Bruce talks to Rebecca Romero

As you will know, I try and be a pretty positive person.  I try to be optimistic and and upbeat.  God knows I often miss the target but is it generally how I try to live my life, and our lives as a family unit.

So when I saw there was an opportunity to interview THE Rebecca Romero about her role as the ambassador for the “Energizer Positive Energy Mum campaign”,  I leapt at the chance.   It is something that I can totally associate with and loved that we are being encouraged to nominate people we think fit that bill to win a fabulous prize.  In their own words they say:

Rebecca Romero is proud to be the ambassador for the Energizer® Positive Energy Mum campaign. Together, Rebecca and Energizer® are asking the UK to nominate their Positive Energy mums who have gone that extra mile, via the Energizer® UK Facebook page.  The shortlist for entries will be announced next week. Not only does the Positive Energy mum win a UK short break for her and her family but you will also win the same – now that’s positive energy!

So please do have a look at the campaign page.   I can’t wait to see who makes the shortlist.   I can think of a few mums I would like to nominate!

As part of the campaign I was asked if I would like to put some questions to Rebecca and have her answer them for me.   The weekend I was due to do it I was chasing my tail and doing a million things and when Bruce said “what can I do to help?” I said “I tell you what you can do, I need some killer questions for Rebecca Romero to answer, please”.   And then dashed off to do something else.  Not really believing that he would take it seriously.  I mean Rebecca Romero?!  Olympian?  Getting to put questions to her?  Only thanks to this blog!

An hour later, and bingo, these are five he came up (which are much better than mine would have been).

You made the switch from rowing to cycling, both hugely dependent on stamina reserves. Were they both sports you’ve played for a long time, or was cycling a bit of a novelty?

When I switched, cycling wasn’t completely new to me.  Whilst on the rowing team we would occasionally cycle for cross training.  In fact, I’d always been nipping about all over the place on a bike since I was in my early teens – it was my only means of getting about.  Everyday I’d ride a 4-mile journey to school (usually flat out because I was always late!) and in later years a 12-mile journey to college.  I enjoyed riding my bike so sometimes I’d go for bike rides just to time how fast I could go over a particular route.  So I guess cycling had been programmed in me from fairly early on!

How are you adjusting to “life after sport”, was the Olympic hangover particularly difficult?

The adjustment to “life after sport” was the toughest challenge I’ve probably had to face in life so far. There is a tough transition from being a full time athlete into ‘normal’ life, which is difficult to describe and for people to understand.  It was a hard process to move away from a lifestyle and a career that I’d been in for so long, to re-invent myself and start building a completely different career.  Having my whole environment, routine and personal identity suddenly change was a tough challenge to negotiate.

 Now that you’re a mum, do you find that it’s more or less tiring than your sporting work. The peaks are obviously higher for sporting exercise, but do you think there is a parallel with the unending nature of motherhood?

My training was definitely more physically exhausting – I hope motherhood doesn’t become like that! Right now I’m at the easy stage as my son is still quite young.  But I’ve got a feeling that as he gets older, and as my family grows, being a mum will be a much more tiring and exhausting job than being an athlete ever was! There is though, definitely a parallel between full-time sport and full-time motherhood.  My sporting career has helped me to be focused on something 24/7, which is certainly a requirement of being a parent.  As an athlete you’re always thinking about what or how you’re going to do things to enhance your development.  This is similar to being a parent and being responsible for the development of your child. Also, training and competing is tough and stressful most of the time, but it does give you amazing rewards.  Being a parent is the same.  It’s hard work, but there are wonderful, joyous, heart-melting moments, which override the challenging times a million times over.

How DO you maintain your energy levels?

I struggle with tiredness and low energy just like everyone else.  There’s no secret to maintaining it.  It’s all about getting as much quality sleep as possible (hard as a mother I know!) eating a good diet and getting regular bouts of exercise.  However, straying from this every-so-often and having a good chill out and a naughty pig-out can perk me up a treat!  Keeping a mental positive attitude and getting a good fix of fun and enjoyable things are really important too.  So I really value spending time catching up with friends, having a good laugh and a mess about because this can give me a positive energy boost that will keep me going for a good while.

 Were you really naked on that bike? It’s ok, you don’t need to answer that-every woman needs her secrets 🙂

Haha! Yes….I pretty much was!  Tiny pants only got cut off to the side at the last minute though!

Trust Bruce to end on a question about pants!

Thanks Rebecca for allowing us to throw these at you!!