Long Weekend

February 20, 2012 at 10:05 am · Filed under Life, Running ·Tagged ,

I have never needed a long weekend like I have needed this one. I feel like I’ve been going non-stop since Thanksgiving…Costa Rica, Christmas, moving, year-end at work. Most of those are good/fun things, but they still required a lot of planning and effort!

At my old job we never got President’s Day off. No holidays until Memorial Day. It was tough. While I am still jealous of everyone that gets MLK Jr. day off, I now at least get President’s Day!

I started Saturday off with a great 5 mile run. I figured I am as trained as I am going to be for the half so I’d rather have a good medium length run than do a mediocre long run. I achieved negative splits which is good for me outside – usually I do the opposite. After that we went to Mike’s old place in Queens to get a few things and check on his fish tank. He has a 125 gallon saltwater tank with tons of fish and coral. He is getting a smaller one to bring here but plans to bring all the coral/fish from his current one. We ended the night at our favorite Greek restaurant, Nick’s, on the way home.

Yesterday I went to an awesome spin class. I’ve definitely found my favorite instructor – for the first time I worried about running out of water in class (I have a 1 L bottle) and we sprinted up hill to the Madonna Superbowl halftime show. Sweet. After I got home we went to Mike’s cousin’s house in NJ. The boys worked on fish tank stuff while the girls spent the afternoon at the Palisades Mall. I mostly behaved myself but still scored some bargains from President’s Day sales at Banana Republic, Express, and NY&Co.

Today I went for another outdoor run (4 miles) and we are off to go iceskating soon and then meet my friend for a late lunch. I should also pack for Florida since I leave Friday!

I hope everyone else has had a good weekend!

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Work it Out

February 17, 2012 at 4:45 pm · Filed under Exercise ·Tagged

Saturday- Long run (6.2 miles; 1:15:25)

Sunday- 55 min spin class

Monday- 8 x 400 interval run (4.00 miles; 43:00)

Tuesday- 30 min Core Fusion Body Sculpt DVD

Wednesday- 60 min yoga; 20 min hill run (1.65 miles)

Thursday- 55 min spin class

An amazing week of workouts!

Scale is down another pound to 24 lost. I will def take some pictures in Florida to do a progress update when I get back. I had gotten to the point in July where I was very camera shy and unhappy with most pictures of myself but I have a couple to choose from. It is such a relief to be getting further away from that point!

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Whirlwind

February 16, 2012 at 10:58 pm · Filed under Life ·Tagged

This year is flying by. I can’t believe I moved over two weeks ago! Things are coming together though.

Last weekend we got a lot done around the apartment – hung pictures, bought rugs, put together a desk.

Work has been nuts but should start to slightly slow down after next week. I am leaving for Florida next Friday and the Disney Princess Half Marathon is just a week and a half away!

I was so on top of training before I moved and then things kind of fell apart on the running side. This week has been better for running and I am planning my last long run before the race for this Saturday. My goal for the race is to keep a 12 min mile pace for the whole race. This would put me at a 2:38-ish finish time. It would be my 2nd fastest half marathon of the 6 I will have completed by that time. Fingers crossed. I hope Orlando is as flat as everyone says it is! I know from running in Sarasota that Florida is flat but I will remain suspicious until I am out on the course!

Westchester has been seriously good for my eating and exercise routine. I’ve been cooking a lot more and have renewed my love affair with Stop & Shop. I still can’t get enough of Equinox and have found an awesome spin instructor, and taken/enjoyed Sunrise Yoga and Body Sculpt. The good spin instructor also teaches Barre Burn one night a week so once I am back on a more 9-5 schedule in March I plan to check out that class for the first time in awhile!

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Work it Out

February 10, 2012 at 7:53 am · Filed under Exercise ·Tagged

Saturday- 7 mile run (1:28:10)

Sunday- 60 min spin class

Monday- 3 mile interval run (32:05)

Tuesday- 30 min spin class; 30 min body sculpt class

Wednesday- 60 min yoga

Friday- 20 min hill run (1.67 miles); 15 min upper body strength training

Life is good but busy. This week I have been up around 5:30 most days to make it to 6AM gym classes and then working until 6:30-8. Come home, cook dinner, unpack/organize/apt projects and I am wiped out!

2 more weeks of crazy-ness then it is Florida and Disney Princess Half Marathon time!

Scale is down another pound and a half-ish, making me just shy of losing a total of 23 lbs since July 2011.

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Work it Out

February 4, 2012 at 7:30 am · Filed under Exercise, Uncategorized ·Tagged

Monday- 15 min hill walk; 15 min hill run (2.10 miles total); 10 min upper body strength training

Wednesday- 60 min yoga; 20 min elliptical

Thursday- 45 min spin class

Friday- 30 min arc trainer

Absolutely loving Equinox! What a week though – working til 7:30-9 most nights and being up at 5:30 two days for gym classes. Phew!

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New Routine

January 31, 2012 at 9:02 pm · Filed under Life ·Tagged

Well tonight is the fourth night in my new place and I love it!

Yesterday Mike took the day off so I took the train to work in the morning so he could have the car for the day. It was less than a 10 minute walk – less than my walk to Grand Central was.

After work Mike picked me up and we came back and cooked dinner. It was so delicious and I wish I had made enough for leftovers but I underestimated the amount of couscous I had. I cooked cubed chicken breast in a skillet on the stove and steamed some broccoli. While that was cooking I also made a batch of couscous. When it was done I threw it all together and drizzled it with some olive oil, lemon juice, garlic, and premade tzatziki sauce.

Today I drove to work for the first time in almost two years and it was fabulous. Mike took Metro North and confirmed what we thought would be true – his commute stayed about the same door to door.

After almost 6 months without a gym Equinox gave me an offer I couldn’t refuse – $0 initiation, and free personal training and pilates sessions if I signed up by today. So I did. There is one less than 3 miles away. I am planning on going tomorrow morning.

I had been planning on joining NYSC with my work discount but when I got that offer from Equinox and figured in a little additional income from the lack of NYC taxes and taking on an additional role at work, I decided Equinox would be worth it. You really can tell a difference between classes and instructors at the two gyms. Can’t wait to go back to spin more regularly now!

The one thing I noticed about Westchester classes vs NYC is that the early ones start at 6AM rather than 6:30AM. Looks like I will be getting back to my early bird ways. I will most likely be coming home to get ready though instead of showering at the gym most of the time so that will be a nice change.

Can’t believe it is already 9PM! I am looking forward to a good work out in the morning! I also need to figure out my 10 mile route for this weekend!

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Work it Out

January 29, 2012 at 1:00 pm · Filed under Exercise ·Tagged

Saturday- Long run (9.12 miles; 1:48:00)

Monday- 5 x 400 speed interval run (3.00 miles; 31:50)

Wednesday- 45 min spin class

Thursday- 2 mile run (hill repeats; 25:00); 10 min upper body strength training

Whoops – forgot to post this on Friday! Would have liked to get another workout in last week but 4 is still pretty good!

No long run this weekend but I think the zillion trips I took up and down the stairs yesterday moving definitely counts as a workout. My quads and calves are sore today telling me it definitely was!

So far so good at the new place – just trying to get organized. Need to make one more trip back to the city this afternoon to do a final cleaning and take a couple last things that didn’t make it into the truck yesterday!

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Gym Profiles: Crunch

January 25, 2012 at 10:19 pm · Filed under Crunch, Exercise, Gym ·Tagged , ,

I found my way to Crunch thanks to a Groupon for a 1 month membership for $39.

I only visited the 59th/2nd Ave location in Manhattan. Overall I liked Crunch a lot – the classes were good and there was plenty of equipment.

Price: Moderate

A monthly membership with a 1 yr commitment will set you back about $90/mo. It is less than Equinox and more than NYSC.

Pro’s: Amazing classes (see below); tons of classes; great instructors; tons of equipment; clean; big locker room; assigned spin bikes (sign up when you arrive); lots of space for stretching; good quality treadmills

Con’s: Towels (kept at front desk so you have to get ones to shower with before going in locker room & they are very scratchy/uncomfortable); lack of hair dryers in locker room, toiletries in showers aren’t great; spin bikes have seen better days; weights area is disorganized and it’s hard to find 5-12 lb dumbells

Classes Taken: The Ride

I wish I had taken more classes but with work being so busy and getting ready to move I stuck to spin. I LOVED the Wednesday morning instructor who was more like a DJ with awesome house music playing the whole class (his name is Mitch I believe). Crunch offers some cool classes like TRX, Anti-gravity yoga (suspend from silks), and X-pole which are all included in your membership so if you join take better advantage than I did!

Overall I’d give Crunch 4/5 and if they had a Westchester location would definitely consider signing up!

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Random Weekend

January 22, 2012 at 7:47 pm · Filed under Cooking, Life, Moving, Running ·Tagged , , ,

This weekend had a little bit of everything – drinks, running,time with the boyfriend, cooking, packing/moving, and cleaning.

I got out of work around 5:30 on Friday after working til 7-8 most nights and headed to the local bar with some of my coworkers. I had grand plans of cooking a last nice dinner for myself before packing up the rest of my kitchen but 1 beer turned into 2 and I ordered an individual pizza on my way home. Even with the indulgences I stayed under my calorie target for the day.

Saturday I woke up to snow. I am a big enough klutz without snow or ice to worry about so it was a no brainer to hit the treadmill. Had to wait for the gym to open at 8 so I spent an hour or so packing to kill time. I broke my long run into 4, 3, and 2 miles and had water refill and fueling breaks in between. Over the course of 1 hr 48 min I covered 9.12 miles, just under a 12:00 pace, which is my goal for the Disney Princess Half Marathon next month. I even used the incline for the first 1/2 to 2/3 of my treadmill run. Progress. Unfortunately I didn’t fuel enough and felt a bit dizzy and nauseous on the way home so I picked up some Powerade Zero which was a lifesaver. Oh and a mouthful of table salt when I got home. The things runners do…

After I rested up I headed to Queens where Mike and I spent the evening vegging out and catching up on his DVR.

This morning we headed back to my place in Manhattan and amazingly, found a parking spot just around the corner on 1st Ave. After taking apart a piece of IKEA furniture and testing out our new vacuum (thrilling I know, but with pets a good vacuum is key!) we took 3 trips to the car down my 61 stairs with a bunch of my clothes and other misc. items. I have to say, after moving myself in here with the help of my parents, moving out is much easier. Carrying things down 61 stairs is no cake walk, but it sure beats carrying stuff up!

Then it was time to check out the new place and drop my stuff off. It was so nice to see the place empty, when we looked at it, the place was kind of a mess with other people’s stuff and our landlord basically confirmed her old tenant had some hoarder tendancies! I have had horrible luck moving into places that were not thoroughly cleaned, and while this place wasn’t spotless, it was SO MUCH CLEANER than the last two places I moved into. We dropped off my stuff then went to the nearby CVS for cleaning supplies. Mike swiffered the floors while I wiped down all of the counters, drawers, appliances, and bathrooms.

I am so excited to move, the new place is really fab!

When  I got home I did some more packing (it never ends!) and got to cooking some beef stew. I highly recommend this recipe. It has beer in it! Now I am watching the Giants and keeping my fingers crossed for a win!

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Work it Out

January 20, 2012 at 7:08 am · Filed under Exercise ·Tagged

Saturday- 8 mile run (1:32:45)

Sunday- 20 min total body strength training

Monday- 30 min arc trainer

Wednesday- 3 mile run (32:55)

Thursday- 20 min arc trainer; 15 min total body strength training

Considering I was a bit under the weather I am pretty happy with this week.

Weather is iffy around here tomorrow so I may bring my long run to the treadmill. Or maybe even take a cab to/from Central Park so I can at least do the run there but don’t have to deal with the mile walk each way. There is no good way to do 9-10 miles there running the whole time. You either come up too long or short. We’ll see.

So let’s talk about the scale. I hit the 20 lbs lost mark right after Thanksgiving and spent the last month and a half gaining and losing the same 3 lbs. I would have a few good days, followed by a few bad ones and so on. This week, finally, I am slightly below my low after Thanksgiving – at -21.  I would love to keep going down from here and stop yo-yo’ing so that’s the plan!

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