Hi All, Since my last blog post, things have been well… mixed. On the positive side I managed to increase my weekly mileage to 35-40miles a week and 10 days ago my longest run was 14miles. When I was training for kayaking I always consumed a lot of sports carbohydrate or hydration drinks to keep my energy and hydration levels up. I’m now back to those days as I found that I was struggling in the last few miles of my longer runs and not always recovering well. I have never liked carrying a drink when I am running but I realised that if I didn’t want to die in the last 3 miles of my long runs I would have to! So I bought one of those cool running specific drinks bottles and I take my SIS carbo drink with me and sip as I go and it’s working a treat. I’ve also taken to the energy gels. I have never used these before and the first couple of brands that I tried were quite sweet and sickly and you needed a drink to go with it. However I am now becoming quite a fan of the SIS products as they do a great isotonic energy gel that isn’t so sweet and sickly but has all the goodness in it and gives me a real boost half way through my run.

So all was going well and I was enjoying the challenge of increasing the weekly mileage and the long run at the weekend. When you are training 5 times a week and covering the sort of mileage that I was you expect a few niggles, pains and twinges. Unfortunately the pains and twinges are no longer just niggles and have turned into full on injuries. I have an ongoing lower back problem which is a result of 20 years of rotating my spine in a kayak! I have been doing various strengthening and core exercises to keep this at bay and it was working; but the toll of long distance running is proving to be quite a challenge on my body and the lower back problem is now causing referred pain in my hip. After my last long run I was in pain just walking around the house. Not good news! So although I can’t for run now (and the next week) I do have a great physio who I am working with and I hope to be back running very soon.

In the meantime I’m still in the gym doing my strengthening and I’m on the spinning bike to keep my cardio fitness up. Oh and I don’t forget my stretching and the lovely foam roller which causes me great amounts of pain particularly when I roll over my IT band! Anyone else find that?? All in a good cause though!

I plan to be back with some more positive news soon!

If you would like to sponsor me for the Virgin London Marathon please visit my fundraising page.

Anna

I’ve completed many a marathon race in a kayak but the Virgin London Marathon is going to be my first running marathon and I’m really looking forward to it. As an endurance athlete and with my running as my second favourite sport, I’ve always said that I’d love to run the London Marathon. Now SportsAid has given me the opportunity and I’m really grateful. To sponsor me in aid of this fab cause go to my Virgin Giving Fundraising Page

For 18 months since retiring from kayaking I was plagued with various injuries (my body was evidently being held together by a piece of string in the latter stages of my career and eventually fell apart when I stopped!). Luckily come October last year I was able to start running again and slowly (very slowly) build up the minutes and miles. Having been fairly inactive (due to the injuries) for 18 months I noticed a massive difference in my energy levels when I started running. Just 3 or 4 runs a week and I was buzzing, I slept less and could eat more - fantastic!

So now we’re 3 weeks into the New Year and 14 weeks away from RACE DAY and the longest distance I have run so far is 9.5miles! Ahhh! Its time to step up! I have a training programme that I’m following and this week I’m due to complete 31miles including an 11miler on Sunday. The mileage will continue to increase until I hit about 50 miles per week. Each week includes a mix of steady runs for 6-8 miles plus an interval and a speed session. Its these interval and speed sessions that I love the most; they remind me of my kayaking training days – really pushing your body hard and feeling your lungs bursting as you gasp for air and your body fills with lactic acid. I think I’m a bit masochistic!

The other area that has taken me back to my kayaking days is paying close attention to my nutrition and hydration. I grew up on a healthy diet so when I stopped competing that didn’t change but now I have found myself needing, once again to be aware of when, what and how much I am eating. When you’re training for an endurance event it’s crucial that you think of your food as your fuel because no matter how much training you do, if you don’t fuel your body correctly it won’t have the energy to deliver. The same goes for hydration which is also critical even in this cold weather. You may be interested to know that research has shown that a 2% decrease in hydration can slow 10-km run times by 6.3% compared to running in a fully hydrated state. That equates to a race time 3 minutes 15 seconds slower if you usually run a 50-minute 10k! Where’s that bottle of water…

To keep up to date on my training progress leading up to the big day and for more training tips follow me on twitter http://twitter.com/annahemmings

Anna

I had the pleasure of attending the Parachute Regiment Afghanistan Trust Charity Dinner at the Honourable Artillery Company (HAC) on Monday evening. I was kindly invited throug the DKH LT by Chris Daniels, the Head of London 2012 Activation for Lloyds. The Afghanistan Trust exists to help support soldiers and their families who have served with The Parachute Regiment in Afghanistan and who have been wounded or killed as a consequence. Reading the invitation we were promised a fantastic evening with a Red Devils free fall display, opportunity to meet the PARAs, static display of weapons and equipment, a ‘Beating Retreat by the band of the Parachute Regiment’ and much more, including soldiers in uniform and men in ‘miniatures’ or ‘mess kit’! Hmmm. The evening didn’t disappoint.

 
I had never been to the HAC before so I was quite intrigued as to where in the heart of the city of London the Red Devils were going to jump out of a plane and give us a free fall display. The HAC is an impressive building and site and although there were some army planes and helicopters hovering in the air, sadly due to the weather and London City air traffic control the Red Devils were unable to fly high enough to give us a free fall display. Nevertheless I had a glass of champagne in my hand, I had already met some fascinating people and the night was young.

Chris along with Lieutenant Colonel Handford OBE PARA were hosting our table. All of the other guests except for me had an army background so there were many interesting and humuorous tales being regaled of training at Sandhurst, serving in Sierra Leone or Kosovo and jumping out of planes at 300m high. Fascinating but dangerous and scary to say the least.

Obviously the main objective of the evening was to raise funds for this very worthy charity. We watched a very moving video of the work of the Trust which left everyone in no doubt that this was a cause worth supporting. There was a silent auction with many wonderful prizes on offer. We had a very entertaining compare and after dinner came the big auction. I had my eye on a tandem parachute jump with one of the Red Devils, complete with photographs, video, certificate and glass of champagne on landing. When the bidding started at £1000 and rapidly went up to £6000 I was promptly out of my depth and the prize went to a very lucky (and wealthy) lady. In total the evening raised in excess of £80,000 for the charity, a huge success on all counts.

Many thanks to Chris Daniels of Lloyds and the DKH LT for the invitation, I had a wonderful evening, my eyes were opened to a whole new world of life in the army and I met some great people. 

Anna

I know its been a while since I blogged but I have something really exciting to announce this time...I was awarded an MBE in the 2010 New Year’s honours list. It is a huge honour and I feel humbled and privileged to be named alongside so many sporting greats, it’s amazing! I have won a handful of awards over the years, but this is on another level entirely, it really is the ‘icing on the cake’ for my career. It’s also a tribute to all of the people who have helped and supported me along the way - thanks to family, friends, sponsors, coaches, training partners..

I didn’t even realise that I had been nominated for the honour, so when I received a letter asking me if I would accept the award it was a complete but lovely surprise. I am now looking forward to the trip to Buckingham Palace for the Investiture and to meet the Queen or it may be Prince Charles, either way I’m pretty excited and have bought a new outfit already!

I’ll be back with photos from the event in mid-February….

Anna x

PS for links to some articles:
http://www.morethanthegames.co.uk/canoeing/317975-hemmings-sees-unsung-career-honoured-with-mbe

I am really enjoying my retirement from professional sport and relishing the pursuit of a new career. I am continuing to present regularly on the speaker circuit – I was speaking a conference for Orange Mobile yesterday which was interesting and especially so since Ed Coates – of ‘On thin Ice’ fame was also speaking. It was fascinating to hear his personal insight into his journey to the South Pole which he completed alongside James Cracknell and Ben Fogle.

I am also building a career in sports broadcasting… I’ve been doing the commentary on Eurosport for the Canoeing European and World Championships, which I really enjoyed. Made particularly exciting by so many GB boats being in the finals and doing so well.

I am also creating some video interviews with Andy Daniels (from the GB K4) to go on the canoeing world class performance website. (www.worldclass-canoeing.org) Our first interview was with the GB Under 23 Women’s squad. I caught up with them after the Under 23 European Championships where they finished 6^th in the K4 500m…http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iJOByowm0co 

It has been two weeks since I announced my retirement and during that period I have had a chance to reflect on my time in the sport which has spanned more than two thirds of my life! I look back on my career and I am very happy and proud of what I have achieved; I didn’t accomplish absolutely everything that I set out to achieve but there are certainly a lot of boxes ticked and I can honestly say that I gave it my all and I think that I did my best. But just being in this sport, being a professional canoeist, I have gained more than just medals. The sport has given me so much in so many ways and for that I will always be grateful.

One of the best things about a career in sport is that you get to travel the world and meet some wonderful people along the way and I have certainly done that. I have created friendships in all corners of the globe. There are many people with whom I have shared the happiness of victory, the sadness of defeat, the painful yet satisfying training sessions, the laughter and banter on training camp and best of all shared an Olympic Games experience with, I will never forget those people.

It has been the most spectacular journey but not without its highs and lows.  I have certainly had my challenges both on and off the water but that is all part of sport. I never expected it to be easy or to travel a smooth path and it certainly wasn’t, but then nothing worth achieving was ever easy.

When I try to identify just one highlight during the last 20 years of training, competing and travelling in the sport it is impossible. However, to name a few… I would certainly include competing at the Olympic Games in 2000 and in 2008. On both occasions I was disappointed with my results but each time the experience was incredible and just being part of an Olympic Games, something that only 350 people in the country get to do every 4 years, that’s pretty special. I always get asked which World Championship victory was the best or means the most to me and that is a very tricky question to answer. Out of 6 gold medals I find it virtually impossible to split the first one in 1999, which was special because it was the first and winning the first is always tough especially since I had finished 2^nd two times before that. Then in 2001 Helen Gilby and I won the K2 race quite unexpectedly and that holds some very poignant memories. Finally coming back to win the 2005 World Championships in Perth after 2 years out with illness is also up there in my list of favourite achievements. That was an emotional victory to say the least, in fact I burst into tears mid-way through an interview with Eurosport when talking about it, needless to say that was embarrassing and I had to beg them not to air it!

Other highlights include the post championship parties which generally involved a lot of alcohol, a lot of dancing and craziness as everyone lets off a lot of steam at the end of a season. When I recollect the training camps, although often long and tedious I also recall a lot of laughter, good banter and imagination in trying to entertain ourselves in between training sessions. After 3 weeks in Temple Sur Lot (training centre in France) the smallest things would amuse us! Of course I had my fair share of tears and low moments but generally I will look back with fantastic memories of the many good times I had, the fascinating people I met and the friendships that I created.  

When I think about my favourite moments, generally it’s the people who made those moments and I want to thank everyone who has helped and supported me throughout my career. There are too many to list and you probably know who you are. However, I would like to highlight a handful of people because without these people I probably would never have achieved everything that I have. I’ll start close to home.. my parents, my husband Neil and my sister Zara. Andrew Pindar and Pindar, Christina Domecq and SpinVox, Miklos Simon, Roland Lawler, Peter Terry and Fred Jobin.

After so many years in the sport it is hard to let go and sad to say goodbye but on the other hand it is exciting to embark on a new career (in sports broadcasting) and to take the next step along my journey.

A final thank you to everyone who reads my website/blog and for all of your messages over the years.

Anna xx