A Little Life Update | Winter 2022

Well, hello February. I’m honestly so happy to see the back of January – it was a pretty intense month. And now I’ve had a moment to catch my breath, it’s time for a ‘lil life update… since my last update back in October 2021.

So grab a cuppa and a few biscuits (well, something more #Whole30 friendly for me lol), let’s catch up!

The End Of The ‘Cross Season

I took part in my final cyclocross race for the season on January 23rd at Herne Hill (pictured above post race). To be honest, it was a tough race for me as it was pretty flat… and fast, which I currently am not!

But I focused on my skills and made my own little goals for the race like riding all the hills (that were rideable), dismounting properly and just trying to do my best each lap.

Here’s a little of what I wrote in my Instagram post: “I’m not sure why I do this to myself tbh; I turn up every time, knowing I haven’t trained… but racing, counts as training 😝 …as with my last race, I’m super happy with my bike handling and skills 🙌🏾 rode everything except the hurdles, the steps (obvs) and Big Bob (IYKYK) …even dismounted properly, more than ‘anyway possible’ …came off once, on a corner when my shoe didn’t clip out, but I’m proud I attacked the corner enough to come off the bike (softly) looooool “

Level 2 Cyclocross Award Completed

As much as I haven’t been taking my own cross season and racing seriously, I’m super committed to sharing the joys of cyclo-cross with as many people as possible… specifically women, women of colour and girls.

The next step on my coaching journey was a discipline specific course and the cyclocross one came at a good time. For my birthday in October I asked for donations on my Ko-fi page to put toward the cost and booked it.

The course was over a weekend, and although intense, it was really enjoyable and eye-opening. The weekend after, one of my tutors was running a Womens & Girls Development Day which I got the opportunity to coach at, and really enjoyed.

I think throwing myself into it made it much less of an anxious experience and the group I had (mix of novice senior / vet women and under 12s) were great to coach.

Liv Cycling UK

Continuing on the cycling theme, I’m excited to start my 4th year as a Liv Cycling UK Ambassador. The last couple of years have been a little different due to the global situation but it’s still been a great experience.

You can read about how I became an Ambassador here.

My 2022 Liv Bike

For 2022, I’ll be upgrading and riding the Liv Brava Advanced PRO 2 – a womens specific cyclocross bike. I’ve been riding the Liv Brava SLR 2020, which has been one of the most versatile bikes to ride, and definitely a real favourite of mine.

I’ve been bike-packing, commuting and riding the Brava for my cyclocross races. But, the 2022 Brava, so I’ve been told, is very much a cyclocross bike. I’m excited to ride a carbon ‘cross bike – although my 2020 Brava is pretty light, it’ll be a heck of a lot easier to shoulder / carry and run with a lighter bike.

I think 2022 is the year I’ll also upgrade to fully mtb spd pedals on my cx bike. I’m already looking forward to the start of the season in 2022 – and I’ll be doing everything in my power to start the season strong and finish it stronger.

Beyond CC Launch

In January, along with fellow cycling coach Alison Woods, we launched Beyond CC – an inclusive community and coaching program for women who ride and are looking to take on the challenge of their first 100mile ride in 2022.

We’re looking to support as many women as we possibly can and create a safe space for women in cycling. Alison looks after the training plan side of things whilst I look after the off the bike, strength and conditioning aspects.

If you’re a woman who’s looking to go beyond your current limits, check out and join Beyond CC.

My 2022 Cycling Goals

The inspiration for Beyond CC actually came to me at the end of 2021, when I was thinking about my own goals for 2022. When I heard that RideLondon was coming to Essex, I figured now might be a good time to finally consider riding my first century.

So although Beyond CC goes way beyond RideLondon, that’s where the idea (for me) originally came from. When it comes to cycling, the one thing that’s been letting me down is the lack of structured training. I think in 2021, I completed the Zwift Back to Fitness plan and then a plan leading up to the London Duathlon, and that was it.

So training with Beyond CC has started to get me ready for Ride 100 in May 2022, and will have me feeling fit and strong to enjoy the Summer on two wheels. Then I’ll be ready to take on the 2022/23 cyclocross season.

I don’t really have any other cycling goals for 2022 – oh, maybe other than get a PB for my 10mile time-trial time. I’ll also be leading Breeze Rides locally to get as many West Essex women out on bikes as I can.

Rollin’ With My Foamies in 2022

Last year, I’d had a few requests for a live Rollin’ With My Foamies (RWMF) class, and believe me, I needed and wanted it too! Eventually I came up with the idea of combining our 45min stretch and foam rolling session with a bit of goal setting, to start 2022 the way we mean to go on!

Rollin’ into 22 was the result – one full hour of meditation, visualisation, goal setting plus all the good stuff for our muscles.  It was so lovely to see everyones faces that evening, and the feedback was great.

I recorded the session so you can catch up at any point and get those goals set – check it out here.

RWMF – Prehab Series

For the New Year, I also started working on a new RWMF collection – the Prehab series. I’d been meaning to make some shorter and more targeted versions for on-demand and finally I sat down and planned out what I wanted to create.

Although the series was created with cyclists in mind, it’s perfect for any- and every- one. So far I’ve released the Upper Legs & Hips session (20mins) and a Lower Legs & Feet session (20mins). You can access them for free currently on my Ko-fi shop.

RECENT FEATURES:

• I joined the Natures Truth UK team in January as one of their Experts for Fitness. You can check out a some of the content we’ve created including this article on How to begin cycling for fitness and as well as this guide to running for beginners.
• In January I also joined the Her Spirit team as a Coach, delivering Level 2 of their new Couch2Kilos challenge. Catch up on the podcast episode we recorded. I loved delivering the 6 weeks and having to do it myself, I even felt the benefits too.
• I’ve been a member of WeWork for just over 3 months now and it’s been really handy to have multiple locations I can use with great facilities. Finsbury Pavement is definitely my current fav location, but there are 45+ locations across the whole of the UK and Ireland to choose from. If you wanna check out a location, you can use my code 𝗘𝗹𝗹𝗲𝟱𝟬 to get 50% off your first On-Demand booking. (fyi, my membership is gifted)

Pinterest Black Gold Accelerator

In January 2022, I received the exciting news that I had been chosen to take part in the Pinterest Black Gold Accelerator (BGA). I never thought I would get a place tbh, but I applied anyway. You have got to be in it to win it, huh?!

The timing worked well as I was just wrapping up a programme with Inspiration Space (IS) called New beginnings all about growing beyond what you think is possible in 90 days. I would highly recommend New Beginnings to other small business – and actually, reading the quote below from the IS instagram, I’m one of the 90%!

During the programme, I spent some time looking at my pricing for online classes, Personal Training and my other work which supported me to make the changes I needed to ready to start 2022 strong.

“90% of students start earning more 💸 before the program ends.”

Inspiration space – instagram

Back to the BGA… it’s a 3 month programme with lots of workshops, mentoring and support to elevate our businesses on Pinterest and beyond. We’re pretty much half way through already, it’s kinda mad!

And What About Running?

I recently reached the 25 events milestone for parkrun, and I’m hoping to hit 50 this year. I’m definitely gonna be running much more consistently in 2022 but I’m not 100% sure I’ll be able to get to parkrun every Saturday especially when I start needing to run longer in preparation for Royal Parks Half Marathon.

Did I mention I’m gonna be running another half again?! It’s been years… and years since I’ve run anything more than 10km (with the exception of Wings For Life where I ran about 12km) so I’m excited to get training and see what I can currently do over the distance.

What’s Coming Up?

Well, next month will be the two year anniversary of me starting my online classes! It’s been one heck of a learning curve… adapting to the peaks, troughs, challenges and opportunities.

If you haven’t made it to a class yet, you can use the code JOINCLASS to get your first session on me.

I’m also just about to complete a Whole30. It’s been a while since I last did one, but it was much needed. So far it’s helped massively with the quality of my sleep, my energy levels and my skin. Once the 30 days are done, I’ll be starting a 3 month research project with Fresh Fitness Food.

I’ll be training around my cycle and feeding back. I’ve opted to get my meals delivered for 5 days each week over the 3 months (I am paying for this, I just get a discount). Previously, I was paying for meals 2 days per week which helped to take the stress off over those couple of days.

If you wanna try Fresh Fitness Food, you can get £50 off your first order using code ELLBHFNN.

KISE 10 Year Celebrations

I feel like time is running away and we’re now less than 6 months away from the 10 year Blog-iversary of keep it simpElle.

Just read through a previous live update where I did the ‘KISE 9 x 9 challenge’ – completing 9 hours of activity in 9 days so maybe we make it the ‘KISE 10 x 10 challenge’ starting on the 10th July?!

I’m signing off here now… I have a couple other bits of super exciting news to share but I have to be that annoying person who then doesn’t say what it is! I’m sorry… but keep your eyes peeled.

Tell me, how’s 2022 going so far! Any exciting plans coming up over the next few months?!

Elle