Dame Kelly Holmes: ‘I don’t like ageing. I’m someone who used to have a six pack’
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The real lives of Olympians: in the lead up to the Paris Olympics, we will be talking to former Olympian medallists about how they keep fit now – from ageing and retiring to what they eat and how much they exercise. Meet the final athelete in our series, Dame Kelly Holmes.
Dame Kelly specialised in the 800m and 1,500m events and won gold medals for both distances at the 2004 Olympics in Athens. The 54-year-old is a regular panellist on the ITV talk show Loose Women and an honorary colonel in the British Army, in which she served as a physical training instructor and HGV driver prior to her athletics career. She lives in Kent.
How fit do you feel?
I feel relatively fit. I’d always like to be fitter.
In some ways I’m healthier than when I was an athlete, but not as fast. I wouldn’t be able to sprint like I did before. I’d just breakdown.
What motivates you to stay fit?
I want to try and keep my body as young as possible. As you get older there’s always those aches and pains and I want to limit those.
Your earliest sporting success?
I won school sports days against girls two years older than me. I went on to win the Kent schools champs and then the England schools when I was 13 for the 1,500m.
Running was the one thing I was good at, so I took it.
How has age changed your fitness priorities?
After I retired I was relying on being fit and strong, and then that deterioration happened quickly. And I didn’t like it. I was neglecting my weight training, doing running and cardio more because I like that feeling of sweating and being out of breath. My mindset was on that, rather than staying strong in order to do it.
Your top health tip?
Keep moving. It’s really important for the body and the brain. Most people have a hang-up about something, how they look or feel, but you can combat that with movement and exercise. And sometimes it just makes you feel happy.
Also, be consistent so you see the change.
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How often do you exercise?
I do three strength training sessions a week. Two that are heavy weights with fewer reps. Then I do a more endurance based session; lighter weights with more reps or HIIT training.
I fit my running in between that, maybe three times a week. I do core two or three times a week. It’s hard when I’m flying around the world but I’ll try and do it 15 minutes before bed wherever I am.
Do you still enjoy running?
I still run because I think it’s great. I do it for my mental and physical well being. And I do it because I can actually run. It’s also an accessible thing to do.
I love doing Parkruns. It’s the social aspect of it. I have people trying to compete with me. If they’re really doing my head in, then I size them up when I’m running next to them and if I know I can beat them, then I do.
Any injuries?
I still get injured and perimenopause doesn’t help as it weakens your tendons and muscles.
I neglect my stretching. I’ve started doing more rehab work; going to an osteopath and doing a lot of mobility exercises for my ankles.
What was your training as an athlete?
At my peak I trained twice a day six days a week. One day rest. I’d have quite high intensity track work, 200m sprint reps with very short recovery so you really build up the lactic acid.
You train to the point where you’re crawling off the track.
How did you fuel training?
There wasn’t a lot of nutritional support when I was an athlete. My diet was all about energy and recovery. I’d start with carbs and dairy and then have protein within 20 minutes after training.
The biggest part of my success in Athens was my nutrition because I was eating so much but I was still losing weight. I was so fit my metabolism was just burning all the time. But I was so strong as well. I was obviously eating right.
It was boring though. I don’t know how I did it. I ate chicken breasts and salmon, with rice or potatoes and vegetables.
Two and a half hours before I competed I’d have a cheese and ham roll and a yogurt because it had everything; carbs, proteins, fats.
What’s your diet like now?
I’m a vegetarian now. I went off the taste of fish because I ate so much of it. But it doesn’t mean that I’m a lettuce leaf eater. I am a big chocolate fan whether it’s dark chocolate or Dairy Milk.
Do you take any supplements?
A lot of my injuries as an athlete were muscular and tendon orientated. I started to get joint pain a couple of years ago and I realised it was a different pain to what I was used to.
It stopped when I started taking collagen supplements consistently. I’m now an ambassador for Ancient and Brave who bringing out a new creatine, which was something that sprinters took, but I didn’t know much about. When I was an athlete though I was so worried that I wouldn’t even take the herbal tablets I was given to help with depression. I also take turmeric and magnesium.
How important is mental health?
I was one of the first people to talk about mental health problems as an elite sportsperson. We didn’t have sports psychologists like you do now. Every time you had an injury, no one asked how you felt about the setbacks and the pressures that you’re under to fight back to fitness. It was tough.
How did you cope with retirement?
The transition is really hard. You lose your identity a bit. You don’t really know what’s next and you’ve had such a structured life. When you retire nobody needs each other anymore.
Your guilty pleasure?
A Saturday night lying on the sofa, watching trash TV, with a spicy Indian curry. Gin and tonic and chocolate. I love it.
How do you feel about ageing?
I don’t like it. I’m someone who used to have a six pack. I still have one, but there are a couple more layers than I’d like over it now.
Are you still competitive?
I was born competitive. Put me in a Parkrun and a woman’s in front of me, I’m definitely going to try and get around her.
