Whole30 Week 1 – Eats, Results and More

Whole30 Week 1 – recap, food, recipes, feelings, revelations and so much more to help you decide and do your own Whole30.

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A Week in Workouts and Exciting Fitness News

Hey-hey! Happy Hump Day, folks 🙂 It’s all downhill from here!

I’ve had a couple of really busy weeks here…I don’t know why, but I just can’t seem to catch up with everything ever since we came back from CA – so much going on!

So it’s been a while since I told you about my workouts. A lot’s been up on the fitness front, so let me tell you all about it – Wednesday to Wednesday 🙂Continue Reading

ICI/PRO 28 Day Instructor Challenge Week 1 Recap

Hey-hey, everyone! Happy Hump Day!

Today’s post is about ICI/PRO 28 Day Instructor Challenge Week 1 Recap, since the week 1 ended this past Sunday.

If you missed the beginning, read this post to find out what the challenge is all about. You can also listen to a special edition of the ICI/PRO Podcast below that we recorded to give you a better idea of what the challenge is all about and what cool prizes will be awarded at the end.

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ICI/PRO Indoor Cycling Instructor Challenge

Hi guys! Special announcement today! Well, actually I got two announcements – one really special, and one a little less special 🙂

I’ll start with BIG news.

Remember my interview with John for the ICI/PRO Podcast? While we were talking I mentioned how my fitness journey started – with a personal 30 Days Active challenge. After the interview was over, John had an idea to create a similar Indoor Cycling Instructor Challenge.

Well, fast forward a few weeks, and today marks the day we announced the challenge!

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Whole30 Final Recap – Results and “Now What?”

Hey guys!

So today is Day 30 of my Whole30! I did it!!! I feel pretty awesome and proud of myself 🙂

Since today is Tasty Tuesday I decided to summarize my experience with Whole30 as it all does start with food indeed.

But first, let me remind you what Tasty Tuesday is 🙂

Every Tuesday I post a recipe, a collection of recipes, a restaurant review or anything related to food. There is then a linkup at the end of the post where you can add links to your food-related blog posts! The linkup stays open for a week – right until the next one comes around. How awesome is that?

Don’t forget to check out other link up participants and there’s only one rule to the linkup – link back to this blog or grab the link up badge from the sidebar. Let’s spread the word so we can have more people checking out your posts next week!

tasty tuesday

We also now have the Tasty Tuesday Pinterest Board where you can pin your posts every week. To be able to do that, please follow me on Pinterest and let me know in comments that you did, and your Pinterest username so I could send you an invite.

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Whole30 Days 11-20 Recap – What It Really Feels Like

Hey-hey! Happy Sunday, guys! Having a good weekend so far?

It’s time for my Whole30 Days 11-20 Recap.

This time, instead of showing you just what I ate day-by-day, I wanted to share more of how I felt during my Whole30 Days 11-20. And some things I ate, too 🙂

Here we go!

whole30 days 11-20

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Whole30 Days 1-10 Recap: Program Friendly Meal Ideas

So I am 1/3 of the way through – done with my Whole30 Days 1-10.

In case you missed the beginning – after some thinking I decided to try this program with my buddy over in the Netherlands – Yuliya.

Ok, now that you have all the links, go ahead and read – I’ll wait 🙂

Welcome back!

So. 10 days later I decided I’d recap the highlights of the first 10 days of the program, let you guys know how it feels and what it takes.

whole30 days 1-10

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Turkey-Ginger Breakfast Patties Recipe – Whole30 and Paleo Friendly

Hey, my foodies! How is your week going so far? Hope you didn’t have too bad of a Monday 🙂

Well, you know what day it is, right?  Yep, Tasty Tuesday!

 

tasty tuesday

Every Tuesday I post a recipe, a collection of recipes, a restaurant review or anything related to food. There is then a linkup at the end of the post where you can add links to your food-related blog posts! The linkup stays open for a week – right until the next one comes around. How awesome is that?

Don’t forget to check out other link up participants and there’s only one rule to the linkup – link back or grab the link up badge from the sidebar. Let’s spread the word so we can have more participants checking out your posts next week!

First off, I wanted to let you know that there is now the Tasty Tuesday Pinterest Board where you can pin your posts every week. To be able to do that, please follow me on Pinterest and let me know in comments that you did and your Pinterest username so I could send you an invite.

This week, in light of my latest challenge which is Whole30, I am posting a Whole30-friendly recipe here.

Whole30 pretty much bans all my favorite breakfast foods (oatmeal, avocado toast, PB toast, breakfast sandwiches) – I had to come up with a plan “B” when it comes to breakfast.

So last Sunday I made a bunch of turkey-ginger breakfast patties for an easy grab-and-go breakfast. Add some boiled eggs and vegetables of your choice and you got yourself a wonderful breakfast free of processed crap. Here’s how:

breakfast patties

INGREDIENTS:

  • Ground turkey
  • 2 eggs
  • Fresh cilantro, chopped coarsely
  • 1-2 teaspoons fresh grated ginger
  • 1/2 yellow onion, diced
  • Salt and pepper to taste

HOW TO:

Preheat the oven to 350°F

Mix all the ingredients in a bowl until well combined

Line a cooking sheet with foil and lightly grease with olive oil

Form patties and place them on the sheet (I made 6 big ones, remember they’ll shrink when cooked)

breakfast patties

Bake for 20-30 minutes (10-15 minutes on each side).

Broil for the last 5 minutes.

Let cool down, refrigerate or freeze for later.

Enjoy!

breakfast patties

And that’s it! How easy is that? Mix, pop them in the oven, take out, eat! 🙂

Spread the love:

Now your turn! Link up your tasty posts below, my dears! I can’t wait to read what tasty foods you ate 🙂

Have a wonderful week and eat well.

Lena

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So…Whole30 Gets a….YES!

After careful consideration, my Whole30 Challenge is a go!

Won’t go into much detail as to why – I guess there’s both pro and con opinions out there – and plenty of both, too. I just feel it’s the right thing for me to do at this point in my health journey.

I’m missing something. And I’m hoping that Whole30 will help me find that “something”.

Anywho. It just so happens that Yuliya over at Welcome to Mommyhood is starting another round of hers over there in the Netherlands as well. How exciting is that? I have a Whole30 buddy!

We decided to cheer each other on and post recaps on our blogs for every 10 days of the challenge.

We will also be posting daily highlights over at Lean Lena and Welcome to Mommyhood Instagram pages.

Make sure you follow both our blogs and Instagram pages if you would like to follow along and find out what the first Whole30 feels like (that would be me telling you that) and how to make it enjoyable with Yuliya’s recipes and previous experience with this program. 🙂

Don’t miss out on the real experience and true recaps!

So… Whole30.

whole30

This weekend I sat down to plan my meals for the week. I’m saying “my” because my family is not following me along. They’re not crazy enough 🙂 Joking. They are. They just love pizza too much 🙂

The good thing is we don’t have the kids with us for the first 7 days of my Whole30, my husband is very flexible with food so we can eat program-friendly meals and hopefully, I will ease into it pretty quickly with less temptations.

So, back to the weekend prep.

On Saturday we went berry picking. It was so awesome! The place is wonderful and we had so much fun. If you’re in the area, check out the Yellow Hill Farm.

We picked a ton of blackberries.

whole30

We made blackberry cobbler that night, and I lie to you not – on Sunday morning my family sat down for breakfast and put away the whole 8″x8″ of it – right out of the pan 🙂 Ok, well…that wasn’t very Whole30 friendly 🙂

Back to the good stuff now.

On the way back from the berry picking we stopped by at the Peach Festival, and got a whole huge bag of peaches!

whole30

On Sunday our hot water heater said “I’m done!” My husband and the girl worked on it all day and ended up replacing the whole thing, while I was getting busy in the kitchen.

I made these awesome Turkey Ginger Breakfast Patties (stay tuned for the recipe tomorrow):

whole30

Got the pork roast in homemade marinade ready and in the over for dinner.

whole30

Cut up some fruit for my smoothies during the week:

whole30

Boiled some eggs, too.

I may or may not have made another 2 cobblers (peach and blackberry) for my hungry family 🙂

So, there you have it, guys! I’m ready for the Whole30 and I feel good about it. Bring it on!

Take care and stay healthy. Come back tomorrow for the awesome breakfast patties recipe!

Lena

 

30 Days Active Challenge – Final Week Recap

30 days active

So, the 30 Days Active Challenge is over, guys.

It’s been quite a few weeks for me. If you think about it – the past few weeks were a demonstration of what life is all about when you’re trying to stay healthy – circumstances getting in the way of your workouts, birthdays and celebrations messing up your healthy eating plans. Weather forecast, 11-year-old girls and their dramas, work stress, stars lining up the wrong way – all that is always going to be there and will be getting in your way.

By taking on this challenge I left myself no way to back out. I had to stay active and make good choices every day regardless of all the above.

And that’s the biggest lesson I’m taking away from this.

You have to pick yourself up and keep going – after that extra piece of cake (no guilt, enjoy it), that drama, those stars, that stress…

So here’s the last recap for this 30 Days Active Challenge for you guys. I hope you enjoyed following my adventure!

{WEDNESDAY}

I totally rocked the dinner that night (hubby helped grilling):

30 days active

After dinner we went for a nice long walk. Good steps that day!

30 days active

{THURSDAY}

On Thursday we decided to go for a bike ride. Yours truly dresses up in all the bright colors to be visible on the road, put on the cycling shoes…only to discover that my husband’s bike had a flat that needed a while to fix. The time was 7:00 pm and we only had 1.5 hour of the daylight left. So we decided to go for a walk instead.

It was such a gorgeous evening! We walked to and around the college football/baseball fields, and it was just amazing out there! We ended up walking over 3 miles that night.

30 days active

Smoothie of the day was watermelon – peach goodness. Yum!

30 days active

{FRIDAY}

Casual Friday morning started with Vibrams and a watermelon-mint smoothie 🙂

30 days active

Friday night was a yoga night. My instructor had been gone for a couple weeks, so it was good to be back in his class and do some much needed stretching.

Funny thing about yoga – your body gets so used to it when you do it regularly that aches and pains come right back if you miss a few classes on your regular schedule.

Was awesome to be back into it on Friday!

{SATURDAY}

I was up bright and early to go to Megan’s cycling class.

30 days active

The sleepy “before”

I love her classes! I never asked, but I think she’s a cyclist – her classes are always built so realistically – just what you would do on a regular bike, no funky moves or profiles! And – they kick.your.ass. Big time!

30 days active

The sweaty “after”

Saturday awesomeness continued with a much needed 4 (!!!) hour nap and getting this in the mail:

30 days active

I can’t wait to go running!

And that was it for the 30 Days Active Challenge, guys. I’m done with it and back to my regular workout schedule with those “take-aways” I talked about in the beginning of this post.

I think I will continue with Wednesday workout recaps on this blog, what do you think? 🙂

Thanks for following along and cheering me on in the past 30 days! I couldn’t have done that without you!

Hugs,

Lean Lena

This post has been shared on Work Out Wednesday Linkup.

30 Days Active Challenge: Week 4 Recap

Hey-hey my fit friends! It’s Hump Day and that means what?

Correct! Time for another 30 Days Active Challenge recap.

The past week was hectic and busy-busy-busy with both mine and my husband’s birthdays – I feel like all I ate was cake all week 🙂

But yes, I did have this challenge I put myself through on my mind all the time and even on the days when I didn’t have an “official” workout, I tried to stay active or eat extra healthy.

So here’s what happened last week:

{WEDNESDAY}  was my birthday, so official workout didn’t really happen. I had a wonderful birthday celebration both at work and at home.

My awesome husband took me out to Rock Bass Grill for dinner where I had the 2nd best crab cakes in my life!

crab cakes

Guess what I got for my birthday? 🙂

garmin forerunner

Yep, I’m married to the BEST guy in the world, you know? 🙂

Exercise on Wednesday: walk-walk-walk!

{THURSDAY}

We had a yoga class at work over lunch time. I love those classes! It’s like somebody pushes your reset button in the middle of the day and you come back to your desk all balanced and calm.

Then somebody pisses you off again, but that has nothing to do with yoga 🙂

Anyway. After work on Thursday I needed to go to CVS. So instead of driving a few blocks like I usually do, I walked there.

30 days active

{FRIDAY}

There was so much cake on Wednesday at work, and then dinner at the restaurant….so we didn’t get to my birthday cake at home until Friday 🙂

IMG_2452-1

No official workout, but lots of activities and walking that day.

{SATURDAY}

On Saturday I finally got a chance to try an indoor cycling class with a recently hired instructor at our Y. She teaches in the mornings on weekdays, which of course I can’t make because I work.

So I was pretty excited to see her name on the Saturday rotation class schedule this past week. I signed up and bam! I was there at 8:00 AM on Saturday.

Here’s my blurry “Pilot” at the end of the class 🙂 It’s blurry because taking a picture while still pedaling is not the best idea in the world 🙂

30 days active

The class was good, just a couple “funky” moves and that’s it 🙂 I still got an awesome workout, which was nice – just being able to concentrate on your own effort without having to guide anybody else. 🙂

After the class, hubby and I took a long walk to Cole’s bicycle shop where I almost agreed to buy a $1200 road bike… Crazy woman 🙂

That didn’t happen, though. $1200 is waaaaaaay over the budget I was planning for my first road bike. So…we’ll keep looking 🙂 I got fitted though and tried several bikes which was A LOT of fun!

Here’s the bike I was trying out on Saturday – Trek Lexa SLX:

$1200 is a good price for this bike. Just not good for my budget 🙁 (sigh)

Good steps that day!

30 days active

{SUNDAY}

No official exercise on Sunday. Hubby and I had something planned which ended up taking up most of our day (More on that this coming Tasty Tuesday).

So…steps, steps, steps.

{MONDAY} Cycling

Monday was my husband’s birthday. As I usually teach indoor cycling on Mondays, and he wanted to come to my class this week, I designed a riding profile just for my him – with the happy birthday song in the beginning and some of his most favorite songs throughout.

My class is called “Road Trip”. So I announced this past Monday class as a “Rocky Road Trip” because most of the songs in the class were rock 🙂 If you would like to see the latest class playlist, check out this page here.

30 days active

Good burn and fun class. My birthday boy was happy with the ride 🙂

We then got home and celebrated his birthday with his favorite coffee chocolate chip ice cream pie, and gave him a special birthday present he requested.

{TUESDAY}

Steps-steps-steps. No official workout.

Healthy choice of the day:

smoothie

Watermelon, strawberry, mint and cottage cheese smoothie

And that was it, my friends.

I am not particularly happy with the past week for a few reasons: I didn’t run once (my knee was being funny pretty much all week), I had too much cake, I had too many days with no official workout. I did stay active every day, I did what I could when I could. I guess it’s the most important thing, but somehow it doesn’t feel like it’s enough…

Ok, so today is Wednesday and it is the beginning of the final week of the challenge. I’m gonna make it count!

Stay tuned for the next week’s recap and more!

Lean Lena

This post has been shared on: Work Out Wednesday Link Up, The Hump Day Blog Hop

C25K and Week 3 of 30 Days Active Challenge

Hey-hey my fitness gang! How is that hump day going over there?

I’m feeling pretty happy here 🙂 Oh! That’s right! Happy Birthday to me 🙂

Yep, I get to eat at least one of those today :) Image Source

Yep, I get to eat at least one of those today 🙂 Image Source

So I’m done with the 3rd week of my 30 Days Active Challenge and I have to say – it has been the toughest yet. Not only because I felt unmotivated for most of it, but also due to the family/life circumstances playing against me.

So here’s the Week 3 recap of the 30 days active challenge I brought onto myself.

{WEDNESDAY}  was a C25K run day.

c25k

Hubby and I went on another adventure with C25K – Day 2 of Week 2 is where we’re at. We ran/walked for 2.3 miles at about 13 min. average pace.

The stars were stacked against us that night – my Mr. H. pulled something around his knee and is out of running for now 🙁

{THURSDAY}  His knee didn’t start hearting until Thursday night after we got home from work.

I ended up staying at home and taking care of him/dinner/house stuff. I tried to make up for no official workout on Thursday by eating well and at least walking more.

dinner salad

{FRIDAY} was a nightmare

Family issue came up big time, which pretty much screwed up my entire weekend until late Sunday evening.

No official workout on Friday, but I did try to stay active and take more steps (I think I pretty much went up and down the stairs at work like every 30 minutes).

{SATURDAY}

I was so tired after Friday events that I was only capable of yoga – or so I thought in the morning anyway.

So I did yoga with Fiona.

I haven’t been to her class in a while and was so happy to get a chance to go – it was wonderful to see how her teaching style has evolved to showcase the strength that I always knew she had. It was a great class and really helped me relax after the stress of my Friday and tune out of everything but what my body was doing in that hour.

Thank you, Fiona. I’m really grateful for that class.

{SUNDAY} Active Day

The family train got back on it’s tracks – everybody was relieved and happy again.

I took a quick bike ride to the swim club choosing to move my legs rather than take a car ride with my folks:

bike ride

Got a quick refreshment in the pool, got back home and went for a run with C25K!

C25K

Lessons learnt: more that 2 days’ gap between runs does not feel good; it’s not the heat it’s the humidity that’s the “run killer”. Temperature was nice and pleasant, but it was still very humid. Besides, I chose a route that had me going uphill most of the time (silly). Oh well. That was done and felt good afterwards.

All my efforts on Sunday were rewarded by the FitBit stats in the evening:

c25k

{MONDAY} is my new favorite day of the week.

Why? Because that’s when I teach at the YMCA at 5:30 PM and get to see my cycling gang, ride with them and share this incredible energy they create.

I had 7 people in my class this Monday, no newbies, all my regulars and familiar faces. We had a blast!

cycling

If you’re a cycling/Spinning® instructor looking for new ideas for your playlists, check out this page here to see the playlists I use for my rides.

{TUESDAY} Swimming

It was hot yesterday! Really-really hot. So we grilled some chicken thighs, packed some watermelon and went over to the swim club, where I did some laps and then we had dinner there.

food

And then I got home and picked all this goodness in my garden to fuel my challenged body 🙂 🙂 🙂

gardening

So, what did I learn from this week of the Challenge?

First of all – I learned not to turn one slip up into a slip up week. Life got in the way of my workouts on Thursday and Friday, but I didn’t quit or stop the 30 Days Active Challenge. I kept going. Because it is not a failure. It’s a slip up. You get up and keep going.

Because I pretty much missed two days, I am going to extend my challenge until August 2 instead of finishing on July 31.

And that’s how it’s going to be. Bring on the final week of the 30 Days Active Challenge!

Tell me, guys: what was the best work out you had this/last week?

Stay fit, and keep going!

Lean Lena

Linked to: Work Out Wednesdays Linkup, The Hump Day Blog Hop, Wine’d Down Wednesday

30 Days Active Challenge Follow Up Report – Week 2

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Hey guys! The Hump Day is here!

Are you having a good week so far? I’m pretty excited to be back here with my Week 2 of the 30 Days Active challenge report.

This challenge to myself started with this post where I wrote a Tough Love Letter to myself following a session at FitBloggin’ 14.

And I’m happy to report that the challenge is going very well and I am staying active every day. Here’s how:

{WEDNESDAY}  last week was a yoga night! My legs were SORE from biking and running the week before, so yoga just felt super nice and relaxing.

30 days active challenge

I chose to walk to the Y instead of driving

{THURSDAY}  was HOT! Didn’t really feel like spending any time indoors though, so hubby and I went on a nice long walk together.

30 days active challenge

Sporting our Vibram Five Fingers (Stats on the right are for the day. Yeah, I know…I have a desk job)

Check out what we saw in one of the yards while walking:

Some people are amazingly creative!

Some people are amazingly creative!

{FRIDAY} was another run day – this time my husband decided to join me and train for a 5K too!

30 days active challenge

And that run marked the end of my Week 1 of 8 with Coach to 5K.

30 days active challenge

{SATURDAY} I did not feel the energy AT ALL.

All I could push myself to was a yoga class and a few laps in the pool. But I did it! And that was it 🙂

30 days active challenge

{SUNDAY} was another C25K Day

Hubby and I agreed to leave the house early in the morning (before the major heat kicked in) and go for a run. It was supposed to be the hottest day of the week, that’s why we wanted to get that run in early so we don’t have to suffer through it.

Well, Mr. H slept in and I waited for him patiently (because I am a good wife, you know). And then we suffered through it.

Not only was it miserably hot, but it was also the day in C25K when you switch to longer running sets.

That run was the worst of my life so far! I was drenched in sweat, breathless and a little dizzy when we got home. It took me a while to recover from that one…

30 days active challenge

The numbers above probably look funny to someone who runs regularly – nearly 14 minute miles… But I’m not sweating it. I’m getting there and working on it.

And I’m still lapping everybody on the couch 🙂 🙂 🙂

{MONDAY}  was a work day – I taught my regular Indoor Cycling Class at the Y.

It was raining outside, so I had 7 (!!!) people in my class – a record number for summer time 🙂 It also so happened that the class mostly consisted of my regular riders and good friends (Mr. H attended, too!).

We had a BLAST! I felt such wonderful energy exchange and inspiration! Don’t forget to check out the latest playlist right here to get the feel of what it was like 😉

30 days active challenge

{TUESDAY} was a weird day…

Mr. H and I were originally planning to go for another run with C25K, but he had to get up really early and leave, so we decided to re-schedule that run for Wednesday.

I had to do SOMETHING! I felt like peace and quiet. So I went upstairs, lit up some candles and did yoga.

30 days active challenge

And that was it, my friends!

Missed the Week 1 Report? No problem, check it out here.

Do share: what was your most favorite workout of the past week or so?

Stay fit, friends!

Lean Lena

This post was shared on the Workout Wednesdays linkup.

Pro Cakes Review and Tasty Tuesday Linkup

Good morning, Healthy Eaters 🙂 Happy Tasty Tuesday to ya!

As always, I am sharing my tasty finds with you today and hosting a linkup for you to share yours!

Don’t forget to check out other link up participants and there’s only one rule to the linkup – link back or grab the link up badge from the sidebar. Let’s spread the word so we can have more participants next week!

Tasty Tuesday Badge 200x200

So, let’s get down to the tasty business here. A while ago, I got an opportunity through FitFluential to review Pro Cakes.

pro cakes

Pro Cakes is a high protein pancake mix, which is also gluten free, wheat free, contains 14 net carbs and over 20 grams of protein per serving.

I received this single serving of pancake mix in the mail shortly after I signed up for the review with an information card and a thank you note from the Pro Cakes founder.

pro cakes

I have to say – pancakes are my guilty pleasure – I could eat them for breakfast every day. Making a batch from scratch is not always feasible with my busy schedule. Making a batch from the store bought mix is not always healthy. So we make pancakes very occasionally.

This mix is a great solution to both issues above – you get a mix that just needs 1/3 cup of milk and an egg added to it (substitute with almond milk and an egg white if you feel like it) and is healthy and packed with protein. (see the full list of ingredients here)

Another thing that I loved about Pro Cakes mix is that it comes both in 13 oz bags and in 1.6 oz singe serving bags (makes 3 medium size pancakes) that are super convenient if you’re making breakfast for one or two people on a busy morning when you just have no time to measure those ingredients.

I made 4 small pancakes from my single serving sample that I received.

pro cakes

The pancakes were fluffy and oh SO delicious! I have to say I was skeptical to begin with – mostly because I don’t like the artificial taste of pretty much any type of added protein.

I could not taste anything funky in these pancakes.

There was no artificial powder aftertaste whatsoever.

I punched in the numbers for just the pancakes into MyFitnessPal that morning and here’s what I got:

pro cakes

Of course that’s not everything I ate that day, but looks pretty balanced to me for one meal – especially taking into account that the meal was PANCAKES!

I loved these pancakes and the fact that they are packed with protein without the artificial aftertaste. I would definitely recommend them!

Now tell me all about your tasty finds, guys, and don’t forget to link up your tasty posts below. Please, share, link back or grab the linkup party badge from the sidebar.

Have a wonderful week!

Lean Lena

DISCLAIMER: Pro Cakes has provided me with the complementary product in exchange for this review. All the opinions above are my own.

This post was shared on Healthy Tuesday Blog Hop.

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30 Days Active Challenge Follow Up Report – Week 1

Hey guys! Happy Hump Day!

As you may remember, last week I posted a Tough Love Letter to myself where I promised to go back to basics and workout every day for 30 days, and post weekly progress reports here.

So here is Part 1 of the 30 Days Active challenge recap, as promised.

{WEDNESDAY}

Last Wednesday, after I published the tough love letter, I was all jazzed up to get started on my new challenge!

So I grabbed my husband and we hit the weight room together (followed by a yoga class for me).

30 days active challenge

It felt awesome to be back in the weight room! I ran into a couple of my cycling students, which is always a pleasure. Love my people!

 {THURSDAY}

Oh, was I sore on Thursday! I think I pulled a muscle in my arm as it still hurts today – been working too hard 🙂

Since I couldn’t really use my arms to workout, hubby and I went on a long walk on Thursday evening.

30 day active challenge

{FRIDAY}

On Friday I woke up with an itch only a run could “scratch”. 🙂

If you’ve been reading this blog for a while you know that I got injured running about a year ago (on my first run in forever), went through a long and expensive PT, got a pair of expensive running shoes and never got back to running – story of my life…

Until the 4th of July 2014.

So at about 7 AM on the 4th of July, I dusted those Brooks off, laced ’em up, left a note for my husband (who was still asleep like most of sane people out there), and went for a run with the C25K® – 5K Trainer.

30 days active challenge

No, my bad knees didn’t give out and I ran/walked for about 1.7 miles. I know people who eat marathons for breakfast, and I’m awful proud of them and proud to be friends with them. But you know what? There’s no feeling like being proud of yourself for making those first 1.7 miles after a long period of being a lazy ass  injury!

I felt horrible every step of the 1.7 miles, and  felt awful proud of myself afterwards!

No knee pain so far (and it’s been almost a week), so I decided to stick with the C25K for now.

{SATURDAY}

It was my turn to teach Saturday Cycle at the Y at 8:00 am last week. The Y has dropped the 9:00 am class for the summer and made the 8:00 am class an hour long instead of the usual 45 minutes.

I have to admit, I dislike an hour long cycling classes. I think 45 minute format is ideal for getting a good workout and not overdoing it.

But hey, the boss is the boss, so I put together a hilly, one hour long nightmare plan on Friday night 🙂

30 day active challenge

It is VERY schematic though – the height and steepness of the hills in the drawing above had nothing to do with the actual intensity of the class profile elements. I just did that so I could better visualize the terrain I planned out for the class.

So on Saturday morning I grabbed my husband again (gotta love that guy for everything he takes from me!), and we headed out the door for the morning cycling madness 🙂

30 days active challenge

We killed it! It was a wonderful class – great energy from my students, lots of compliments from the class on my playlist. By the way, you can check out the playlists I use in my indoor cycling classes here.

After getting home, taking a quick shower and grabbing breakfast, I went back to the Y for a yoga class. Oh did that feel good to my sore legs and arms and shoulders!

{SUNDAY}

Regular workout was just not playing out for me on Sunday. The evening was approaching fast so I had to come up with something to stay active.

When the family decided to drive to our local swim club, I decided to bike there.

It’s not far – just about 1.73 miles one way, but that was better than nothing.

30 days active challenge

It felt great to do some laps at the pool afterwards, too!

{MONDAY}

On Monday I taught my regular indoor cycling class to my regular 3 summer students 🙂 You know, you might see a lot of instructors complaining about attendance numbers dropping in the summer time. I LOVE this time – I use this opportunity to try new things in the class that I wouldn’t be able to try with a bigger group, use it to bond with my students and give them more attention during and after class.

Love-love-love small classes. They might not be blasting the bigger class energy, but they sure feel rewarding and challenging!

30 days active challenge

{TUESDAY}

It was HOT here on Tuesday. I kind of gave up on the idea of going for a run since early morning – it was sticky! Options were: home yoga DVD or weight room at the Y.

Since my arm is still not 100%, I decided to wait with the weight room.

Home yoga DVD seemed a little boring….It cooled down after the rain…So I ended up going for a run 🙂

10 days active challenge

I love that feeling of freedom running gives you…All you need is a pair of shoes and some motivation to lift yourself off the couch and get out of the door – and you won’t regret it.

I felt so much energy after the run last night!

So, friends. Here are the results of Week 1 of the 30 Days Active Challenge:

  • I. AM. SORE. Like, all the time and everywhere 🙂
  • I am 2.8 lb lighter (that’s after a 6 months plateau and then a gain – I couldn’t believe the number on the scale finally moved in the right direction!)
  • I look at my FitBit more than I look at my watch 🙂 Sometimes I feel like I look at my FitBit more than I look at my husband! 🙂 🙂 🙂
  • I feel empowered!

That’s it for now, guys.

Remember to check back next Wednesday for the Week 2 recap of my 30 Days Active challenge I brought onto myself 🙂

Stay strong!

Lean Lena

This post has been shared on the Work Out Wednesdays Linkup. I am also a featured blogger there this week! Check it out – it is a great weekly linkup with wonderful people.