Dame Jessica Ennis-Hill on the ‘heartbreak’ of leaving her child to compete and the power of working mums
The Olympic and World Champion athlete talks to Lauren Taylor about motherhood, running, and really listening to her body.
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People underestimate new mums, thinks Dame Jessica Ennis-Hill. Whether or not you’re a top athlete, she believes returning to work after having a baby gives you even more focus than before.
“Because everything you do is going to be quality, you’re not just turning up, getting through day-to-day, you’re making sure that time away [from your child] is worthwhile,” says the former heptathlete and mum-of-two.
She retired from athletics in late 2016 – but prior to that, just 13 months after having her first child, Reggie, Ennis-Hill became world champion, and took silver the Rio Games a year later. “In an athletic context, you’re so determined and focussed anyway, but chuck in being a mum and all that extra motivation – and it’s like next level,” she says. “I think you’re a more focused, determined animal – more than you ever were.”
Leaving her son at that age to go to Beijing for two weeks for the World Championships was “heart-breaking” though, she admits. “It was just the most awful thing, I cried my eyes out leaving him. But I was like, if I’m going all the way to [Beijing], I’m not coming back without a medal. It’s got to be worth it when you’re having time away from the kids.”
She was torn between being “the best mum and being there for him all the time” and wanting to finish her career. “I was [thinking] I have this amazing opportunity, I’ve got to do this last bit and I wanted Reggie to see it all – but I then I had all this guilt kind of ravelled around everything. And a feeling of, what if I put this last bit of energy towards my career and then I get injured? Or I don’t win a medal and it’s all been for nothing? I found that really, really challenging. I was always questioning myself.”
Other top athletes like Serena Williams and Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce have followed, returning to the top of their game after having babies. “Because you can do both,” says Ennis-Hill, who married husband Andy Hill in 2013. “You have to be kind to yourself and not put too much expectation on yourself, but you can achieve incredible things.”
She says she was “really happy to step into that next phase of life” when she retired to spend time with her family, later welcoming her daughter Olivia, now five. The transition from pro to retired athlete can be challenging for many, she says, but for her, family became a “real focus”. And a life without daily – sometimes twice-daily – training, pressure, and pushing her body to breaking point, was a “massive relief”.
Fitness is still a huge part of her life, but it’s taken on new meaning. “If I’ve got time and the weather’s nice and I’m feeling good, I just go out for a nice run. I’m not timing it, I’m not looking at PBs, I’m just doing it for me. I love to go on a steady run in the Peak District and clear my mind. It’s just you and your thoughts.
“I go on how I feel after each run, whether I’m feeling strong and positive. It’s gauged by mood now” – as well as her cycle and how she’s feeling hormonally. “Having my son really made me understand how much of an impact your hormones have on your body physically,” she adds. Her app, Jennis (jennis.com) helps women sync the right movement and exercise to the four phases of their menstrual cycles, in order to get stronger and fitter while really understanding their bodies.
These days, she works out four times a week with a mixture of runs, circuits, weights and yoga, walking with her family and tennis with her kids (“I’m absolutely terrible, my son totally whips me”). But Ennis-Hill knows as much as anyone that sometimes fitting exercise around parenthood can be tricky.
“The stages that your kids are at, and their ages, has a big impact on how much time you have for yourself, and how you find that energy and time to exercise,” she says. Now that her children are a little older, she’s able to do some yoga in one room while they play in another, for example.
It’s about planning when you’ll fit in workouts, and trying to stick to it, she says, and knowing “that you’re not going to have two hours to exercise and do a massive warm-up or cool-down. You’ve just got to take those little nuggets of time where you can, whether it’s 10 minutes to do some Theraband glute exercises in the bathroom or going for a quick half-hour run.”
And don’t underestimate the power of a 10-minute workout. “I’ve realised that if I do something for 10 minutes, it’s better than doing nothing. It gets my body moving, I’ve switched on my muscles.
“This morning, I dropped the kids off, did a few squats and lunges, a little ab workout – and I’m done! A lot of the time you feel like you have to really slog yourself, but actually a 10-minute glute circuit is quick, quite low-maintenance, and it really stimulates those little muscles that need work but you often neglect and forget about.
“Health is such an important part of being a good parent,” she continues, and mums often don’t have enough time to really care for themselves.
“So many mums forget about actually looking after themselves and the basics – because you just want to give all your energy to your child.” But Ennis-Hill says she realised: “I’ve got to be at my healthiest, I’ve got to be feeling as good as possible, because these children rely on me to be at my best as well.”
And she’s adamant mums shouldn’t feel guilty about taking time out to look after themselves.
“You feel guilty about literally everything [as a mum]. I’ll say to my husband, ‘Do you feel guilty about going on a bike ride? And he’s like, ‘No, not really’.
“We can be so hard on ourselves but we just have to reframe it, and think, ‘My mind needs to be in a good place and I need to feel good in myself’,” she says. “And having times where you’re able to switch off, step away and come back, means you’re a refreshed and energised mum again.”
Jennis – the hormone intelligence app founded by Olympic Champion Dame Jessica Ennis-Hill – costs £9.99 a month after a 7-day free trial or £99.99 for 12 months. Cancel anytime. Available on Android and Ios.