16/01/2025
Happy new year everyone!
I hope everyone has made the most of the dreary summer and chased the sun when they could. After a fairly average summer last year of cancer treatment and pregnancy we had decided to make the most of it with trips to the sounds and lake benmore, and we are currently in Melbourne watching the Australian open. On top of all that I’ve been training for the coast to coast (2 day open individual), while also juggling children and work. I’m grateful every day that I get to have these challenges (children and husband may disagree when I’m tired and grumpy though). The last year I have thought a lot about mental resilience, and how doing harder things makes the hard things not so hard. To be honest I hate getting up early, and I don’t love going to the gym (odd right since I set up hustle), but by doing the hard things I’ve found I’m reaping so many rewards. Doing regular strength sessions in the gym and sticking to a program has been hugely beneficial with injury prevention and being able to get through my c2c longer trainings with ease. One example was a few weeks ago we went through goat pass (approx 5-6hrs scrambling up a river bed and jumping over huge rocks). I haven’t had the time to put into doing long hours on my feet so I was generally quite worried as to whether I’d get through, and usually the last 5km my knees are really sore, ankles hurt and it’s hard. However, I had the best time, nothing hurt, and I even ditched the crew I was running with to go ahead. I bloody loved it! Im going to credit the strength sessions to that because it was seriously that which got me through. Kayaking has also been a blast, I’ve been in a chat group with some other hurunui locals and we have made it down the Waiau a few times and had some good laughs and got a bit dizzy paddling around in circles on the greens pond. I’ve loved getting to know all these guys and I can’t wait to see how they compete. The improvement and dedication to their training has been incredible. I was also lucky enough to paddle the Waimakariri with adventure racing legends Sophie hart and Nathan faavae. My arms were falling off by the time we made it to the bridge but it was so fun and I felt confident in the waves and eddys. The road biking is something I really dont enjoy, but it goes back to that mental resilience right and doing the hard things. It’s testing me but each ride I tick off gives me a tiny buzz and I get a wee bit better.
Hustle this year has been fantastic, I love how all you members take care of it like it’s your own, the wiping down gear and putting it away has been pretty good (minus the weights on the leg press but I’ll let that slide as I forget that one a bit too). No one’s music choice is too offensive, Kirsten’s gangster playlist slams, and I often hit up Kate to find out what the young cool ones are listening to these days. I also love how friendly and accommodating everyone is when people are sharing the space, so a huge thank you to you guys. As for the schedule this year, I have a couple of PT spots available on Wednesdays, Kate is also available, and I also have an online platform for tailored strength and conditioning programs. There’s a few members keen on doing a hyrox competition so we might look into some small group trainings for that later on, and possibly a free run club for anyone local. If you have any questions around your goals, workouts, how things work, then don’t hesitate to get in touch! And any suggestions around new gear or sessions are totally welcome.
So here’s to a year of resilience, not giving up, staying consistent, and trying the harder thing.
“Choose your hard”
“Get comfortable with being uncomfortable”
….and all the cheesy quotes
