Push it Harder: Mairead Farrell on Guilty Pleasures and Feeling the Burn

“Go deep, deep, deeper…" he says in hushed tones. 

“Push harder, yeah… You like that? You like it so much you wanna do it 10 more times, huh?” he says, in his half-Dublin, half-Italian accent. Beads of sweat are coming through my Estee Lauder Double Wear foundation. 

“30 seconds more Mairead .. that’s all we have left together.”  I’m panting, and I catch my reflection in the full length mirror. My mascara is smudged too…

Clean out those durrrty thoughts ladies. I’m just filling you in about Luiviu, a personal trainer from Energie Fitness in Dublin City Centre.

Now I consider myself to be fairly fit. I run a bit, and even did a half marathon in April in a fairly respective two hours and ten minutes. Not too bad for a first timer. 

After that, I sort of let things slide a little. Then holiday season kicked in and I found myself having a winter coat in the middle of summer. So I’ve rejoined the gym. 

After this weeks session I feel like a BIG STIFFY! I’m aware of how that sounds, but it’s the only way I can describe how my body feels. 

It’s stiff, and oh-so-sore. My biceps are burning, my arse is aching, my thighs are trembling. Just lifting a mug of tea right involves so much movement I’m actually considering drinking through a straw. Climbing an average flight of stairs feels like a mountain and coming down them sideways? I look like a granny crab. 

Why have I done this to myself?

Well, one reason is so I look deadly naked. 

But the main reason is because I’m tired of being tired. Everyone says exercising gives you energy, and right now I need that in abundance. I want energy in bucket loads.   

I’ve cut out chocolate too. Shocker. After a few days of going through the DTs it has gotten easier. The hardest part is working alongside a professional treat pusher – Ray D’Arcy. He’s so bad he should be given a gangland name like The Cadbury Crawler or the Dairy Milk Don. He arrives in after lunch and dishes the brown bars out like snuff at a wake. He horses into a chunky KitKat and opens up the other confectionary for the team to gorge on.

Avoiding his gear has been the a struggle but I’m getting there. Over and over I repeat: “No thank you Ray”, while rocking back and forth in my office chair. 

But with all that said, I feel feckin fabulous. The best I’ve felt in ages. Long may it continue – being off chocolate that is. Not feeling like a “stiffy”… Ouch.

 

M X