Keeping myself fit with MS

Happy Great North Run Day everyone!

I thought today was a good day to talk about how I incorporate fitness into my lifestyle since it's GNR day. This time last year I had just finished my first Great North Run, something I thought I’d never be able to do since I’m not the strongest runner. It was the best feeling in the world though knowing I’d ran all that way for a charity that means the world to me – The MS Society.

I raised over £1,100 for the charity which was a lot more than I expected when I signed up. It was an amazing experience and I entered again this year but sadly had to pull out due to a relapse earlier in the year…

Fitness has always been a big part of my life. In primary school I was on all the sports teams, secondary I was a swimmer but then when I went to college I stopped exercising when I was diagnosed with MS, put on a lot of weight and become lazy. Then I went to university and decided to join a gym and get fit again. Now I go to the gym 3-4 times a week #fit

I don’t just go to the gym to keep the weight off although that helps as I eat a lot of food!! I go to the gym to relieve stress, to challenge myself and most of all because I enjoy it.

People forget how important it is to do something that relieves stress. Without the gym I know I would become anxious, angry and stressed so I try to go when I can without pushing myself too much.

I usually do 2 x weight training sessions, 1 x spinning and 1 x run a week which I feel is a nice enough balance to work different parts of the body. I usually can tell whether my body is tired from exercise or when my body is tired due to my MS (I normally get tingly legs) so I try to slow down when I can.

It’s important to get a balance and to listen to your body especially when you have MS. Everyone gets tired but when you have MS tiredness and fatigue is much more common and you feel like it’s your biggest weakness. But what I’ve learnt is it’s okay to go to bed a bit earlier, it’s okay to not want to go out until the early hours of the morning and it’s okay to stay in you pjs all day.

Sometimes we need to rest and recover – we’re only human!