Weekly Wrap - A Fitness Plan

FASTer Way To Fat Loss week one kicked off and kicked my butt. It was awesome!

I'm a sucker for a schedule, a routine, a plan. Maybe it's the former teacher in me, but I just like to know where I'm going and what I'm doing when I have a goal. I think that is why I like the carb cycling programs so much. The plan is designed for people like me who want to lose fat and gain strength. People who already work out, but need to shake things up a bit to move past a plateau.

I like following the plan. For me, there is a great mix between running, HIIT, strength, and recovery.

Here's what week 1 looked like:

Monday - Speed burst and HIIT

Tuesday - Speed burst and LISS

Wednesday - Strength training

Thursday - More strength training

Friday - Active recovery yoga

Saturday - Strength training - leg day!

Sunday - I tried a juice cleanse

Do you follow a training plan or prefer to be spontaneous with your workouts?

Linking up with Tricia and Holly for the Weekly Wrap!

Recovery Yoga and A Little Fashion Friday

My muscles must be growing because they're sore. At least that is what I told myself all day.

Enter yoga.

I swear every pose in flow yoga stretches something good. The best yoga videos are from Yoga with Adriene. If you do yoga and don't know her or are thinking about starting yoga, Google her.

After my second day of strength training, my arms and shoulders were really tight. By the time I finished the yoga video I was already feeling better. It's a perfect active recovery workout for low calorie days, too. Win, win.

Afterwards, we grabbed our passports and crossed the border for some shopping at Luohu Commercial City in Shenzhen. A friend referred me to a tailor who is making me copies of my favorite dress. The fun part was searching for the right fabric in the fabric market.

Speaking of fashion, I thought I'd share some of my recent favorite finds. Some are fitness gear, some are affiliate links (meaning I make a few cents if you click and/or make a purchase - no obligation!), and some are on my wish list.

Picked up this dress at J.Crew (can't wait to wear it at the Cape), a couple of these super soft drapey tanks (on the hanger in the photo below) and put this tank on my wishlist (it's just so tropical).

And I think these espadrille slip-ons would be perfect with the dress or just about anything this summer.

I took mrC to Lululemon. One pair of workout shorts wasn't enough anymore. While he was shopping, I found this long sleeve top on sale for myself and picked up this new sports bra.

Low Calorie Day - the meals

Lunch - broke my fast around 11:30 at the Lee Yuen Restaurant. BBQ pork, fried rice, sweet & sour chicken and dim sum (for mrC).

Dinner - leftover quinoa and tuna

Snack - 4 turkey rollups

My macros were pretty good for the day, but I was hungry. I need to eat more fiber to feel full on low calorie days.

How often do you yoga?
Do you have a favorite clothing item you would copy?
Can you eat with chopsticks?

PS - I'm linking up with Nicole for the Fit & Fashionable Friday link-up 

Weekly Workout Recap

Is it a bad week if nothing super exciting happened? That's how I feel about last week's workouts. I think I'm beginning to miss the days of training for something. I'm starting another carb cycling program soon, so maybe that will give me the focus that I'm lacking right now.

Here's a look at the randomness of last week:

Monday - No workout because I went to my first laser hair removal treatment which means no sweating for 48 hours. It was my first treatment and WOW! It does hurt, but in a different way. My friends told me it would feel like getting snapped by a rubber band ---> one that never stops. Fortunately the session went quickly and the doctor was very nice.

Tuesday - No sweating today so I did an at home nice and easy yoga with Adriene video. Perfect workout for my post laser treatment and it felt good too.

These are still my favorite yoga pants...SO SOFT!

Wednesday - Let the sweating begin...awesome run and then SUP afterwards.

Thursday - I had a meeting to officially become co-coordinator for the American Women's Club's Hong Kong Hosts program. I'm excited to volunteer my time and support our troops.

Friday - I was scheduled to take a new class at The HIT Room called LBT Circuit, but I didn't go because I was feeling nauseous (I think it might have been gluten related). I ended up taking a pretty big nap, so my body must have needed the rest.

Saturday - I was feeling better so I did my longer run for the week. It was a hard one, my energy tank was empty and left me on the struggle bus for most of the run. I pushed as hard as I could and finished with 4.55 miles including the two big hills in our neighborhood. Even hard runs make me smile.

Love how easy it is to wear my Wearsafe!

Sunday - We were out late on the Party Tram (I'm going to post about this later today), so it was nice to enjoy a lazy day with mrC.

PS - Use code RUNNINGESCAPADES to get 15% off annual subscription to your own Wearsafe.

Linking up with Tricia and Holly for the Weekly Wrap!

Have you ever done laser hair removal?

What is your favorite non-sweaty workout?

SaveSave

Blogged After Waiting Out the Clouds

My day started with a quick #30for30burpees session and then a Yoga with Adriene video to continue my 30 days of April yoga. There were a lot of chest opener poses today and it was exactly what my body needed. I love when the workout feels like it was tailor made for me.

I was hoping today would be the day to take my iSUP board out on the water, but I woke up to massive fog invading the island. It eventually passed or rose or whatever it is that fog does, but the day stayed gray and glooming. Not my idea of a good day for SUPing.

Because of the fog, I took the bus to the North Plaza for my Bodystep class. Normally I walk, but the bus got me there early enough to also pay the gas bill. Win. I left Bodystep in a massive heap of sweaty clothes, but it was worth it. 588 calories burned. And I walked home, continuing to get sweaty. You're welcome bus people.

Just because they added some color (and we needed color) I thought I would share my favorite food from the day  ---> strawberries!

Every time I thought about going for a walk, the sky looked like this. No thank you.

Crossing my fingers that tomorrow's weather will be better!

Just an Ordinary Tuesday, Or Was it?

Today was just an ordinary Tuesday.

OK, not really because....I went for a run!

I LOVE SAYING THAT! Any day that I get to run now will be anything but ordinary.

I had sunshine, the water and a nice breeze...it was pretty much perfect. I didn't even mind the sweat getting in my eyes.

But let me back up a bit.

mrC got home from his trip in the middle of the night. While he slept in, I did my daily yoga session - you guessed it, more vinyasa flow. Does anyone else feel strange wearing shorts to do yoga or is it just me?

Since I was nice and warmed up (and feeling motivated) I got day 2 of 30 burpees out of the way. I've decided to track my time to see if there is any change over the 30 days. For the record: 2:28 and I burned 15 calories.

By this time, mrC was up and moving, so we headed out for our run. We mixed up our route a bit to do more on the flat promenade along the water. We did a couple of out and backs before heading up the big hill to our apartment for a total of 3.58 miles.

It's getting warmer around here, so I made sure to bring along some water and I love that I don't have to carry my Simple Hydration Water Bottle. See how nicely it hooks onto my shorts? Even this pair from Lululemon that has a no dig waist band can hold the bottle.

After our run, we took a cool down walk to pick up a full length mirror that I found on Discovery Bay's Facebook Moving & Selling page. It even has a nice little shelf on the bottom for the VIP shoes. I'm wearing the J.Crew finds from yesterday. This tee and these shorts. Plus my favorite recovery flip flops from Oofos.  PS - all my links are affiliate links and if you click on them I earn a few pennies, and you are not obligated in any way. I promise.

Later, I received a delivery from FedEx ---> I'm a Wearsafe Running Ambassador. I'm super excited to share this safety technology with everyone as I hike, bike and run around Hong Kong.

Before dinner we went for a walk and picked up dessert. I'm happy mrC likes these gluten free brownies as much as I do.

For dinner it was Taco Tuesday!!

What are your perfect running conditions?
Anything making your day extraordinary?
Are you a Taco Tuesday fan?

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?)

Go With the Flow and My Weekly Wrap

Today I woke up with a lot of energy.

I had a quick cup of coffee with my morning reading and then jumped right into day 2 of my month of yoga flow. There are a lot of different types of yoga (described well in this article), but flow or vinyasa is my favorite type of yoga. Which is probably why I like Yoga with Adriene so much.

Today's video class focused on some of the vinyasa basics. It was short and sweet. Perfect for a Sunday morning.

After yoga, I went out to hike Lookout Point Loop because it was an absolutely beautiful day to do it.

The hike can take under an hour to do if you don't stop for pictures or pause at the top to enjoy the view ---> I don't know why people would want to skip that part, but they do. I shared my hike on my Instagram story, posting as I went, but I also kept moving at a pretty good pace (which is why you can hear my heavy breathing in the videos). Since I was hitting up the grocery after the hike, I stopped my watch before returning to my apartment but I hiked the 1.67 mile loop with 676 feet elevation gain in 46 minutes.

This week I'm trying something new and linking up with Tricia and Holly for the Weekly Wrap!

Monday - Super fun bike ride with a group of AWA members on the outskirts of Hong Kong. It was a great activity.

Tuesday - I had a meeting in Central for an AWA committee that I'm working on and then mrC and I ran errands. Running errands in Hong Kong means a ton of walking even when we take the ferry and the MTR. Days like these that mentally feel like I didn't do much are actually pretty good LISS days. 

Wednesday - I had another awesome interval run with mrC around the neighborhood. I'm so happy that I can get out and run/walk. It's looks different than it used to a couple of years ago, but at least I can do it. Doing it makes me happy!

Thursday - mrC had a trip, it was still gray and icky out, so I took a great big rest day. I did unpack and put away the groceries that were delivered from our shopping on Tuesday. And I also rearranged the furniture just for fun. So I guess it wasn't a great big rest day after all.

Friday - Worked off as many calories as I could at Bodystep: 597 calories GONE. My body craves this class every week. If I'm lucky I can go twice, but since it is only offered on Monday and Fridays, I often have conflicting activities. 

Saturday - My second run of the week ---> so cool that I can do this again ---> and the best run of the week: 4.72 miles. I finally had a sunny day for running and I'm pretty sure I was smiling the whole time. It turned out to be my longest run so far this year. In fact, the last time I ran anything close was in December 2015, the last time I ran a race, in Shenzhen.

Total miles for the week - 8.86

Tomorrow is the big day. I'll be starting my bad ass burpee challenge: 30 burpees a day for 30 days. There's still time to join me and then we can be bad ass together (or crazy)! Downloadable calendar here. If you join, give me a shout out @runningescapade #30for30burpees

And that's a wrap!

What was your favorite workout of the week? Mine was definitely my runs ;)

Sweaty Saturday, Funny Stuff and a BIG Challenge

Welcome to April!

Since I've been running A LOT more lately, it feels appropriate to talk about my stats up until now.

January - 3 runs 4.30 miles

February - 4 runs 9.80 miles

March - 8 runs 27.18 miles

Whoa, March! I like the way you look!!

I'm starting April feeling positive and healthy and I'm super excited to find a 5K to enter sometime soon. Oh, and I ran today.

Today's run was fantabulous! I finally got to run on a sunny day and I ran more than 4 miles ---> 4.73 to be exact. My longest run in 2017.

I ran the same route that I did with mrC a couple days ago, except today I also did an out and back on the promenade. My intervals were the same 90:60 seconds run/walk and everything felt really good. I think I'm going to stick with this interval for another week before increasing the run time again.

A funny thing happened in the beginning of my run. My phone rang. It was mrC calling from Thailand and since we hadn't spoken since yesterday, I had to answer. I love FaceTime. If you have it, feel free to call me 😍

After my run I did my 5 essential stretches for happy legs. I must not have stayed in my glute stretch long enough after Bodystep class yesterday because my butt was really sore when I got up this morning and it's only gotten worse since my run.

I'm really happy with today's run. The only thing that could have made it better is a running partner.

If you've followed this blog for more than a couple of years (first a BIG thank you for that!), then you know that I loved running with my dog, Booney. And boy, did he like to run, too.

I saw this on Twitter today and it made me think of him. He would have loved his own pair of running shoes. It's so nice of Brooks to think of our furry running buddies, don't you think?

We're taking our running technology to new heights. Introducing, Brooks Running shoes for dogs. Shop now: https://t.co/DcvqAuWCUU. pic.twitter.com/cSA6lp0kGd

— Brooks Running (@brooksrunning) March 31, 2017

In other (serious) news, I'm thinking of doing a burpee challenge. 30 burpees a day for 30 days. Seriously. This is not a joke. Want to join me??? I'm going to start on Monday. I could probably start today, but then I might be ahead of you. ;) 

When life knocks you down... pic.twitter.com/jxm30QDDXo

— Protein Pow® (@proteinpow) March 31, 2017

I made a calendar that you can download to mark off each day you do your 30 burpees with me. We should probably have a hashtag because all challenges have one. So share your progress with me on Instagram or Twitter and tag me @runningescapade #30for30burpees ---> I promise to cheer you on.

I'm also doing 30 days of April yoga with Adriene and her awesome videos. You can find all the details on this website or just go right to the video playlist here.

Here's a glimpse of day 1: 58 minutes of Shakti Power Flow. This is goddess pose near the end of the session and my quads were SCREAMING! I'm pretty sure my arms/hands are wrong because I couldn't hear over the pain in my legs, haha.

April is going to be a fun month, right?

Do you like April Fool's Day jokes?

What are your sweaty Saturday plans?

Goals/plans for April?

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?