In my experience, it is not often you come across health and fitness professionals who walk the walk as much as they talk the talk, so meeting Felicity Cole on an F12 triathlon training camp last week was a breath of fresh air. Still in the midst of my ‘dairy free lent’, and gluten free as usual, the prospect of travel and a change of food was a little daunting, but both Felicity and the surprisingly food conscious nutritional approach of the F12 camp reassured me that the tide is beginning to turn for ‘sports nutrition’.
We are grinning because top triathlon coach Ralph Hydes who is taking the picture is about to get run over by a slow moving Spaniard in a van. The gesture he gave as he passed was slightly different to the French one I am more familiar with but in a similar vain.
The short trip to La Manga on the Med in Southern Spain gave me a chance to sample what F12 have to offer cyclists, triathletes and fitness enthusiasts. Felicity was our escort and guide for the few days while we were out there, and an elite duathlete and triathlete to boot. Felicity is also a fellow fitness professional working as a personal trainer in London, allowing her just enough time to fit in her full training schedule around her work.
Felicity’s hard earned body turned heads from the airport to the treadmill in the gym at the La Manga resort. She puts in two or three training sessions most days in each of the triathlon disciplines, as well as maintaining a strong body in the gym with strength and conditioning work. She doesn’t rely on heavy carbohydrate stodge, gels, or ‘sport nutrition’, but eats clean, properly prepared natural food.
I mention Felicity in this blog because she too has smelt a rat with much of the marketing around ‘fitness food’ and has found her own way of eating in a more healthy and holistic way, whilst still performing to the highest standards. It was great to be able to compare notes on our experiences and research, and to see another professional doing such a fabulous job of being a role model for other endurance athletes trying to eat healthily.
In the meantime my diary free lent is almost coming to an end, and I am looking forward to a big fat chocolate egg….or am I? The results are almost in and I will share them with you very soon…