Multiple jobs, marathon training and home at 8pm: A day in the life of Carrie Bickmore.

If there’s one thing you should know about a day in the life of Carrie Bickmore, it’s that she’s busy.

There’s her hosting gig on The Project, her radio show with Tommy Little, her foundation Carrie’s Beanies 4 Brain Cancer, training for the ‘world’s toughest half marathon’ the Point to Pinnacle and a new partnership with Blackmores as a Sydney Running Festival ambassador.

It’s a lot. And that’s not even counting life at home with husband Chris Walker and her three children: Oliver, 11, Evie, 4, and Adelaide, eight months.

Carrie Bickmore on why moving her body is so important to her. Post continues below video.

Carrie returned to work at The Project last month after maternity leave, but it’s no surprise that even now she’s back at work, her daily routine isn’t perfectly structured.

“Everyday is slightly different depending on what’s on,” she told Mamamia.

“Most days I don’t head into The Project until 11.30 so my mornings are spent at home. Some days I have both Evie and Addie home with me, other days Evie has Kinder, so the mornings are a mad rush trying to get Ollie and Evie out the door.

“I love the mornings Evie is not at Kinder though because we hang in our PJs and do arts and crafts and chat and read.”

Realising how difficult it was to juggle work and a toddler, Carrie said she’s started leaving her phone in another room while spending time with her girls.

“It’s made a huge difference and I don’t spend the whole time telling [Evie] to ‘hold on’ while I attend to work stuff.

“There are days when I have shoots on before work for The Project or radio and that will mean I am out the door much earlier but I try to not fill my week up to the point where I am in a complete tizz.”

 

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When you get the call up to host @theprojecttv on your day off but you have no babysitters ????

A post shared by Carrie Bickmore (@bickmorecarrie) on Aug 2, 2019 at 1:14am PDT

Carrie uses her time travelling to work wisely as time to do something for herself: Whether that means simply grabbing a coffee, listening to music or catching up with a friend or family member on the phone.

Then when she arrives at work it’s all systems go:

“Once I arrive, there are Project and radio meetings to work out what we are doing on the shows, then I go into make-up where I sit and catch up on the day’s news a little more and work out more show content, then we do our radio show live between 3-4.30, I hop out after that and into a Project production meeting and then up on set for rehearsal. We do the Project live at 6.30 and I am straight out the door at 7.30 and home by 8.”

On the nights she is on The Project, Carrie unfortunately misses Evie and Adelaide’s bed and bath routine: “Although my friends reckon I should be happy I miss witching hour!” she joked.

Her son Oliver is still awake, so they often debrief about his day before Carrie catches up with Chris over dinner and settles down for the night in front of the TV.

After a recommendation? She described Younger on Stan as her “current obsession”.

Bedtime depends on how tired she is – and how well little Adelaide slept the night before.

“If Addie has been up heaps the night before I’ll usually fall asleep as soon as we start watching something but if I got a decent night the night before I might go to sleep about 9.30/10. I love love love sleep. If I could be tucked in by 7.30 I would be!”

 

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A post shared by Carrie Bickmore (@bickmorecarrie) on Aug 19, 2019 at 4:39pm PDT

Considering how passionate Carrie is about exercise, we had to know how she works training into an already-packed schedule.

“I think finding time to exercise is really hard for many mums. Usually we put everyone else’s needs and schedules ahead of our own, but I am a much happier person when I am moving, so I try to get out walking with Addie in the pram in the mornings or get in a quick run before Chris races to work.

“I have to be a little spontaneous about it and prepared to just throw on my runners and go. On the weekends I try and do a pilates class and either a run or long walk,” she said.

“I have signed up to do the Blackmores Sydney Running Festival to give me a goal to work towards. It took me a long time to like running, but now I love it. The feeling at the end of a fun run is addictive. The sense of achievement.”

One thing she’s struggled with in the past is listening to her body, and knowing that it’s okay to take it easy sometimes.

“I have to listen to my body though as I am getting older, as it certainly takes it out on the body when I run long distances, so I try to have a few rest days if I notice my body is sore. There is no point pushing myself to the point where I might injure myself because then I’ll have to stop exercising and that’s not great for my mental state so I am learning to be a bit kinder to myself.

“I have the type of personality where I will push through, so I am trying really hard to change that.”

She'd also like to take more time to warm up and stretch after exercise and pay more attention to what she's eating.

Carrie says she snacks all day and eats dinner after getting home from The Project, because eating beforehand makes her feel like she's in a "food coma" live on air.

"I also probably don’t pay enough attention to what I put into my body. I eat pretty healthy but love sweets and chocolate, especially at night. Nothing better than a jar of nutella and a bit of TV.

"I spend heaps of time making sure my kids are eating well and getting the right vitamins, I forget to make sure I am getting them too but am trying to make a conscious effort to make sure I’m listening to my body and giving it what it needs – especially to help my recovery from training."

Unsurprisingly, by the time the weekend rolls around Carrie likes to take it slow... ish.

"Weekends I like to just do family stuff. Lots of kids' sport, get some runs in, cook for the week and hang with Chris and the kids," she said. "I really enjoy pottering around with music on."

And if you are like us and feeling a little tired just reading this, Carrie said she realises her life is lived "at a pretty cracking pace".

"But I am certainly learning to find time to slow down and make moments last as I am getting older."

To encourage us to listen to our bodies and pay attention to those niggles, Blackmores has partnered with Carrie Bickmore, in the lead up to the annual Blackmores Sydney Running Festival on Sunday 15 September 2019.