Goals - May the 4th Be With You

glitter GUIDE always an inspiring start to my day

Monthly goal setting is such a refreshing way to keep yourself accountable. By setting SMART goals you are bound to succeed. May is going to be a busy month! With each weekend packed full of events from an invite to the Junior Leagues Los Angeles, Casino Angeleno the bachelors annual Westerner to a wedding and a baby shower on consecutive weekends and both out of town... Meeting my goal this month will be a challenge, but nonetheless a challenge I am up to! May the 4th be with me! 

MAY GOALS

1.)Try 1 New Recipe a Week 

Last night I tried out the Chicken Enchilada skillet recipe from Damn Delicious and it was boyfriend approved and damn delicious! I am not a fantastical food photog, but I will see what I can muster up when it comes to coverage of the recipes I try out this May. Stay tuned...

2.)Fall In Love With Running 
Last month I set the bar high for myself with a goal of running 15-20 miles a week. This month I am going to take a step back and set a goal to fall in love with running and will let you know how it pans out. 

3.) Read Smarter 
Ever wish you could read books at a blazing speed? Me too! In order to control that dictating little voice in my head that leaves me reading every word from left to right sometimes more than once, I will dedicate a certain point in my day to zeroing in on my reading material and never read less than a chapter at a time. Simple as it may sound, this is my first step I am taking towards reading smarter.    

4.)Quench My Thirst the Right Way
With water! For the next 31 days I will abstain from ANY beverages during my day to day other than water. No diet coke! No diet ginger ale! No juice! Wine and all of the above after hours is still on the table (I will save abstaining there for another adventure).  

Boot Camp: Week 5&6 Thats a Wrap!

Last Friday was the end of our first bootcamp session in 2013! We made it! The last 2 weeks festivities included circuits, stairs, running, traveling burpees (see video below) weight vests, ankle weights, weigh ins and more... Unfortunately I had to get yet another new iPhone this weekend so I lost a little of the documentation... nonetheless the below is great photo and video mashup of what weeks 5&6 were made of! Congrats to everyone who reached their goal weight and to all of us for making it through the first session of the New Year! 

 

{weight vest ready!}

{mile run around staples}

Boot Camp: Week 3

Week 3 Monday Morning 1/21: Step, Step, Step it Up!  

Here we are! Week 3 complete! Let me start off by apologizing for non iPhone pic documentation of Monday morning workout {I woke up late, which is precisely why I lay my clothes out the night before which i plan to discuss in a later post} With a room full of boot-campers eager to get our sweat on post Monday morning weigh in blues, 36 of us to be exact we all rushed the corners of the room to grab our steps, mats and dumbbells ready to shed some weekend lbs! Lined from wall to wall and double up were are steps, facing a partner, dumbbells hand in hand and ankle weights tightly secured for the remainder of the hour we were up and down plank to push up, on our mats legs up donkey kicks, leg extensions, mountain climbers on the step, burpees using the step... we did NOT stop!

Wed 1/23 

Things Not to Forget to Bring to Boot-Camp... Your Ankle Weights and Your Brain:

While it was clear that Wednesdays workout took some serious thought and effort to come up with, I was unfortunately a part of the unlucky few who "forgot their brains at home" Wednesday morning and was abruptly kick out kindly asked to leave the workout before we were able to launch into parts 2 and 3. Without going into elaborate details about how the morning unfolded, let me just remind everyone {myself included} of something I said about Yardo's Boot-camp Week 1: Boot-camp is a group which is based on commitment, forged by good friendships  and undoubtedly bound in camaraderie... One thing that sets this 6 am workout apart from all others is that we do things TOGETHER! I don't think this is something any of us will forget to be mindful of from here (or should I say last Wednesday) on out!


It Never Rains in Southern California 1/25:

In the words of Toni Toni Toni It Never Rains in Southern California, but when it does, what do us crazy boot-campers do? We celebrate Marks Birthday and head out for our OG Downtown Run. But not before we work up little sweat first. In can you cant see the pics clearly above, Fridays workout was broken down into 3 parts.

Part I: Adams Apology

After how Wednesday unfolded an apology was delivered but with a reminder to all of us what boot-camp is about!  

Part II:  Start with 5 burpees and then every 2 mins on the 2 min mark drop and do 5 burpees all the while working to complete completing 4 rounds of the following with 30lb Barbell

20 Thrusters 

20 Sumo Squats 

20 Push Press

20 Dead Lifts

20 Squats

{We be up in the gym just working on our fitness}

 

{Running in the Rain OG dtla run!}

And there you have week 3 concluded... 3 more to go!

Boot Camp: Week 2

 With the second week of boot camp under our belts or should I say shaved from our waistlines, I have 3 more heart pumping workouts to share. This past weeks journey included the likes of brutal uphill climbs, a trip down memory lane for boot camp veterans with a grueling day devoted to what we like to call "Old School Boot Camp" and a 6 plus mile run! So here's to week 2! Check it out!

Week 2:
Bixel  Day 4 of 18

Monday morning we set out onto the streets of Downtown LA donning our ankle weights and gripping our dumbbells. I'm not sure about the rest of my fellow boot campers, but the fact that it was about 39 degrees outside didn't make for comfortable workout conditions and made gripping my 8 lb hand weights even tougher. But I sure did warm up quick running up and down Bixel (see the Google Maps screen grab above) weights in hand only stopping at the bottom to drop and pump out 5 burpees. A major challenge of taking your running to streets are hills and as if Bixel wasn't tough enough, try 45 mins straight up and down the hill, 5 burpees at the bottom all with 13 added lbs to lug around. Killer, but in a good way!

Old School Boot Camp Day 5 of 18 

"Run up your step, get in a plank, plank to push up, hands-up knees-up, run run run!" These are just a few of the directives being yelled out during this 60 minuets of non stop pounding movement, welcome to Old School Boot camp. If you can, imagine a turbocharged workout that mixes cardio and strength training, with just an aerobic step, 8 lb dumbbells (wish I had used 5 lbs that day) and a mat for cushioning the sit-ups and plank and the music pulsing we literally don't stop moving for about 45 plus minuets. Oh wait, and let not forget... our ankle weights!The energy in the room is almost euphoric and the music hypnotizing which moves this high intensity right along! 

Echo Park Run Day 6 of 18

2 miles from the gym, 1 mile around the lake, and 2 miles back, our Echo Park run can last anywhere from 4 to 8 miles. This past Friday was our first run run of the New Year and with perfect running conditions in the air, i pods & gps rearing to go we hit pavement at a steady pace and made our way to Echo Park. Running 2 solid times around the "lake" then switching directions and running 1 additional mile the opposite way I met up with some of the group on Glendale blvd before making our way back home. All in all we ran about 7 miles (I stopped a few times to snap some iPhone pics check them out below which paused my Nike App.) I say lake quote in quote because at this moment there isn't much of a lake that exists due to it becoming very polluted ultimately not meeting the states water quality standards and being deemed by the State of California as an impaired body of water  But with its Rehabilitation process pressing forward with the park scheduled to reopen in March of this year the future of Echo Park Lake is hopeful. On a random note regarding the lake, check out this cute love story of an unlikely friendship which unfolded on the very route we ran this past Friday! Its too cute... ps once Maria was relocated, Dominic was informed that Maria wasn't a Maria... she was really a he, but their love and friendship forges on!

{the rehabilitation of Echo Park Lake with the sunrise reflection over DTLA}

{I am really looking forward to the completion of the Rehabilitation of Echo Park Lake!}

{keeping up with this bunch was a challenge, feeling motivated!}

Another successful week of boot camp and 3rd week is already underway... stay tuned, more to come!

BOOTCAMP: Cant Stop Wont Stop

2013 is here and so is the 28^th session of Yardo’s Bootcamp Golds Gym Downtown LA and while I am not one of the relentless few, lucky enough to have been a part of this unique group since day one I am in my second year, which means I have attended 6 consecutive boot camp sessions at 6 weeks a session (w/ a one week break between each). I began during the last weeks of session 20 back in Dec 2011 and am now confident enough to invest some time to share with you our journey through session 28 of bootcamp ! For me, Ive known for a while that there is so much more to boot camp than the kick-A$$ early morning sweat… The camaraderie of bootcamp goes far past the actual 6AM meetup 3 days a week and it certainly starts with having a fearless and devoted leader… Adam/Yardo, please stand up! So for the next 6 weeks I intend to share with all of you our bootcamp journey as we each strive be the ideal walking business card for Adam (quote in quote) kidding but in all fairness we kinda are… right?! Nonetheless I hope our journey motivates, inspires, awwwes, scares and just plain informs those of you who don’t know about Yardo’s Bootcamp a group which is based on commitment, forged by good friendships  and undoubtedly bound in Camaraderie. And with that said...

Week One Day One:

Monday morning typically start out with a weigh in around 6:00 am. This can be a little brutal, especially right after the weekend, but for the most part I like to believe it keeps me in check (most of the time) This past Mondays weigh in was after 3 weeks off and facing the scale was like an exercise out of an episode of Fear Factor or something... And the work out (WOD seen in pic above) went a little something like this:

Welcome Back to Torture

• Weigh In

• Stairs 16 flights up and down as many times as possible in 15 min (I was able to cap at 4 x's up and down) this was followed by a 2 min break

• DLs (deadlifts) & Push Press - 15 x's each as many rounds as possible in 8 mins followed by a 2 min break 

• Squats (20) Tuck Jumps (15) Pushup Row (10) 8 mins as many rounds as possible followed by a 2 min rest

• Burpees 4 mins as many burpees as possible- DONE! 

Day Two: 

 I'm pretty sure day two kicked all of our As$es! Its a little difficult to see the deets of the WOD but the following is what made us sweat:

2 ROUNDS

• 100 Air Squats 
• 50 OH Lunges (25 lb plate held over your head)
• 50 DL's 
• 50 Curls 
• 50 Chest Press (lying on the mat with a 25 lb)
• 50 Burpees 
• 50 Bicycle Crunches 
• Stairs (up and dwn 16 flights)

And then do it all again! In the words of one of my nearest and dearest... "Aggressive!" 

Day Three:   

 

Here were all are killing it wearing our ankle weights. This mornings workout was a circuit based on exercises that incorporated the use of ankle weights. We did a lot of jumping around and kicking our legs (as seen above) We stared off on the treadmill for a warm up, I was only able to get in a mile and a half (not used to wearing ankle weights and they were making my ankles itch... higher socks are a must!) Once warmed up we headed into the room and our hour plus circuit went like this (not sure if I'm referencing all the exercise we did by the correct name but for the most part you will get the idea): 

10 Stations- 1 min or so at each- remember we have ankle weights on:

• Squat Jumps with 10 lb bar 
• Sumo Squats upright Row with Kettle bell (i just know thay s*#% was heavy)
• Mountain Climbers 
• Alternating Front Kicks (think Rockettes)
• Burpees 
• Ab Roller of Death (as Adam calls it)
• Step Up's w/ 15 or 17 lb weights
• Jump Rope 
• Hip Raises on the mat with the yoga block (squeezing the yoga block between your knees) 
• Leg Extensions

Overall our first week of boot-camp was a success! Great energy great effort and awesome workouts! More to come next week!

   

RFYL Vail Lake: How Will You Survive the Zombie Apocalypse?

Amidst the undead area sprawling the 5k obstacle course placed just above Vail Lake is where the zombie run took place... "Run For Your Lives" is what is was and ran for my life is what I did. Lining up for our 1:30 wave, we were separated into 3 different corrals, Appetizers (fast), Entrees (medium) and Desserts (slow).

Darkness falls across the land The midnite hour is close at hand
Creatures crawl in search of blood To terrorize yawls neighbourhood...

Each corral is released one after another, which keeps a steady stream of runners throughout the course.We started off as entrees quickly turned muddy runners hustling to dodge and evade the shuffling brain-eating zombies.

The race began up a fairly steep hill which made for a nice warm up until we reached the top and encountered our first batch of hungry walkers. Mixing in with the crowd I drifted past the undead with all flags remaining. It was dirty and dusty and the dust felt a bit like an obstacle in itself (the zombie sandstorm) because the dust being kicked up by all the runners made it a bit difficult to see and kinda grueling to breath through, but I hustled on with a smile on my face and what felt like sand in my teeth! My will to live was strong, but by the time I reached the shock shack (and oh did I get shocked) I had only one flag remaining and was completely zombified by the end of the maze.
 

{my first attempt at sprinting past the hungry undead}

 About the Race:

• Each runner is given a flag belt which represents health. 3 health flags included for you to protect throughout the course.
• The zombies are looking to steal your flags.
•  If you have no flags left at the end, you are now a part of the undead.
• Health bonuses are hidden throughout the course. (I looked for these but was unsuccessful in finding any) If a runner finds one and carries it to the finish, it will save your life.
• The course is flooded with 2 types of zombies: stumblers (those who can only walk and not chase a runner) and chasers (those who can all out sprint and chase after a runner
• There were 12 man-made obstacles runners must compete in order to be eligible for prizes.

The Obstacles: (well, what I remember of them)

The Mud Hill (times 2):
At the end of what seemed about the first dusty mile, we encountered the Mud Hill which was two muddy steep mounds of dirt each ending with a mucky mud pit you were about waist deep in.  

{not sure what Im smiling at here pretty sure I had just lost my last flag}

Zombie Gauntlet:
A flat open surface covered with zombies as far as my eyes could see. And I was clearly covered in mud which made it tough to slosh through this obstacle while protecting my flags.

Shock Shack:
A smoked filled house (like a burning building) which you entered by crawling through the window stocked with dangling electrical wires you were forced to crawl under which i quickly learned after being shocked in the head (which literally felt like I was kicked in the face... ouch!)

Muddy Logs:
Three logs placed over a muddy puddle which I crawled over and watched some silly "hard core" athletes unnecessarily crawl underneath.

Zombie Infested Maze:
Self explanatory... a maze infested with zombies which I got lost in twice.

And other Zombie Gauntlet

Low Vaulting Wall:
There were a couple of these about 3-4 ft or so... up and over!

Barbed Wire:
Two large pits of mud covered in barbed wire you made your way through on ducking low and being careful on your hands and knees.

Yet another Small Zombie Gauntlet

Mud Slide:
Up a ladder and down a slippery slide into a pit of mud. This was undoubtedly the most entertaining obstacle for spectators as runners seemed to find all sorts of ways to slip down this slide into the pool of mud.

Arch Crawl:
About 100 yrds of closely spaced arches everyone made their way through, head to butt. Pretty sure we all looked insanely ridiculous. Some people crawled while other were on all fours. I however scooted along using my hands to kinda squat hop between each arch.

Electrified Chain Link Fence:
Approximately 6 feet long and about 15″ off the ground this was the last obstacle which required you to  get flat and low crawl to avoid electrocution.  Since I had already experienced a bit of electricity in the shock shack I avoided making contact with this fence like my life depended on it.  

 

 

The organization of this event surpassed my expectations (especially considering they were pumping out 500 runners every 30 minuets) Signage was clear and the registration process took merely minutes. Parking was effortless and very efficient (and love that we parked for free Subaru being a sponsor and Tom having a Subaru yay!) Even bag check and pick up was super fast. Unfortunately I reached the apocalypse party to celebrate my zombie transformation (in other words, I lost all my flags and therefore was now a part of the undead) but celebrated and enjoyed a refreshingly cold blue moon beer.  From uphill climbs, swimming through mud, crawling under fences and even going through an electric shock house (all while bobbing and weaving through groups of undead), we faced several obstacles that challenged our fearlessness. This was an awesome day to remember, all in all it made for a fun race for our lives I highly recomend it (see video below) and I would deffieitely consider running again!

dear warrior dash...

You are going to be in my general area this September {i unfortunately missed the socal sign ups but thats ok Heather C. you're joining me right?! and Chelsea tooo and Ryan?!} You are my new goal. I want to hop over fire via the Warrior Roast, jump on old cars stampeding through rusted wreckage through the Road Rage and basically OWN you AND that vertical wall that scares me. I mean SERIOUSLY. How freaking Ah-mazing does this look?! I know its going to be everything im imagining it will be!

holla at a playa when you see me on the street

the streets of dowtown LA that is... running my a$# off !

i did it ya’ll! i kicked those 13.1 miles right in the bum and then did a little victory dance over the finish line {aka the threshold into the doors of Golds} like you wouldn’t believe.. yeeeeee! okay i lie, it was more like a victory waddle but whatev i finished! and oh man it hurt so good. for the non believers, check, check, check out my melody…. 

i forgot to push the start button on my nike plus - trust me i about cried so i only logged 11.53 waaah!

motivation is a funny thing you see...

my motivation to run stems from personal competitive instinct and is fueled by my overall desire to be fit, but i truly surprised myself this past friday. going into it i had prematurely decided I was going take an alternate route offered... but once we hit the pavement, i just kept going!  im not sure if i was motivated by amazing group of peeps i was surrounded by or that competitive mindset... nonetheless i completed our Bootcamps 13.1 faux half marathohn which provided an awesome route {thank you Adam} hitting up some Downtown LA's historical land marks...

{thinking about becoming a Nike Route Boss ha!}

{my splits from our run minus the 2 miles which my head was in the clouds dang-it}

during my run i realized a few things:

• running hills anywhere in LA are my nightmare...
• the more i run, the more i want to run. call me cray but its the truth.
• no matter how much it hurts or how many times i bitch about it, i know it's all worth it in the end. just finish!
• regardless of what physical limitations i think may stand in my way, i absolutely can push myslef to the extreme even if i end up walking around for the rest of the weekend with a sorry excuse for a pimp limp.
• the real person you are is revealed in the moments when you're certain no other person is watching.
• i will stop when im done, not when im tired.
• my physical capabilities are limitless and im deteremined to explore new boundaries in regards to these so called "limits"
• BRING IT!
  
  
  

10K Race Recap

I did it! 10k... check! I can now officially cross running a 10k off my oh-so-Grand {mental} list of things to do and it was absolutely amazing {thank you Krysten you were an awesome race buddy! Good pacing, good energy and good company}. This past Sunday I participated in the Run For her Life 10k, this was a fairly small race which was nice for my first one. Thank you sooo much to the peeps who supported me from making a donation to even just wishing me good luck pre race. Yes, I am going to admit it, I am totally one of those people who woke up one morning and said to myself "I am a runner" because I am so Not and never have been, but I really am starting to like it more and more each step of the way! Pre race a woman working the little water dispensary area asked me "Are you running the 5k or the 10k?" and after promptly/proudly responding "10k!" she then proceeded to ask how long I had been training and what my times were... I then not so quickly stuttered and attempted at a response back... {which didnt come out well, more like didnt come out at all aka I pretty much said nothing} You see, since Im not really a runner Im not akin to what I like to call runnerspeak. I finished the run in 53:11 in 23rd place of 54 women who ran the 10k (a lot more people/women ran the 5k) My average min/mile was 8:34 which Im feeling pretty good about. Unfortunately my kicks didn't arrive until this AM so I rocked in my Skechers yo! It was a beautiful day {albeit pretty chilly starting off} and I felt surprisingly good the entire time. One downside was I was bit disappointed with the race day t-shirt {which wasnt really a t-shit} bummer-but our swag bags were pretty awesome. Overall it was a very rewarding day! Check out my post race recap via my iPhone snaps{clockwise description is each frame}. I am excited about the possibility of running again... 1/2 marathon anyone? Who's running with me?!  

1. fresh organic fruit and veggie stand oranges were amazing 2. Century City Bridge race began underneath 3. pre race all sunny smiles 4. 330 my Road iD 5. warm ups

Run 4 Her Life 3/4 legenth race shirt im not excited about... meh

1. pre race game face & coffee 2. Skechers Liv race day kicks 3. Fellow runner in their race day attire 4. swag bag goodies, a whole lot of em' 5. post race lunch at Veggie Grill mmmmmm mmm good!

signing the 4 her life wall! Yay 10k