July Challenge - 1/2 way complete!

Monday was "Chobok" in Korea, which is the first official day of the hot season, and it arrived with a bang!The temperatures have certainly been heating up... and so have I! Ok, you can stop the eye roll now... Silliness aside, I haven't let the rising temperatures deter me from continuing my July challenge with enthusiasm! Ripped in 30 certainly ups its intensity in level 2... I mean, 2 minutes of cardio in plank is just ridiculous! But it feels so good when you finish, dripping with sweat and ready to take on the world.

Chocolate and Peanut Butter Protein Shake

When do you workout in the day? Morning? Afternoon? Evening? I always have mixed feelings about when to workout. I always used to wake up early and workout before work. It's nice because it usually energizes me for the rest of my day. It's also done and I don't have to think about it for the rest of the day. However, the biggest positive about working out early for me is that, because I'm an extreme extrovert, it's really hard for me to say "No, I have to workout." when people ask me if I want to "hang out" or "have dinner" after work. Working out early eliminates that worry. I can get my workouts in, and still spend time with friends in the evenings! The downside is, I have significantly more energy when I work out in the afternoons or evenings. I always push my PM workouts harder. I get sweatier and I feel stronger. This last week, I was pretty good about working out in the mornings, because I knew that there were things that I wanted to do after work. However, the best workout I had all week was Thursday afternoon when I really killed the workout. Is there anything that I can do to push my morning workouts harder?

Look! I can put my forehead on my knees now!

The splits challenge... oh, the splits challenge. I was reading up a bit more on how to obtain your splits. It turns out... I'm still not stretching enough! I was doing about 12 mins of stretching per day... but I guess I need to at least double, if not triple that amount. Being able to do the splits is hard work! Definitely a lot more difficult for me than interval training! For some reason, I always though that you just had to stretch the muscles in your inner thighs to be able to do the splits. This is not true at all. You really have to stretch and be flexible in all the muscles in your legs. I'm especially tight in my shins so I really have to work on that! I have made progress, but not as much as I would like.

Action shot! (Bilbo is always a big help...)

Even though my focus this July has been on 'Ripped in 30' and stretching for splits, my biggest fitness accomplishment in week 2 had nothing to do with either! Back in June I was supposed to run the Kim Dae Jung peace marathon. (well, the 10 kilometer part of it) Along with my friend, Hana, I was running as part of a team called "Running 4 Resettlement." our team's purpose was to raise money to help support the resettlement of N. Korean refugees in S. Korea. Unfortunately, because of the MERS outbreak (overreaction), the race was postponed until Jul 12. I had been training for the 10K leading up to the original June date, but had basically stopped running for the month between the original date and the rescheduled date. Last week I ran once on Thursday to try to last-minute prepare but it was pretty discouraging. It was only about 4km, but it was so difficult! On race day I was a bit nervous. It had been near 100 degrees the day before and rain and thunderstorms were forecast for the 12th. However, in the end, I did well! The rain was a blessing in disguise! It rained lightly to moderately during the race time, but didn't start pouring until after. The result was a cool and refreshing run! Also, aside from a very short, "I'm drinking water," walk at the 5km mark, I ran the entire thing. I finished the 10K in 1:01:59. Less than 10 minute miles! Also, I came in 20th out of the 57 women who ran the 10K. Not bad for my first long-ish race!

Pre-race

Post-race! (The large reddish/purple mark on my forehead is from a mosquito bite I got a week previously!)

Trying to cover said mosquito bite.

Meat reward!

New shoes reward! I was tired of using my running shoes for my Jillian workouts
So... I got new shoes which are exclusively for working out indoors!
I didn't intend for my shoes to color coordinate with my workout gear, but it was a happy coincidence!

Post week 2!

I started week 3 of Jillian today... I'll leave most of the talking until next week, but prepare yourselves for duck walk and bear crawl talk!

Until then!