Ciara Everard isn’t your normal college student. As well as studying for her Masters in Physiotherapy and working, she also trains seven or eight times a week and is a three-time National Indoor Champion. We sat down with the 800-metre athlete recently to get the lowdown on her training schedule, her diet and just how she got started. “I think it was when I was seven or eight and I won a race in school,” she explained. “My mum and dad brought me down to the club and signed me up and I haven’t looked back since then” Slowly but surely her training programme has been built up to include strength and conditioning: “I train on a daily basis now but when I was younger with my local club I was only training four or five times a week. When I turned 17 I started taking it a lot more seriously.” She continued: “When I started college in UCD the volume of training increased again and I was introduced to lifting weights and strength and conditioning training. In third year of college I teamed up with my current coach James Nolan and under his guidance I’ve seen my times and consistency improve. “We went to South Africa last Christmas time for three weeks of training and since then I train seven or eight times a week which is what’s required if I want to keep improving. The intensity of the training has been a  gradual progression and James always adds an extra to training sessions to keep it fresh.” To put this into perspective Ciara’s daily routine consists of a run before college, two hours of training in the afternoon and work from 3.00pm to 8.00pm before an evening jog. “Then it’s home for dinner before falling into bed,” the UCD student jokes. But exercise is something that she believes everyone can benefit from: “You sleep a lot better and you feel a lot better when you exercise regularly. You get so much more out of your day and I feel like I have a lot more energy if I get up early and go for a run.” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4L0ZSSqH9QA&feature=youtu.be In terms of her diet, Ciara doesn’t believe in being restrictive but rather eating the right foods and enjoying a teat every now and again. She said: “It’s about being careful and striking a balance. Sometimes people go over the top which is too hard to maintain in the long term. I’ll never be hungry and it’s important that I eat enough of the right foods to get the best out of my workouts. “The things I try to avoid are junk food, white bread and pasta. I also try to eat lots of vegetables, rice and potato which are better types of carbs. I eat a lot of fish and chicken as well.” At the moment Ciara is looking forward to the World Indoor Championships and European Outdoor Championships next year but also has Rio 2016 in her sights. “I can’t wait for those two next year. They are two big ones and it’s important to get the experience. All my training will be geared towards that at the moment… Like every athlete, to make Rio 2016 would be unbelievable. The Olympics is always going to be the main aim so that’s my big aspiration.”   Ciara is a brand ambassador for PUMA,. For more information on PUMA running check out http://www.puma.com/running.  PUMA running products can be found at your local Amphibian King.