Episode 128 GB Agegroup Triathlete Helen McClure

Send us Fan MailOn our latest episode we speak to Agegroup Triathlete Helen McClure.Helen says  "I Have always been sporty, but have found I've needed a reason for sport. Joined the army reserves at 21 and as the only female officer in an infantry regiment had to be fit and provide myself more than the boys. Served for 9 years, mainly supporting the regulars with media operations. First career was newspaper journalism and corporate comms, then 20 years ago retrained as an interior designer. Moved from UK to Chicago to Dubai to Singapore with husband job and adapted work and sport to fit the country and environment. Moved back to UK in 2016 and am still getting used to how cold summer is!Moved from keeping generally fit to marathons, then ultramarathon, but slipped two discs when 8 months pregnant with my first daughter, so could no longer do the longer distances. Triathlon fitted the bill as it's three sports and not too much of any, as long as I keep to short course. The one 70.3 I've done I had to cycling a lot of it standing up to stop my discs from slipping, and still managed to average 30kph!Started triathlon when moved to Dubai 15 years ago. Love hot weather racing. Hate cold weather, especially cold water. Much prefer to swim without a wetsuit (if it's above 25c!).Sport has also given me mental health. My eldest daughter was born with life threatening medical condition, which meant we were travelling to Great Ormond Street Hospital most weeks. I was unable to have a full time job because of this, so exercise was my head space.It's still my head space as my girls are now teenagers doing GCSE and A-level now and my husband commutes from Surrey to York. It's quite a stressful house at the moment!Sport also gives me physical health. I have Crohn's Disease, so get very tired and sleep deprived when I have a flare up. Consistent training offers my body consistency.That all said, I've been doing GB age-group stuff since 2019.You Can Follow us  onYouTube - AMP GBInstagram @amp_1967Facebook : AMPGBfind all our episodes on our websiteWebsite is : https://agegroupmultisportpodcast.buzzsprout.com/email: [email protected] you are an agegroup athlete and would like to come on the pod, get in touch.Support the show