10 Week Challenge & My Workout Week

I am officially back on the weight loss wagon...I’ll leave that long story for another post.  It’s kinda sad how much time I have wasted this past year. Now I’m down to only three and a half months until school starts and I am nowhere near where I want to be fitness or weight loss wise.  So...time to kick it up into high gear!

After browsing some of the blogs out there, I stumbled across Operation Skinny Jeans (see post here) and her 10 Week Challenge.  Basically I’m going to set a few specific goals and complete mini challenges up until July 4th while interacting in the facebook group and blogging about it.  I feel like it will be a great way to introduce myself to the blogging community and also set up some accountability that I desperately need!  The following are my goals for the challenge:

1. Get to "One-derland" (under 200)

One-derland (about 170 lbs)

2. Follow my weekly workout schedule.

3. Eat clean and limit my “treats/alcohol intake”

Yes...this is a spoonful of icing. NO MORE!

4. Complete my 5k in under 40 minutes and sign up for another one in July!

5. Start lifting weights on my own in addition to boot camp + add yoga 1-2 x a week.

Yay yoga!

As I stated in my goals above, in order to motivate both myself and my boyfriend, Nick, we (ahem...I) decided to sign up for the Redlegs 5k in downtown Cincy on June 1st (also the same day one of my best friends will be running a MARATHON...say what??).  I am on Week 4 of Couch to 5k, although I haven’t been following it religiously.  I’m lucky if I get two good runs in a week and I’m starting to get panicky about not being able to finish the training in only a month.  I know we can walk it but I really don’t want to!

On top of the running, my aunt teaches boot camp classes on Monday and Wednesday nights.  We usually do circuit training with a healthy mix of cardio and strength training...think The Biggest Loser style including the giants ropes and humongous truck tires! Having a pretty regular group of women to exercise and be social with makes boot camp something to look forward to.

Before Power Ryde...not too good at the mirror selfies. 

On Wednesday, I decided to try something new!  I signed up for a “Power Ryde” class at a local yoga studio.  The class is basically a regular spinning class but the bikes move side-to-side instead of staying stationary.  This requires a lot more core and upper body strength than traditional spinning and I’m definitely feeling it now!  I think I’m going to add this to my exercise routine just to keep things fresh and interesting!  Below is a video of what the class is like...except imagine a pudgy girl instead.

Finally, I had a super great running day on Thursday which was my first run in about a week.  I decided to do the 5k loop around my town plus a little more and I ended up breaking a lot of personal records.  Even though I haven’t been following the C25K program like I should be, I can definitely say that cross training makes all the difference!  I've already taken off a minute and a half off my mile! YAY!

My Nike Run app let me know I broke all these personal goals!

Whew...that was a LOT!  Tomorrow is my boyfriend’s 23rd birthday so it’s definitely going to be my cheat day food-wise, although I already informed him we are going for a run/walk in the morning!