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VALA pal and designer/art director extraordinaire @jill.barnard is taking over this week's guest spot with her top five reasons to try outdoor swimming. Several years ago, Jill waved goodbye to London life, made her way down to Cornwall and has been a part-time mermaid ever since. Given that we have different lockdown guidelines in Wales and outdoor swimming is currently off limits, I've been living for Jill's drool-worthy feed to get my fix of ocean dipping. Check out her reasons to give open water swimming a go below:⁣⁣YOU NEVER REGRET GETTING IN⁣Cliché as it might sound, a dip first thing in the...

One of my favourite local spots to run around is Gnoll Country Park in Neath, however getting there requires running down a rather large hill. To make things even more fun (I mean painful 😬), getting home requires running back up said large hill with 140m elevation gain.⁣⁣I'm not the best at incline or distance running and the thought of walking up a hill for 40 minutes after a long run seems less than appealing, so I've become somewhat of a hill sprint convert. Not only are hill sprints great for building power, increasing stamina and strengthening quads, hamstrings, glutes...

Some days are harder to find motivation to exercise than others - we're all human, after all. On 'slower' days I like to remind myself that exercise is not only great for the body but for the mind too. It can be a really effective way to help manage stress and anxiety. This has been proven in clinical studies, as research from The University of British Columbia has found that “On high-stress days, regular exercisers’ negative effect was 14 percent lower than that of the other subjects".⁣⁣I've learned from personal experience that exercise helps me to feel calmer and less sluggish throughout the day,...

It's easy to grind to a halt after a tough session and channel your inner Peaches. However, cooling down is an essential part of any workout. Taking the time to do so restores the body and mind back to a pre-exercise state. Gradually tapering down to a lower intensity decreases heart rate and regulates body temperature. It also prevents blood pooling in the extremities, which is caused by an enlarged vein size to allow increased blood flow from the heart. ⁣⁣The type of exercise that you've been doing will dictate what type of cool down approach you should take. If you've been performing...

In the words of Napoleon Hill “Patience, persistence and perspiration make an unbeatable combination for success”. Whether it's finishing a couch to 5k, smashing a distance swim or nailing an enduro challenge, the 'three Ps' (emphasis on the perspiration) are a simple reminder to keep moving forward.Chip away at your goal day by day, week by week and don't forget to reflect on how much stronger or faster you have become since you started out. I find that keeping track in a journal or looking back over fitness tracker stats really helps for this.Sometimes we get so caught up in...

Since I first started running, I've always left the house with my headphones fully charged and my playlists queued up. This was largely because I used to run in busy cities and listening to music helped to mask the background noise whilst keeping my pace on track. ⁣⁣It was only when I started to do more trail and beach running around South Wales that I found enjoyment in running without headphones, as it allowed me to be more present and focus my thoughts. I was able to listen to the sound of the birds chirping or the waves crashing, rather...