#BikiniSeries 2-week Check-in

Good morning, Fitfam!!

I'm going to stray off topic this morning for The Fit Dish to check-in with my progress with the Bikini Series 8-week challenge.

I kind of just jumped right into this challenge with no idea of how it was going to go and no real experience following a plan with the Tone It Up girls.

I'M HAVING SO MUCH FUN WITH THIS CHALLENGE!

I've been pretty good about following their workout plans for weeks 1 and 2.

I'm not so good about following their evening challenges, which are more mindful and less physical. Easier for me to skip.

One of their evening challenges the first day was to write some goals for the 8 weeks.

I drew a blank and skipped the goal setting. I wasn't sure what I wanted to accomplish - other than to look better good in a bikini.

After following along for 2 weeks, here are some goals I've come up with for the remaining 6 weeks.

**Complete a Tone It Up HIIT video without any breaks**

I'm loving all of the HIIT videos I've tried so far, but they are a struggle for me! Especially when they throw in burpees. I would love to be able to HIIT it up without any pause or mini breaks.

**Jump rope for 1 minute without tripping**

I did one of the workouts called Jump Your Heart Out, and I think the best I did was maybe 10-15 seconds without tripping on the jump rope. I definitely want to be a better jump roper. :)

**Noticeably tone up my arms and belly**

This is is my least concrete goal. I didn't want to put a number on it, because dropping numbers on the scale or even losing inches might not get me the overall effect I'm looking for. But I'll know it when I see it. :)

Speaking of numbers, here's what the first 2 weeks got me. I know, I know. I just said it wasn't about the numbers, but numbers can still be fun. :)

	Start	Week 3
Weight	160.4 lbs	158.8 lbs
Waist	37.5"	35.5"
Hips	42"	41.5"
Arms	12"	12.25
Thighs	24.5"	24.25

I'm really pleased with my results so far after the first 2 weeks, and I'm excited to see how it all comes together by the end!

Now, the actual topic for The Fit Dish today is What Makes a Woman Inspiring? I think it's a great topic, so now that you've read all about my #BikiniSeries progress, go check out our hosts Jill Conyers at JillConyers.com and Jessica Joy at TheFitSwitch.org to read all about how women find women inspiring.
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Workout Recap + Apr 26 Meal Plan

I just got back from Ragnar Trail Zion. As always, it was a whirlwind of a weekend with gorgeous scenery, one magnificent run, rain, mud, one not-so-magnificent run, a fabulous house, and a trip through Zion National Park.

It's definitely worthy of a recap (or two) of its own.

In the meantime, let me step back and try to recap my entire week.

Workout Recap

Sunday: 5 sun salutations. 4 mile trail run (Bootleg Canyon).

Monday: 4 mile run (10:19 pace). #BikiniSeries Total Body Mermaid Workout.

Tuesday: Hiity Bitty Bikini Workout.

Wednesday: Jump Your Heart Out Workout. KettleToning.

Thursday: Hump Day HIIT. Bikini Arms.

Friday: Yellow Loop (3.82 miles) and Green Loop (3.75 miles) for Ragnar Trail Zion.

Saturday: REST. And volunteering at the transition tent in the afternoon.

In summary, a pretty great week! #BikiniSeries is going great. Ragnar Trail Zion was amazing.

What's for Dinner?

There was so much food leftover from Ragnar. No one else from my team wanted it, so I brought it home. I ended up returning home with much more than I left with. lol.

But now, I've got a hodgepodge of food that needs to be consumed, and since it's Sunday evening already, it's unfortunately, going to be a hodgepodge of meals.

What are you cooking up this week?
How were your workouts last week?
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Be sure to stop by Laura @ Mommy Run Fast and Jill Conyers to check out what everyone else is cooking up this week.

Ragnar Trail Zion - Pre-flight

Good morning from the glorious Zion Ponderosa Ranch. I'm just a few hours out from starting Ragnar Trail Zion 2015.

We left Vegas around 5pm last night and arrived at the most spectacular vacation home EVER around 10-10:30.

Good luck double rainbow on the drive

This is some serious GLAMPING we'll be doing. I took some virtual tour videos, but I'm not sure how well they turned out (never tried this function on my phone before). My phone is charging now, but I'm sure I'll take more pictures later. Be sure to follow me on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, or G+ for more updates throughout the weekend.

Here are a few pics of the house aka The Sanctuary (yes, that's the name of the vacation house; pretty fitting, right?).

Wide open kitchen

View from the living room

Upstairs TV area

Seriously, I think this vacation home is bigger than any house I've ever lived in. :) The mudroom/laundry room is the size of a pretty large bedroom. There is a huge living room (with a fireplace) on the ground floor as well as a master suite and a large bathroom.

The upstairs has a master suite with a jacuzzi bathtub, TV area (pictured above), 3 more bedrooms, and 2 more bathrooms.

There's even a hot tub outside, which we may or may not have already indulged in last night.

Now THIS is the way to do Ragnar Trail. Like I said, 100% unadulterated glamping is going down this weekend.

And maybe a little running, too. ;-)

While I'm out running and relaxing in this amazing house, feel free to read my recaps from 2013 and 2014.

2013: The Experience
2013: The Running
2013: A Few Other Things
2014: Here I Come
2014: The Recap

I'm excited to see what changes/improvements they made since last year. Prior to getting cancelled to the snow last year, the Ragnar staff had really made some great improvements to the transition area and courses, so I'm curious about what's changed for this year.

Have you ever run a race multiple years in a row, and noticed significant changes?

Who else is racing this weekend?

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How do you Recharge?

Happy Tuesday!! Who else is happy for Monday to be over? :) Actually, it wasn't too bad of a Monday. This week.

It's a short work week for me this week because I've got Ragnar Trail Zion this weekend. It really snuck up on me. I'm not sure I've even mentioned it on the blog at all!

More on that later...

In the meantime, let's Dish the Fit.

This week's topic is HOW DO YOU RECHARGE?

Here are 9 ways I wish I recharged.

Read a book.
Write a blog post.
Go for a Run.
Enjoy a walk.
YOGA!
Bask in the sun on our patio or at the pool.
Soak in the hot tub.
Get a mani/pedi.
Meditate.

While I do enjoy many of these things, I don't necessarily recharge from them.

In reality, I zone out to a LOT of TV and movies.
And I try to get plenty of sleep at night. Or catch-up on sleep on the weekends.
I <3 naps.

This cracked me up!

So, there you have it. I recharge with TV and sleep. :)

How do you recharge?
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Be sure to check out our hosts Jill Conyers at JillConyers.com and Jessica Joy at TheFitSwitch.org to see how everyone else recharges.

Workout Recap + Apr 19 Meal Plan

Wow! I can't believe how quickly April has FLOWN by! And that it's been a month since I last shared a meal plan/workout recap post. :(

It's kinda too bad, too, since I've had some really great workout weeks. I'm only going to recap this past week in detail, but here are a couple of clif notes for the weeks I missed.

March 30th, I decided to start my own Morning Wakeup routine - jumping jacks, squats, incline push-ups, sit-ups. I started with 10 and worked my way up to 25. I also started doing sun salutations every morning, starting with 1 and working up to 10.

April 1st I joined the #RockYourCore challenge. It's been super fun taking pictures and videos of the core pose/exercise of the day!

April 13 I started the #BikiniSeries. I feel really good about week 1. Whoo hoo!! I followed the exercise plan pretty well, but I know that food in my weakness in getting bikini ready.

Those are pretty much the clif notes, so here's how it broke down last week.

Workout Recap

Sunday: 10 Sun Salutations and Morning Wakeup (23 reps) in the hotel room at the Grand Canyon.

Monday: 10 Sun Salutations and Morning Wakeup (24 reps). Added :30 sec side planks (each side) to the Wakeup routine for #RockYourCore. Bikini Cardio - 4.3 miles for the #BikiniSeries. Sunkissed Abs.

Tuesday: 10 Sun Salutations and Morning Wakeup (25 reps). Added Russian Kicks to the Wakeup routine for #RockYourCore. The Mermaid Workout (#BikiniSeries).

Wednesday: 10 Sun Salutations and Morning Wakeup (25 reps). Added V-ups to the Wakeup routine for #RockYourCore. Bikini Booty (#BikiniSeries).

Thursday: 10 Sun Salutations and Morning Wakeup (25 reps). Added Bicycle Crunches to the Wakeup routine for #RockYourCore. Bikini Yoga and Bikini Arms (#BikiniSeries). 3.3 miles (9:15 pace).

Friday: 10 Sun Salutations. Insane Cardio (#BikiniSeries).

Saturday: #BikiniSeries Booty Workout. 10 Sun Salutations.

After getting to work later than usual every day this week, I decided on Friday that I might have to shelf my Morning Wakup during the #BikiniSeries Challenge. It's just too difficult to fit it all in. :)

What's for Dinner?

Last week, there was a pretty nasty windstorm, and our power was out for more than 20 hours. Which meant most of our fridge had to be thrown out. It was SO hard to do! But ultimately, we decided to heed the recommendations of foodsafety.gov. After all, our health is more important than $100, right?

Yesterday morning, I picked up our bi-weekly Bountiful Basket. The veggies seemed a little light this week, but we got lots of delicious fruit! I already made a yummy fruit salad that will hopefully last a few days.

We got 2 spaghetti squash, which meant a visit to Pinterest for fun, unique ways to use that up. I made the most delicious dinner last night - Garlicky Broccoli & Spaghetti Squash.

Here's what I've got planned for the week.

Sunday: Pizza with Spaghetti Squash Crust

Monday: Bacon Spaghetti Squash Fritters

Tuesday: Leftovers

Wednesday: Broccoli Cheese Roll-ups



Thursday: Ragnar Trail Zion

Friday: Ragnar Trail Zion

Saturday: Ragnar Trail Zion

Breakfast:
Smoothies

Lunches:
Salads

Snacks/Dessert:
Fruit Salad
Cucumber Slices
Yogurt with Hemp Hearts

Sunday Prep:
Prep salads for this week's lunches
Make yogurt

What are you cooking up this week?
How were your workouts last week?
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Be sure to stop by Laura @ Mommy Run Fast and Jill Conyers to check out what everyone else is cooking up this week.

Favorite Quick Workout

No fault but my own, I know, but I've missed the past couple of weeks posting with The Fit Dish link-up.

No excuses this week.

But, I'm still going to kind of cheat on this one. I just looked up the topic last night, and don't have a lot of time to come up with something new.

So, here are two quick workouts that I love.

One, I just shared on Friday, but it's my current go-to workout to get my heart-pumping in the morning. I call it my Morning Wakeup.

Click to go to original post.

I'd suggest a minimum of 10 reps for each exercise. I'm currently doing 25.

Two, I originally shared this back in August. It's a little morning yoga routine you can do without even leaving your bed.

Click to go to original post.

It only takes a few minutes, but feels so good! I need to do it more often. :)

What's your favorite quick workout? Be sure to check out our hosts Jill Conyers at JillConyers.com and Jessica Joy at TheFitSwitch.org to see what everyone else's favorite quick workouts are. I bet there will be some really fun ones!
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5 For Friday - April 10

It's been a very, very long time since I've done a 5 for Friday type post. I've been feeling unmotivated and uninspired lately when it comes to blogging, but I've got a few exciting things going on that I wanted to share.

1. We are headed to the Grand Canyon this weekend. Neither of us has been before, so we're pretty excited. We're making a mini-weekend of it. We'll drive out Saturday morning and drive back Sunday afternoon/evening. I'm not sure why I decided it was important to go in April! Maybe it will be less crowded...?

Note: Deciding if it should have been "neither of us has been" or "neither of us have been" resulted in a long grammatical discussion before deciding that has been is correct. It still sounds weird, but according to Purdue Online Writing Lab, neither is singular and should use a singular verb - even if it sounds wrong. lol. So, there's your grammar lesson for the day. You're welcome. :-)

We're staying the night at the Yavapai Lodge - just one mile from the South Rim. I can't wait to, of course, see the beauty of the Grand Canyon, but also to do some trail running/walking/hiking. And maybe some outdoor yoga. It's going to be chilly, but I still can't wait!

2. I went shopping. To prepare for our chilly weekend at the Grand Canyon, and Ragnar Trail Zion in 2 weeks, and for a little retail therapy, I bought 3 pairs of running leggings at Walmart yesterday afternoon. Plus a few warmer tops. I needed a little color and a little fun for the cooler temps that I don't usually have to deal with here in Vegas.

3. I tried beets. I got 2 beets in our Bountiful Basket last week, and I kind of freaked out. Thank goodness for Pinterest! I ended up roasting them in a little olive oil/S&P to use in smoothies, of all things. The smoothies were delicious! Tangy, sweet, and probably very nutritious. Right? Right?



Waste not, want not. Instead of tossing out the stems and greens, I used them to make these delicious quesadillas.



The pesto was perfect. So savory! And combined with the squash and beet stems. SO GOOD! Of course, Jeff thought it was one of the most disgusting things he'd ever put in his mouth. MORE FOR ME!!

4. I started a new routine. Back on March 30th, I started a new morning routine to get me moving in the morning and to ensure I get at least some exercise every day.

I started with 10 and have been adding 1 rep every day. I'm now at 21. I'm going to keep increasing until I hit 25, and then I'll stay there for a couple weeks (probably through the end of April).

In addition, I've also been doing sun salutations every morning. I started with 1, worked up to 10, and will stick to 10 for a couple weeks now. Or until May 1st.

To keep me on track, I've also started using DailyMile again. If you're on there, we should totally be friends. :)

5. I joined the Tone It Up Bikini Series challenge.

It starts this coming Monday, and I'm kinda excited about it. Or at least hopeful for some good results. It's an 8 week program and sounds like it will be a really good one! I know I'll get out of it what I put into it, so I'm hoping I'll be able to give it my all. For real. I've been feeling very self-conscious and unhappy with my midsection lately, so here's to getting bikini ready!!

Well, that's all I have for now. Hope you all have a fabulous weekend! I promise it won't be another 17 days before my next post. :)

Have you ever been to the Grand Canyon?
Anyone else doing the Bikini Series?
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