Fitness is the new black, the must-have accoutrement for a modern lifestyle. At Hill Street Grocer we are making over our personal and corporate image under a new fit-for-life banner.
As a personal trainer, Emma Weitnauer has been putting Nick and Marco through their paces to get more enjoyment out of their work and leisure, and Hill Street Grocer and Augusta Foodstore are helping Emma out with sponsorship to make sure she is able to participate with all the right gear in the Australian Ironman Championships in April at Port Macquarie and, with luck and determination, the World Championships in Hawaii in October.
In return, Emma will pass on to readers of Provisions some of the knowledge of exercise, nutrition and attitude that has taken her to the top of her sport.
As Emma Pugh, she was sent to swimming lessons as a child to help with the asthma she suffered from. She also played water polo for the state and did classical ballet for 16 years, until, when she was 18, her ballet teacher said she should chose between dancing and triathlon – triathlon won.
Emma left Tasmania to do a degree in human movement at the Queensland University of Technology, where she graduated in 1998. Over the next couple of years she was placed in many ironman championships, including being second in the 18-24 age group World Ironman Championships in Hawaii in 1999.
After a couple of years travelling and living in Boston and Edinburgh, Emma returned to Tasmania and in 2002 married Andrew. They have a daughter, Cariad, aged three.
Emma is a personal trainer with All Aerobics and also conducts “spin†classes – sort of aerobics on stationary bicycles – and triathlon squad at the same time as she trains hard for her own elite-level competitions.
An Olympic distance triathlon comprises a 1.5km swim, a 40km bike ride and a 10km run. An ironman race ups the ante considerably – a 3.8km swim, a 180km bike ride and a marathon run of 42.2km. Emma’s best time for the ironman is 10 hours and 18 minutes, which she wants to get to down below 10 hours by April and qualify for the world championships.
Emma will do strength training and swim one day, then ride a bike and go for a run the next. On weekends she puts six or seven hours into training, and on Mondays she rests.
It’s not all body work though. Emma used to excel at swimming and riding and “just survive†on the run, until she took herself in hand and “taught myself how to believe in myself as a runnerâ€.
At the same time, she watched videos of herself running, studied the biomechanics, and taught herself to run anew.
“Now I can run just as well as athletes who are runners only,†she says. “Now the run leg is where I finish and bring it home.â€
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