MP Must See - Week 1!

It’s not all about training at MP!

Rest and relaxation are just as important. And since we’re all housebound for the time-being we thought we’d start a weekly “MP Must See” service! 

Each week one of our coaches will recommend a television watch that is in some way related to sport, training, exercise or fitness. It might be a documentary, fiction or perhaps a feature film based on a true story. We will include some classics, but will also showcase things that are a little less well known. Some weeks recommendations will be on free platforms like YouTube, other weeks on paid streaming sites like Netflix or Prime. 

We hope that this will alleviate some of the lockdown boredom and maybe even give you some inspiration for goals to train for once we’re all allowed back in the gym again! 

This week’s first recommendation is freely available on YouTube and is Paul Tierney: Running The Wainwrights.

Photo credit to: Pete Aylward

Following ultra runner Paul Tierney on an epic adventure to summit all 214 Alfred Wainwright Lake District peaks in one go. His goal - to try and beat the record time of 6 days 13 hours and 1 minute, set five years earlier by fellow fell runner Steve Birkinshaw. 

Needing to cover a distance of approximately 318 miles and ascend the equivalent height of four times Mt Everest, Paul knew this was his biggest challenge to date and enlisted the help of friends and family. 

Battling sleep deprivation and everything the Lake District weather could throw at him, what transpired was a story that gripped not only the fell-running and ultra-running communities but also the wider sporting world. 

Enjoy!

The MP Team

News | Meet Sam

I am really excited to be joining Macclesfield Performance. I am a strength and conditioning coach and a personal trainer.  I specialise in strength and conditioning for outdoor athletes – anyone who enjoys the great outdoors, either competitively or purely for fun. 

Although there can be some old-school thinking/reluctance around strength training in outdoor athlete communities, the bottom line is that if you’re a cyclist (road or MTB), climber, mountaineer, runner, triathlete, wild swimmer, skier, snowboarder or even paraglider, targeted, individualised strength training can make you faster, stronger and more injury-resistant. All of which mean that you can perform at a higher level, train more consistently and enjoy your sport more.  Strength can help you keep you racking up those great adventures for many years to come!

Having spent many years in a busy, stressful, time-poor (non-fitness) job I know how hard it is to keep fit and strong in and around the other pressures of life.  Because of this, I also provide personal training for anyone who would simply like to get stronger and fitter, but who might not know where to start or how to fit it into a busy life.  There is a lot of confusing information out there and sometimes we all just need someone who knows what they’re talking about to point us in the right direction.  

I have a life-long love of sport, exercise and the outdoors.  Previously a county- and university-level badminton player and coach, most of my 20s and 30s were focussed on outdoor sports, in particular climbing, cycling and winter sports.  I’ve been cycling (including competitively) for 30 years, climbing for 11 years and snowboarding for 20 years, and they’re just my 3 favourite ones!  

Although sport and exercise has always been central to my personal life, it hasn’t always been my professional life.  After originally starting a sport science degree at Glasgow University, my interests evolved a little, and I eventually gained a PhD in Biochemistry and Cell Biology from The University of Bristol, via a couple of stints living in Japan.  I worked for a number of years researching the molecular mechanisms behind cancer and other diseases, and later I moved into medical, scientific and health communications here in Macclesfield.

Multiple injuries over the years led me to explore and become passionate about focussed, science-based strength training, and I came to view strength as the absolute foundation for long-term athletic performance, injury resistance, recovery and health, both physical and mental.  Over time I decided to leave my career in science and communications to pursue a new career providing strength coaching and personal fitness training.  

It is my mission to provide highly personalised, evidence-driven training and coaching to athletes and non-athletes alike, blending my own athletic-, scientific-, life- and career-experience to help people meet their own sporting, health and life goals as efficiently, effectively and sustainably as possible.  

If you’d like to explore getting stronger, whatever your sport or motivation, please come and chat to me on the MP gym floor, or contact me via my website for more information.

I look forward to meeting you!  

Testimonial | Client Cristy

I have always fancied myself as a mountain biker and a bit of an adventurer. I have big dreams and love a challenge.  

When my friend coerced me into signing up for the Joberg2C, a 9 day 900km mountain bike race across South Africa, I had little hesitation in signing up. It was absolutely aligned with my dreams.

Fast forward a few months to September 2018. I had an impending sense of dread: “what I was thinking?”. I had been trying to follow an extremely complicated online training plan, with little improvement. My approach (just ride & ride) was not working, and… winter was coming! I was frustrated, unfit, overweight and totally overwhelmed. Self-doubt becomes a slippery-slope!

I had just started thinking that a cycling coach / trainer of sorts may be what I needed when I met Dom in her Cyclone class one Friday afternoon. I consider it a moment of divine intervention that our paths crossed and that I asked her if she knew of anyone who could help me to prepare for the event. That is how I ended up at Macclesfield Performance. At the risk of sounding dramatic, this was a turning point not only for my training, but emotionally and physically too.

It was very overwhelming for me (a “recreational cyclist”) to start a new training program with a completely different approach to anything that I had done before. I was strength training 2-3 times a week and following a bespoke cycling program that Natalie put together for me. The stress and chronic sense of failure I had endured while trying to follow the unmanageable online program disappeared as I started with their joined-up approach. They did the thinking and the planning, all I had to do was put in the time!

I was always dismissive about my status as a “Recreational Cyclist”, Dom and Nat made me feel like an “Elite” and were so committed to helping me smash my goals! Having this level of interest, care, support and, of course, challenge was something that I had not experienced before.

Encouragement for getting a squat right, or having a good Wattbike session, or improving on a Strava segment meant so much to me, at a time when I had been feeling so lost and low. Bit by bit, session by session, my strength, endurance and confidence grew. My countdown app to the event started to excite and no longer scare me.

In April I set off to South Africa to participate in the event. I was excited for it. I took a lot of confidence in the fact that my coaches were confident in me smashing it! Also, I had seen so much progress in my strength and endurance while on the program. Having cycled in snow, rain and mud (mostly on my own) I had built a good amount of mental resilience too. Somewhere along the way I started to believe in myself again.

The Joberg2C experience was incredible, and incredibly tough. Cyclists bikes and bodies take a massive hammering on the trails, some of which are very technical. 9 days and 65 odd hours in the saddle is significant, with little opportunity to recover in between. I was ready though. I can honestly say that I had been perfectly prepared for this kind of event!

Because of the strength training, I could keep form over hours on long smashing descents. Because of the bike sessions to specifically build endurance, I could get to the top of long climbs without my heart rate going out of control. Oh, there were plenty of them (a few days were in an area called “the valley of a 1000 hills”)!

I am deeply grateful to Dom and Nat for their help and thoughtful programming. I would never have managed this ambitious goal without them. As much as I loved the ride itself, it was the journey getting there that made it the so satisfying.

Testimonial | Client Dawn

PART ONE…. 2017

ONCE UPON A TIME I was a Runner……. in 2009 I  ran one of the popular 5k Race for Life cancer research events, from there I joined my local running club, ran 3 times a week and decided that running was my sport, I completed 3 marathons between 2011 and 2014, various half marathons, 10ks and 5ks etc, I didn’t do any other sport, just running.

In 2013 I was introduced to Dom via my husband, who happened to work at the same location in Gunco Lane,  at first I wasn’t interested, thinking that Macclesfield Performance (then DS Lifestyle & Fitness) was just another gym, I’ve never been a gym person, but the words “we can help with her PB’s” caught my interest, I was always looking at how I could gain PB’s every time I raced, I had become quite obsessed, so I gave it a go and joined Dom’s Pro X PT course, had some nutrition coaching with Dom, trained hard and planned to PB at the Wilmslow Half Marathon in March 2015, I was ready to smash that PB…… happy ending right? NO! ….far from it!

This race ended for me at mile 12, one mile before the end, I don’t remember much about it but around mile 10, I knew I was overdoing it, ignoring the signs I pushed on, after all I was on for a great PB!, next minute I’m on the floor surrounded by paramedics and ambulanced off the course, what followed was 3 months of extensive tests, tears, anger and a gradual realisation of what on earth was I doing? I had lost the joy of running, I had become so obsessed with pace that I lost all reality on what was achievable but more important why? I wasn’t winning anything, what did it matter and why was I in that situation?… it was at that point that a cloud lifted and I realised that I wasn’t enjoying running after all, it had become something all encompassing and I couldn’t see the wood for the trees.

So… what happened next?

Well Dom said “why not come and learn some new skills, get your confidence back” and so it began, a new chapter in my life, I started strength training once a week and ABSOLUTELY LOVED IT! What I found was that the stronger I got, the less running I needed to do and I was a better stronger faster runner! Who knew? I stopped wearing my running gadgets and got my joy of running back, what a relief. Approx. 12 months later I bought a hybrid bike, having never cycled since childhood except for the odd ride here and there and found that my new strength made cycling easy and enjoyable… I was delighted and started cycling regularly, and even cycled the coast 2 coast on a cycling holiday.  By this point I had turned 50 and decided in my 50th year to have a go at a Triathlon, I had been a swimmer in my teenage years, so why not have a go?

A week before the event in September 2016 I bought a road bike, and entered the North West Super Sprint Triathlon, having absolutely no idea what I was doing and no specific triathlon training except for what I was doing with Dom, guess what…. I CAME 2nd!! Losing out by just 23 seconds to the winner who was 20 years younger! I had so much fun and realised that this was indeed my sport!

Fast forward to 2017 and joining Louis’s conditioning course, a specific triathlon training plan designed by Dom and I tried my hand at 3 Triathlons, my first one in Open water didn’t go to plan but I finished, picked myself up and tried again, the next one in Birmingham and I came 5th overall but more importantly I hit my goals, so I was very happy with progress,  then my 3rd one in August, the North West Super Sprint and I WON by a huge margin of 1 min 50 secs over 2nd place, (she was half my age!), and a huge 8% improvement on the 2016 race, I felt amazing in this race, very strong, in control and paced it well and a realisation that I’m not just taking part anymore, I’m competing! Something Dom had to explain to me!

During my 2017 training season I bench marked my cycling progress and tested myself periodically, in the first 6 months of 2017 I gained a massive 30% improvement in my speed strength over a set 12 mile hilly course… absolutely incredible, you could hear my whoop whoop as I smashed through the session feeling fantastic. Oh and that PB I was hankering for when I was “just a runner” came during the triathlon specific training plan phase, beating my 5k PB by a massive 45 seconds!

So the happy ending I was looking for all those years ago… finally I found what I was looking for and had no idea when starting out on the strength training programme that it would lead to this, they say every cloud has a silver lining and it’s certainly true here, I cannot thank Dom enough for her incredible coaching ability, her motivation, her dedication to my cause and her mentoring skills, she picked me up and shook me down and slowly but gently coached me into believing.  

I continue to build on my strength and conditioning, finally I am stronger, faster, fitter, happier and healthier than I’ve ever been, I’ve had no injuries ..absolutely none…I cannot stress enough how much strength training with Dom has enabled me to stay injury free, and amazingly I’m not flogging my guts out training at every opportunity, I take plenty of rest and recovery, it’s not all encompassing, it’s a passion.  On top of this I completely believe in Dom, she is such an inspirational person to be around, it’s infectious and I continue to look forward to my sessions with excitement.

I am now planning my 2018 season…bring it on!

THANK YOU DOM and Macclesfield Performance, you are incredible!

PART 2 – 2018

Well when I said bring on 2018… I didn’t expect such an incredible year ending with qualifying for GB in the Aquabike European Championships in Romania 2019!!

OMG… how did that happen?

I continued my strength training with Dom every week and we started planning my 2018 season, this included my first ever sportive in March – the Cheshire Cat Sportive (short route) and my longest bike ride to date which was 50 miles. I felt great and managed a negative split, finishing the 2nd half faster than the first half. I loved that event so I booked on a few more for the rest of the year.

Then we started planning for my first Open Water Sprint Triathlon in Whitchurch, Shropshire on 16th June. Dom programmed me for the whole race (not just strength) but the swimming, cycling and running elements and got me at peak fitness, I was ready!

The open water (500m) went exactly to plan, I felt strong and paced it well, into Transition 1 and jumped out of my wetsuit onto my bike. It was a 20km hilly course and I gave it my all, cycling past many competitors, as I came into Transition 2, I heard “2nd lady is in”.

I wondered who they were talking about and it was ME!!

OMG really? So I had just a 3 mile run to get through, that was really tough, I wanted to hold onto my position and I did. I won a huge trophy for 2nd place overall and a trophy for 1st in age group which is the prize I was after, what a bonus… what a start to the season!

I then settled down and started planning my second race of the season, this time a Relay Sprint Triathlon in Salford, Manchester in July with the incredibly talented and inspirational Maddie Pawsey and Natalie Duncombe. I couldn’t wait to share the race with these 2 super strong ladies, I had the bike leg on this occasion, however the weather was awful, it was throwing it down and extremely windy with 50mph gusts. Hardly cycling weather and we were up against mixed teams.  Maddie got us off to a very fast start absolutely nailing the swim, I then cycled my fastest ever 20k, desperate not to let my teammates down and handed over to Nat who nailed the run and brought us home to a 3rd place win!

Then for my last race of the season – the Ellesmere, Shropshire Open Water Lake Sprint Triathlon on 16th September.  Again Dom programmed me for the whole race.  

However...2 weeks out from race day I went to see Dom about upgrading to Half Ironman distance a whopping 2000m swim and 83k bike ride (up from 750m/20k bike) (note here that I’d never swam that far in one go before) because the Aquabike European championship dates had been released and the criteria was to come within 120% of the Age Group winner of the race for swim/bike at half ironman distance.
I reckoned why not have a go, I’ve nothing to lose so we collectively decided I should go for it and see what happens.
Well, the risk paid off and now just 2 years after having a go at a Super Sprint Triathlon I am a GB qualifier for Aquabike European championships. To say I’m excited is an understatement, I never knew I had this ability.

Dom has never doubted my ability, she has programmed me right from the start, making it very specific and personal to me, I’ve never been injured, I’ve just got stronger and stronger and I’ve not once got bored or questioned any of it.  

I completely believed in the programming, following it to the letter. I cannot believe that 4 years ago when I chose the path to strength training that it would lead me to this, being inspired by Natalie’s achievements I never thought that one day it would be me, although this is what I dreamed of…

Dreams can come true, hard work, dedication, passion and an incredible strength coach, Dom knows her stuff, knows her client and personalises everything to fit in with my ability, lifestyle, goals and dreams. I’ve got a fantastic team around me who believe in me, what a combination! I’m soooo excited about 2019 and the journey I’m on. I can’t thank Dom and Macclesfield Performance, the friends I’ve made who share the same passions, all are an inspiration, its an absolute privilege.

Bring on 2019! Who knows what will happen but whatever happens I’m totally committed and focused and will give it my all.