Anna-Louise Coaching

14/03/2026

‘If you start at the top then there’s nothing to look forward to, nowhere to go’ 💫

12/03/2026

Last week I went to .tour X International Women’s Day Lap ride at Box Hill.

I’d never really done anything like that before but I was in the area and what better way to celebrate the strength and power of the female movement than with some movement with likeminded people?

I’m happiest on two wheels at this point, so (despite being a huge introvert and it took some major overthinking for me to get here!) throw in some female and some spring energy (and of course!) and what a time was had.

Must do more adventuring further afield! Any lovely people ever want to pedal together then I’m all ears!

✌🏼🌻🖤

10/03/2026

Podcast number two incoming! Who is she?!

I was lucky enough to be invited to chat with James from in the run up to Grafman middle distance which I’ll be doing as a big training day in the run up to the project in July.

They’re a wonderful bunch with SO many events to choose from, 100% worth a look for the one (or 5!!) for you.

Thank you for having me team. Watch this space for the podcast release where I chat about all things training and of course, the wonderful charity that this is all about ✌🏼🌻🖤

07/03/2026

Isn’t spring just absolute MAGIC for the soul?! ✨ 🌷

We move… ✌🏼🌻🖤

.helen

05/03/2026

We have spoken plenty about this recently and the blog is live on my website linked on my profile but here’s the thing – our culture praises discipline but there’s increasing talk about low energy availability and I’m here for it.

I’m not a doctor or a specialist but I am a nutritionist and have a lot of lived experience under fuelling while training for endurance. Eventually, my body shut things down. In fact, it shut things down before I even entered the endurance space really, but I was still training like an athlete in other ways.

RED-S (Relative Energy Deficiency in Sport) is a term introduced by the International Olympic Committee quite a while back now and it happens when you don’t have enough energy left after training to support basic function – men and women…it just shows up more obviously in women.

It’s not just about losing your period, it’s other hormonal function not firing, high cortisol, unhappy thyroid function, terrible recovery, stress injuries, sub-par performance, fatigue…lots of it!

You can look “fit” and be internally struggling – that’s a challenge as people constantly tell you how well you are doing.

If your cycle disappears or becomes abnormally irregular, you’re always exhausted, injured, ill, cold, or ALWAYS thinking about food, it isn’t discipline, it’s time to think about your fuelling.

I promise, I’m seeing this first hand – you haven’t reached your potential yet if this is you! ✌🏼🌻🖤

03/03/2026

Last week I chatted about ‘Skinny Tok’ and how it can be damaging but I have also alluded to, in a recent blog linked below, my own body image struggles.

When you’re training for long distances, marathons, ultras, long rides, Ironman, whatever that might be, body image gets complicated. And that messes with your head – for a time I thought it was just me coming from a disordered eating background, turns out, there’s a few fabulous people talking about it online these days!

People often attribute endurance training with weight loss, or even a way to lose weight (IT IS NOT!!) but the reality is your body might change in a way that you didn’t expect.

When you train for endurance you might hold onto MORE body fat, you might feel ‘puffy’ (I HATE that word) from necessary carbohydrates and inflammation, you might gain muscle in unexpected places, you might look ‘bigger’ when you’re peaking – your body is adapting, you aren’t doing it wrong, you’re trying to survive and thrive in 3 hour long runs!!

Of course in some endurance contexts weight can impact performance, but to a point. Lighter is not always faster if your body is breaking because you aren’t fuelling it properly.

So it can feel terrifying to eat a lot more when your body image is screaming ‘no’, but we are built for performance and FEELING great in our chosen pursuit...remember that.

https://www.annalouisecoaching.co.uk/post/skinny-tok-plates-full-of-food-and-confusing-aesthetics-with-health

✌🏼🌻🖤

02/03/2026

There’s something in the health and fitness world that we don’t talk about enough. We are hearing about it a little more now which is fabulous but still, not as openly as would be beneficial. We're not talking 'over training', 'toughness', carbohydrates, HIIT...we're talking energy availability....

28/02/2026

It felt quite emotional writing this one and looking at photos of so many missed opportunities or experiences that were meant to be so beautiful but now they are memorable for all the wrong reasons ✌🏼🌻🖤

There’s something in the health and fitness world that we don’t talk about enough. We are hearing about it a little more now which is fabulous but still, not as openly as would be beneficial. We're not talking 'over training', 'toughness', carbohydrates, HIIT...we're talking energy availability....

28/02/2026

I shared on my post earlier in the week that my swimming feels dreadful at the moment, and it does…but not when I’m actually doing it. I actually feel stronger and smoother than ever.

Do you know when it feels like trash?

When I go on Strava and look at my pace per 100m compared with others that I follow.

How sad is that?!

I feel good, until I go online. I only felt slow when I checked Strava.

I’m working really hard on this – there will always be someone, many people most likely, better than you. That isn’t to say we can’t work to improve, that’s important for many of us but comparing is a horrible use of our energy…I’m trying to use that energy to work on improving myself!

Repeat after me…comparison changes nothing about my actual performance. I felt strong until the internet told me I wasn’t.

Easier said than done, believe me, I’m living it, progress feels slow but comparison is a horrible use of our time. ✌🏼🌻🖤

26/02/2026

Saturday was a lesson in teeny tiny changes making all the difference.

Bike fit and oh so necessary, swim coaching. All with the brilliant — who I can’t even explain how grateful I am for the support of this project. The kind of support that makes it possible.

We had a bike fit on my pride and joy and then headed to the pool to start all over again because I feel like a disastrous swimmer at this point! We looked at what I think I’m doing versus what I’m actually doing… pick apart and rebuild.

Humbled and very grateful…I’m excited, we have work to do! ✌🏼🌻🖤

24/02/2026

I work with young people every day and there isn’t a day that goes by where I don’t hear about the power of Tik Tok – I don’t go on it myself, seems quite toxic, but have been watching the rise of “skinny tok” with a heavy heart from a far – here’s the thing.

NO BODY is ‘wrong’, weight loss isn’t ‘wrong’ but we’ve been here before and know how damaging this messaging can be.

As someone training hard for performance, to see what my body can do and how strong and energised I can feel I am intentionally eating more than I ever have. More total energy. More consistency. More carbohydrates – because the body demands it.

If I’m totally honest, even with a background in nutrition and years of experience at this point, fuelling properly while watching “thinness” trend again is not easy.

When everything is telling us that we should try to achieve ‘smaller’ it’s quietly teaching us that hunger is a virtue, we shouldn’t eat unless we are hungry, fullness is wrong.

I am consistently telling myself, under the guidance of Helen Money Nutrition and Coach Dan from Club Coaction that fullness is necessary, glycogen storage is necessary, muscle repair is necessary, performance often requires a surplus.

These trends are NOT promoting performance in sport or in life…especially not in cancer recovery for the young people that I work with.
We CANNOT normalise training hard, being super lean and under-fuelling our bodies and expect health to come along with it.

Strength, resilience, function matter SO much more than shrinking yourself.

And for those, like me, working hard on fuelling well while the algorithm tells you it’s wrong – you are NOT weak for finding it difficult…you are courageous! ✌🏼🌻🖤

21/02/2026

I’m doing a LOT of work at the moment with the guidance of .helen and fabulous to increase my carbohydrate intake to properly fuel training. I feel FULL!

There’s a lot of debate in fitness circles about our “preferred” fuel source, particularly in endurance sport.

Carbohydrate is the body’s most efficient fuel source for moderate to high-intensity exercise…endurance, strength training, or repeated power, the evidence says so.

Carbohydrates are broken down into glucose and stored as glycogen in our muscle and our liver. Glycogen can be utilised quickly and used through a process we call ‘glycolysis’ to produce energy at a much faster rate than fat allows.

Dietary fat is still essential to get in and still helpful, especially at lower intensities, but it can’t generate energy quickly enough to sustain higher intensity efforts. It’s science.

Protein is NOT a primary energy substrate during training and so is not a direct replacement for carbohydrates as part of your energy intake. Using it as a replacement for adequate carbohydrate intake compromises performance and recovery, despite what you may think.

We are working on the mindset that under-fuelling carbohydrates is a limitation. It DEFINITELY isn’t a badge of honour.

Eat away my friends. ✌🏼🌻🖤