Fitness, Shopping, and Hanging out at Fenwick Pier

Today was a busy day and I loved it.

My morning started with a little at home yoga session. I really love how flow yoga makes me feel. PS - what do you think of that teeny tiny ottoman our landlady picked out when furnishing the apartment? I think it's perfect for my laptop ;)

On my way to my morning fitness class I did day 1 of 30 burpees. I thought about doing them in our apartment, but it was just so pretty outside that I thought it would be fun to get a photo doing them on the promenade.

So, the photo was a fail, but I did all 30 burpees. I did them in three sets of 10 with a little break between each set. BTW ---> Facebook group here for anyone who wants to join in and might need/want support or want to give it. You can join and start your 30 days at any time.

Bodystep was another awesome sweat session. This class started off a little slower than the usual, but once Pam cranked it up, it was as intense as always.

After quickly getting showered and eating some lunch, I headed over to Central for a meeting at Fenwick Pier. I've been working on a committee for the American Women's Association called Hong Kong Hosts. HKH supports US military ships entering Hong Kong with volunteers to host activities for the servicemen and servicewomen.

Fenwick Pier is a place for the sailors to meet up and hang out, shop, dine, rest, receive free wifi, free sim cards, use free lockers, and use laundry services. It's kind of in the middle of construction chaos right now, but it's still great inside.

I had made time before my meeting to do a little more shopping at J.Crew (without dragging mrC along and making him wait) and picked up another super soft long sleeve (this time in baby blue). I also grabbed this super cute lady bug tee and these updated chinos that are seriously comfy. (Affiliate links - if you click, I make pennies. Seriously pennies. Click away!)

It's Opening Day in baseball land in the good, ole US of A. Good luck to my Cincinnati Reds. Hopefully the game is not rained out. Here's my last Opening Day in 2015, just days before leaving the country for China.

Working out today or watching baseball (or both?)

Simple Sunday and Workout Recap

I feel like I waited all day for the big rain that never came. The rain that I was text alerted to last night. The alert that made me anxious about getting my run in. Anxious because of the whole knee situation and the last thing I needed was to slip and fall.

No worries. I ran while the street lights were still on. It started to drizzle right as I was finishing my first loop and over-cautious me went left to my building instead of right to start another loop. I was thinking, keep it nice and simple.

Even though the drizzle never turned into a down pour and I wanted to repeat what we did on Thursday (see below), I feel good about my decision. Better safe than sorry! On another positive note, I changed up my intervals: run 90 seconds (increased +30) recover 60. I set the timer to do 15 intervals, but after the 10th one I kept going another minute to finish at our building. Total 2.24 miles.

OOTD: shorts (Athleta) similar here / tank (Athleta) exact here /
hat (Athleta) similar here / shoes (Mizuno) exact here

I also did my five favorite stretches (post coming soon) and some planks.

It's all good, I ran today! ---> I'm so happy to be wearing this shirt again (I picked it up the first time I ran ZOOMA Cape Cod and met Dimity and Sarah from Another Mother Runner). When I wasn't running, it didn't feel right to wear it. Kind of like wearing a race shirt for a race you didn't run. Am I right?

For lunch I made some buffalo chicken quinoa which I have been craving and let's be honest I will have it for dinner too. It's one of my favorite quinoa recipes and so easy.

Here's what the rest of my week looked like:

Monday - I went on a REALLY BIG hike with my friends from Shenzhen and mrC came along too. I recapped it here.

Tuesday - We recovered from Monday's hike. Smoothies were involved.

Wednesday - I would have gone for a run, but I had a meeting in Central for a committee I'm going to be working on.

Thursday - mrC and I went for an interval run: 23 x 1 minute run with 1 minute recovery. The number 23 was based on the 2 loop route we did last time. It was just as good this time plus we added the promenade for a grand total of 4.65 miles! Another long run PB for year. And I played around some more with our GoPro.

Friday - Last Friday's class was cancelled because the instructor was sick and Monday I hiked, so I was really looking forward to Bodystep. It was a crowded class but that didn't stop me from burning over 600 calories!

I love this drawstring bag because of the pockets on the outside - really comes in handy!

Saturday - I was feeling a little under-motivated. I thought I would go to the Fitness Center but instead I went for a walk. It's nice to see the flowers popping color again, but it's been gray and overcast most days around here. I'm over it the way the Northeast is over snow in the US.

Speaking of the Northeast...the Boston Marathon is just three weeks away and I saw this floating around social media. I hope there is a way to see it online.





Do you run in the rain?  What do you do after you run? Do you plan to see BOSTON?

Weekly Workout Recap 2/20/17

Well, this post is a little behind schedule because we traveled to the US on Sunday!! As usual, we arrived feeling upside down and dove right into running errands and visiting family. Now I'm using all my super powers to fight jet lag and write this post.

Monday - Not yesterday. Last Monday. :) Bodystep is fun but it's better with friends. I'm so happy that I met a couple of ladies who are fitness junkies like me!

Tuesday - Since it was already a FASTING day, I scheduled a physical for myself. Not long after returning home, I got a VERY SPECIAL delivery from my BFF! She sends me the best birthday boxes.

Wednesday - I decided to do an interval run for a couple of reasons. 1) I wasn't hiking this week and 2) I wanted to see how my knee would feel if I did two runs this week. I did the same interval run that I've been doing except I ran the promenade two times. We spent the evening at the AWA Charity Pub Quiz Night in Central. Our team did not come in first or last, but we did have a lot of fun!

Not from my run. I was practicing using our Go Pro for my next run.

Team Fabulous Roosters (it's the year of the Rooster!) 

Thursday - We went to the dermatologist for a skin check (all good!) and then laid low the rest of the day. There was a hike, but I couldn't go because of my evening plans to see James Taylor! It was a great show.

Friday - After two late nights I was not moving super fast on Friday morning. I did make it to Bodystep and BAM! I love seeing that calorie burn.

Saturday - I had big plans to do a second interval run, but woke up to rainy and cold weather. I don't mind running in the rain, but I do not want to slip and fall and hurt my knee. Instead I went to the fitness center. I used the Motiontraxx app and tried a new elliptical workout that was AWESOME! Motion Traxx is like having a private coach whenever you want! (Check out the Groupon deal for 51% off a year membership here)

Saturday night went to a friend's Mardis Gras party ---> beads, masks, hurricanes, Gumbo, King Cake, fun!

Sunday - USA or Bust!! Hong Kong to Chicago to Hartford. Red eye flight. 18 hours 42 minutes. 8577 miles. One rental car. Two orders of Mexican to-go. One king-sized bed.


Since we are only in the Hartford/Springfield area for a couple of days before heading to Delaware for mrC's work week, I'm taking the time to enjoy family and try to acclimate to EST. My workout routine will resume once we're in Wilmington.

PS - My Utah Valley Marathon giveaway is still open. Get all the details here!

Workout Recap - A Week of Love

Tough Love.

DOMS...yoga love...hard core hiking...HIIT...running. All things that make my heart race, get me sweaty, and put a smile on my face. This is where I put my heart this week.

Monday - I love that Bodystep was offered on a Monday this week (normally only on Fridays). I was still sore from Saturday's GRIT class, but I was able to keep up during most of the class. I thought my legs would feel better after from all the movement, but...not so much!

Tuesday - mrC was home for the day, so we spent it together fasting. We took a walk to pick up dinner ingredients and did some Valentine's Day #loveyoga on the Love Locks Promenade because we walked right by it.

I'm so excited to have an extra pair of Oofos to wear outside!

Wednesday - My stomach woke me up about 2AM (not fun) and my quads were still very sore from back-to-back-to-back GRIT, running and Bodystep, so it was a slow and easy day. No matter the reason, I love that I'm ok with an unscheduled rest day.

Thursday - I love spending time with my Shenzhen hard core hiking friends. They came over to hike  Hong Kong again. We finished Wilson Trail sections 3 and 4 together: 38,000+ steps, 17.9 miles, and 264 floors climbed! We killed it!

Friday - Hard to believe my legs were up for Bodystep, but I'm happy they were because I love the calories I can burn in this class. It is quickly becoming my favorite class at The HIT Room.

Saturday - I was back at The HIT Room for another workout. GRIT strength is seriously hard, but I love the high intensity interval workout and it's a perfect match for low carb days. Today we did about 35 minutes of HIIT and 15 minutes of core work.

Sunday - The day I look forward to the most because running is my first love. I'm soaking up every moment of my interval runs including the post run stretch.

What got your heart racing this week?