PaleOMG Costa Rica Fitness Retreat
This past Sunday night I returned home from PaleOMG’s Costa Rica Fitness Retreat (hosted by Under30Experiences). It was 4 days of workouts on the beach, at the national park, at the gym, and at the hotel mixed in with beach and pool time, coffee, food, and some drinks – all with a group of 20 people that I’ve never met. And I traveled there alone – literally didn’t bring a friend or family member.
People who’ve known me for years were surprised to see me do something like this because I’ve always been shy and quiet. While I’ve been opening up more and more each year, I wanted to make it a point in 2016 to do things that get me out of my comfort zone. So far, so good – I’ve been doing Periscope videos and now I traveled to Costa Rica to go on vacation with a group of people I’ve never met before!
It was so awesome to be away in Costa Rica with a group of like-minded people – and escape the New York winter for a bit. I was definitely nervous about traveling to another country by myself, but I met another woman who was on the trip after getting off the plane and we walked together and were greeted by someone from Under30Experiences. He walked us over to where the group was hanging out and Juli was sitting at the table and it hit me – I’m on vacation with Juli Bauer!! I can’t believe this is real life!
I’ve been a huge fan of Juli’s for almost 4 years now. She was the first blogger I started following when I first learned about paleo and I pretty much learned how to cook from following her recipes (plus some help from my mom & a friend). I actually signed up for the retreat within minutes of Juli announcing it because it sounded like an opportunity I could not pass up.
After meeting at the airport, we headed to see the alligators and grab some fruit smoothies with coconut water before arriving at the beach for our first workout together. We did a group workout consisting of running, burpees, and squats. Then, we all ate dinner together as we got to know each other. Some people came with a friend, family member, or significant other, but there were also people, like me, who came on this adventure alone.
The room I was in had no AC on the first night, so that was a little brutal to sleep in, but thankfully it was fixed the next day. The next morning, we all had breakfast together at the hotel before heading to the beach for our workout. We did a partner workout, which was a killer for me. It was 200 lunges, 100 sit-ups, and 50 pushups plus burpees every 2 minutes.
After the workout, we hung out on the beach for a while getting some sun & water – it felt amazing. Then we went for lunch, where I treated myself to a delicious pina colada. After lunch, some of us went to Café Milagro to try some authentic Costa Rican coffee before our next workout at Mucho Musculo gym. Café Milagro is such an awesome coffee shop, if you’re ever in Quepos, Costa Rica give this place a try (they even have almond milk!).
After getting our caffeine fix, we headed back to the hotel to get ready for the gym. At the gym we did a group workout that consisted of box jumps, presses, squats, and flutter kicks. After that, we split up and continued our workouts on our own.
We had dinner together again and then went out for salsa dancing and life-size jenga at a bar, where they had fresh squeezed pineapple juice with rum as a drink special. Yum.
The next day was our run/hike through the National Park. I loved this, although I didn’t see as much wildlife as I thought I would. The hike was so much uphill and so many stairs that it felt like it was never-ending, but the view at the top was amazing. Plus, you can’t beat that endorphin high!
After the hike, we spent some time on the beach and then had lunch at Café Milagro (with some more coffee, of course). When we got back to the hotel, we were supposed to do sunset yoga on the beach but the instructor got sick, so instead we did a tabata workout that consisted of handstands (I modified mine because the idea of a handstand terrifies me – so I did mine bent over a chair), wall squats, and forearm planks. After that, we did another hike to the farmer’s market. I think that was the most I’ve ever exercised in one day – but it felt great!
Afterwards we had dinner together and did some bonding – telling creepy stories & watching funny YouTube videos. I went to bed early that night since I was pretty shot and we had a super early morning workout planned for the next day.
Saturday morning we met for an early beach workout so that we could have breakfast at Café Milagro. Our morning beach workout was a group one, that consisted of front squats with a bag of sand – running with the bag of sand – then more front squats with the bag of sand, squat holds, tuck jumps, flutter kicks, and rest (5 rounds). We took a quick dip in the ocean and then headed to Café Milagro.
The breakfast at Café Milagro was delicious. Afterwards, we headed back to the hotel and I sat with Juli and Adam for a while at Juli’s pool (she had her room at the hotel next door to the rest of us). I got an awesome massage with one of the women I was sharing the hotel suite with and then we had a special last night dinner at a really nice restaurant.
There was an optional 6am workout the next day before heading to the airport, but I opted out of that one because I didn’t want to be gross for the airport/plane.
Overall, it was a great experience (and I got to miss the NY snowstorm – yay!) and I’m glad I went and got to meet Juli and spend time with other people who enjoy working out and eating paleo!
MONKEYS!
