Over the last few days, I have been working out how to get myself my own spanky corner of the WWW. And guess what? With a bit of help from Mary and Amanda – I have done it! (I think). There might be a few things that need a bit of a tidy up – but I will get to that soon.

So head on over to Chandeleah, update your readers (very important) and blogrolls (if you are so kind to have me on yours ) and say hi!

As they say in Thailand – Same Same…but different!

xx Leah

Saturday was the Wellington Dragonboating Festival. For the last 8 weeks, my team has been practicing in the wet, windy, dark and cold evenings, so we were really looking forward to our first ever race day.

Team Icebreaker ready for action

The races were great fun! We came solidly third in all of our races (five boats per race) – which got us into the Corporate Social Final. We were pipped right at the end by 3 100ths of a second to come third (again, groan!) but were stoked with our Bronze medals. Not bad considering 8 weeks ago none of us had even been inside a dragonboat before!

Just a nose in it!

After the 5 races, I was SHATTERED. Harry worked out that I had burnt 585 calories. Not bad for a day on the water.

Exhausted & happy

The alarm buzzed at 6.30 again this morning (who said weekends were for sleep ins?!) and we headed over the hill to Martinborough for the Round the Vines 10km run. Seeing as my last serious run (apart from a couple of practically leisurely 5km jogs) was the 7km Round the Bays, which almost killed me, I was rather nervous about this race. I told myself to just use it as a practice event, enjoy it, run when I could, and walk if I needed. Time didn’t matter, all that did was that I got to the end – one way or another.

Jase and I before the event

It was a scorcher of a day, and the event kicked off at 10.30am. Jase and I ran the course together, and allowed ourselves stops at each water stop, of course sampling the local wines as well! It was so so hot, and whenever I could I threw a cup of water straight over my head to try and keep cool.

Sav Blanc? Don't mind if we do!

The course was absolutely stunning, we ran along flat roads, gravel trails and roads, and along grass - even between the vines. Because it was such a gorgeous day, it was a really beautiful run.

Vine running

The last 2km REALLY hurt – I could feel my hip flexors straining, and blisters forming underneath my toes. Jase helped me push on, encouraging me the whole way to the final stretch where I put on a sprint to the finish line.

We completed the run in 1 hour and 10 minutes, 16 seconds. STOKED! Considering there was a bit of stopping, a bit of wine tasting, and lots of huffing and puffing – to finish in 1hr10 was great for my first 10k. Things can only get better from here. 816 calories burnt too, thanks Harry.

Happy to have made it to the end

As a reward, we drove to the Lake Ferry hotel for a cider in the sun Seems to be my post-race treat!

Tired, happy and with cider = win

I wonder what event I am going to find to do next? Maybe it will be in Canada – who knows!

Note: thanks to awesome (not) copyright issues, the audio is disabled. But the three songs featured (as chosen by Iris) were Sail Along Silvery Moon by Billy Vaughn, Wind Beneath My Wings by Bette Midler, and We’ll Meet Again by Vera Lynn.

Here are my week 1 results:
1km Time Trial: completed in 5minutes 35seconds
Pushup Test: completed 44 full pushups on my toes
Abdominal Strength Test: reached stage 5
Wall Sit: completed 2minutes 05seconds
Flexibility Sit & Reach Test: +15cm beyond my toes

Here are my week 4 results:
1km Time Trial: completed in 5minutes 23seconds
Pushup Test: completed 50 full pushups on my toes
Abdominal Strength Test: reached stage 5
Wall Sit: completed 3minutes 05seconds
Flexibility Sit & Reach Test: +12cm beyond my toes

So – I have shaved 16 seconds off my run (and it was WINDY today, so I am hoping my next test is even better), I managed to crank out 6 more push ups (my focus for the next 4 weeks is to better my form – BUM DOWN, GET LOWER), I managed a whole MINUTE longer on the wall sit (and I think I have more in me for next time!)…unfortunately I lost 3cm on my flexibility but I think this is purely from having tight muscles from seeing my trainer this morning. Must stretch more!

Jane and I conquering the wall sit

Harry told me I had burnt 175 cals doing the fitness test, which is great on top of the 362 cals I burnt with my trainer this morning.

Total for today: 537 cals.

Anyway – here we go!

1. What is your name/blogger name? Leah Evans/ leahevansnz

2. What is the url of your blog? www.chandelah.wordpress.com

3. Write “The Quick Brown Fox Jumps Over the Lazy Brown Dog”. Also agree, only one “brown”. See the evidence here – the dog is yellow anyway

4. Write your favourite quotation? “If it’s got tyres or testicles – it’s gonna give you problems”. No idea who said it, but it was on the wall of a restaurant I went to in 2007 called Elmo in Chelsea, NYC (and I have loved it ever since).

5. What is your favourite song? Golden Love, Midnight Youth

6. What music do you like right now? Fleetwood Mac, Glee, anything by kiwi artists.

7. Is there anything else you would like to add about your handwriting? It can change from this to this depending on how busy I am!

8. What three bloggers do you want to follow suit? Amanda! Jane! Nat!

I went to half an attack class (it started late, and I had to leave early to get to Dragon Boating training)…and after 36.29 minutes Harry told me I had burnt 391 Calories. Sweet, I was pretty stoked with that!

Harry and I then got wet together (mind’s out of the gutter people!) – I had dragon boating training so I thought I would give him a whirl there. In 69 minutes of training (including the warm up) I burnt 450 Calories.

TOTAL for Monday: 841 Calories.

Oh, Harry, you are SUCH a star!

I love Mish’s top tips, and I thought I would share them with you.

• ditch the “I need motivation”
• remember that consistency is the key
• strengthen your willpower muscle by saying NO regularly ie. No thanks, I don’t want that glass of wine
• adopt the 10min rule – just say “do 10mins, and then if you REALLY don’t feel like it, you can stop”
• JFDI! Take the emotion out of your workouts

Funnily enough, I had been busy thinking about various motivators, and I was going to post about just that – all the things that are motivating me right now. However I watched Mish’s video and have been trying to come up with a different term than ‘motivation’…so…let’s go with “things that drive me to move more and eat less”…

This week it’s these things:

1) I’M GONNA BE A BRIDESMAID!

I was so lucky to meet up with my bestie Natalie last week, as she was home from London for a visit. While we were out at lunch, she popped the question (I know, so romantic, over a glass of wine – hehe, anyone would think it was ME getting married, that’s how excited I am). I feel so honored to be part of and share their special day. 

Natalie and I

Of course, there will be photos. And dresses. And people looking at us. And I do NOT want to look like a heffer squeezed into a dress. So…this has become another huge motivator for me – I wanna be a hot slim bridesmaid!

2) Hellllllllllooooo Harry! I have mentioned Harry, my new Heart Rate monitor before – but I am in love. Seriously. Head over heels. I can’t wait to strap him on to my chest (right under the boobies, he loves it there) and glance lovingly down at his little numbers on my wrist… Harry is the number 2 reason I am moving more and eating less.

3) Almost every hour today I have needed to pee. Seriously, I am like a yo-yo – up and down and up and down to the bathroom and back. And this is the culprit.

When buying Harry in the weekend, the lovely young sales man must have seen me gazing longingly at the hot pink drink bottles behind the counter. Maybe I drooled a bit, I don’t know…but when he offered to throw it in for free, I nearly jumped for joy. I had been looking for a new drink bottle, one that MADE me want to guzzle water non stop. After reading Kez’s post about drinking more water, I had been trying my best to get some clear goodness as much as possible. Today, I have already filled my awesome hot pink bottle up 4 times! FOUR! That’s 2 litres of water right there….

…no wonder I have been a piddle pants all day. Gotta be good for ya!

4) Looking good in a new dress.

It has been so long since I purchased any clothes (saving for the OE and not fitting anything properly is a bit of a downer in the shopping department) – but while I was away on holiday last week I came across an Annah S. store. I kind of wandered around while the others tried things on, thinking “I don’t have money for any of this, and none of it will fit anyway”.

Right when we were about to leave I spotted the Tiger Dress on the sale rack, and thought…hell, no one is looking, I may as well give it a whirl. I came out of the changing room and all I heard was “OH MY GOD YOU HAVE TO BUY IT”. I admit, I thought it was AMAZING. I loved it. It would be ~perfect~ for the upcoming wedding we are going to in Rarotonga.

It's super cute - right?

BUT.

I couldnt do it up. No matter how much I breathed in and squeezed, and the shop assistant heaved – that zipper wasnt going to do up. I was so so close.

I sadly put it back on the rack and left.

The next morning I was still thinking about the dress, and how gorgeous it was (and how it was reduced from $290…total bargain!)…and so Jase came back to the shop with me to give his opinion. He told me to buy it. He said “you will fit into that in no time, you just have to lose a couple more kilos and that zip will slide up”.

So I bought it. It’s the most crazy insane thing – I have never ever bought something I DONT FIT that has cost that much money before. But…it’s a massive motivation for me! I MUST FIT THIS DRESS by the end of April.

I know - SO close!

See what a teeny tiny way I have to go?!

Oh…and while I was at it, I happened to find the Tortoise Dress, and spurred on by Jase’s raised eyebrows, dropped jaw, and stuttering – I thought, what the hell, let’s be reckless…and I put that on the credit card too. Well…it was down from $260…it would be a waste not to…right?!

So there we have it. My current motivators…ahem…sorry Mish…my current “things that are making me move more, and eat less”.

What are yours?

Firstly, I am a loyal Les Mills member (oh how I love Les Mills) and regularly attack, pump, RPM, step and sometimes combat. Quite often I will just use the cardio machines as well, and when I am with my trainer Emma, we work out using strength bags and kettlebells and medicine balls and all those sorts of fun things!

Last week was a challenging week. We were heading away to the Coromandel for a week long beach holiday. However I was determined that “beach holiday” wouldn’t mean “exercise holiday” so I packed my shoes and gear, and worked out a plan.

Day 1 - I did Mish’s Week 3, Monday outdoor workout in the park (including the awful Turkish Getups, without a dumbell). I enlisted Jase’s help as ‘workout commando’ and we did a cool little warmup – Jase kicked his rugby ball around the field and I had to run to get it, and bring it back to him to kick again. Good way to make a 10min run fun!

Day 2 – I ran to the marina, along the main road, and back home again which was a distance of 4.8km. To round it up, I ran to the bus stop and back to make it 5kms.

Day 3 – I did my own outdoor workout on the beach. I ran 1km in barefeet along the sand (harder than it sounds), and then did reps of press ups, burpees, basketball jumps, tricep dips, crunches, double crunches, reverse crunches and plank. Repeat x 3.

Working out on the beach

Day 4 – I found the Whangamata Gym! I joined in with the 6 local ladies doing their morning pump class – which was a bit different but I definitely worked up a sweat!

Day 5 – 5km Running Route again

Day 6 – stretching on the beach

I was really proud of myself that I managed to make my workouts fit to my location. No Excuses! Just because I wasnt near my normal gym, didnt mean I couldnt put my shoes on and work up a sweat. Stretching on the beach as the sun came up was absolute bliss (and now I am wondering how I can make that permanently part of my life?!).

Mish also recommends getting a heart rate monitor to monitor your calories burnt, and your heart rate. Purely because of the cost I have been humming and harring over this purchase for weeks now (3 weeks to be exact). Finally I decided to do it. And so, I introduce to you…Harry (the hardout heart rate monitor). He is a spanky Polar FT7. I can’t wait to strap him on and see what he says after my attack class and dragon boating session tonight!

Harry "the hardout" Heart Rate Monitor

I feel totally geared up and ready for week 4! Bring it on!

Saturday
Spent the day getting wet at the Dragon Boating Fun Day 

Sunday
All aboard the steam train at the Silverstream Railway

Monday
Having high tea at Nana’s place

Tuesday
Red leather seats

Wednesday
Lanterns blowing in the breeze

Thursday
Meeting the newest addition to the marketing team

Friday
I forgot that when it rains, and your house relies on tank water – that means it’s collection time. I came across these buckets out the back door of mum & dad’s house

and

My train pose.

Saturday
Puppy and kitten sitting - meant being up at 11.30pm, 2.15am, 4.10am and 5.59am for piddle breaks

Sunday
The awesome atmostphere of Round the Bays – also one of Wellington’s hottest days this summer

Monday
I’m sorry, but boy + puppy = super cute!

Tuesday
Dark clouds and the sun rising over Wellington

Wednesday
Everyone is reeling from the earthquake in Christchurch

Thursday
A really bad day at work is always made better by a trip to the beach

Friday
If the birthday boy want’s cheerios for dinner – the birthday boy GETS cheerios for dinner

and

I am a runner