A little bit on me........

At the minute I'm working at a gym in Newcastle, instructing and also assessing  people that are training to become Fitness Instructors and Personal Trainers. I love what I do, and love being active and doing exercise every day! My background is both fitness and psychology based, and I find Sport Psychology and Positive Psychology really interesting. I aim to tie together the practical aspects of my training with the academic side of my work in order to provide a service which covers a range of aspects, from exercise and nutrition to mental skills training and new industry research on positive psychology, and also sport and exercise related topics.

I am doing two long distance sports events this year to support the work of The Princes Trust charity, who help disadvantaged young people into education and work. I am doing:

• 54 mile Great North Bike Ride on Sunday 29th August
• 13.1 mile Great North Run on Sunday 19th September

Whilst I have done the Great North Run a few times now, and have a 5-6 year background in running, the bike ride is something that is totally new to me. Each year I take on a new fitness challenge, and have so far completed a range of 5km, 10km, and half marathon events, but never a long distance bike event.

I bought my bike from KB Cycles in Newburn, in April of this year (having never been on a bike for nearly 10 years!). I have been training casually ever since, using my journey to and from work as an ideal opportunity to put in some miles. I am yet to cycle the full Great North Bike distance of 54 miles so only time will tell how I find that........

In terms of running, I again use my journey to and from work as training time (often complete with heavy backpack!), and also run for fun as well. I am Event Director for Newcastle parkrun; a free, weekly, timed, 5km run, for all ages and abilities, set up and managed entirely by volunteers. parkrun is a nationwide not-for-profit organisation that has the aim of building communities through running. Newcastle parkrun is on every Saturday at 9am in Exhibition Park, Jesmond, and runners and volunteers can register at http://www.parkrun.com/ or www.parkrun.org.uk/newcastle You can find us on facebook (search 'newcastle parkrun') and also follow us on twitter (@newcparkrun). Whilst I never get a chance to actually run at Newcastle parkrun, as I am usually there running the show instead, it is definitely an excellent tool to use when training for a long distance running event such as the Great North Run, as it allows you to see your progress over time via your automatic online run record.

I ran to work 3 miles this morning with a 5kg rucksack and am going to do a 14 mile bike ride this afternoon to ensure I am developing my fitness within both the running and cycling disciplines, in preparation for my two events in a few weeks time.

If you would like to sponsor me, please visit www.justgiving.com/niycpidge

Thanks,

Niyc xx