Liz on one of her adventures – Northern Turkey
I seriously have the best job because I get to train people who motivate me, make me want to achieve more and just do better. Whilst some people focus on age, others ignore it and continue to life to the fullest. Determined and focussed, Liz, now 63 years old , is more active than most half her age and does not look like slowing down either…Read about Liz’s adventures and how Healthy Horizons has helped her along the way. PS Just a tad envious!
From Liz…
In 1996, I went out to lunch with some friends who were planning a trip to Kazakstan. When I told my work colleagues and family I intended to go walking in Russia the next year, there was a fair bit of healthy cynism because, although I belonged to a gym and did a bit of fun-running, I was hardly re-known for my physical prowess!
So began the most incredible series of adventures which have taken me also to Kamchatka, the Kimberley, Sikkim, South Africa, Turkey and Canada; from coastlines to mountains up to 5,000 metres; through an amazing range of scenery and cultures; through hilarious, moving and scary moments; and through an extraordinary (and sometimes revolting) range of toilets! Sometimes we have done it the hard way carrying all our own gear and others times we have had wonderful porters. We have always have a HUGE amount of fun.
Of course, these trips are about way more than the time away. As well as lots of jaw exercising at organization meetings, we have always taken our physical preparation very seriously and worked on our fitness before we go. It is pretty hard in our normal lives to duplicate 6-8 hours walking for 6-10 days so the emphasis has tended to be on aerobic fitness and strength training, with lots of walking on beautiful Mount Wellington.
Soon I head off to Portugal and Spain where I’ll be walking for about ten days from Porto to Sandiago de Compestela. After struggling to get in and out of our tents last year in Canada (much to the amusement of our much younger guides) we are slumming it this year, staying in hotels and having our main luggage transferred from town to town, but we will still need a good level of fitness.
Living out of town it has been a bit more difficult to train with my walking buddies, so Healthy Horizons to the rescue! I had been doing quite a variety of the offerings at HH, but felt I needed to do something more intensive in preparation for my trip. I also had a couple of long-standing sore bits (a hip and shoulder) nothing serious but restricting.
So I signed up for FIRE (focused, intense, resistance, exercise) having seen some pretty amazing results in women of my vintage. I am pretty chuffed at some of the weights I’ve achieved but more importantly, my test walk (Dodges Hill) has become a whole lot easier and there is no doubt I have more push in my legs. And, thanks also to Stacey’s amazing REVIVE classes, my hip and shoulder are way better. I plan to keep on working on my squats because they are really handy when travelling (refer note above re toilets!).
Our FIRE program is once again booked out for 2015. Expressions of interest are being taken now for Feb program 2016.
