If Your Jim Needs Directing...

It's Friday, which means that if recent habits are to be maintained, a review of the last seven days is in order. First up... I passed my exam! I took my practical assessment last Saturday morning and I am delighted to announce (again, for those of you who follow me on twitter or facebook)  that I am now a fully qualified Gym Instructor (REPS level 2 thank you). I was all kinds of nervous beforehand but my assessor was really lovely and Joanne, my subject and ever lovely friend, kept me calm as only she can. Dave my PT also texted to wish me luck :) I taught my program and got some great feedback. This weekend I'm doing two day courses, Core and Circuit training. I will, of course, report back on those next week.

Our view

Gotta have a foam finger right?

I went to my very first ice hockey game on Saturday evening to see my local team, the Bracknell Bees, play against Manchester Phoenix. I know NOTHING about ice hockey but I won a family ticket to go and I'm always game for doing something different so I took Joanne and family along with me. Apparently the Bees are almost bottom of the league and Phoenix are almost at the top so I was thrilled when we won 3-2 after overtime and penalties. We had downstairs seats which meant the commentator was rather muffled through the plexiglass (but I'm so glad it was there, the puck hit it at least 3 times, but then we were sitting behind a goal) and we happened to choose a spot where we couldn't see the scoreboard but it was still really good fun. Why are there 3 periods though? Why? Makes no sense. Anyway I enjoyed it enough to want to go again. It's very affordable and it's fun to support a local team. I'm starting to understand why people like football. And sport in general.

Me and Joanne's eldest. We had a blast.

Up close to the action

Saturday ended with a bottle of red wine, which was nice. What was less nice was the run the next morning. I mean I'm glad I went, because I'd have been angry with myself if I had been stubborn and stayed in bed but I ran badly. Ever had a run where you wish you would trip and fall and injure yourself just so you didn't have to keep running? That. I'd hoped for a nice scenic 3-4 miles. What I got was a 5.5 mile route (ok it was pretty) with a hill I couldn't run and a lot of huffing and puffing on my part. Frustrating because I know I can do better. If you'd seen me you wouldn't have thought I was capable of running 26.2 miles just 3 weeks ago.

But that rubbish run plus action film plus sport film has equaled motivation. We watched Friday Night Lights on DVD (spotted Tim McGraw, always a pleasure) and watched Escape Plan at the cinema (Sly Stalone and , Arnie SEE IT!) which contained the wonderful line "You punch like a vegetarian". This immediately made me want to take up boxing. My motivation seems to wax and wane quite wildly at the moment but I started with renewed intentions of getting stronger and faster so that I can go for a run with my fella without feeling as though I'm slowing him up for once.

Finally, after goodness knows how many failed attempts I made it to Group Kick class on Tuesday only to find that it was the last one for a month while the studio is being revamped. Such a shame as I actually really enjoyed it, not least because the instructor handed out chocolates at the end. I picked up the routine pretty quickly and worked up a sweat but didn't feel like I'd been worked super hard so I hit the gym afterwards to do the weights section of my new program. I'm led to believe that these are much like the Les Mills Body Combat classes, kick boxing movements choreographed to music, so I might try and look for a similar class at one of the other gyms covered by my membership but otherwise I'll hang on until December do one now and again to mix things up.

My second new class of the week was Urban Rebound which I signed up to for a bit of fun on Wednesday. The entire class takes place on your own mini trampoline with the focus on keeping your upper body mostly still and all the effort being in the downward push from the hips through the balls of the feet. You do not get points for height! It was a very odd sensation but a lot of fun. We did not stop moving the entire time, sprint, squats, jumping jacks, you name it. A MUCH harder workout than Tuesday's class so I didn't do weights afterwards but went home for a cup of herbal tea to try and settle my stomach (leave more than an hour after eating before doing this class).

Working in London on Thursday which meant I was ideally placed to take part in some testing for FitFlop at the London South Bank University. I found out about it via Danielle who is a long standing "subject". The test took about an hour all in and involved being wired up and walking on a treadmill in a pair of sandals. I have another session next Thursday to repeat the test in a different pair. Will, who carried out the test, was really sweet and chatted away, answering all my questions and quizzing me a bit on my Kilimanjaro trek. They're still after more (female) subjects I think so if you're interested, let me know and I can put you in touch. You'll get a £40 voucher to use at FitFlop for your trouble.

I'm heading back into London tomorrow for two day courses in Core Training and Circuit Training which I'm looking forward to. Fingers crossed I pass these too. I start my Nutrition for Weight Management course on Monday... all happening here!

What've you done this week for the first time, and would you do it again?