I’ve been promising this recap since getting back from my first FitBloggin conference in late June/early July and it’s finally here. I’ve been so busy lately and I wanted to make sure I really did this post justice since I not only had a blast at FitBloggin’13, but thought it was an incredible learning experience too!

First up, The Workouts:

What would a conference for a bunch of fitness-fanatic bloggers be without awesome workouts? Roni Noone, the creator of FitBloggin, and team did not disappoint.

On day one I was up before the sun for an early bird bootcamp workout in Pioneer Square, known as Portland’s living room, just outside our hotel. Being a former boot camp instructor I love taking these classes. Erin Kreitz Shirey was our instructor and she did a fantastic job keeping the energy level high and the workout intense for the huge turnout. I was impressed by how many people made it up for the workout. We ran stairs, did burpees, push-ups, frog jumps, planks and more. It was a fun, challenging workout that was a perfect way to kick things off. As an added bonus, a local TV station films their morning show in the square and after coming out to see what we were up to invited us all in for a tour of the studio after our workout. So cool!

After a short tempo run I was back to try out a Reebok Cardio Dance class. I rarely take dance type classes. I’ve always been a pretty coordinated athlete, but when it comes to dance that goes out the window. I stationed myself in the back of the room and hoped it would’t be too awful. I ended up really enjoying things. Patricia Moreno, our instructor, led us through all sorts of moves that had my heart pumping and left me all kinds of sweaty. She also had us repeating positive mantras throughout the class. This sounds super corny, but it actually was pretty cool and left both my mind and body feeling stronger at the end of class.

Getting ready for Reebok Cardio Dance!

Day two began with another early bird workout for me. On tap for today was SweatPink yoga led by Fit Approach co-founder Jamie. As a SweatPink ambassador I was thrilled to get to see the awesome ladies who started it. I’m the first to admit I don’t do enough yoga and there are a lot of classes I don’t like. This class was my favorite kind of yoga class though. It was fast-paced, challenging and felt like a good workout. A lot of people who have also done pilates classes said it was more similar to those kinds of classes. I loved it.

After squeezing in a 5-miler around Portland I hustled back for my next group workout of day 2. It was the one I’d been really looking forward to: Fitness Trampoline class! Yes, you read that right. This class was so intense as we got our heart rates up bouncing on the mini trampolines while performing all sorts of cardio moves alternating with some really tough strength moves on the floor or leaning on the trampoline like push-ups into planks. It was a really tough workout yet I couldn’t stop smiling the whole class!

There was a group run on the last day, but I somehow managed to get myself up super early and was just wrapping up my 2-hour long run as they were getting started so I unfortunately missed out on that. I did beat the heat though since I went and brought the D.C. heat and humidity with me and took in some beautiful scenery running along the water and over some or Portland’s bridges.

More to come in Part 2 on the great discussions and workshops that I learned so much from!