If you missed the beginning of my trip to the BCBD Transformation Retreat you can catch up on Day 1 – 3 here. I don’t think my below recap really does the rest of the trip justice of what we experienced in group work or as we got to know each other better but I wanted to at least track the events of the end of the week so I don’t forget our time spent in an amazing location with amazing women.
Day 4:
The days continued with meditation and yoga first thing in the morning, breakfast and then we rushed into our bikinis to promise ourselves that we’d enjoy the sun. Katie and I never take pictures on resort vacations so we had to get a bikini shot on the beach.
The day before we opted for pool running vs beach running as all our ankles were just killing us. However, on Day 4 Katie and I braved the beach again and ran a different direction on the beach to explore more of the area. We found a gorgeous sunset and then tried sprinting in the hard packed sand on the way back until the waves crashed up and we’d have to jump into the deep sand.
I grabbed a final picture of the sky as it turned into night before getting ready for dinner. This is definitely going to be a screenshot on the phone when I need to be reminded of the gorgeous view.
After a typical long travel day, we arrived in Mexico late Saturday night. Despite a longer than normal check-in at the resort, we were able to jump in bed relatively easily so we could get a spectacular start to the day. Katie and I had the pleasure of ordering room service which included two salads (Caprese & caesar) as well as a camomile tea for myself which took an hour to arrive. Needless to say, we scarfed them down and passed out. We awoke for our very first yoga session Sunday morning. We grabbed a spot in the shade on the grass, laid out our mats and began our first day of meditation (read to us by Andrea Kwan) and yoga led by my love Eva Redpath. I loved being able to lay there and look up at the perfect blue sky and be grateful for the moment of being in a sunny place for our fitness retreat.
After eating an epic breakfast that consisted of an egg-white omelette, sausage, bacon and granola my roommate Katie, Payel and I did our first beach walk in the glorious sun. I was obsessed with the pelicans sitting on the wharf and had to snap several pictures.
11 o clock came and it was time for our first butt whopping by Eva. Her mid-morning boot camps this year were epic. They were just hard enough in the Mexico heat to challenge us but great in the sense that she made us feel accomplished at the end of our time sweating together.
Charlotte and I chose matching sunglasses for our bootcamp workouts all week since we break or loose glasses easily so we needed a twinsies Color Me Rad sunglasses pic.
After lunch we got a bit of free time and rushed to change into bikinis and head down to the ocean to soak up some sun. Last year I found myself lazing around in my room way too much so I definitely forced myself to work on my tan more this year (safely with 60 SPF kid’s sunscreen LOL). Our first group session was late afternoon on day 1 and we loved our arts and crafts time of putting together vision boards for our binders. Our binders carried our work sheets for the week and Katie had a bit too much fun making hers. We couldn’t help but giggle at her set up.
Here’s my vision board below. I chose all quotes this year vs. images. My favourite quote this year is the one underneath Destroy Your Limits. It reads “We would accomplish many more things if we did not think of them as impossible”. Sometimes I do limit myself in terms of what I want to go after and choose things I know I can accomplish so this year I’m choosing a bigger goal that scares me and excites me and I’m choosing to think it possible.
As the schedule every evening after group we would don our running gear and sweat it out with a sunset beach run. I brought my Garmin with me so we could track our kms. We figured 4K would be a decent run in the deep sand. So at the 2K mark I threw my hands in the air and turned around. There wasn’t much packed sand to run in so there was definitely extra effort that was put in. Ankles and calves felt the pain.
Dinner that night was the Italian restaurant on the 2nd floor down by the beach. We had a lovely meal with all the ladies, lots of carb appetizers, red wine and I ordered the sea bass for my main. All in all the perfect start to the trip.
Day 2:
Since I was responsible for guiding yoga on Day 2 I really wanted to take us down to the beach or at least by the pool near the ocean so we could hear the waves. If you’re in Mexico and by the ocean you should experience yoga listening to the waves at least once! As luck would have it one of the girls found us a rooftop and an amazing rooftop at that. I gasped when I got out of the 3rd floor elevator (yes I took the elevator despite being on a fitness retreat) and below is what I saw. Needless to say we spoiled ourselves in the morning with this view every day.
Andrea led us through the morning meditation every day. Day 2’s theme was about facing & witnessing our fears and then I was able to take the girls through a Moksha flow I experienced during my 30 day challenge. I was so blessed to be able to guide yoga for the first time in my life and have it flow naturally. The girls were so supportive with thank yous that just made my day. Eva snapped a pic of us holding tree with our hearts open to the sky and hands open embracing what the day would bring.
During group session later that afternoon I had the pleasure and a moment of “this is why I was placed on this trip” when I sat beside Lisa for a partner share session. The theme for group was about limiting beliefs and were able to share an amazing moment of realization that we were not alone in our story and past pain. We made plans for a romantic dinner for two (LOL) later that night to continue our conversation and I am just so happy we were able to talk and support each other. The margarita (yes I did indulge!), ceviche and steak made my stomach happy!
Day 3:
The morning came and we rushed to the rooftop to experience our bliss again. I don’t think we truly realized how amazing it is to practice yoga on with a view like the one we had. I’m already missing it.
Then pure jokes began as we left yoga. I brought a carton of unsweetened chocolate almond milk with me for my coffee and granola this year. As I carried it with me to breakfast we had to take a cheesy photo for my Instagram.
I had the pleasure of teaching bootcamp on day 2 and Tuesday Tabata was a hit! I love leading tabata workouts and challenging everyone to find strength they didn’t know they had. I asked the girls to repeat two sayings after me before we got started. 1. I am an athlete and 2. I am stronger than I think. I then asked them to only utter positive words of encouragement for each other as the only things that could leave their mouths! My way of dispelling any potential whining, complaining about being sore, etc. For me it really worked and I absolutely loved the positive energy they gave each other. Our workout involved the following 8 exercises. One leg burpees, tricep pushup into two mountain climbers, tuck jumps, crawl outs, plank jacks, jump squats, scissors and football runs. The ladies kindly gave me a group shot post sweat session.
The evening run that night was a bit tough for me. I was still fighting a sinus infection from a few days before we left for Mexico and it was still hanging on. My endurance was shot, my pace was slow but I ran a few steps behind Katie & Charlotte so I could tell them when they got to the 2K mark to turn back. It pushed me to run the full distance despite being so sick. I could barely function after but water and a quick lie down before dinner was all I needed. I did feel a tad badass in my Tough Mudder shirt. 🙂
We had another group dinner that night at the sushi restaurant on site and it was less than lovely. We asked for sake and got white wine and the food took forever to come out. But the company with the ladies was fantabulous. I got to sit beside Charlotte & Lisa and took a group shot with my roomie Katie, Debbie (who I met last year on the retreat) and Jodie (new to this year’s retreat and just a beautiful soul).
It was a great start to the trip and I couldn’t wait for more days with these amazing women in the sun of Mexico!
I had the pleasure of joining the ladies of BCBD on the 2013 BCBD Transformation Retreat in Los Cabos Mexico. We arrived at the Pueblo Bonito Pacifica late on Thursday night and the resort lobby smelled like eucalyptus and something else that I can’t put my finger on but it was divine.
After a hiccup of our rooms being all king sized beds we finally settled in. I told Eva I was ok with spooning but we moved into a glorious 2 queen sized bed room.
Day 1 began at the crack of dawn. The resort looked spectacular at sunrise.
We headed down to the pool area which was to be our morning homebase for the time that we were there. Lay out of mats for guided meditation and took full advantage of the pool towels for warmth. The mornings were pretty cool. After a great start to day 1 we headed off to the restaurant for our first breakfast. First, let me start off by saying breakfast is my favourite meal of the day and the breakfasts in Mexico were divine. I had the same thing every day and it never got old. We’d sit down yell coffee to the waiter and then head off to the buffet. I’d order an egg white omelette and then fill a bowl with granola, plain yogurt and papaya & grapefruit. The omelette plate would then get sausage and hash browns! I posted the below picture on my Instagram. My breakfast is on the right and my dinner from Day 1 is on the left. Sea bass, prawns and veggies!
But back to day 1 morning. I changed out of short shorts and put on pink capris for the first bootcamp on the beach! Eva put us through our paces and we finished the bodyweight workout with 5 runs up and down to the water. See top right picture. Eva yelled hands up and I obliged. We were sweating out of breath, a tad sunburnt but happy.
That afternoon we started our group hang out time by making vision boards for our binders.
To wrap up day 1 we headed off that evening just before sunset for our beach run. The private beach was amazing. Our route was 4k every day and the sand was so soft you’d sink a full step into the sand so I announced the first day it was really 8k 🙂 Yes I multiplied by 2.
Some of my favourite memories from the trip was starting the day every morning with guided meditation and yoga. Day 2 I was set up in front of Erin and we almost made out in upward dog.
Day 3 I had the pleasure of teaching bootcamp! I was so grateful that Eva asked me to teach one day so I decided Tabatas were in order. We started with a dancers warmup and then went into 8 rounds of tabata. A tabata is 20s of work and 10s of rest repeated 8 times.
I put them through their paces of burpees, mountain climbers, crawl outs, bear walk (or pendulum swing), plank jacks, jump squats, v ups and frog jumps. We finished in 40 mins and I was wrecked. Doing the exercises and talking the ladies through motivations was hard work. Eva took us through a cool down and we ran to lunch for more fuel!
Another favourite part of the trip was our beach runs. I ran 6 out of the 7 days there! Here is my favourite pics from the runs. My happy place, my run buddies (my fav run moment was running with Eva, Katie and Erin beside me) I usually ran on my own so the one night we ran together made me so happy! I took a great picture of Caitlyn & Lisa running together and then Eva grabbed a shot of me running on our last morning in Cabo!
Another amazing highlight was the photo shoot Eva facilitated for the girls. We got amazing shots including personal photos and yoga shots on the beach! It was such a fun experience to share with these ladies!
Thank you Cabo for an amazing time!
We came, we saw, we beat up our yoga mats and we left.
