh?
Every session I’ve had with Coach Geraint has been different from the previous one, but they’ve all been great – my favourite was probably where we ran from Caswell to Brandy Cove and did an impromptu session with assorted rocks and logs that we found on the beach – awesome! The Barry/Swansea get-togethers have been great and it’d be good to do more of these, especially as we’re starting to get more numbers for the Swansea Brawd and MsFit groups.
7. What extra sport/training activities have you tried or would you like to try?
I really enjoyed the recent fun run around Porthkerry Park and Barryfornia in aid of the Welsh Air Ambulance, so I’d like to have a go at some trail running…plenty of scope for that around Gower! Also, I definitely want to try my hand at SUP – I missed out on the taster session back in June but I’ll be up for the next one.
8. What drives you forward when the training is challenging, what mantra/music/belief keeps you going?
The thought that we’re all in it together, not competing against each other.
9. What’s currently spending time on your music playlist? What type of music do you go for in general and does it help any training?
I mostly listen to music in the car when I’m travelling to and from work each day, or when I’m on a long run by myself. Rock music is my bag; if it’s got drums, guitar and bass, I’ll listen to it. I recently reloaded my iPod with music that I hadn’t listened to for ages, so I spent most of my holiday revisiting The Police, The Jam and Whitesnake…epic!
10. What impact has Brawd had on your life?
Joining Brawd has been brilliant for me. It’s not just the fitness sessions (although they’ve been awesome), it’s also the camaraderie and the online banter that makes up the full package. I’ve also been following the PN coaching, and the support for that has also been great.
11. What are your health and fitness goals moving forward?
My initial goals when I joined Brawd were to lose a bit of weight, to eat healthier and to improve my overall fitness. Three months down the line, it’s all going to plan – I’ve lost a little weight, I’m definitely eating more healthily, and I can feel that my general fitness has improved. My upper-body strength is still rubbish, but it’s less rubbish than it was before I started training, so I want to make big improvements in that area.
12. What is your favourite nutritious meal and what is your guilty pleasure?
Chicken with sweet potato. Guilty pleasure? Jaffa cakes and Stella Cidre (not together).