World haemophilia day
Watch Our World Haemophilia Day Q&A
Written by Aaron Dennis, April 20, 2021
On Thursday, 15 April we hosted our first ever live Q&A to celebrate World Haemophilia Day.
Hosted by our president, Baroness Molly Meacher, the themes of the webinar centred on overcoming challenges during lockdown and resilience within the bleeding disorders community. Our chairman Clive Smith and celebrity ambassador Jack Bridge answered questions submitted by our members during the hour-long conversation.
We also had the opportunity to pose some questions to professional cyclist and Little Bleeders founder Alex Dowsett, whose responses you can read below.
Have you had any concerns regarding your physical health and COVID-19, given health conditions and treatment?
I got Covid last year and it wiped me out physically for a solid few weeks, I was sleeping 12+ hours a day and couldn’t train at all. That impacted on how I approached getting back into my cycling season once I had recovered as my fitness was on the floor. I don’t think I had any concerns from a haemophilia perspective, and overall my physical health prior to getting covid was in excellent condition. I don’t have any ongoing concerns as I had extensive tests before getting back into training to ensure there was no long lasting damage.
How was your training affected during the pandemic, and how did you overcome any challenges?
Training during the pandemic was tough initially, a lot of time indoors on the turbo as where we were living when the outbreak started meant we were confined entirely to the apartment (no cycling outside was permitted). It was also mentally tough as I wasn’t working towards anything – all of our races had been cancelled so were in a state of limbo as to what we were working towards. I’d structured my whole year around working for Olympic selection so when Tokyo was postponed I took a few weeks off training completely. Knowing they were postponed rather than cancelled meant I just had to re-plan my training for the long term, and our racing season started up again in the middle of the year as the situation started getting under control.
How have you managed to stay active throughout the pandemic?
Staying active was key, both mentally and physically. I cycled where possible, indoors and outdoors, and did a lot of home working out and stretching.