I contacted Jemma 9 weeks out from my first marathon. It had been months since I had any structured training and I was (rightly) worried that I wasn’t going to be able to complete it and I would let the charity I was running for down. The training plan on my watch ticking away, unmet. I left that call fired up and confident that I could get round the course, with Jemma’s help, and signed up immediately.
Marathon completed, with a half and a full marathon on the cards for the year ahead, I hit a wall in body and mind. Jemma was able to see through my bs, make recommendations on the real issues, and worked patiently, with tough love and compassion, to get me from skipping workouts to skipping out the door on a run. With sports massage, some recommended audiobooks and a custom training plan, I’m writing this testimonial having just run one of my best runs ever.
Jemma becomes one of your dearest friends: there to celebrate your PBs but ready with the tough love when you’re flagging. She takes great pride in creating your plan and genuinely cares. She won’t set you unrealistic or dangerous goals, and, if it is late in the day and we haven’t completed our runs, she sends us a message to check we’re ok. I always look forward to our calls and Jemma’s comments on my training, even if I know it’ll be one where I get a talking to!
You can’t get any of this with the inbuilt training plan with your fancy watch. My watch also doesn’t appreciate how beautiful my dogs are… Incredible service.