Quarantine Catch Up: Laura Siddall
How do you deal with being ‘locked down’ when you spend more time outside than indoors? What can you do to stay fit and stop your mind from turning to mush over the next few weeks? We’ve reached out to some of our Aloe Up ambassadors to see what they have been up to and to share some of their top tips to make it through lockdown. For our first quarantine catch up we have Iron Man extraordinaire, Laura Siddall Professional Triathlete:
Where are you locked down and who are you with?
I'm locked down in the UK, and living with my sister and her family! I was in the USA when all the restrictions started happening. My current resident visa didn't allow me back to New Zealand and I didn't want to risk getting stuck in the USA for longer than my ESTA Visa allowed there. So that and the decision to be nearer to family at this time, meant I headed back to the UK. My sister kindly offered for me to live with her and her husband and their two kids. I've not lived in the UK for over 12years, let alone lived with people for a long time! I'm sure they are going to find it as challenging! ha ha!
What does an average day in lockdown look like for you?
To be honest, it's not actually that different to normal. I'm still training and rehabbing from my broken collar bone earlier this year, so just building back up to fitness. So I'm still doing two to three sessions a day, getting back into things, and then still all the other commitments I have with sponsors or brands I work with, and writing for Witsup and other outlets as well, and just working on some development ideas as well as thinking and trying to plan for what the next few months may look like. There's also some time to spend with the family and try to help out there, as now part of the household, particularly with everyone working from home, and home learning going on.
How are you training/keeping fit while in lockdown?
So for me I'm in a rehab phase from surgery on a broken collar bone in March. So I'm still doing two to three sessions a day, on the bike, running and also in the gym. I'm just at the moment missing the swimming as like many I don't have the facilities for that available to me at the moment. I'm lucky to have a really great set up at my sisters, and I made sure I could get this as set up as possible, when I knew I was heading to the UK. I have my indoor bike trainer, and use Zwift, and I bought a treadmill as well. I am also lucky to have a pretty decent gym with bars and weights and a bench as well as all my resistance bands, wobbles boards, sliders etc. The training I'm doing though is all relatively low intensity. There is no real high intensity efforts yet or for the moments, as we don't need to be over stressing the body at this time.
What advice do you have for others to stay physically/mentally fit during lockdown?
I think it can be so different for people what we are going through. Some people are still working, albeit from home, some maybe still heading out to work as they still have an essential or critical job. Some will have children at home, to manage as well, or older relatives or friends they are helping to look after. I think if you can, try to keep a routine and focus each day. Write down just 3 things you are going to the following day. Also, I'd still try to keep some form of exercise each day. Some exercise will help mentally and physically but you don't need to go over the top and do too much to over stress the body. You don't want the immune system to be compromised. If you have the opportunity to get outside and get some fresh air, even if sitting on a balcony, or just opening a window I also think this is key. But also be kind to yourself and others.
