The next year will be busy for Charlie Webster. Not only is she competing in the Houston Marathon next Sunday, she will be doing the London Marathon in April, a half-Ironman triathlon in June and the full Ironman in July.

“For the half Ironman I’m going to do it in Staffordshire, just because of time. Then I have the UK Ironman in Bolton this summer. It is something that I’ve looked at doing for the last couple of years,” she explains.

“I will be running the London Marathon for Centrepoint, a young person’s homeless charity, then I have a few triathlons which will be just training for the half-ironman and the Ironman events. I think that’s enough.”

She laughs as she talks about the hardships she will have to endure over the next few months and how, after she completed her 250 mile challenge at the start of 2014, “horrendous pains” left her unable to run or train properly as she fought to recover.

Our conversation surrounding her upcoming races is insightful.

As someone who has never considered training for a marathon let alone a triathlon, Webster explains what it is like to get ready for such a gruelling event.

She also shares funny moments — such as having to co-opt friends and scour the internet for tips on how to swim, as she wasn’t able to before signing up for the world’s most notoriously difficult triathlon.

But she is able to laugh about the situation now.

“People might look at me and triathlons and go: ‘Well you’re a natural runner,’ but actually a year-and-a-half ago I couldn’t swim.

“I was really embarrassed about it and I sort of hid away and did it in a pool. I didn’t really have any lessons, just went on the internet and read books.

“I roped in friends that I knew, just to try and help me get across the pool. So I learnt how to swim.”

For many, the thought of doing the Ironman is daunting but Webster feels that it is empowering.

“It is something that I would like to inspire in women of any level or any age, to know that they can do something like that,” she said.

“It’s kind of hard though. I’ve been on 50-mile bike rides and have been doing quite a lot of running.

“The training for an Ironman is so focused because it’s not just going out for a run, you have to get on your bike and swimming and that’s what I’ve been

chatting to a few people about over the last couple of weeks, asking: ‘How the hell do you fit in going for a long bike ride in your week?’

“Because it’s not a short half-hour bike ride. You have to go for three, four hours and I’m trying to figure it out at the moment and it’s all going pretty well.

“I can’t wait. I’m really excited to do it even though its going to be really hard.”

And it wasn’t just swimming that Webster was new to when she set out to take on the Ironman — cycling also proved a challenge.

“I am a bit of a runner, I like to do marathons and I did that crazy challenge at the beginning of 2014 where I ran 250 miles.

“But someone said to me a couple of years ago: ‘You should try the triathlon because you would be really good at it and you’re built that way. You’re a strong runner and you ride a bike.’ I was like ... no.

“I went and did some triathlon training,” she explains. “They shoved me on a bike and I was like: ‘Erm, I don’t really know how to work the gears,’ to which they replied ‘whatever,’ and looked at me and thought: ‘She must not know what she’s talking about.’

“I had to confirm that I didn’t know what I was doing and they set off on this time trial on a hill.

“I just tried to peddle my way and I was going through the gears like nobody’s business, trying to work out what the hell I was doing.

“So I’m fairly new to this but what it shows is that at any age you can take up whatever, give it a good go and there are no barriers, only the ones that you put up yourself.”

That Webster signed up for these events without initially being able to do two-thirds of the required disciplines is a testament to the woman she is — nothing gets in her way.

But she says is just happy to be able to run again without putting her body through pain.

“I’m not quite ready for Houston but I’m going anyway. I’m training a little bit because when I did my 250 miles, it took me so long to get over it.

“I tried to come back into running, training and fitness around April and May last year but I just couldn’t get back into it —I had all sort of problems.

“I didn’t respect what I’d put my body through so I’m so chuffed that I can run again without having horrendous pains and that I’ve got the energy to. It feels so good that I can go out and run now.”

Our conversation changes to girls in sport, in particular Britain’s clear problem with keeping young children fit and healthy.

With kids more interested in iPads and the latest chart-topping songs, it is becoming harder and harder to get them interested in staying active.

Some people blame parents for not making their children go run around, while others think the school curriculum doesn’t focus enough on physical education, which isn’t helped by continued government cuts to school funding.

Webster doesn’t think that it’s an either/or issue, however: “We need a combination of both. We can’t just rely on families because what if it’s a broken family?

“My dad took me to football

and my mum took me to aerobics classes but what if there isn’t that kind of social family?

“People should have the opportunity, even if they aren’t encouraged to by their mum or dad. It’s important that schools take that responsibility because we can’t go in there and change every family and try and get them to encourage their kids if they dont want to.

“I think inspiring children to be active is a responsibility that schools should take on and I definitely think there should be more exercise and more freedom.

“There are some fantastic models of schools in eastern European countries. Germans take their kids out running in the morning at 8.30am before they start classes and I know what I was like when I was a teenager and I couldn’t sit still. I still can’t at 32.

“I don’t know how you expect kids to sit still for six hours in a classroom and have a 45-minute break.

“If you got kids to do sport in the morning I’m sure they would concentrate much more when they are sat in a lesson, if they had relieved themselves of all that energy they have as teenagers.

“It would also encourage and inspire them where they are currently only doing one or two PE classes a week.

“I think there is still a negative connotation to sports. If you look at secondary schools, where girls are much more aware of their bodies and their emotions, in a way that should be catered for and girls should be inspired to do sport as well — and for it not to be seen as something to avoid unless you are amazing.

“I wasn’t amazing at loads of different sports when I was at school and it shouldn’t be the case that if you are not amazing you can’t do it, because sport to me is a lifestyle thing, it’s not just about being an elite or professional athlete.

“Sport plays a huge part in my life and I’m not an elite athlete so I think that’s another message we should get across.

“I think it’s schools’ responsibilities, as well as families’, especially when trying to engage young women now to get into sport, but it’s about engaging them — which will help with so many other things like obesity and social problems.”

As the conversation draws to a close, we look ahead to 2015. With 2014 being such a huge year for women’s sports, this year could be even bigger.

It is clear just from listening to the excitement in her voice that Webster is excited about the next 12 months.

But as always there will be hurdles to jump for women and there still needs to be a lot of change before they get the respect they deserve in a sporting world dominated by men.

Webster would like to see a number of things happen this year, starting with altering public perceptions of girls and women in sport.

“I would like to see a continuing change of attitude,” she says. “Not just from the media but across everyday society as well.”

“I would really like to see a change in schools and maybe sport having much more of a

priority, I think that will be so important to us for so many reasons.

“It’s about inspiring the next generation into elite sport, but also for dealing with social problems and giving young girls confidence. I think sport helps so much in that department.

“From an elite point of view, it’s the women’s football World Cup this year. It’s going to be amazing and I’m really excited for it.

“I think England will do pretty well in that and I would like to see them get into the semi-finals. The US are the toughest team and England have a difficult group but I think we have such a great squad.

“If they could win it it would be incredible, because the men obviously can’t.

“I love men’s football as well, but I would love to see the women’s game get the coverage it deserves.

“I know it is being televised on the BBC which is fantastic and I know the women’s Ashes is coming up this year and that will be televised on Sky, so there are so many progressions.

“This year will be a brilliant year because we will be seeing so many female athletes trying to qualify for Rio 2016 too, so that is something to keep our eye on and it would be great if they got the coverage as well.

“That is one of my sports so I would love to see journalists, like yourself, keep writing about it and for it to keep being televised so eventually the shift will happen, with women’s sport seen and respected just as much as male sport.

“I think that anybody that doesn’t think that, all they have to do is go and watch Nicola Adams win gold in the 2012 Olympics and you will know how skilled women’s sport is.”