This week was the first week that my move mentees steps were recorded. Prior to commencing I designed a physical activity plan and spoke about all areas of the club with my move mentee. This week was new to everyone and some minor problems were identified. I met with my move mentee once throughout the course of the week, participating in a fitness class in the Mardyke Arena. However, I failed to keep adequate communication with my mentee throughout the week. My mentee felt that she would greatly benefit from daily check ins and motivational quotes for encouragement. The physical activity plan suited my mentee and there were no clashes with college or study which was great. My mentee has hugely positive things to say about the club already and is focused on improving her step count for next week. In regard to the step count, this week’s steps are a starting place and will hopefully be improved on next week.  Depending on the data I receive from the step count, I might work on setting my mentee daily challenges to ensure she meets her daily step target each day. 

This week Laura’s steps had declined from the previous week. Overall, her motivation and willingness to exercise had improved greatly her step count was still relatively low. The decline in steps was partially due to the choice of activity Laura participated in. During camogie training Laura can’t have her phone on her for obvious reasons meaning her step count was significantly lower that day than they should have been. Laura has set an aim of being able to run 7k at the end of ten week and this week she began incorporating short bursts of jogging into her walks. This little progression eases Laura back into road running but is also of huge benefit to her cardiovascular fitness. We decided for next week to add more variation to Laura’s physical activity plan. Laura is going to try a new gym class called step and tone in the Mardyke Arena with a friend from college. Another positive factor this week was that I had more contact with Laura throughout the course of the week. I spent daily motivation quotes and provided regular check ins to see how she was getting on.

Unfortunately, this week wasn’t a success. Laura started this week on a great note, improving her step count significantly and also reaching the daily target of 10,000 steps on two of the first four days. However, towards the end of the week Laura became sick and was unable to participate in any physical activity, one day not even reaching 300 daily steps. Although this is a setback for Laura, we cannot let it hinder and effect our overall progress. The main priority is to ensure that Laura makes a full recovery and has replenished her energy levels before she participates in physical activity again. Next week we decided to change the physical activity plan to suit the current situation. Laura will begin the week taking it easy by going for walks near her house, incorporating the running element if she feels up to it.  Depending on how Laura is feeling, I hope that she will be able to return to the fitness classes in the Mardyke Arena towards the end of the week. 

Thankfully this week Laura was feeling much better and was able to resume the fitness classes at the end of the week. One thing that surprised her was how much she missed the physical activity in her daily routine when she was no longer able to participate. This week was Laura’s best week to date and a huge improvement was noted in her daily step count, one day reaching a personal best of over 11,000 steps. The most positive element from this week was that Laura played a full 60-minute junior camogie game, something she had been unable to do in over a year due to her lack of fitness. It was extremely rewarding for both myself and Laura to see such a big improvement. It was a great motivator for Laura to keep pushing herself each week but also hugely encouraging for me to see the progress she was making with my help and motivation. Hopefully next week we will see similar improvements and I will work at changing the physical activity plan slightly to include more variation and new work out ideas to keep Laura focused and engaged. 

Similar to last week huge improvements were evident this week. Laura successfully ran 2k without needing to stop and walk and worked on improving her time for this distance throughout the remainder of the week. Each week I have been continuing to take part in at least one session a week with Laura. She has noted that these paired sessions are of most benefit to her. She has started going to the Mardyke Arena classes with her friends in college, this also adds a social aspect to physical activity. For the remaining five weeks we have decided to exercise together at least twice a week and continue to push each other. On a side note this was the first week since the beginning that all Laura’s daily steps were above 6,000 daily steps which another big positive to take from this week.

Overall, Laura’s daily step count is continuing improving however she is beginning to find it more difficult to fit in daily physical activity around her busy college schedule. We are into our last month of college for this semester meaning Laura has class tests, projects due and labs to complete. This can be a really stressful time for students, and I don’t want to make it worse by putting pressure on Laura to reach her daily step target. On the other side, it is nearly more important now to maintain regular physical activity. It can be used as a break from study and it is a great way of clearing your head, especially walking or running outside. The challenge for next week is to try and fit daily physical activity into Laura’s college schedule. I am aware that a reduction in her step count could be noted over the coming weeks due to increased stationery time e.g. studying in the library, but I still need to continue to encourage Laura and keep her motivated. 

All Laura’s in class tests and lab reports finished this week however she still has lectures to attend and must commence study for the Christmas exams. I adopted a new approach this week and Laura was getting unnecessarily stressed last week about not improving on her daily step count. Laura has not time to attend the Mardyke Arena fitness classes anymore as they fall at awkward times with regards to her study. Instead Laura is going for runs now and is able to nearly run 5k without stopping which is an achievement that she is immensely proud of. These daily runs act as an escape for Laura and she finds that she has more motivation and energy to study after finishing them. In order to stop Laura stressing over the daily step count I changed the focus this week to maintaining the step count from the previous week. This is more manageable and realistic for Laura given the circumstances. 

This week was full of excitement for Laura meaning her step count suffered slightly. She began the week on a personal best hitting 13,000 steps on Tuesday and successfully ran 6k without stopping. This means that Laura is only 1km short of achieving her initial goal of running 7k without stopping. Towards the end of the week Laura’s step count remained quite good however she didn’t participate in much exercise. On Thursday it was UCC Christmas day which is a big occasion among college students and on Saturday her local club played in the county final which meant there was huge celebrations all weekend. This was a well-deserved break for Laura as she has been working tirelessly over the past seven weeks to improve both her daily step count and her overall physical fitness. For the remaining two weeks Laura is focused and hoping to see her biggest improvement yet. 

This week marks the end of semester one in college but also the second last week of the made2move programme. Laura smashed her original goal of running 7k without stopping and is going to continue to work on improving that time over the remaining week. The difference in Laura’s daily step count from week 1 to now is remarkable. Although she is still not getting 10,000 steps a day her average has increased from between 3000-4000 steps a day to 7500- 8500 steps a day. This shows an average improvement of 4000 steps which is a remarkable achievement. Laura has now began training with the senior team again while she continues to play matches with the junior team. By the end of the season Laura hopes that she will get a run out with the senior team but if not, she is content to keep working towards next year and aim to earn a starting position. 

This week was sadly the last week of the made2move programme. Laura was sad finishing the programme however she left the programme more physically fit and a hugely improved daily step count. Although the programme has ended Laura has vowed to continue participating in regular physical activity as it is no longer seen as a chore but instead something, she looks forward to doing and fitting into her daily life. At the end of the week I spoke to Laura about her overall made2move journey and how she found it. She was grateful for the opportunity she was given and now feels more motivated to participate in both physical activity and exercise. One thing that Laura suggested on improving was the use of the accupedo app. Laura found having to carry her phone restrictive and would of preferred to use her Fitbit to log her daily steps.