Category Archives: 13 in 2013

Amy’s First Boot Camp Session

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First boot camp training session done and dusted. And I definitely feel like I thrashed worked my muscles in the 45 minutes we spent on the Wellington waterfront.
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It was dark at 6 o’clock this morning when we started, under the various street lights littering the park. It was still quite dark when we head off to shower and get ready for work. This will take some getting used to….

On the way to the session, I joked that I’d be happy doing anything but push ups. I hate push ups. They hate me, too. It’s a mutual loathing and I’m okay with that. Guess what the first test was. Yup, push ups. Followed by sit ups, planking, wall sits and the most successful beep test of my life.

To keep me accountable as I go along, here is where I ended up from the session -

  • BMI: 26 = overweight [insert blurb about how irrelevant a BMI measurement actually is here]
  • Beep test results: ‘good’ (above average) per the normative data based on age and gender
  • Push ups results: ‘very poor’ (lowest score) per normative data based on age and gender
  • Lower body wall squats results: ‘above average’, almost excellent!
  • Sit up test results: ‘above average’ based on normative data for age and gender
  • Plank test results: ‘average’ – right in the middle of the ‘average’ band!

So as you can see – there are a few areas to work on, mostly upper body and core which makes sense since I haven’t done much in the way of training these areas before now. It’ll be interesting to see how these change over the next couple of months.

The next session is on Thursday – boxing. I’m looking forward to it!

Amy’s New Ride

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Ladies and Gentlemen, I bought a bike. Actually, I bought it in the weekend – but it arrived today.

Arriving home after dinner I found a pleasant surprise blocking my front door… A giant box! It’s not necessarily true what they say… The best things don’t always come in small packages.
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The box told me that assembly would be easy – so I sat and chilled with a tasty, tasty cider before opening the box and getting started. (Side note: have you tried this stuff? It’s fantastic!)
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Once I opened the box and tried putting everything together, it became abundantly clear that I had no idea what I was doing.
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Throughout my career people have constantly told me that accounting is a great path to start on because it helps build skills that are easily transferable to a lot of other professions. Well, I’m not quitting my day job any time soon.

Nonetheless, the parts are all attached now and resembling something of a bike. It’s very… Tall.
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Since I built it, and don’t yet own a helmet that fits, it’s going to hang out unused in my living room for a bit. That is unless you want to come and test it out for me? You know, to make sure the brakes work.

New Zealand’s legal system doesn’t let you sue me for personal injury, so I’m totally keen to cool with letting you take that risk all important first ride for me! (Except for the fact that I like you and would really rather you didn’t get hurt…)

And – that’s right – getting this bike was one of my thirteen new experiences for 2013. Boom! Another one to cross off the list!

Booting the Booty

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de92e8fc159d6d84280c9811069e818fIn the midst of a bout of motivation (or weakness… I’m still not sure) I signed up for a beginners boot camp last night.

We start on the 12th of March,and continue for 3 weeks.  Nice and simple at only 2 sessions a week.

I’m really looking forward to getting in and amongst it.  To trying something new and hopefully seeing some (albeit very short term) results.

I’m not looking forward to the early mornings.  Sessions will start at 6am and it’ll take me at least 45 minutes to get there.

But I’m motivated to give it a go 100%.

And it’s one of my 13 things!

Thirteen New Experiences for 2013: Update

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We’re almost two whole months through 2013 already. The year is flying by, and I’m really enjoying it so far. A lot has happened!

And there’s steady progress being made with the ‘Thirteen New Experiences for 2013‘ I set out for myself last year. Two down, 11 to go.

  1. Run my first race
  2. Try a mixed martial arts class
  3. Try a pole fitness class
  4. Try a spin class
  5. Go skydiving
  6. Try a beginners/intro crossfit course
  7. Try a yoga class
  8. Try a pilates class
  9. Go bungy jumping
  10. Try indoor rock climbing
  11. Buy a bike
  12. Sign up for boot-camp style group training
  13. Try an aqua/pool-based fitness class

“1. Run my first race”

Completed this last Sunday with a 7km run ‘Round the Bays’ with a friend of mine from work. Our official time was 50:32 – not fantastic, but we’re happy with it! And we had fun which is the main thing.

As ‘Nev’ from never2late4 puts it, I’ve caught ‘the bug‘ and I’ll definitely be doing more races.

Another friend and I are signed up for the Round the Vines race next month (the day after the dragonboating competition…so it might be another slow one). Our packs arrived in the post yesterday.

And the Wellington Marathon is coming up in June – I’ll be signing up for the 10km run once our work team entries open.

“8. Try a pilates class”

I did this one a little while ago and thoroughly enjoyed it. Sadly, I haven’t been back since despite raving after the class that I would.

It was a well-paced beginners class held at the gym and I felt that I took a lot away from it.

And I certainly felt it in my core for the next couple of days – Pilates: It’s not for chumps!

So… What next?

Plans are in place to hit up a spin class next week (my legs are already crying), and I’m currently investigating bikes to buy (though I won’t be getting anything too fancy until I learn how to ride one!).

Bungy jumping is currently in the pipelines for May, and I’m waiting to hear back about possible dates for sky-diving.

I’ll make sure to keep y’all updated!

How are your goals progressing?
What have you got lined up for the next month or so? Anything exciting?

Crazy Week Indeed

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Yes, yes, I’ve been a little quiet here over the last few days.  Can you blame me?  I had to take advantage of the weather while it’s been all sorts of amazing , and there are so many people to see that I missed over the Christmas/ New Year break!

Don’t worry though, I haven’t been wasting my time.  I’ve been keeping as busy(ish)…

…there’s been plenty of reading in the sun…
…trying not to get sunburnt… and failing.

I’ve been running with friends…
…which I loved, even though it turned into more of a gossip session than a workout…
… and the next day I tried my first pilates classes (wearing the peonut.com t-shirt, of course).

I’m still feeling the effects of Thursday’s class today.

I’ve been suckered into a friend’s dragonboating team…
…which is usually reserved for the fittest in any given workplace…
… and I’m terrified… and kind of excited (because there’s no way I’d get on the team at work…).

Enquiries have been made about opportunities to hurl myself out of a plane…
… and I may be speeding back down to earth as soon as this weekend…
… even though I was just in the Wairarapa last weekend, for the Martinborough Fair, and I could have done it then.

And I have plenty to keep me busy coming up, too, but don’t worry about that just yet – I’ll make sure to share those goodies in due course.

What about you guys?
How is life keeping you busy? 
And how are you keeping up?

Running With a Buddy – Another First!

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As I’ve mentioned before, one of the 13 experience oriented goals I set for 2013 was to run my first race. So I registered for the Wellington Round the Bays 7km fun run next month.

I will be running 7km in the sun, surrounded by people, in less than three weeks.

Until this morning I hadn’t run in weeks. Not since before I left for America on Christmas Eve.

This morning was, erm, hell. It was hot, fiery, uncomfortableness and I only made it 2km before I had to give up the treadmill for the bike. Disappointing, but my own fault.

I was never trying to break world records, but I’m going to have to pick it up a bit.

And I’ve got my first ever buddy run tomorrow night after work. I’ll be running along the waterfront with my workmate who’ll start with me in the race (though we’ll likely split at some point).

Ive never run with a friend before. I’m excited.
Here’s hoping we both enjoy it and want to make it a regular thing.

My lungs would certainly approve (eventually)!

Motivation Mega Drive

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What motivates more than a new tshirt?

Think about it – did you really run that marathon to run the marathon or to get the tshirt that said you did it?

Okay, I kid a little but I know that new things spur me on so I got a couple of tshirts printed for the gym.

Get fit AND meet new people via this blog? Perfect!
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What do you think? Too much?

First Race: Round the Bays, February 2013

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I registered for my first (running) race this afternoon. The 7km run/walk as part of the Wellington Round the Bays in February next year.

This will be the first point that I can cross off my “Thirteen new experiences for 2013“. Exciting!

The most I have ever run at one time was 5km, and it wasn’t particularly pretty, so I’m not going to set myself a goal time or berate myself if I end up walking half of it (though I hope not!). Just finishing is my goal.

Besides, I’ll be running with workmates so I don’t want to be dead at the finish line. They’ll remind me of it for weeks afterwards. And again for the race in 2014.

Then again, maybe that’s what I need to boost me into super-Amy-goes-all-out mode. Who knows?