Weekend Workouts and Fun

This weekend was such a perfect blend of relaxation, fun, and workouts. Let’s get right to it!!

Saturday

We woke up Saturday and grabbed a coffee before heading to the studio for a session. My good friend runs an AMAZING  co-ed camp where she takes young girls and boys to do tons of fun activities. She teaches them about empowerment, self-confidence, gratitude, and so much more. You can read all about it here. For this particular weekend, Tedi got her girls together to record their version of “Roar” by Katy Perry. The girls had a BLAST and I did too! Tedi and I may have even made a cameo in the bridge of the song……

Sand Sister’s Girls Having a Blast in the Studio

After the recording session, we headed over to Temescal Canyon for a hike. It’s such a BEAUTIFUL hike and a good workout too! I didn’t snap any photos, but this should give you an idea of the view…:-D

Source

The hike definitely worked up an appetite, so we headed to Burger Lounge for some grub. I rave about this place ALL the time. It’s not only DELICIOUS, but the food is so fresh and comes from sustainable farms. You can taste the difference in the quality of food and you don’t leave feeling like you ate a greasy burger. I usually get the Little Lounge Turkey Burger (and fries of course!), but the grass-fed beef is also a great choice! If you make it out to LA, you MUST try this place!!!

Sunday

Sunday morning, I got up to do a good old heavy lifting workout + some metabolic conditioning. I hit not one, but TWO Personal Records (PR’s)!!!!! Stoked is an understatement.

The first PR I hit, was 6 reps of 216lb hip thrusts. My record before that was 211, so just a small increase, but an increase nonetheless!!! I had someone shoot a little video of the madness….

The next PR I hit was on pull-ups. I posted on Facebook last week that I was going to try to get 5 strict pull ups this week……and I did!!!! I was STOKED and immediately started running around the gym like a freak. (Guess I can’t deny who I am! ;-)) I was surprised at how easy reps 1-4 were. 5 was definitely a challenge, but I’m hoping 6 isn’t too far off…..:-)

I spent the rest of the afternoon cleaning a bit and meeting a friend for an afternoon Americano. Because who doesn’t need a huge spike of caffeine at 4:30pm?! LOL

Hope everyone is having a GREAT Monday. I’ll be sharing the rest of my Sunday workout Tuesday morning. It was only 10 minutes long and a BURNER. You’ll love it. Stay tuned…;-)

Question of the Day:

Have you hit any new PR’s lately? 

Are you working towards any new PR’s?! (If not, set some goals!!!)

The 6-Week Challenge: WBBC

Wowza! It’s been a while. I’ve been a busy little bee, working my tail off. But hopefully I’ll be posting a bit more as of now. Hope you’re having a great week! November is truckin’ along….

News:

This past Saturday (November 2nd) marked the 1st day of the WBBC 6 Week Challenge. What is the WBBC you ask?

The World’s Best Boot Camp is just as it implies. It was started by a former Desert Storm Vet, John Burch. I met John at my gym in Santa Monica and when he told me about the upcoming challenge, I was all about it.

Here’s a photo of me doing a dynamic stretch on Day 1

So what does the 6 week challenge entail? Well, as you can imagine, I will be attending a boot camp 2-3 times per week that focuses on a lot of the basic movements mixed with CrossFit movements: squats, push-ups, sit-ups, burpees, kettlebells, and more! The other part of the challenge includes cleaning up my diet (which is pretty clean already, but tightening up a bit), and doing my personal best to accomplish my goals.

To give a little insight, on Day 1, we did a baseline workout and took measurements. I will be doing some video diaries each week to update my progress (I’ll post the links as soon as they’re posted each week) and I’m hoping to come out with successfuly results at the end! By December 14th, I will be re-testing my baseline workout from Day 1 and taking measurements again. I’m IN IT TO WIN IT and hoping that I will have some GREAT results to share!

There is no better time than now as the holidays approach, so I’m pretty excited. While I’m pretty comfortable in my body and like the way I look now, I am excited to lean out a bit more and as the slogan says, “have the most fun proving myself!” Love that.

Goals: 

I want to be 100% compliant. What does this mean for me?

-I will attend bootcamp 2-3 times per week

-I will stick to my diet 6 days per week with one day to splurge (within reason of course)

-I will get enough rest and WATER

-I will continue running, rock climbing, weight lifting, and all of the other activities that I do in between boot camp days.

For the first time since I competed in 2009, I feel ready for this. I’ve actually felt ready for a while, but I needed something like this to come along to spark my fire and get me going again. In good fashion, I dragged my boyfriend into the competition as well. On a weekly basis, he tells me he needs to lose 10 lbs, so I’ve enlisted him in the challenge with me! While he won’t do all of the workouts that I do, he will be following the diet with me.

I would love for you all to follow me along on this journey! I will be posting pictures, videos, thoughts, challenges, and more!

Have you ever done a challenge?

What motivates you the most?

Vegas, Calico, Running, and a Purple Bell Pepper

Okay, first thing is first.

There are PURPLE BELL PEPPERS?!?!?! I had no idea. I stopped by the local Co-Op after my run today and happened to see this little guy. There was no way I could walk out of the store without it, even though they were $4.99/lb. When in Rome. Or Santa Monica. Is this something the rest of the world knew about?!

Speaking of my run……today I hit a BIG P.R. for myself. Ever since I started working out/running back in 2006, (I’ve never been just a runner and it comes in waves) I’ve always wanted to hit a sub 24 minute 5k. The goal is finally in sight and I’ve been training hard for it. (Oddly enough, most of my training comes in the form of plyometrics and weight training, but another topic for another day. I still run once or twice a week.)

I have a 5k trail run/5k mud run (they’re back to back and I’m completely stoked about it) coming up next month, so I’ve been really pushing myself.

Since I was out of town the last few days (I’ll get to that in a minute), I’m trying to play catch up on my training. I was planning on doing a long-ish run today, but once I started going, I realized how good/fast I felt. I changed my training plan on the spot.

My first mile was 7:48. I’m an 8:15-8:30 runner normally, so this was my first sign that good things were coming. Keeping this up for two miles isn’t too hard for me, but I typically hit a wall at around mile 2 when I’m running this pace. As I hit my 2nd mile and realized I still felt decent and was coming in under 16 minutes, my competitive face went on and I decided I was going to hit 3 miles in under 24 minutes no matter what.

That 3rd mile was tough. The first half of it was hard, but manageable. The second half is where it got rough for me. I started getting feelings of “oh shit I’m gonna puke” mixed with “holy shit i can’t breathe” mixed with “ouch, my lower back hurts”. But I honestly didn’t care. If my hip went out and I puked all over the place while losing all oxygen to my brain, I was just not going to stop. I can be dangerously competitive at times and this was one of them. Had someone walked into my path, I would have absolutely shoved them down and felt no remorse. I promise i’m not normally that evil. 🙂

As I hit mile 3, I heard the little lady on my Map My Run app tell me that I had run 3 miles in 23:47. I immediately went into party dance mode in my brain (still trying not to puke at this point) as I pushed for the last tenth of a mile. I hit 3.15 miles in 24:10. Ma-jor-vic-tor-y!!!!!!

While I didn’t hit the PR I’m hoping I get on race day, this was the first time I’d ever run 3 miles in under 24 minutes. And for that ladies and gentlement, I’M STOKED!!!  The second accomplishment in this run was that I didn’t actually puke.  High fives are welcome.

As I posted on Facebook, if I accomplish nothing else this week, I’m totally fine with that. But as we all know, this confidence boost is going to push me to conquer the world this week. Majorly awesome day. 🙂

So back to that vacation. A few months back, I purchased a smokin’ deal for a hotel in Vegas. I love little getaways, and when I can do them cheap, it’s even sweeter!! My man and I hit the road Wednesday and spent a few days laying by the pool, playing Blackjack, eating ice cream, and walking the strip in search of….nothing. All in all, Vegas is pretty boring when you’re not a partier and don’t want to spend a gazillion dollars on shows. I do like playing Blackjack, but I tend to lose money, which I don’t like. Either way, a few days off with my man is always a good time!

Our room at the Aliante Casino & Resort (not bad for $40/night)

On our way back to LA, we stopped in Calico. I have a weird obsession with ghost towns (and really anything abandoned or ghostly. actually anything weird for that matter), so we made a last minute decision to check out the town. If you’re ever in that area, it’s a fun little stop. It’s a bit commercialized for my taste (lots of gift shops/food stores), but the history there is pretty cool and you can pay $2 to walk through an actual mine. Freaking awesome. The views aren’t too bad either!

 

 

And just for some cuteness overload….my awesome nephew. He can already tell at almost 9 months old…his aunt Lizzy is crazy. 🙂

1. What’s a fitness accomplishment you’ve had lately?

2. What are some of your favorite weekend getaways?

3. Any ghost town recommendations?!?!?!