Byline: by Claire Brock
I NEVER thought I'd be an adrenaline junkie. When I was in my twenties I didn't really care about my health or feel any propensity to exercise. But when you make positive lifestyle changes, as I have, you want to make the most of them.
I used to be a smoker but I quit five years ago. I was living in the city centre with friends and stepping outside to smoke on awful, cold, rainy nights just started to feel miserable. I wasn't a big smoker -- I only took it up in college -- but when I quit I definitely found my overall health improved hugely.
My breathing and fitness improved and even my skin benefited. It also completely improved my willingness to exercise. I'm really into running now but when I was smoking I was a bit wheezy and found running quite difficult.
I spent my twenties doing very little exercise and I wasn't particularly sporty. When I was younger, I had played a bit of basketball and I was in a running club, running middle distance, but I wasn't great. My brother was at All-Ireland level but I unfortunately never managed that.
When I decided I wanted to get back into exercising, I tried Pilates classes and different bits and pieces like that. Then I rediscovered running and just found it great.
Running is cheap and you can do it at any time, especially when you start getting used to it. It's also really good for your mental well being -- if there's something playing on your mind, you run it off and it's gone, you've played it out of your system.
I remember the first time I went for a run with a friend. We went from Seapoint, down the West Pier in Dun Laoghaire and back. She said, 'You're doing really well for someone who doesn't run!' Inside I was crying. I couldn't walk for a week, I was absolutely destroyed.
MY PARENTS live in Glenageary and not long afterwards I was home with them and ran down to the Forty Foot in Sandycove and back. The whole family fell about laughing when I got back -- I was so red in the face from huffing and puffing.
To anyone starting out, I would say the first few times are the worst, and the first 15 minutes of any run are always bad too, even after you get used to it.
Now I've a friend who lives across from me in Sandyford and we're good at motivating each other. We run two or three times a week.
I started running races a couple of years ago with the Dublin Simon Community Fun Run, which was 8km. That was the most I'd ever run until then and after that I did a couple of 10km races.
At the moment I'm training for Gaelforce Connemara on May 12. It's like a toned-down version of Gaelforce West -- at 31km it's about half the distance, but still long.
There are three disciplines -- mountain running, cycling and kayaking, but I still have to get a bike! I'm a bit haphazard, I'm not very into having a routine. The last time I had a bike was a Raleigh Coco when I was 13 and I've recently discovered that bikes are expensive.
The bike-to-work scheme really makes a difference and I'm hoping to avail of that in the next few days. Any bike will do but I'm particularly looking at a Stevens bike and a Giant bike.
I borrowed a bike from a friend and have been going all around Dun Laoghaire and Carrickmines lately. Cycling is something I want to get into more this summer, although I do find it a bit daunting with the cars flying past me.
My bum was really sore after the first few times too -- I think it was the saddle. I felt it a lot in the legs as well, I must have been using muscles I hadn't used in years.
I also don't have much experience kayaking. I did it last year on holidays but that was really pleasant kayaking down a river in France with my boyfriend doing all the work -- it was a bit different to taking to a lake in Connemara for 2kms. Hopefully I won't just go around in circles! I've been doing the rower in the gym but I've been told it's not the same, so I'd say I will be sore afterwards. In the meantime, I'm trying to tone up my arms with free weights.
Last year I did the Bantry Bay halfmarathon and I was delighted with myself. It's beautifully scenic -- you can look out at the sea while you're running along dying!
Then in January, I did Hell & Back in Kilruddery, it's a 10km race combining the naturally extreme terrain with a lot of man-made obstacles, including the Heartbreak Ridge, Tudor Woods and Descent to Doom. The course was designed by a former member of the Elite Army Rangers. I was climbing under nets absolutely drenched in rain but it was so enjoyable.
I don't know if I'm leaner than I was in my twenties. I didn't get fit because I felt I needed to lose weight -- I'm the same weight, I'm just probably a bit more toned.
It wasn't a question of feeling heavy -- I've always been very body confident.
It was more a feeling of being unfit and wanting to be able to run and not be wrecked and out of breath. It was for my mental health as much as anything.
I'm fighting a bit of a cold at the moment but in general I'm lucky with my health. I have to watch my throat because it's so important for work. I sound a bit croaky at the moment, so I'm taking loads of manuka honey.
THE last time I was in hospital for an overnight stay I was 17 and getting my tonsils out. I had loads of throat infections when I was younger but getting my tonsils out did make a big difference and my health improved after that.
I had the operation done in Dublin's Eye & Ear hospital and I remember it being very painful afterwards. I know it's something that a lot of people get done, but it's still a quite sizeable operation.
In the past I wasn't great for eating breakfast but I'm much better now.
I used to run out the door or get something mid-morning, like a coffee and a bagel, but now I always have porridge with blueberries and honey and yogurt.
A good breakfast sets you up for the day and keeps you going until lunch time.
Most mornings in TV3, you could be sent out filming or you could be editing, but either way you want to feel right and on top of it, so a breakfast is very important. For lunch I sometimes bring in leftovers from dinner the night before, or I might have a salad and brown bread.
I like making a decent dinner in the evening -- I pretty much eat everything and I enjoy home cooking.
I particularly love fish, I'll always order it when we eat out. I like to cook from scratch. I don't cut anything out -- except processed foods -- and I tend to eat a lot, which is OK if you're exercising.
My vice would be chocolate with tea in the evening after dinner, but I'm sure Gaelforce Connemara will sort those calories out...
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Health kick: Claire Brock has taken up adventure sports
