By Adam MacDougall, News.com.au
WITH two young children, a demanding TV career and an increasingly hectic travel schedule, Lara Pitt already seems about as busy as any one person can possibly get.
But the Fox League star has set herself yet another goal for 2018 — running a 14km fun run in August.
“Well, I think I’ve actually set that goal a couple of times,” she said.
“And then every time I actually start running my knees play up on me.
“But I’m working on really getting my legs strong and stable so I can start running soon, and hopeful by August I’ll be ready. But certainly won’t be out to set any records.”
Lara simply radiates positivity, and gives the impression that her stores of energy are absolutely bottomless. But that’s not the case, she says. Energy, like anything else, is something you need to work on.
“Energy is a hard one,” she said.
“I actually think energy is created by working out, but it’s finding the time to do it that can be so hard.
“I used to play team sports and I loved it to death, and I felt that was a great way to exercise.
“But I had a couple of injuries and that kind of terminated that. But I really loved it — most people who are sports journalists probably wish they became athletes in their day, and I’m no different.
“But now I’ve got a trainer I see twice a week, and I’ve been seeing her for 10 years. She keeps me feeling great and being able to fulfil my duties at work and, even more importantly, at home as well.
“You just walk out feeling so much better. You might have woken up that morning thinking it’s the last thing you feel like doing, but as soon as I get in my gear and I’m at the gym, I feel so much better for it.”
TAILOR YOUR TRAINING
WITH a career that was only getting more demanding and her always busy home life, Lara says she was determined to keep her health and energy levels high throughout both her pregnancies.
So she worked with her trainer to tailor a fitness program that could give her the strength she wanted without leaving her feeling totally drained.
“After having two children, my body was little bit weakened — even though I trained through both pregnancies — so I started working on core strength and mobility, but with more of a focus on flexibility as well,” she said.
“You need a lot of functional strength. I’m not out there pounding the pavement, I needed to work on conserving and creating energy. It’s about being fit for life. With energy-sapping things like running a household and working, you need to do things without putting yourself on empty.
“But you can’t put pressure on yourself. Mums do such an amazing job anyway, running around and not sleeping properly, that if you can’t get to the gym straight away, you just need to take your time and rest.”
FIT THE ROAD
WITH a career that can see her on the other side of the city — or the country — at the end of a working day, Lara spends a lot of time outside her food comfort zone. But she says careful planning helps her resist the lure of the drive-thru.
“I’m very conscious of what’s good for me,” she said.
“I know I function far better when I eat more fish and less bread, for example, but lifestyle and work can sometimes get in the way of that.
“I hate to admit it, but when I was pregnant, I did pull into the drive-thru because I felt so sick and I just wanted to eat bad food. But now I’m into boiled eggs or roast vegetables that I’ve put into containers to take with me.
“But I love fish, and my go-to takeaway is sushi. But we cook a lot at home as well, which is mostly trying to get the veggies into the boys.
“If I can get them to eat broccoli then I feel like I’m winning at life.”
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