French Fry Runner

April Favorites

I’ve always enjoyed reading blog posts on people’s favorite things, so I thought I’d follow suit. Below are five things I’m loving lately:

1. Percy Jackson and the Olympians books
I’m reading the third book, and they’re really good! 🙂 I always love a good book, and these are just fun to read. I’m excited to finish out the series and move to the next one.

2. My heart rate monitor
I’ve been doing a lot of group fitness classes lately, and my heart rate monitor is really coming in handy. I can track whether my heart rate is getting too high or how many calories I’m burning per workout. I’m all about the data!

3. Tai Chi
I went to my first tai chi class last week. It was so good! I really loved it. It’s a great stress-reliever and quite fun after learning the movements. I can’t wait to continue practicing tai chi.

4. PiYo
As I mentioned, I went to my first PiYo class last week. It was so great, and I can tell that as I continue, I’m going to love it.

5. Flowers
I’m doing the flowers for my sister-in-law’s wedding (and my niece’s), and I’m so much fun! If you would’ve told my 16-year-old self she’d be a floral designer, she’d think you were crazy. But I truly love it.

I’m linking up with Jill for Fitness Friday and Courtney from Eat Pray Run DC, Cynthia from You Signed Up for WHAT?!, and Mar from Mar on the Run for Friday Five.

What are you loving lately?

Yo, It’s PiYo!

You have no idea how crazy my life is right now! Okay, you probably do and can relate. I’m helping with flowers and decor for two weddings, working on my cookbook marketing, and generally trying not to freak out. It’s a good time. 🙂

I went to my first PiYo class last week, and it was really fun! It helps that the instructor at my gym is an awesome guy. He’s super friendly and approachable, and he even lost 80 pounds through group fitness classes! Basically he made the class fun and never did I feel dumb doing the sequences. (Side note: It takes me forever to get the choreography in any fitness class, but he was super easy to follow.) A great, passionate teacher makes a HUGE difference! The class was very lyrical–and for a non-dancer like me, I even enjoyed it. Maybe because I never really knew what to expect. Sometimes that’s a good thing when trying out new classes, having no preconceived notions. PiYo is a low-impact workout that combines Pilates, yoga, and cardio to sculpt and tone your body. It’s really easy on the joints, and you’re always moving! I was amazed at how sweaty I got during class! Good stuff!

As I said in a previous post, it’s good to try out a class three times to see if you want to continue. I’ve only gone to one class, but I thoroughly enjoyed it. Even if I don’t make it a main part of my routine, I will probably go once a week or so. I just don’t have enough time in the week to squeeze in everything I want to do!

Have you ever done PiYo?

Have you tried anything new lately?

Rex Lee Run 5K Recap

This race was great! And considering I didn’t want to actually run that morning, it was especially great to get an official PR!

The race started at 9:15 a.m., which was awesome. Gotta love that fact that it’s still cold enough in Utah to start the race later in the morning. The race was around one of our local universities and really familiar since I went to that school and ran at least part of that same course almost every day–not to mention that a lot of local races are run on the course . . . Anyway . . . It was still really chilly when I got to the race, so I debated a long time whether to wear a jacket. I ended up deciding to, and that was a good choice. I got a little warm, but not bad.

The race started promptly (love that), and we were off! I’d decided to run a solid effort of 30-32 minutes, depending on how I felt. Well, I felt great the entire time! The first half mile was uphill, so I trudged on up at a good clip, going by effort. Then the rest of the race was downhill and flat. I tried to keep a sub-10:00 pace, and when I glanced at my watch, I was actually running 9:38s. Crazy!

My final time was 29:58 (9:40/mi), which I was definitely pleased with. And it’s a PR! I guess I’m a faster runner than I thought! It’s awesome to see improvement, and I owe it to all the strength training I’ve been doing. I love having strong legs and a strong core. That will help my half marathon and marathon efforts this year for sure.

Back to the race, they gave us awesome food at the end and held a magic show for the kids and a raffle too. The raffle was kind of lame, but hey. Oh, and we got gender-specific tech shirts this year, which is an improvement over the normal unisex T-shirts. Overall, a solid race!

#RexLee Run 5K Recap via @FrenchFryRunner #fitnessfriday #fitfam Click To Tweet

I’m linking up with Jill for Fitness Friday and with the DC Trifecta for the Friday Five (Mar, Courtney, and Cynthia).

How’s your training going?

Are you racing this weekend?