Cape Town, beautiful Cape Town

Cape Town is beautiful. Seriously. And I am not just saying so because I have had an overseas visitor who I have been going around with! Yes, I know that Capetonians are guilty of taking their beautiful city for granted.

Apart from getting out there with my friend to Kirstenbosch Gardens and Kalk Bay, I am also week 3 of Boot Camp. Last week we had a session in Newlands Forest - I had no idea that there were so many people out there at 6:00 pm on a week night - joggers, people walking their dogs and, of course, the silent army of boot-campers marching along with yoga mats under their arms!

On Saturday morning, braving the rain we hiked to Elephant's Eye in the Silvermine Nature Reserve - the scenery was breathtaking and was certainly worth the sweat and pain to get there. I cannot remember when last I walked through the Reserve. Most of the sessions are on the sports fields of a local high school, in full view of Table Mountain. I can assure you that crunches, push-ups and lunges are a little less painful with the mountain, the fresh air and the grass beneath your feet for distraction! 

What attracted me to the program, was the chance to reacquaint myself with the outdoors and get my fitness levels up so that I can once again do regular hikes. Long may it last. Any takers for a regular hike (when I am fitter, of course)?

Check out the links Newlands Forest and Silvermine Reserve and Kirstenbosch Gardens for a little reminder of what's out there.

No Pain,No Gain?

“I am going to get fit if it kills me” was the thought that occurred to me last night as I “jog-walked” - going a little faster than walking but not quite jogging - around the sports fields of Westerford High School.  The jogging-walking was interspersed by step-ups, push-ups and crunches, and other mean things involving weights and stretchy bands. This morning the muscles underneath my muscles are complaining.

I know I have just finished the yoga challenge, but the truth is that I need to up the cardiac exercise, being of a certain age now. I hate the gym – the thought of exercising indoors is a foreign concept to me. I don’t even like the smell of the gym, the fluorescent lighting, the noise of weights knocking on weights, and the smell of chlorine wafting up from the indoor pool.

Yet over the years I have tried to overcome my aversion numerous times, but never lasting very long. In fact the longest I did stay was at the Sports Science Centre and that was about five years ago. It didn’t seem quite so “gym-y” and there were few designer-leotard-clad people about. It seemed more serious. Like business was happening there. One of the reasons I did stay, was that we went on a run through the leafy streets of Newlands and along the canal once a week.

This time I have been seduced by the promises of sessions in Newlands Forest, Silvermine Nature Reserve and Lion’s Head, and, apart from assessments, we don’t have to set foot inside the gym. I did balk at the thought of “Boot Camp”, picturing a sergeant-major-type screaming instructions at me while I dragged my body from one torture site to the next, but it’s not quite like that – or not yet anyway. In any case, I am the boss of my body and I know how far it can go.  So bring it on!

 Visit the Sports Science Institute - http://www.ssisa.com/