Week 2 - Saturday --- Stop Sign Hike!

Saturday was my last official day at Fitness Ridge. Woke up at 6:45am and headed over to my test out. Combined with my week 1 weightloss, I lost a total of 12 pounds. I also lost 19.5 inches (waist, hips, chest, thigh, calf and arm). But, the day wasn't over yet....still had to walk Stop Sign!!!
My time on monday was 1:13 and that was an improvement over my time the week before of 1:21. I thought I really pushed it monday and was not sure how I would do today. Just to give you an idea of the hike, it's a pretty straight path (a few curves and hills) about 4.3 miles with a 1,000 ft incline. The first 2.8 miles is relatively flat and the incline increases over the last 1.5 miles. It is such a good calorie burner!! I ended up finishing with a time of 1:15! Two minutes higher than monday but I worked hard all week and felt good with 1:15.
After the hike, I went to stretch class (my last class at Fitness Ridge).
Went to lunch and then headed to Coyote Gulch. This is about 3 miles from the resort and is a really cool place. There's a bookstore/cafe and several little stores that sell local art work. I picked a couple of things up and got myself a caramel macchiato with nonfat milk...it was such a nice treat :)
Went to dinner and graduation. We watched a DVD with video clips and photos from the week and again the resort did a fantastic job! After the DVD, the mic was passed around the room and then there was a little break before Karaoke! I got some pictures and said goodbye to some of my new friends. I will post some pics on monday.
Karaoke was awesome! There was a lot of talent in the room!!
Then I went back to my room to pack. Finished packing and could not fall asleep....I had to be up at 4am to catch my flight and I think I only got about 2 hours sleep!
I am so glad I had the opportunity to go to Fitness Ridge and looking forward to continuing my journey at home.

Week 2 - Friday!!!!

Hiked Slots today. It had some of the nicest views of all the hikes so I'm glad I got a chance to do it before I left.
Friday Schedule:
8am - left for hike
11:15am - stretch class (everyone wants to take this class on friday so as soon as the vans pull in from the hikes everyone runs to the aerobic room to save a mat and put their name tags on it!)
2:30pm - total body toning
3:30pm - cardio disco(this is the funnest class of the week!) Photo on right was taken after the class with Ephraim Salaam, Offensive Tackle with the Houston Texans.
4:30pm - cardio disco (had the choice between pool and cardio disco and figured I would do disco again because it was so much fun)
After dinner I just took it easy and headed to the hot tub. Also, I had a brief meeting with one of the trainers today to talk about my 'plan' for when I get home. I think the key is preparing lunch and dinners at the beginning of the week. There are a lot of great soup recipes in the cookbook I bought so those would be great to make at the beginning of the week and just pack up containers for work. I am thinking about exercising in the morning and night but not sure how realistic that is. There's also those lunch time walks up Beacon Hill and walks to S.Station after work right?

Week 2 - Thursday

Decided to do another off road hike today. It was called Saddle and basically we had to climb up a mountain and then climb down. It was the hardest hike I've done so far. Here are some pics from the hike.
Thursday's schedule
8am - leave for Saddle
11:15am - Gym Class - I thought I would just go into the gym in and use the elliptical for 45 min but instead the trainer had us do lots of cardio intervals. 1st - warm up on elliptical and the do some speed work for 10 minutes. 2nd - we had to run outside, up the stairs of the dormitory then back down, then run more and jumping jacks. 3rd - go back in the gym and do a speed work out on the treadmill. It was hard but the time flew by!
2:30pm - Pool Class
3:30pm - Ball Works
4:30pm - Treading class on the elliptical

Week 2 - Wednesday -- Rain, rain, rain!!

Decided to walk West Canyon today and for the first time made it to the end (3.9 miles one way). There is a slight incline to the end so the walk back felt much better. Here is a pic with a few of us who made it to the end yesterday along with one of the trainers, Sharon. I also had to take a pic of my sneakers since they were covered in mud! I guess I will need to buy another new pair when I get home.

Wednesday schedule:

7:30am - breakfast

8am - left for hike

11:15am - circuit training

12:30pm - lunch

1:30pm - open gym

2:30pm - Mountain (this is the class we start off at a low intensity and then increase it by one every 3 minutes 13 times)

3:30pm - pool was canceled due to the rain -- so it was substituted with circuit training

4:30pm - kickboxing

5:30pm - Dinner

7:15pm - trip to Target! I went for the ride and picked up a few things --- Vitamin C packets and gum. It was nice to chat with some of the new guests who arrived this week.

Just relaxed when I got home:)

Can't believe I only have 2 more days here!!! This week seems to be going by a lot quicker than last week and I definitely feel stronger. On Thursday, I have a menu planning lecture so that should give me some ideas for when I get home.

Thanks again for all the posts! I look forward to sharing some of the recipes with you all:)

Week 2 - Tuesday

Woke up with a cold but took some cold medicine. Felt fine physically so it wasn't too big of a deal. Decided to walk the Chuckwalla trail again. I liked it when I hiked it last tuesday (Rocky pose!) so I did it again. Lots of nice views! Here is a photo taken during the hike.

Tuesday schedule:
7:30am - breakfast
8am - left for hike
11:15am - free weight workshop
12:30pm - lunch
1:30pm - Lecture - emotional mastery
2:30pm - Pool
3:30pm - Cardio Intervals
4:30pm - Total Toning
5:30pm - Dinner

It was another early night for me. I watched some of Biggest Loser which comes on at 7pm here and fell asleep half way through (took a night time medicine). Got the recap at breakfast though.

The menu may look a little blurry but the dinner for the day was Ostrich Stew...actually wasn't too bad but I don't think I will be making that one at home. We had chocolate covered strawberries for dinner though and those are the best!

Week 2 - Monday

After a days rest on Sunday we started off Monday morning with the Stop Sign hike. It is amazing what a days rest can do! I ended up finishing the hike 8 minutes faster than last Monday!! Here is a pic I took on the walk down from Stop Sign. There are vans stationed along the way down and we're then driven back to fitness ridge.

Here's the rest of the schedule for Monday:
7:15am - breakfast
8am - leave for hike
11:15am - stretch class
12p - lunch
1:15pm - Open Gym (guests staying 2 weeks or longer need to take an extra 6am, mid afternoon - Open Gym, or 6:15p class. I would rather sleep in so I opt for the mid afternoon.
2:30pm - Step n pump
3:30pm - Pool
4:30pm - Circuit Training
5:30pm - Dinner

I caught up on some rest after dinner and watched most of the bachelor. Unfortunately, I came down with a cold but was still able to attend all the tuesday classes.

Access Hollywood Update - will air on 2/9/2010!!

Hey everyone, I found out lastnight that the biggest loser segment will not air until 2/9/2010.