National fitness day: How physical activity boosted our colleague wellbeing

Colleagues at Blackpool Victoria Hospital are sharing their stories of personal accomplishments to inspire others on National Fitness Day.

The awareness day falls on 18 September each year. This year Tania Cockroft and Jill Townsend, who both work in community-based sexual health services roles, have spoken about their own fitness journeys and what it has meant for them – including improved mental health and simply feeling better.

Tania works as a community education lead and recently completed a 77-mile challenge for charity. The challenge, which was inspired by Rugby legend Sir Rob Burrow, enthused Tania alongside her rugby team mate to run 77 miles in August raising hundreds of pounds in the process.

Tania explained that while running is not her favourite thing to do, it did help her mental and physical wellbeing after her mum passed away in 2018. She said: “It massively helped me to unwind, stop my mind from thinking and helped me to de-stress as I had to concentrate on my breathing and running.

“I remember some dark, wet winter evenings quite soon after she died, when I would run with tears streaming down my face, nobody noticed, and it helped me so much.”

In addition to running, Tania set up her own Ladies ‘Masters’ rugby league team for women over 30 in the hope of supporting others. Tania added, “It is the most empowering, non-judgemental group of ladies I have had ever had the pleasure of being part of. Every one of us brings something special to the team, we are all unique and you can just be you. We laugh, we cry, we support, we win, we lose, it is fantastic to be outside in the middle of a field after a stressful day, so good for both my physical and mental wellbeing.”

Jill Townsend, a specialist nurse, recently completed the Edgehill Triathlon where she swam 400m, cycled 20K and ran 5K. Jill decided to take up the challenge after standing on the sidelines for years supporting her son Callum and husband Dean, who are both triathletes.

After years of early starts, cold rainy days and going through the ups-and-downs with her family Jill was inspired by some of the athletes her son had recently trained. She said: “Callum is the owner of Peakperformance Endurance and I have watched him coach individuals from sprint triathlons through to Ironman distance.

“I was so inspired by these athletes from young to old, from novice to elite triathletes, they are all amazing individuals. Starting with the Couch to 5K I trained for three months, bought a second-hand bike and went swimming in a local leisure centre.

“The challenge was doing it one after the other and I did it! I feel so much healthier and now looking to potentially do another in the future. I’ve lived with and supported triathletes and now I’ve just become one.”

The NHS website has lots of resources that can support you in being more active such as the free Couch to 5k programme and charities like Mind also promote how physical activity can support our mental health.

However you choose to be active please have fun and make sure you are safe doing so. If you do become injured and it is not life threatening or an emergency check out our Feeling Unwell page for local treatment options.