Pretty Hurts....and so Does Working Out!

But atleast it's a good hurt! BTW if you haven't listened to Beyonce's new album you need to get your life because its epic! It has gotten me through quite a few workouts this week!

So I am SUPER proud of myself! I met all of the goals I set at the beginning of the week! I worked out 6 days and did a 2-a-day for one of them! That's a total of 7 workouts in 7 days. Pretty beastly if I do say so myself! 

Once again all of my workouts this week were outside. I hiked, I jogged at the beach, and I hit the track at a local college. Variety helps keep my workouts interesting! It's still taking me awhile to get my endurance back to where it was but it is slowly getting there. This week I was EXTREMELY sore. Probably because I tried to push myself as much as possible during each of my workouts. I am going to try to do better about stretching and alternating workouts so that parts of my body can rest and rebuild. 

According to the scale I dropped 5lbs this week. It's awesome to see the scale go down but I realize that the number on the scale doesn't necessarily reflect the amount of work being put in. That 5lbs could merely be water weight. (Which I'm pretty sure it was since I usually drop my first 5lbs pretty quickly once I get back into my workout routine) My focus isn't the scale but rather how my body looks and feels. I am serious about having abs by October! 

This upcoming week is going to be a serious challenge for me. The holidays has brought nothing but candy, cookies, potlucks and parties! It's hard to avoid! I have a massive sweet tooth and have been doing my best to fight my cravings by having yummy healthy snacks on hand at all times. (Granola bars, trail mix, etc) There is a HUGE chance I'm going to eat a few bad things this week though. However, instead of beating myself up over it I am going to focus on portion control and making smart choices. I'm going to try to stick to the healthiest options provided at the functions I am attending and am going to keep a close eye on my portions. No seconds! 

If I can survive the holidays I can survive anything! lol... Another way I am going to combat the holidays is by continuing to pre-prepare my meals. I cruised pinterest and found some neat recipes that I can't wait to try. The first is an avocado salad. (I have this obsession with avocado, especially since I have been eating healthy) The recipe contains, one small avocado, cherry tomatoes, cucumbers, cilantro, red onions, and shrimp with a teaspoon of olive oil and seasoning to taste. I can't wait to try it!

 As far as my workouts go for the upcoming week I plan on working out at least 5x and completing one 2-a-day. I really want to become a better runner! Well actually I want to become a runner period! Right now I would say that I'm more of a "walker" or a "jogger" but definitely not a "runner". I classify a runner as someone who can run a mile straight without stopping. So until I can do that, I'm not a runner. BUT I'm on my way to becoming one! Did I mention that I hate running? Because I absolutely DETEST it. I find it extremely horrible because I have knee problems, hate sweating, and have activity induced asthma so I seem to have a difficult time getting my breathing under control. All of these are minor excuses though and I refuse to let them hinder me from my journey of becoming a runner!

It's a great feeling to be on this journey and I can't wait to see the progress I will make in the next couple of weeks! Eat clean, train dirty, and don't give up!!!!!

<3 BRI