Elinor Lucas doesn’t have time to watch TV, she’s too busy helping people get fit.

The 44-year-old was always interested in sports and eight years ago decided to put that passion to work.

She got certified as a personal trainer and started her own company, Balanced Fitness.

It wasn’t enough. In 2011 she took over the Baby Boot Camp franchise — she’s been helping new moms improve their physical health ever since.

Aside from that, she’s a volunteer swim coach with two children of her own.

She spends her spare time competing in sporting challenges here and abroad.

“When people ask how I balance having my own business and kids, I tell them I have my own business so I can balance work and kids,” she said.

“Being incredibly organised is part of it and making the most of the time you have, even if it’s just half-an-hour.

“It’s the same for any mother, the same for anyone who works in an office from 9-5 and gets one hour for lunch.

“Mothers are the masters of multitasking. That’s just how it is.”

Ms Lucas swam competitively as a child and competed in triathlons as a teenager with her dad, Ron Lucas.

“I come from a family where fitness is a huge part of our lives,” she said.

Despite that upbringing, she chose law over athletics in university.

She then worked in the corporate arena until the birth of her now 12-year-old daughter, Emily.

She cut her hours to part-time but felt she wasn’t being “a great lawyer or a great mother”. Eventually, she quit.

Her son Thomas is now ten. He was 18 months old when she decided it was time to get back to work. “I wanted to do something, but I wanted to stay at home,” she said. “So I qualified as a personal trainer because that’s what I love to do.”

Initial appointments were scheduled “in the morning or the early evening” to accommodate her children.

She took short trips abroad to complete her courses and did “a lot of home study”.

“It went from there,” Ms Lucas said. “It sort of evolved.

“I’m now working on my specialisation in seniors’ fitness. I get a lot of people in their late 50s, 60s and 70s who realise that in order to maintain their quality of life they need to exercise. They don’t necessarily want to join a gym but to have somebody come to their home [and train them] is a good thing for them.”

Her own fitness remains “a non-negotiable” part of her life; she’s just as enthusiastic about the hours she spends training young swimmers.

“I’m a proud Dolphin Swim Team coach and parent,” she said. “I was a competitive swimmer and I had such a rewarding time swimming and all of my coaches were volunteers.

“I wanted to give back. It’s a fair amount of work but I’ve found it incredibly rewarding and really enjoy it.”

She has a little more flexibility when it comes to personal training sessions with both her children now in school.

“Drop-off is 8.15 and I work until 1pm. That’s when I grocery shop, cook dinner and take the animals to the vet. It’s also when I work out.”

She meets clients while her children are involved in their after-school activities.

“I read somewhere that only four per cent of the population thinks exercise is fun. I’m in that four per cent. I’m lucky. I think the majority of my clients exercise because they know they should. I don’t have a huge social life but I’m doing what I enjoy. I just feel so much better when I exercise.

“I think even if it means I’m very early in bed and have to get up early in the morning, I am a much better mother for doing it. The hardest thing I think is probably my husband [Spencer Quarterly, who doesn’t get to be as social as he might like].”

Ms Lucas ran the full marathon in the Bermuda Race Weekend in January. A month later she was in Disney World for the Disney Princess Half Marathon. Six weeks later she was competing in Toronto. She’ll be running again on May 24.

“I think I’m doing the same thing for my kids that my dad and mother did for me — from the age of 12 I swam on team triathlons and my dad cycled. Not by any stretch of imagination am I a fast runner or highly competitive.

“I just like being out there with other people racing. I do it purely for pleasure.”

For more information visit www.balancedfitness.bm