Beci is next up, she has been balancing, being a mum and exercise over the last few months and none of us envy the home schooling…!

Lockdown has been really heavily focused on ensuring the children keep on top of their schoolwork and that the whole family get exercise. Often Beci would tyre pull while Matt runs and the kids were on their bikes. She also found she needed to ensure she stayed on top of the housework more so than ever; that meant sharing the space much more than usual. For Beci a messy house has a really negatively impact on her mental health.

“We’ve managed some socially distanced bike rides and walks with friends and family which has been amazing for us all. I also LOVED the cake ultra and getting to see the other WAFAs.

I treated myself to a Nordic track trainer that I know will make training at home so much easier… I can even homeschool from it. Multitasking is a MUST!”

AFA training has been a huge motivator to get out and be busy even on the days Beci could happily have stayed in bed. Routine has been key, planning days and prioritising “Beci time” exercising.

“I’m in awe of the other AFAs and I don’t want to fall behind. Norway in January is getting so close and feels much more real now lockdown is easing.”

Alison is next up and her social media is one to watch;

Since lockdown started life has changed quite a lot for Alison. From suddenly being in work every day to remote working from home in the first few weeks. The first challenges she had to overcome were internet problems and the use of video conferencing for meetings. The internet and phone reception in her house has always been rubbish, and with all meetings being video conference meant it just kept dropping out or no one could hear her and sometimes not even see her! We’ve all been there right? It became very frustrating and stressful which led to arguments with her husband as Alison insisted in turning all wi-fi gadgets off when she was on VC, but that was no help. She was eventually assisted by another member of our executive leadership team who is very knowledgeable on ‘tech’ and ended up upgrading her internet and broadband service which has been a godsend. 

“Another pressure was trying to keep my Mum’s spirits up as she is a widow and lives alone and also lives with cancer. Luckily with the kind weather her large gardens kept her pretty much occupied but she missed seeing all of us, her friend’s and going out which she does every day. So organising a rota of grandkids phoning and me in touch every day was a priority. We took her over a Sunday lunch each week and left it on the doorstep and it has been much easier now that we can meet in gardens in Wales.”

Quizing over Zoom became a weekly occurrence with her friends and a few late nights and sore heads the next morning! It has been great for Alison to catch up with the other Fire Angels on Zoom and keeping in touch with the world via social media too.

Like the rest of us, being in the house so much gave her a bit of time to sort through cupboards, clothes and catch up on a few things we always say ‘that can wait until next weekend’. Staying home has also made Alison think differently about the amount of clothes she owns and buys normally and the fact that some of it doesn’t come out of the wardrobe on a regular basis.

“I have bought some more training gear as some days I have been doing 3 short sessions to mix it up a bit. I seem to spend most of my day in this sort of gear.”

Alison also treated herself to a second hand track ski machine on Ebay to help with her training. On warm days she moves it out to the garden. She even skied for 2hrs 30 mins recently! To help improve her flexibility Alison has been doing three sessions of yoga a week, and as she couldn’t go to my normal gym she has been doing online sessions of high intensity training and following Nikki’s plans that she’s pulled together for the team. It seems that the whole country is getting fit as trying to find any kettlebells has been impossible online, however she did strike lucky with some dumbbells.

“Over the last month I have been in work a bit more and we have been taking it in turns to go in and we are still able to use the headquarters gym which has been great. We have to clean every item of kit we use as soon as we finish it and maintain social distance in there and everyone has complied with that.”

There has of course been tyre dragging when lockdown eased slightly in Wales but the highlight of training was Team WAFA doing the 32miles of Cake Ultra. It’s the first time Alison had trained with anyone in over three months. Lots of lessons learned from taking too much cake in her rucksack, too much water, too many clothes and wearing new trainers along with realising how important it is to fuel correctly as you go. She can’t wait to go again. 

“I have found the last few months really life changing and I have liked spending more time at home with my husband. I can’t wait to see the children and the grandkids and have a barbeque in the garden with friends. Sometimes the simple things in life are the best.”

Now you’ve all caught up with George and her lockdown life, next up is Nikki from the LAFA’s. I’ve put her social media links below so be sure you’re following her;

For Nikki her biggest worry at the beginning of lockdown (aside from not being able to go to the gym) was how bored she was going to get. “I can’t bear being bored; it turns me into a different person, like the less I do the less I want to do and I hate it. Its a horrible restlessness and I just stare at the walls not knowing what to do with myself!”. To prevent this Nikki puts measures in place early on, she was armed with puzzles, paint by numbers and colouring books and of course good old Harry Potter on her kindle. The irony is that actually the Antarctic training and admin has kept her so busy enough that her paint by numbers is lying only half finished in my spare room! Check it out below, I think that is pretty good progress so far.

Since lockdown has eased slightly Nikki has been visiting (all 4 of) her parents and sister to have BBQs in the garden. She of course takes her own crockery and everything to limit contact; it has been super lovely for her to see them even if she can’t have a hug just yet!

Nikki feels she has really thrived at work and genuinely cherished being able to go to the fire station. Not only does it mean that she only has to spend a maximum of 3.5 days in her flat in a row but it also means she gets to interact with human beings again whilst still feeling like she is contributing to society during the most uncertain of times. A very small victory for Nikki is that her flat is so sunny she can actually sunbathe in the lounge without going outside!

She also recently went to visit her colleague’s family farm, Nikki’s favourite part were the baby pigmy goats and in her own words “this was literally so so good for the soul”. A big thank you to Emily for letting Nikki visit, and yes, all social distancing rules were met, although not with the goats as you can see by the picture!

“Surprisingly my motivation for training hasn’t really wavered (aside from a couple of days here or there). I’ve realised just how much I use exercise for my mental health – when I train in the morning it shapes my day; makes me feel great and gives me more motivation to get productive and smash through my to-do list. It’s because of this I’ve probably been over-training and not giving my body sufficient rest, but I see it as looking after my head!”

For Nikki it’s all about having a plan to follow so she has been planning her week out and sticking to it, even working out in her lounge which she would never usually do but it seems to be working out for her!

Over the coming weeks each blog post will be a little update from each Antarctic Fire Angel all about what they have been up to over the last few months in lockdown. I don’t just mean the relentless training hours that these guys are putting in but also a little insight in to what else they’ve been up to.

First up is co-founder of the team and leader of the WAFA’s George. Don’t forget to follow her on social media, links below…click, click!

“Initially during the first stages of lockdown, the main concern was staying as safe as possible in work which in turn meant keeping my partner safe, who thankfully works from home the majority of the time anyway. It was a very uncertain time in work, no one has ever had to deal with anything like this before so decision making was dynamic to say the least. As long as I did everything I could before coming home after each shift I was happy (ish!).”

Once home, lockdown looked very different for George. She is lucky enough to live in the country and have fields and footpaths at the bottom of her garden, this meant that she was one of the few people able to keep doing normal activities during these uncertain times. Whilst adhering to the social distancing rules she managed to walk the dogs, pull her tyres, go for runs and also have room to exercise in the garden. Even though we were only allowed out once a day George made the most of it; walking the dogs and pulling the tyres became the norm and when people saw her without them they often asked where the tyres were! If you see her around don’t forget to say hello, from the correct social distance of course.

Although George has a very close family they are also very independent from each other so not seeing or speaking to them for a while is completely normal, meaning this hasn’t been such a huge change for her on top of the very bizarre world we find ourselves in at the moment.

As we know, because we all follow the team on social media right?, they are training harder than ever at the moment and taking advantage of extra time when they have it. George also managed to sell her bikes which has allowed her to buy a Garmin Fenix 5x watch, according to George this watch is a “game changer!” so she is super happy with that purchase. Training has gone very well during lockdown, lots of energy is now focused on keeping fit and less around going to meetings and schools for presentations etc. Naturally with more Zoom meetings and not so much travel time involved it means that the days have naturally become more efficient for George, as she says; “That’s me though, if I had children, that would obviously be a very different story.”

But as lockdown slowly eases there are big questions about going back to some sort of normality and how this will change up the routine each and every one of us has become used to. “One fear I have now is less focus on training and diverting that energy to other things as before, I’ve enjoyed the time I’ve had to totally focus on me, rather selfishly really but, we must divert some of that now to fundraising otherwise, what’s the point right?!”

This video from Caryn L Cox, an NHS consultant, was super early on in this journey and every now and then George watches it and reminds herself that even during the early stages the team were reaching people far and wide.

This is an adventure of a lifetime and it the teams message will reach far and wide.