How Wimbledon is inspiring my fitness journey

It’s that time of year here in the UK.  The time of year that is quintessentially British.

Tennis whites.  Strawberries and cream.  Pimms in the sunshine.  Or more likely, the rain.  Yes folks, Wimbledon is here and we are busy watching from the couch at my mums.

Tennis is something that never really interested me.  I can’t play it with my lack of hand-eye coordination.  I didn’t understand it.  And it was LONG.

Then earlier this year we headed to the Exxon Mobil Qatar Open Championships.

It was life changing.

All of a sudden I could see just why people were so passionate about a sport I had previously thought was boring.

Boring?!

It’s anything but boring.

Even from our seats in the heavens you could feel the exertion, see the strain, harness the power as Murray and Djokovic battle to win the title.  An epic 31 games in 2 hours and 54 minutes.

And with it came a newfound love of the game.  A love that my tennis playing, hand eye coordinated, husband is somewhat bemused by.

You see, around the same sort of time I entered onto (another) journey into running, one of many that I have picked up this.  And watching the power exuded by these men and women, the speed they run across the court, was inspiring.

The energy that is expended during an intense finals match, up to a whopping 2154 calories burnt, an energy output of 2.54 kWh from a study conducted by First Utility.

Two point five four kilowatts per hour.  Enough to power up a smartphone for a year.

To put that in perspective my last 5km run I burnt 368 calories, at the equivalent energy output of 0.43 kWh.  And I worked hard.  Sweat was pouring off me, every time I glanced down at my TomTom Spark I inched another step closer to the 5km target that seemed so far away at the beginning of my run.

And I’d probably only charge a smartphone for a matter of minutes.

Probably about enough to have a quick scroll through Facebook.

Yet an entire singles tournament could power my tea drinking for an entire year.  Though probably not my mums… or my friend Emma’s.  But your average tea loving British girl.  Yep, just one tournament will see you right for the year.

So if my 5km run wouldn’t power my smartphone for enough time to load up my (not so) daily Instagram photo, maybe my circuit class would be up for the job?

Yes this year as the temperature in Doha soared I gave up running outside (unlike my crazy marathon training husband who went off on a 23km run at 3:30am in the morning while temperatures were at a balmy 40°C) and headed to EvoFit.  So as I sit on my bum, drinking a glass of wine and watching the round up of today’s Wimbledon where both Murray and Djokovic stormed out of the quarter finals, I looked up the calories I burnt in my hardest class.

253 calories.

For 37 minutes of the pure pain of burpees, squats and wall climbs.  0.29 kWh.  Enough power for the average laptop battery life.

Even the groundskeepers at Wimbledon power more than me….

So as I sit here with my strawberries and cream, my brolly at the ready in case of rain, watching the highlights from the day and the ultimate power houses on screen instead of letting it make me think well I can never do that so my bum is firmly staying on the couch, I am taking inspiration.

Tennis may never be my game of strength.  I will always lack the coordination to actually hit a ball.

But being a powerhouse?

Well that I can do – and one day I will run long enough to power my own hairdryer…

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