‘I MAY BE 50, BUT MY BODY AGE IS 35 AND I’M ABOUT TO ROW THE ATLANTIC’
As I get ready to take on one of the toughest physical challenges in the world, it seems bizarre to look back at my booze-fuelled 20s and 30s, when I used to roll out of bed with a hangover most mornings. Despite being an Oxford Blue and rowing for England, I’d hung up my oars in 1995, and embraced a party lifestyle, first as a TEFL teacher in Seville and then as a journalist in London.
It was losing my mum, June, to breast cancer that got me moving again. In 2010, when my youngest was just nine months old, I channelled my grief into raising money for charity, and did the 26.2-mile Moonwalk. Throughout my 40s, I continued power-walking marathons. Everyone asks why I don’t run, but I don’t have the physique for it, and think speedy walking is a perfect way to get fit as you get older.
A few years ago, I invested in a body composition monitor. It tells me my body fat percentage, my muscle mass and, most revealingly, my metabolic body age – or how old I am inside. The good news was that walking and my busy office job kept my fitness at a reasonable level. But everything went haywire when I got made redundant, then worked from home. Suddenly, those stats spiralled out of control. My body fat was 37 per cent, and my “body age” hit 58. I was 49 at the time. I was horrified, not least because I thought I was fit. I’d started rowing again, and during lockdown, I’d walked long distances and practised Pilates regularly. But even though my weight remained the same, my body was changing for the worse on the inside.
It was a real wake-up call. Even though I was exercising a lot, I wasn’t really pushing my body out of its comfort zone. When lockdown ended in March, I upped the ante, introducing brutal, 500m interval sprints in my single scull. Finally, I started to see changes. But my real breakthrough came when I signed up to take part in the Talisker Whisky Atlantic Challenge, a 3,000mile unsupported rowing race from La Gomera to Antigua. The timing was serendipitous – lengthy double outings on the tidal river in Ipswich with my sculling partner had toughened me up sufficiently. From the moment I first stepped on to “The Mothership”, I’ve loved being on board. Being on the water washes stress away – although no doubt the Atlantic will be scary at times. Now, after weeks of intensive ergometer and EMS (electrical muscle stimulation) sessions as well as water training, the lowest I’ve seen my “body age” is 35, with body fat of 26 per cent. These figures bounce around according to hydration levels but the trend is downwards. Muscles are reappearing and I have so much more energy. After our long 36hour training row in the summer, I felt superhuman, rather than shattered.
I’ve learnt we can push our bodies far in our 50s, as long as you spend the time laying the groundwork. I’m just hoping I’ve done enough to get me 3,000 miles across the ocean!