Last in the series we have Founder of AFA and Team Leader of the LAFA’s Nakita. Don’t forget to follow her on social media, check out the links below;
“I think the word for the last few weeks has been ‘organisation’”. For Nakita being organised when off duty with everything she is doing so she does not become bored and snack on everything as entertainment! Being accountable for her actions and a better visual of what she wants to achieve to make sure she is still putting in the training to maintain her strength and cardio.
“Slowly I feel like I am now too busy! I am trying once again to fit too much into my days. Maybe I am one of those people that work better under pressure? I just want to make the most of my time, even though I am incredibly guilty of an hour or two disappearing watching god knows what on TV! I have actually banned myself from watching boxsets during lockdown as it was far too easy to binge; before you realise, I’ve spent the whole day sat on the sofa! Not good.”
When Nakita went back to work about 4 days off it was always a bit overwhelming for the first few hours. Seeing people, talking to them face to face. Isolation can do funny things to you mentally; but it was something she got used to over time. She’s even back to enjoying my time on her own again like she used to.
“It’s always lovely if I get the chance to see any of the London team, I regularly have Nikki come over to drive the appliance I am in charge of. One day she was over and we had grand plans of doing a great gym circuit together. We had just managed to do some bench press and then the bells went down. We had been mobilised to a specialist incident which required urban search and rescue. After assessing the scene, I devised a plan. As a non-USAR operative, Nikki was brilliant, helping with everything she could! We didn’t get back to the station until around midnight. Was lovely to spend that time together.”
Nikki seems to be the route of all things fitness as she also nominated the whole team to run 5km for the NHS. Nakita had been really getting into her running, and had only recently run done her first 10km in years. So she was excited to get out, see how well she would do. She enjoyed it so much that she started running more and more. One day she even ended up running just over 10 miles which made her extremely proud and happy. As ever there was something to put a stopper in the improvement and Nakita rolled her ankle, breaking scar tissue on ligaments she had previously torn over 8 years ago.
This was the worst time to get an injury for, not only does she live on her own, but it meant she was also unable to go to work. To see any form of human contact was going to be extremely difficult. In addition to that, keeping fit was a big part of helping maintain her mental fitness too. Although she felt overwhelmed she knew she had to deal with it head-on. Firstly she had to give herself a chance to heal. Secondly staying happy and motivated was going to be key. Setting up a routine, not lying in bed, eating at regular times and actually not spending all day in my pj’s. Even better she could use this time to work on her press-ups! Silver linings and all that.
The team as always helped out and reminded her not to push herself and take her time. It paid off. After a week of rehabilitation Nakita was back to work.
Taking it easy to get back into training and being extremely cautious doing any long rungs but as far was she was concerned she was back out there and that was great.
“I don’t think I have trained so much, so i am grateful for lockdown. It has made me make the most of my time and stop thinking of tomorrow and start making the most of the present.”