Getting fit after baby put mother in running for business career

MANY women aim to do more exercise and get fitter after giving birth.

However, few see their training sessions result not just in a new-found passion for sport, but the chance to represent their country on the world stage.

Lynwen Harrison, a physiotherapist from Sheffield, was always a keen swimmer and cyclist. But it was only after the birth of her second child Beau, now two, that she stepped up her training and discovered she was a triathlete of international standard.

Mrs Harrison, from Nether Green, said: “It was by accident, really, that I got into it. I used to play water polo for Sheffield but gave it up when I had my first son, Lloyd, because the training programme was too much.

“After that I spent a lot of time running in the Peak District and saw there was going to be a triathlon – the Hathersage Hilly. I did that in 2006, when Lloyd was one.

“Running was my weakest element so I worked on that, as well as the swimming and the cycling. I found that I could fit all the elements into training without getting bored.

“Triathlon is tailored so that everybody can have a go. You can do sprint distances where the swim is either 400m – 16 lengths of a pool – or 750m, the bike ride is 20km and the run is 5km.

“The next one up from that is a 750m swim, a 40km bike ride and a 10km run. It really is geared for everybody, because usually everybody taking part is better at one thing.”

After her first taste of the triathlon, however, Mrs Harrison took some time off from the sport to concentrate on raising Lloyd. Her second son, Beau, followed and then, in 2010, she entered her first competition in two years – a contest for which she was decidedly unprepared.

She said: “It was my first race back after having Beau and I was a complete shambles.

“Beau was really ill so my husband couldn’t come with me, my bike hadn’t been out of the cellar for 18 months and I had stirrups on my bike shoes, instead of the more energy-efficient clips.

“The only carb-loading I’d done was downing a burger and a beer the night before.”

Much to Mrs Harrison’s amazement, however, her performance at the Grendon triathlon in Northamptonshire led to her being selected as an amateur athlete for the Great Britain triathlon team’s 40-44 age group, when one of the top four women was injured.

“When I was told I’d qualified, I couldn’t quite believe it. I was absolutely over the moon,” the 41-year-old said.

“That meant I got to compete at the World Championships last September, in Budapest. I came 18th, it was amazing. You can’t say wearing the GB vest isn’t thrilling.

“Being picked for the team was due to the fact that the whole sport is accessible to everybody. They run national qualifying events and, if you get the right time, then you’re in with a chance of being picked.

“But as I got selected for the GB squad when I was 40, I needed to improve how I trained, so I started to take note of the science of recovery products such as sports drinks.

Mrs Harrison, who now works part-time as a physiotherapist in Matlock, realized her training regime needed to be fuelled by more than burgers and beer.

As a result, she began mixing different sports drinks to see if they would help her recover faster after a training session, paying attention to the science around the 20-minute optimum window after exercise.

In the kitchen of her Sheffield terrace, she eagerly began trying different milk and yoghurt-based recipes to try to find the ideal combination.

“I came up with a drink that really worked and I really liked the taste of it,” she said.

“The ingredients include yoghurt, milk from a dairy in Tideswell, cherry juice, green tea and lemon. All the ingredients are really high-quality but the taste is just gorgeous, that was my main consideration.

“I’m not a goody-goody about what I eat, but I’m pretty careful. Then, when I found I was drinking all these artificial sports drinks, I thought ‘why am I doing this? I wouldn’t do this in any other realm of my life.

“Then, one day, I was talking to my friend’s husband, who’s a business advisor, and he asked if I’d considered it as a business. It all took off from there.”

Months of honing the recipe to perfection followed, and in July, Mrs Harrison and her friend and business partner Rachel Smith, 39, took the plunge by launching the home-made recovery drink – named Nourish Me Now – on a larger scale.

Nourish Me Now received its first taste of fame at last month’s Hathersage Hilly triathlon, a race close to Mrs Harrison’s heart, when it was tested on triathletes and their friends.

Sheffield Hallam University, where Mrs Harrison studied for a physiotherapy degree, has tested the product’s nutritional value, and Bradwell’s Dairy Ice Cream has also lent its support to the new start-up business by manufacturing the first batch at its Derbyshire premises.

Mrs Harrison’s friend and colleague Mrs Smith, from Millhouses in Sheffield, had spent a decade working as a product developer and buyer for Marks & Spencer, and has taken charge of the marketing, design and commercial aspects of the fledgling business.

Mrs Harrison is also training with the Sheffield Triathlon Club and preparing for next year’s European championships in Israel – as well as being a mother to Lloyd, now six, and Beau, now two. Her husband, David Harrison, is also a keen sportsman and talented fell runner, and the pair often train together.