I’ve always been someone who likes a challenge. We joke that my family could turn decorating a Christmas cake into a Generation Game-style competition, complete with timers, buzzers, and judges. I think your environment shapes you as you grow up, but I’ve also always been very goal-driven; I like having something to work towards and seeing whether I can do it better than I did before.
That mindset served me well in HYROX. At my peak, I was training for around 20 to 25 hours a week, sometimes with two sessions in a day, while also working, raising my children, and fitting in all the recovery that comes with competing at that level.
For a long time, I thought doing more would make me better. I know now that it doesn’t work like that. Like a lot of working mothers, I was pushing too hard and doing far too much; my performance had stopped improving, I was exhausted, and I remember thinking, “I don’t know if I can do this again.” I wasn’t getting better because I was doing more; I was just getting worn down.
Injury eventually forced me to slow down. I’ve been through major surgery and a long rehabilitation process, and there were times when I couldn’t imagine running or competing again. One of the hardest moments was sitting on the floor after surgery, staring at my leg and trying to make it move. I was putting everything I had into making the smallest movement and, when it finally happened, I burst into tears.
Recovery changes your perspective. You go through every emotion, sometimes several in the same day. I’ve also learnt that recovery isn’t about getting back to exactly who you were before. Every version of you is going to be different; recovery is about creating the next version of yourself.
My definition of performance has changed too. I don’t want to spend the next part of my life trying to prove how much I can put my body through. I want to grow old and still be able to do things. I want to travel, explore, train, play with my grandchildren one day, and say yes to new adventures without my body stopping me.
That has made me much more interested in the idea of capacity. How do I look after myself now so that I can keep doing the things I care about later? So many women spend years being good at doing more: more work, more family responsibilities, more commitments, more things for everyone else. At some point, you have to ask whether your routine is helping you sustain your life, or just helping you fit more into it.
Protecting your capacity isn’t necessarily about adding another hour to your day. For most of us, especially when you’re balancing work, family, and everything else that fills a week, it’s about finding things that support you without creating another demand on your time.
I’ve tried plenty of wellness trends over the years, from ice baths and saunas to recovery boots, red light therapy and cryotherapy. I was even once convinced by a friend, when I was much younger, to put cellulite cream on my thighs, wrap them in clingfilm and sit in a sauna. I can confirm that does not work!
There are things I’ve kept, but I’ve become much more selective about what I spend my time and money on. I’ve realised that wellness only really works when it fits into my actual life. If something means another appointment, another complicated routine, or something I have to rearrange my day around, I’m probably not going to sustain it. That’s not because it isn’t worthwhile; it’s because I have work, children, training, and a life that doesn’t stop to make room for another wellness commitment.
I think that’s particularly important for women as we get older. Our bodies change, and there are things happening at a cellular level that we can’t control through willpower or by working harder. Yet women can be very quick to blame themselves when they don’t feel the same as they did ten or twenty years ago. I don’t think the answer is to spend every waking hour trying to ‘fix’ yourself. It’s about understanding what your body needs and finding ways to support it that you can actually maintain.
I’ve been taking NEU+ for several months now. It’s a daily cellular vitality shot, and I believe the only one on the market, but what appealed to me wasn’t just what was in it, but the fact that it was achievable.
NEU+ is a premium daily cellular vitality shot formulated with nicotinamide riboside (NR), trimethylglycine (TMG) and vitamin C. Designed to make cellular support a simple part of everyday life, it brings together nutritional science and convenience in a ready-to-drink 60ml shot. NR is a precursor to NAD+, a molecule involved in cellular energy metabolism, while vitamin C contributes to the protection of cells from oxidative stress.
I literally walk downstairs in the morning, grab my breakfast from the fridge, take the NEU+ shot and walk out the door. It’s done. I’ve noticed a huge difference to my energy and clarity from taking it, and for me that’s what makes it worth continuing. I don’t want wellness to become another project where I’m constantly researching, scheduling, tracking and trying to find the next thing. I want things that support my capacity and fit into the life I’m already living.
Because ultimately, that’s what protecting your capacity means to me now. It’s about making choices that help you keep showing up for the things that matter, without creating another job for yourself in the process.
I still want to challenge myself. I’ll keep training, I’ll do competitions for fun, and I’m sure I’ll find something else to become slightly too competitive about. That part of me isn’t going anywhere. I’ve just learnt that looking after your capacity is part of performance too, whether your performance happens on a HYROX floor, in a career, as a parent, or simply in the life you’re trying to build.
Your life is like a book. Elite sport was a brilliant chapter of mine, but it isn’t the whole book. I don’t know exactly what the next version of Kate looks like yet; I’m excited to find out, and I want to make sure I’ve got the capacity to enjoy it.
