Tag Archives: challenge

Trying To Be Patient (or Did I Re-Injury Myself?)

Posted on August 19, 2015 | Comments Off

This torn calf is really a pain in the butt! I’ve been doing ok with my workouts because I’m super cautious, but I’m having a lot of trouble outside of Orangetheory.

While I’m at home, I’ve been trying to keep my leg elevated when I can and icing it throughout the day. I’m also wrapping it up in a bandage for compression a good majority of the day (I have to take it off to shower, sleep, and when my skin starts to get irritated). I’ve also bought some compression sleeves for my legs that I can start wearing at home or while working out to help.

But even with being that careful, several times a day I have a pain that is very similar to what the original injury felt like. I’m not seeing any additional bruising so I don’t think I’m tearing my muscle more, but it’s definitely not good. Every time it happens, I have a quick moment of panic and then try to just be more carefully with how I’m walking.

I do feel progress and that I’m getting better. And it’s only been a week since the injury and it says online that it can take a month to recover. I’m just not patient with things like this.

I was the same way with my hip surgery. After my surgery I had to be on crutches for 6 weeks (I had 2 weeks on crutches before surgery). For the first month after surgery, I wasn’t able to go without my crutches. Those last 2 weeks, however, I was rarely using them inside my house (I’d still use them outside where the ground wasn’t as even). I felt so guilty about doing that when I did, but a couple of years after my surgery the rules were changes where patients only had to spend 4 weeks after surgery on crutches. So I technically did was the future policy would be.

I know that many people with a torn calf would be on crutches while it heals, but since others have not done so and have been able to recover I’m ok with no using them. I’d rather try to push myself a little bit every day instead of doing nothing for a few weeks and then trying to rebuild my strength.

Until I don’t have any pain left I’m going to stay with restrictions. I won’t walk unless I have to (it makes getting 10,000 steps in a day tough but I’m just making it each day) and I’m only going to use the bike for cardio in my workouts. I’ll continue to do the R.I.C.E. method and hopefully in a few weeks I’ll be back to normal.

I know that some people might say that this is a sign that I need to slow down. I don’t see it that way at all. I just see it as a challenge to get past and prove that I don’t have to stop my momentum to get through it.

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Posted in Fitness, Health, Tough Stuff

Tagged challenge, injury, workout

5 Workout Week (or I Did It, But I Don’t Know When I’ll Do It Again)

Posted on July 6, 2015 | Comments Off

As I mentioned in my workout recap last week, this past week was potentially going to be a 5 workout week (basing the week to be from Sunday to Saturday). I knew it wasn’t going to be easy, but I managed to do it.

I’m getting pretty used to having workouts 2 days in a row once a week (usually on Friday/Saturday). I still struggle a bit on the second day, but it’s not nearly as bad as it was when I did my first back to back set of classes.

I was recovering from my sunburn for the first two days of the week, so I had to take it easy with weights when it involved my upper body. I only went down to 12 pounds weights (from my usual 15 pound ones), so it wasn’t a huge decrease. But I really did feel it as being much easier than I’m used to.

After the sunburn healed by Wednesday, I was back to my usual weight. I’m really wanting to move up to the next set of weights, but those are 20 pounds. I can use them for some lower body stuff, but when I try for upper body things I’m struggling to even do one rep. I’m not too stressed about getting up to the next set of weights. I know that it will take time and moving up to heavier weights is a bigger change than increasing the treadmill speed by .1 miles an hour.

Speaking of the treadmill, I’m getting into a nice groove with it now. I’m doing all my base paces at 3.5 miles an hour and almost all of my push and all-out paces at 3.7 miles an hour. I still don’t know why I struggle doing 3.7 miles an hour (or even 3.6) during my base pace “flat road”, but it’s not horrible that I’m increasing my speeds for the pushes and all outs. That’s what the runners do and it allows me to use a more manageable incline for the longer push segments without my hips hurting as much. I’m happy where I am right now with my speed and am ok staying there for a while before I try to bump it up again.

Doing 5 workouts in a week was definitely doable, but it’s not something that will be done on a regular basis. If I did, I would do 5 workouts one week and 3 the next (unless I want to do 4 workouts in a row which I don’t). I’d much rather do 4 workouts a week as much as possible. I like having breaks between my workouts. But I’m glad that I did this because it proved to me that it can be done if I want to.

You might be wondering what the motivation was behind doing 5 workouts in a week. Well, all June there was a team contest at Orangetheory. You made a team of 3 and between the 3 of you the team had to get 45 workouts in for the month. You also had to post on social media (that was the easy part for me).

I joined a team and since one of our team members was going to be out-of-town a bit, the other girl and I had to pick up a little slack. So I needed to get 16 workouts in for the month. And to do that, I had to fit in an extra one in the week.

But it was all worth it when we got this email.

I can’t believe that only 4 teams were able to complete the challenge! I knew that we would win because we were very on top of tracking everything. But I really thought that at least half of the teams that started would win. This makes me feel even better about the hard work my team put in to make sure that we got everything done that we needed to in June.

So far, there’s no contests for July. I’m still tracking my workouts and I’m over halfway to my workout goal for the year (which is perfect since the year is half over). But if there is some sort of July contest or challenge, I think you all know that I’m totally doing it!

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Posted in Fitness, Fun Stuff, Health

Tagged challenge, fitness, Orangetheory, progress, workout

Some Progress and Some Setbacks (or Trying To Set New Workout Goals)

Posted on June 1, 2015 | Comments Off

I thought that this past week of workouts were pretty successful at first. While I only did 3 workouts, I worked really hard at them and even though I wasn’t able to increase my weights or my treadmill speeds yet, I’m feeling like I’m getting close.

Again, this week was a lot of rowing, but I’m happy with that because I feel like I’m making significant progress in my rowing. We had 100 meter sprints this week on Friday. I was able to do them in 22 seconds. I was super proud of myself until I looked at my list of workout records I saved on my phone.

While I thought that 22 seconds was fast, my record is 19 seconds. Those 3 seconds aren’t much of a difference, but that record was set several months ago. I’m disappointed in myself that I haven’t improved my rowing speed at all. My form is getting a bit better, but with that I would have expected that speed would follow.

I’m really trying not to get too down about this. That record was set when we had the Monday Challenges. So I had already cooled down before doing my row. This time, my row was in the middle of the workout and my heart rate was already pretty high before doing the sprint. So comparing a middle of the workout record against a post-cool down record might not be too fair for me.

I’m really trying to make as much progress as I can each week. It’s tough not to feel like I’ve plateaued when I haven’t been able to increase my weights or treadmill speed lately. But I know that the progress will come eventually and it’s just a matter of time before I’m ready to move to the next level. And while my rowing progress has been backwards lately, that doesn’t mean that it won’t be progressing the correct way again soon.

Beyond my disappointment with my rowing speeds, this week was very successful for me. Monday’s workout was a 3G workout because of the holiday. That means that there were 3 groups in the class instead of 2 and we rotated around the room more often than usual. Personally, I like the 3G classes, but since I don’t work out doing peak times I rarely get to take them. I like switching things up more often in the class because I can’t focus on how tired I am.

The other thing that was really cool on Monday was that my coach, Brendon, was on American Ninja Warrior that night.

I had wanted to go and watch it live when it recorded a few months ago, but it was on a Friday evening and I had to work early on Saturday morning. But it was great to get to see what he was able to get done!

It really inspires me that Brendon decided to challenge himself and do the show. I’ve always thought of the coaches as people who are what I hope to be as an “after”. But Brendon proved that no matter what, you can always find something else to challenge yourself and try to better yourself with.

My other two workouts were on Wednesday and Friday (no 4 workout week this week for me). Friday was my first day with a new batch of painkillers and I’m not sure if the workout or the new painkillers made me hurt more than usual, but either way I was in a lot of pain on Friday evening. I took it easy and continued to take some painkillers on Saturday as well.

I’m not sure why I’m so focused on the setbacks this week. Maybe it’s because the challenge of working out regularly is no longer a challenge for me. This is a habit now and I’m able to focus more on the little things that annoy me versus struggling to work out enough times in the week.

But as always, I’m trying to focus on the positive and know that even if I’m progressed backwards I’m still doing better than I would be doing if I wasn’t working out at all.

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Posted in Fitness, Fun Stuff, Tough Stuff

Tagged challenge, fitness, Orangetheory, progress, setback, workout

Giving Fitbit Another Chance (or Doing Laps Around My Living Room)

Posted on April 15, 2015 | Comments Off

I’ve previously written about Fitbit on here. I had a pretty bad experience with them and I returned the Fitbit I bought then almost right away.

I was ok not having a Fitbit for a while. I had used a pedometer in the past and it wasn’t something that really excited me.

But lately, more and more of my friends have been talking about competing against each other on Fitbit. I learned that I could use the Fitbit app and have my steps counted by my phone. So since that was free, I did it.

But I realized that all the steps I take at Orangetheory didn’t count since I wasn’t holding my phone while I worked out. So I started looking into getting a Fitbit device again.

I looked at the ones you wear on your wrist, but it didn’t seem right for me. First, I already wear a watch so I didn’t want something else on my wrist. And secondly, it probably wouldn’t count my steps on the treadmill at Orangetheory because I have to hold onto the treadmill (balance issues).

So I decided on the Fitbit One. It’s pretty small and I can either wear it on my pants on in the middle of my bra (I’ve been going with the middle of the bra choice since it’s totally out-of-the-way).

During my workouts at Orangetheory, I’ve been putting it on my pants since my sports bra goes up much higher than a normal bra.

It’s nice to count all my steps during the day. And the app on my iPhone is super easy to use and read.

But what I’ve been loving the most about Fitbit this time (besides the fact that it’s working and syncing perfectly) is the social and competitive aspect of it.

You can be friends with different people on there and see how you rank against each other over the past 7 days. Since I just started using the Fitbit, I’m pretty low in the rankings but I’m moving up.

And through the app they also have a bunch of different challenges that you can do with your friends. Right now, I’m doing a weekday challenge with 9 other people (including my agent). But over the weekend, we did a weekend challenge.

I didn’t win that one (and I don’t think I’ll win the weekday one either), but I had a lot of fun doing it. And it’s really motivating me to get as many steps during the day that I can. I’ve been doing laps around my house between customers at work or while I’m watching tv shows that don’t need that much attention. And since I live in such a tiny house, my laps are only like 5 steps each way.

But every step adds up and since Saturday (when I got the Fitbit), I’ve hit my target of 10,000 steps each day! And all of those steps equal more calories burned, so it will be helping me to reach more goals. This is all wins for me.

Are any of you on Fitbit? I’d love to have more friends to compete against!

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Posted in Fitness, Fun Stuff, Health, Weight Loss

Tagged challenge, fitbit, fitness, friends, technology, walking, weight loss

A Welcome Distraction At The Film Festival (or Loving Second Place)

Posted on March 11, 2015 | 1 comment

I spent most of the weekend busy stressing out about the film festival. There wasn’t much time to think about anything else or to do anything else over those days.

So when I found out that the party to announce the winners of the latest weight loss challenge was going to be announced on Saturday, I knew that it would be impossible for me to go. But I asked the leader of my team in the challenge, Bruce, to send me an email to let me know what happened at the party.

On Saturday, I was running around like crazy trying to get things done so I wasn’t even thinking about missing the party. So when I sat down during one of the screenings to check the dozens of emails and texts that I had missed, I got very excited when I saw that there was one from Bruce.

And here’s what it said:

While I had an idea that I might place in the local challenge, I was not expecting second place!

I got a follow-up email after that one that said that as the second place winner I will get a free month of membership. That’s pretty awesome!

The national challenge winners haven’t been announced yet, but I really doubt that I placed in it. Unless the winner of the local challenge at my location placed first or second and I got fourth. But that seems very unlikely.

I didn’t quite lose my goal of 10% of my body weight, but I was close, But if I did reach that goal, I still would have been in second place. The winner in the local challenge lost something like 15 or 16% of their starting body weight.

But even if I didn’t place at all, I still would be happy with the work that I did over the challenge. I worked out really hard, made sacrifices in my social life (and my sleep) to get in the required workouts each week, and I worked on my diet more than I have in the past. All of these are positive changes that won’t be ending because the challenge is over.

Considering that I didn’t place in the first weight loss challenge and I got second in this challenge, maybe the next challenge will be my turn to place first! And maybe I’ll be updating this post soon if I end up placing in the national challenge!

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Posted in Celebrations, Fitness, Fun Stuff, Weight Loss

Tagged challenge, Orangetheory, weight loss, winner

Short Workout Week (or Finding Ways To Fit It All In)

Posted on March 2, 2015 | Comments Off

Even though I got 3 workouts in this past week, it feels like I had a mini-week of workouts. That might be because I usually workout on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday (and sometimes Saturday). But due to lots of scheduling issues (including work and a trip), I had to fit all my workouts in during the beginning of the week.

My first workout of the week was on Sunday. This was actually my first Sunday workout. I didn’t think that it would feel odd to me since I work out on Saturdays, but I really felt a difference in a Sunday workout versus a weekday or Saturday one.

A lot of the difference was in timing it all out. I had to eat something pre-workout, have my workout, shower, eat lunch, and then head out to the Oscar Party. I wanted to make sure that I ate enough that I wasn’t starving at the party, but not too much so that I could enjoy some food there.

I managed to get through my workout fine and took a post-workout selfie to remember how hard I worked that day.

My Monday workout was a bit tough for me. It was the second workout in a row for me (which is still a bit challenging) and it was an early workout because I had my Disneyland afternoon/evening ahead. I also knew that at Disneyland, I usually walk between 5-10 miles, so I didn’t want to be too exhausted after the workout.

I had some issues during that workout (and at Disneyland later) with some pretty significant hip pain. I know that I’m pushing myself farther than I ever thought I could go (and probably more than my hip surgeon thought I could do as well), and sometimes I will just have to deal with the pain.

My final workout of the week was on Wednesday. It was also my day to weigh in for the end of the National Weight Loss Challenge. I had a goal of losing 10% of my body weight in those 6 weeks. I was about 2 pounds away from that goal, so I’m not too upset. I doubt I will win the national part of the challenge, but maybe I’ll place. And I feel good about my chances of placing in the challenge for the studio that I go to. I guess I’ll have to wait a little while to find out what happens.

The workout had 6 blocks in it, 3 of them being on the treadmill. And all the treadmill blocks were spent most of the time at a high incline (between 10-15%). I’m really getting better at the incline work and my base pace at 4% incline is starting to feel like a flat road for me. I think that will really help in my next 5K race where the road is really flat. Maybe it will feel like a downhill road then entire time.

Due to my trip, my next workout won’t be until tomorrow (Tuesday). That means that I will almost have a week off between my last workout and my next one. That scares me a little. Hopefully I don’t lose too much progress or strength during that break. I know I’ll be doing some walking on my trip, but nothing like what I’m used to.

I guess I’ll just have to wait and see how my body reacts to such a long break (and I’ll try to make sure that I don’t have another long break like that in the future).

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Posted in Fitness, Fun Stuff, Health, Weight Loss

Tagged challenge, Orangetheory, strength, weight loss, workout

Working Out While Cleansing (or Being Easy On Myself)

Posted on January 26, 2015 | Comments Off

This past week of workouts were the first workouts I did while on the cleanse. Even though I am eating (and I’m working on keeping my calories up), I’m eating significantly less protein than I’m used to.

On normal days, that is a small annoyance but I can deal with it. But on workout days, I’m discovering how important protein is for me.

Going into Monday’s workout, I was pretty nervous. I just tried to focus on my fancy new shoes. Before going to the workout, I decided to take a quick picture of my new shoes along with the 2 pairs that I’ve gone through recently (I’m not sure why I never got rid of my old shoes).

I knew that the workout was going to feel tough to me, even if I was taking it easier than I usually do. So I decided not to focus at all on my heart rate monitor and just pay attention to how my body was feeling. And it was pretty rough. I was tired a lot faster than I’m used to and I got some issues with dizziness when transitioning from seated or laying down exercises to standing ones. But I got through the workout and focused on how to better prepare myself for the next one.

One Wednesday, even though snacks aren’t allowed on the cleanse, I added a snack pre-workout. I need the extra energy and calories to help me get through the intense workouts that I’m doing. And I noticed a difference. I was still tired and a little dizzy from time to time, but it was much less and I recovered a lot quicker.

By Friday, I was finally starting to figure out what my food needs to be like during the cleanse on workout days, so I was doing even better. My heart rate doesn’t get as high as it did before, but I can’t be mad at myself for that. Again, I’m just focusing on getting through my workouts and doing the best that I can for that day.

And I finally got off the waitlist for the Saturday workout! So in my first week of cleansing, I did 4 workouts! I know that’s a little crazy. And Saturday’s workout was possibly one of the toughest ones I’ve ever done. We were all put into groups of 3 and then there was a set workout for our group to get through for the entire class. There were no breaks or switching blocks. We just went from one thing to another for the entire class. I was having some serious trouble completing the workout for the last 10 minutes, but I pushed myself through it and managed to have not only an awesome workout but one of my higher calorie burns (which meant that I had to add some extra food to my lunch and dinner).

It is definitely not easy to workout this hard when my protein levels are so low. There really isn’t a way to increase that too much while I’m cleansing, but I did buy some protein powder that fits into the cleanse rules that I can drink if I need to. I don’t like protein powders because they remind me so much of the RFO Diet, but hopefully I can drink this stuff quickly if I need it and not have to think about it too much.

I’ve currently got myself signed up for another 4 workout week this week. I’m not 100% sure I’ll be able to do Saturday, but I’d rather be signed up for it and then cancel than to be on the waitlist and maybe not get in. Even though things are tough for me, I keep reminding myself that change isn’t easy and this is all for the better. I’m not doing anything that will hurt me and that in less than 3 weeks I can add animal products (and therefore more protein) back into my diet.

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Posted in Fitness, Food, Fun Stuff, Health, Tough Stuff, Weight Loss

Tagged challenge, cleanse, detox, Orangetheory, struggle, workout

Going To The Limit (or How To Work Out With A Broken Shoe)

Posted on January 19, 2015 | 1 comment

The past week of workouts have been insanely tough! I only got 3 workouts in for the week, even though I wanted 4. Since everyone wants to get into better shape in the new year, it’s been crazy crowded. I have to schedule my classes weeks in advance to make sure that I can get in. And when I didn’t do that for last Saturday, I wasn’t able to work out. Sadly, it looks like I might have the same issue Saturday, but I’m working on it.

Anyway, back to the workout recaps!

Monday’s workout wasn’t horrible, but what got to me was the Monday Challenge. First of all, I was the only person in the entire class to do the challenge after class ended. That made me a bit scared and intimidated, but I wasn’t going to let it stop me from doing it.

The challenge was a mini Dri-Tri. So it was .08 miles on the treadmill (I don’t remember what incline it was at, but it was high) to start. Then, 20 burpees. Burpees are still a killer for me and not only do they hurt my hips, I get really dizzy doing them. After I finished the burpees (I had to take a few breathing breaks to do them all), it was a 100 meter row on the rowing machine.

My time was over 3 minutes and I was nowhere near getting on the top 5 board. But I completed it and that’s what I have to remember.

Wednesday was another crazy day where I was doing insane incline work on the treadmill. Since I have issues getting my speed up, to get my heart rate up higher I have to add on more incline than I used to. I’m getting to the point where for most of the push paces I can do the walk at 10% incline. When the push pace is for 3 minutes, that’s when it’s a bit tough for me. But considering that I used to do all my push paces at 6%, it’s a massive improvement. I’m hoping that soon I can start increasing my speed without pain, but until then, it’s nice to know that I can still push myself on the treadmill with incline.

Friday was one of those days for me where the workout was so tough that I didn’t believe that I could really do it all. The treadmill portion was a 21 minute block (many classes have 7 or 8 minute blocks and then you switch between cardio and strength a few times to get all the blocks in). It was a treadmill block that was mainly push paces. And for some reason, my heart rate didn’t want to go up to where it needed to be, so I had to keep pushing myself more and more.

Then, when we did the strength portion, I had what I could have considered a set-back. While I was doing running man on the ground (it’s a move similar to mountain climbers), my foot slid out from underneath me. I thought that maybe the floor was just slick, but I couldn’t get my footing again. I just powered through and for the rest of the workout, I had a crazy tough time doing the running man.

When we were stretching, I took a look at my shoe and realized that a chunk of the bottom of my shoe (where all the grippy things are) was flapping in the air. I had taken off pretty much all the grips off of the bottom of my shoe during the workout!

This photo gives you an idea of the damage, but the blue rubber on my shoe was also coming off.

I can’t believe I worked out for about 10 minutes with a busted shoe! And I can’t believe that when it happened I just pretty much ignored it.

After class, I showed the trainer what had happened and she cracked up. She wanted a picture of the fact that her workout busted my shoe and then she posted that along with a picture of the 2 of us online and named me the MVP of class (each trainer gets to name an MVP for each of their classes now).

As soon as I got home, I ordered some new shoes online. They are supposed to get here today before my workout, but if they don’t I’ll have to figure out something to do with my broken shoe. I’ve got an emergency pair of sneakers, but they are a little busted too.

Now that I’m on the cleanse, my workouts this week are making me pretty nervous. I’m going to do the best that I can and understand that I might not be able to push myself like I usually do. I’ll let you all know how it goes next week!

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Posted in Fitness, Fun Stuff, Health, Shopping, Weight Loss

Tagged challenge, Orangetheory, shoes, workout

Sweating Away 2014 And Into 2015 (or Starting The Year Off The Right Way)

Posted on January 5, 2015 | 2 comments

With the past week, I wanted to make sure my workouts set me up for a great 2015. I decided to make it a 4 workout week and push myself to the limit again.

Monday was a good workout. Not horribly tough, but I was able to push myself and not feel overwhelmed. But then the Monday Challenge happened.

It was a challenge of full body pull-ups on the straps. Basically, you hold the straps at your waist and then drop down into a super deep squat. So deep that your butt touches the ground. And then you pull yourself back up using the straps.

We have done these a bunch in class, but I never do them properly. It’s not easy for me to squat down like that and have my butt touch the ground. My hips get stuck a lot that way and I sometimes will have my bones grind against each other when I try to stand. But for the Monday Challenge, if I wanted to participate, I had to do the full movement.

It was a 1 minute challenge and I was hoping to get to double digits. The first few reps weren’t so bad. They were tough, but I was able to do them. Then I got stuck on the ground. I literally wasn’t able to pull myself back up. I managed to stand up again after shifting my legs and hips, but it wasn’t fun. Then on the next rep, I pulled myself up so hard that I almost fell face-first into the mirror.

In the end, I was able to do 11 full body pull-ups in 1 minute. I was nowhere near the top 5 board, but I met my goal of double digits.

Wednesday was New Year’s Eve and I had an early (and half) shift at work. So I was able to attend a lunchtime workout so I would have time afterward to get ready for the party that evening. I wanted to look festive, so I found a silver sparkly headband (made by Sweaty Bands) to wear for that class.

A couple of people joked that I was wearing a tiara, but I just wanted something fun to help me celebrate the year that introduced me to Orangetheory. Going to a workout was the perfect way to celebrate the end of the year, and a lot of people must have agreed with that idea because the class was packed! We did a 3G workout, which means that there is one group on the treadmills, one group on the rowers, and one group doing strength work (instead of the usual two groups). It was a little hectic, but it wasn’t anything I couldn’t handle.

Then, just to push myself even more, I attended a workout class the morning of New Year’s Day. I was a little tired from being out the night before, but it was a later morning class so I was able to sleep in a little. My workout suffered a little from being tired, but again, this was the perfect way to celebrate the new year. And with my goal of 175 workouts this year, I need to workout even on holidays.

I did like how my new workout gloves looked with my New Year’s Eve manicure. I like looking girly and tough at the same time!

And then, to complete the trifecta of pushing myself, I worked out on Friday as well! Not only was this my 4th workout of the week, it was another time working out 3 days in a row!

I was still tired from a lack of sleep and my body was getting tired from the workouts, but since it was a strength day I wanted to see if I could use some heavier weights. I ended up doing all of my strength work with 15 pound weights. When I started, I was using 8 pounds and recently I have been using 12 pounds and occasionally 15 pounds. But I didn’t let myself go down to 12 pounds. It was tough and my arms are still a little sore, but I’m proud of myself.

Then in the cardio section, there was a new challenge for me. As a walked, when we have push paces or all-out paces, I up my incline on the treadmill when joggers and runners up their speed. But for one of our treadmill blocks, everyone became a walker. We had to do 15% incline (which is what I usually do as my all-out pace), but we were allowed to go 2-3mph (I typically am walking at 3.2mph).

At first, I wondered why we were going to be allowed to go slowly, but then I found out that it was for 5 minutes! I had never done 15% incline for more than a minute or maybe 90 seconds. I was so glad that I was allowed to go slower and I made it through the 5 minutes with only taking one quick break to pop my hip back in (I know that that sounds gross).

I’m trying to pay more attention to my body not just during the workouts but after the workouts. I was a little sore after Friday, but nothing that was worse than any other day. This just proves that I can work with heavier weights and my body is ready for that.

I really feel like these workouts got me off to a great start for 2015, and I wonder how far I will be able to push myself over the next year of workouts!

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Posted in Celebrations, Fitness, Fun Stuff, Weight Loss

Tagged challenge, New Years, Orangetheory, strength, workout

Final Days Of The Nike Challenge (or How To Work Out When You Can’t Breathe Through Your Nose)

Posted on December 22, 2014 | 1 comment

The Nike ID Challenge at Orangetheory ended this past week. But I ended up having a new challenge during the week because I got sick.

Monday was workout #15 for me for the Nike ID Challenge, so after that workout, I knew that I was going to be winning the shoes. I went to a morning workout that day because of the Tweetup that evening, and it felt very different to me than an evening workout. I’m so used to going at 4:15 that when I work out early, it is a little confusing to me. I’m used to going home after a workout and starting to decompress from my day. This time instead, I went home and got ready for my day.

On Wednesday, I was definitely sick. I felt a little better than the day before, but I was still taking lots of medicine to help me feel better. I tried my very best at the workout, but since I was feeling off, I didn’t do nearly as much as I normally can do. But as my dad always says, it’s all about being consistent in working out, not always having the best workout ever. So by going while I was sick, I was making sure I stayed consistent.

Another fun thing that happened on Wednesday was I got some workout gloves. My workout friend, Sarah, has been using them for a while and loves them. And since I’ve been getting some blisters on my hands from the weights, rowing, and TRX work; I figured I should get some gloves too. They were a little weird to use at first, but I quickly got used to them. And they do make a big difference in how strongly I can grip during my workouts. I’m hoping when I’m feeling better that with this better grip I can use some heavier weights.

Friday was my last workout of the week. Since the Nike ID Challenge was officially over then, I had to go in a bit early to have all of my challenge tasks to be verified. I came prepared with my checklist that I made.

Everything was fine, so I know for sure now that I am one of the winners and I’ll be getting my free shoes! I can’t wait until we get to design them so I can see what they look like.

Friday’s workout was very similar to Wednesday’s. It turns out the worst day of my cold was Thursday, so by Friday I was finally starting to feel a bit better. But even though I was getting better, I still was coughing a lot and having trouble breathing through my nose. So I tried to take it easy. It’s not simple to do that when I’m really trying to push myself, but I tried. It was a run/row day and I tried to take a little break between the run segments and the row segments (instead of racing from one to the other). After the workout, I was exhausted, but I was so glad that I went.

Now that the Nike ID Challenge is over, I have another challenge to look forward to. There will be a national weight loss challenge and there will be 1 winner out of all the Orangetheory locations participating (the last weight loss challenge was just for the location I go to). I’m totally going to enter the new challenge, but it’s going to be really tough when I can’t see my competitors in my workouts with me. But I know a lot of people at my Orangetheory are hoping that I’ll be able to place in the top 3 and I don’t want to let them down.

But until that challenge starts (I think it begins in a month), I’m just going to focus on getting over this cold and doing everything I can to end 2014 in the best shape I’ve been in for a long time.

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Posted in Celebrations, Fitness, Fun Stuff, Health, Shopping, Weight Loss

Tagged challenge, fitness, Orangetheory, shoes, sick

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