Gettin’ Bendy

Posted on September 1, 2010 by ellen

Note: I’m trying to make a few little changes to the look of the blog. I should be done in a few days. Bear with me! Thanks :)

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The cold hard truth: I suck at yoga.

I know, that statement is not quite in keeping with the yoga work to your own ability, etc… but really. I’m terrible.

And that’s not discouraging to me. In fact, yoga plays hard to get, and it only makes me want it more. It’s like it’s this bendy club that I’m not a part of. But desperately want to be.

I’m pretty athletic and have always been able to pick up sports and be pretty decent at them from the get-go. Yoga is the thing that is a constant challenge. I mean, I can barely even touch my toes. A down-dog is even pushing it sometimes (I imagine I look more like I’m searching for a lost contact lens, than inner balance).

So that’s the September goal. One goal only. Do yoga.

Any style, studio or living room, ten minutes or two hours. I will do yoga. And of the 30 days of September, I’ll be yoga-fying more than half.

What about your September goals? Or, do you do yoga? Are you a yoga newbie or devotee?

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Marathon Monday: A Walk in the Park

Posted on August 30, 2010 by ellen

Note: I’m trying to make a few little changes to the look of the blog. I should be done in a few days. Bear with me! Thanks :)

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Saturday morning I did my long run of the week. Keeping my less than stellar run in the back of my mind, I stayed positive and set my sights on my goal: 13 miles. I had a lot working in my favor that morning before I even rolled out of bed:

  • near perfect weather conditions (especially for August!)
  • moral support (since it was an NYRR-organized run, there would be tons of other runners and support staff along the way)
  • built-in fuel stations

And I have to be completely honest, I laid in bed at around 5:30 seriously considering blowing it off. My rationale? I could just run a ton of loops in the park (like I did instead of the last NYRR trainer) across the street. And sleep in more.

Eventually, my conscience won the battle and I got up and got dressed.

I kept it simple with my morning fuel and had a Carrot-Chia-Spelt muffin I made a few days ago from Oh She Glows (umm, delicious, and great pre-run fuel, btw), a cup of Japanese Sencha tea, and some water. I got my gear and headed out to the subway.

I should mention here that by “gear” I generally mean my shoes. I hate carrying/holding/transporting pretty much anything when I run. No iPods, no water bottles, nothin but a plain old watch. All I had today (but necessity only, I assure you) was a single key to get back in my building and my metrocard. Both fit nicely into the little back pocket of my spandex. My race bib was already attached to my shirt. This aversion to carrying things also explains why I almost always try to schedule long runs on long race weekends…

Once I got there, the run was pretty standard. Nothing to noteworthy to mention (which, I suppose is good and bad). I ran the 13 I set out to do and moved between pacer groups (9:30 and 10:00) as I saw fit.There were a few times when I could feel one of my knees… or my ankle. It didn’t hurt at all, but my theory is that you should never feel the presence of a single joint. They were talking a bit, so I iced them down afterwards to be careful. I also discovered a nasty bloody toe situation after I got home. One rubbed against the other and the dried blood stuck them together in a single red mega-toe. Nothing painful, though.

So? It’s done. Next week I’ll shoot for 15 alone, and step-back the week after. I’m doing quite a bit of cross-training in the next few weeks, and I’m looking forward to seeing how that makes me feel in the next few long runs.

Countdown to the marathon? T-minus 68 days and counting…

How are your long runs going? If you aren’t running a marathon, would you ever want to? Why/why not?

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Friday Flashback: Triathlon? Check!

Posted on August 27, 2010 by ellen

The great thing about summer (especially when you’re a teacher) is that you get a break from the crazy schedule you keep all year. Things are more relaxed. Your schedule is yours. That can also be the downside sometimes too. I’ve been doing lots of great things this summer, but I haven’t been documenting them. The next couple of weeks, I’ll have Friday Flashbacks, where I’ll retro-post some things I’ve been up to this summer. Enjoy :)

Today’s is part one of a two-part post on the triathlon my husband and I did earlier in August…

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We DID it!

A few weeks ago (Aug. 8), my husband and I completed the Niantic Bay Sprint Triathlon and crossed the finish line hand-in-hand. (And yes, we totes cheesed it up in matching outfits. Don’t judge). It was each of our first triathlons. (My first was last summer and cancelled half-way through due to craaazay weather). It was a total blast and we BOTH can’t wait to schedule a full season of tri’s in 2011.

Let’s rewind to the day before the tri, shall we?

I know that “carbo-loading” is really just an extra 1/2-1 serving of carbs at each meal… but that’s not nearly as much fun as an over-the-top dough and pasta fest. So, in preparation, we had a rooftop lunch of Farmer’s Market spinach strombolis and some tomato sauce for dippage.

It was obviously super-important for us to have a little dress-rehearsal in our hot matching outfits (my idea, natch). On me: zebra Bondi band, Lululemon Flow Y bra (unpictured), men’s Target athletic wicking tank, Zoot triathlon shorts. On him: men’s Target athletic wicking tank, CRW triathlon shorts.

As I said, the carbo-load is awesome. Favorite way to gear up for a race. This is a large bowl of rice pasta with sauce. Cheese-less and gluten-less. Fo sho. Note: we ate this while watching Hot Tub Time Machine. Which is awesome. Seriously.

Realizing that I had a 3:30 wake-up time and it was now 9pm, I figured I should, I dunno, get all my gear together? Yes. Each of us had our own little milk crate to keep all our gear in. This would sit under our bikes in transition and make it easier to carry and organize all our stuff. I made a little transition checklist for each of us so we could make sure we had everything we needed in our little crates before we went to bed. For me this meant: ShamWow, socks, hairband, Bondi band, sunscreen spray, and sneakers (for T1), nothing for T2, and goggles for the swim. I’d also have a Clif bar, coconut water, and water bottle for the transitions.

The next order of business was to get our beverages and breakfasts together. Since we had to be out the door to get to check-in and have enough time to set up our transition areas by 4, everything needed to be packed the night before. This included coffees, teas, waters, and green monsters. I had an iced green Sencha and he had an iced coffee. We each had a green monster for breakfast (each monster consisted of: spinach, banana, chocolate Amazing Grass, Maca powder, vanilla almond milk, spoonful of peanut butter).

By 4:10, we were on the road. We hadn’t checked in to get our race packets. The race was to start at 7:30am, and transition would be open from 6:00-7:15. As long as we got there by 6:30, we figured we’d be in good shape. I’d rather be early than hustling to get everything together!

As planned, we got there at just about 6:30. Just enough time to get everything sorted… or so we thought.

Check back next week for the second half that has all the juicy race time details!

Sorry for the cliffhanger :)

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On the Agenda:

- Tomorrow’s NYRR Marathon Training Run #2. I’m shooting for 13 miles and putting my “bad workout” behind me.

- Another urban hiking adventure – and some kayaking on the Hudson on Sunday!

- Trying to ignore the fact that this is essentially my last carefree weekend in teacher summer vacation land :(

What are you up to this weekend??

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Marathon Monday: Takin It Off the Streets

Posted on August 23, 2010 by ellen

The Forecast:

For the record, it feels way cooler than 70. It’s rainy, grey, and super-windy.

The Fuel:

Oats, pb, banana, yerba mate tea

The Workout:

I chickened out of running outside (after planning on pushing my long run from yesterday to today). So, my workout involved a lot of this –

And a little of this –

And these…

The Verdict:

Breakfast was delightful, natch. Today’s workout? Not so much. It is what it is though, and not every run can be a good one. I think I set myself up for it a bit. I should have just sucked it up and completed it yesterday morning as planned. I didn’t though, and instead, planned on banging out as much as possible on the dreadmill (which I loathe for anything over 4-5 miles). I was hoping for about 9 miles of running, then maybe a little elliptical or cycling to round things out a bit.

After 5 miles on the dreadmill, I called it quits. I was really hungry and just not feeling it. I usually feel pretty bad after something like this, but I moved on and cycled for 45 minutes. The cycling time relaxed me and I got to think a lot about my marathon training. This will be my third marathon (second NYC) and to be honest, I fell short on training the last two times. I kept telling myself that it’s better that this bad workout came pretty early in my training. I have plenty of time to physically and mentally bounce back and move on.

After my lovely reflection time, I stretched out for a good long while and did my sit-ups and push-ups. (And btw, I heart these apps.) When I got back home, I was more than excited to scarf down this huge veggie-licious lunch:

Flax wrap, roasted garlic hummus, baby spinach, red peppers, alfalfa sprouts, feta and artichokes. Mmmmmm.

Next Steps:

Tomorrow morning, I’m going to head out for a little run. I typically run Tuesday, Thursday, and do my long run on either Saturday or Sunday. Since I didn’t get too far today, I’ll be back on schedule tomorrow. I may also take a yoga class to get a really good stretch in. This coming weekend I’m running the ING NYC Marathon Training Run #2 with NYRR. It’s an open distance in Central Park, and I’m planning on 13. I know I’ll have a great run :)

What to do when you have a bad workout:

  • Assess what went wrong – without being critical of yourself. Was it a new route? Gear problems? Outside vs. treadmill? Did you begin to regret your breakfast choice halfway through? Are you overtraining and just need a break? Pinpoint the problem(s) so you can make sure to avoid them during your next workout.
  • Be flexible. Understand that this happens. We can’t have awesome workouts all the time. If running really isn’t working, then walk it out for a bit. Or bike. Or something. You won’t feel as if you’re “quitting” and it will give you focused time to reflect and move forward.
  • Be realistic. This really isn’t a bad workout. The bad workout would be the one that I didn’t attempt at all. And what this one workout may not quite have given you to improve your physical game, you can be sure it improved your mental game. Don’t let this one workout deter you from your goal. One day is a drop in the bucket in a lifetime of fitness (cliched… but true).

What do you do to get over an “off” day?

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Flashback Friday: The BluePrint Cleanse

Posted on August 20, 2010 by ellen

The great thing about summer (especially when you’re a teacher) is that you get a break from the crazy schedule you keep all year. Things are more relaxed. Your schedule is yours. That can also be the downside sometimes too. I’ve been doing lots of great things this summer, but I haven’t been documenting them. The next couple of weeks, I’ll have Friday Flashbacks, where I’ll retro-post some things I’ve been up to this summer. Enjoy :)

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So way back in June (feels like AGES ago, I know), I tried out the BluePrint Cleanse. I’ve always been fairly skeptical of cleanses. Really, I think, because people tend to use them for weight-loss, which obviously wouldn’t work. I did a non-juice cleanse a few months back and really liked it. I really felt lighter and brighter afterwards and thought I’d give it another whirl.

Enter BluePrint Cleanse. Why did I choose the BluePrint Cleanse over other options? One, was that it was cheaper. Two, I could get a deal that married the BPC with a few CoreFusion classes. I’m a sucker for a good deal.

BPC has a few different options to choose from for their juice cleanse. Basically, they are beginner, intermediate, and advance levels. While I didn’t really like their descriptions for the levels, I chose the beginner since I hadn’t juice cleansed before. Here’s the description from the BPC website.

I’m a Renovator

Fruit? Easy, It’s the garnish on my cocktail

I know what whole foods are, and I’ve seen people buying them. I would too, but I’m too busy to be choosy – my vegetable intake comes in the form of: Ketchup – “tomatoes” and French Fries – “potatoes.” Salad is found in EVERY cheeseburger I eat: it’s that green-ish color in the middle of the burger.

So this doesn’t really describe me, but as the newbie I thought this would be the easiest way to get into it. While I think BPC ships around the country, I live in NYC and was able to pick a pick-up location for my juices. I picked up all the juices (18 in total, 6 per day) in a large freezer pack box on a Sunday afternoon. I’d chosen to juice on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday since they typically hold few social obligations for me.

Luckily, it was WICKED hot those three days, so I wanted little more than the icy cold juices. (I work in a poorly ventilated, non-air conditioned school). To be honest, I liked all the juices. Quite a bit more than anticipated, in fact. My favorite was the P.A.M. juice (pineapple, apple, mint) which was AWESOME and not sweet like so many pineapple juices.

Day One went by without a hitch. And it’s so nice to end the day with that delishy cashew milk. :) Day Two was the one that I was nervous about. Again, the 97-degree heat at my desk proved to be an advantage and the juices went down great.

As I said, I love a deal, and when I picked up my juices on Sunday, there was a coupon for a free day of trying the “Juice Til Dinner” cleanse. It’s, as the name suggests, juices til dinner (+ a snack), then a raw dinner and raw dessert. The juice cleanse was going so well that I decided to tack on the JTD for Thursday.

Wednesday I picked up the JTD pack (sad, no more coupons included) and then headed to Book Club with my lady friends. I was kinda nervous for Book Club. I knew that I’d have some snackies and was just more apprehensive to how my bod would react after juicing for a few days. I took it easy and steered clear of dairy and wheat and just snacked on veggies with hummus and a glass of wine. I felt a-ok and headed home to drink the cashew milk. (Note: my husband chugged down half of it and thought it was amazing).

Thursday’s JTD was fantastic. The raw meal was zucchini “pasta” with tomatoes and a basil vinaigrette. Yum. I could do this way more often. And will definitely do it again. I think I did it at a really great time of year (hotness heading into summer). I think it would have been much more difficult for me in the winter. Also, I did it before marathon training started. I did a little light activity, but nothing like my normal workouts. Do the cleanse at a time when you aren’t doing too much heavy activity.

Overall, juice cleansing felt great and I’ll do it again at some point. BPC was wonderful, but I think I’ll try a few other cleanses to really test it out.

Have you ever cleansed? Would you like to?

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Coming up on Monday: Marathon Training Update :)

Have an AWESOME weekend!


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Thirsty Thursday

Posted on August 5, 2010 by ellen

For the past few months, I’ve been having a sordid love affair with my Vita-mix. Once, sometimes twice a day in this crazy heat, we make sweet sweet green monsters.

Here’s my new fave:

Banana

+

A big, fat handful of spinach (roughly a cup)

+

Almond milk (roughly a cup)

+

A scoop of chocolate Amazing Grass

+

Spoonful of Maca powder

+

Spoonful of natural peanut butter

THEN…

Vita-mix, or blend, or Bullet…

And…

DEVOUR.

What’s your favorite green monster combo?

Also, did you see the Operation Beautiful segment on the Today Show this morning? It was fantastic and I can’t wait to start reading the book. In case you missed it, check out this article from MSNBC on Caitlin and Operation Beautiful.

Have a happy and beautiful day – you deserve it :)

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Marathon Monday: Rolling with the Punches

Posted on August 2, 2010 by ellen

With roughly T-minus 14 weeks until this year’s NYC Marathon, I’m getting back into training mode. Yesterday, that meant a long(ish) run. Since this was my first long run in a little while, I thought 9 would be a nice number to start with (and it just so happens to fit nicely into my training plan).

When I map out my training plan, I usually like to find local races that correspond with long runs. It’s much easier and more motivating for me to run my 15-miler with a few hundred other people and water stations included, for example. So as it turned out, yesterday was also New York Road Runners first Marathon training race. Perfect.

I woke up yesterday morning bright and early and fueled up with some cold green tea, and a green monster (banana, almond milk, peanut butter, chocolate Amazing Grass, and maca powder). I sipped it all down and started to get ready. Within a few minutes, I was all ready to go, but my tummy was not :( I had a bit of a sour belly, which happens to be sometimes before races (I generally attribute this to nerves), but this time it wasn’t going away. After lying around for a bit and waiting it out, I realized that I would be ridiculously late to the training run (like 45 mins) and while I could just jump in the pack, it didn’t seem worth the subway time.

Boo. And here we are, first training run already derailed.

I realized that if I were still going to get my 9 miles in, I’d need to leave the house immediately. I decided to stay in the park across the street (where I can run a 1-mile figure eight) and still be close to home in case I didn’t feel well.

My lovely other half volunteered to sit on a bench and be my cheerleader, water station, and time-keeper. It made all the difference! I was able to bang out the nine miles in nine figure-8s through the park. I stopped twice (at 3 miles and at 6 miles) for water and coconut water.

I have to say, I’m really impressed with myself. Not for the nine miles per se, but the fact that I did them in the park across the street myself. As I said, I generally try to schedule my long training runs with races and that’s largely a motivational thing. It’s way too easy for me to just stop when I want to, but in a race I wouldn’t. The fact that I had a one-man cheering squad was a huuuge motivator and I was super thankful for it. I think I almost preferred it to a big race, so I may make some changes to the training plan…

What about you – how do you like to do your long training runs? How do you stay motivated on long distances?

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Swim, Swam, Swum

Posted on July 26, 2010 by ellen

In preparation for my triathlon coming up, I entered an open-water ocean swim for Saturday night at the Jersey shore. While the race on Saturday was 1 mile, my tri swim is only half a mile. I figured if I could do the full mile in the ocean, I’d be able to swim the 1/2 mile in the bay no problem come tri time.

I was a little nervous.

I’d heard about how disorienting an ocean swim can be, how creeped out you can make yourself, and how cut-throat it can be entering the water and swimming past the breakers.

And?

I ROCKED it.

I’m the little orange swim cap on the far right running to the finish.

My unofficial time!

Post-race glow

And possibly the best part? That I placed SECOND in my age group! (Let’s ignore hte fact that there were only 2 people in my age-group, okay? I never place in anything).

So I LOVED it. I was scared, I was wasn’t freaked out or disoriented. I felt strong and comfortable the whole way. I was utterly spent at the end and it felt amazing. What’s even better (arguably) is that I didn’t feel like I prepared for this race at all. I haven’t even hit the water in maybe 2 months. (I really shouldn’t admit that, but whatevs). It made me think that with a bit more practice I could show a lot of improvement.

If there’s interest, I’ll post a bit about how I stayed on course without getting off track or having to stop… Anyone else find a new love for open-water swimming – or a new love for something that they just tried???

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How to Stay Cool When It’s Wicked Hot Out There

Posted on July 21, 2010 by ellen

When the forecast looks like this every day:

And you don’t have air conditioning (or, maybe you have it in your bedroom but can’t justify using it all day), a girl needs to make some changes. It’s times like these that the thought of any sort of hot food is enough to make me queasy. Since I’m home all day in the heat this summer vacation, I thought I’d offer a few pieces of advice that keep me (relatively) calm, cool, and collected.

  1. Hydrate, hydrate, hydrate. This seems like a total no-brainer, but I find that I sometimes don’t want to do anything when it’s this hot. I love regular old water, but I also hit up the coconut water, iced green sencha, iced yerba mate, and sparkling water to mix things up a bit.
    • Coconut water is awesome. I drink it quite a bit when it’s super hot out, and almost always to hydrate after workouts. I’ve heard it described as “nature’s gatorade” since it’s loaded with potassium and other goodies to replenish what you’ve lost in sweat.
    • Iced teas are easily my most refreshing “discovery” this summer. Yeah, I know iced tea is not exactly a discovery, but I’ve only recently stumbled upon it’s excellence. I like my tea straight up, so I invested in a few glass pitchers.
  2. Bookend your day. The “coolest” parts of the day are obviously going to be the early morning and the nighttime. Plan most of your activities accordingly. I prefer to workout outside, so on these nasty-hot days, I’m up at 5:30 and running. I’ll try to do housework (laundry, cleaning, etc.) in the morning too. At night, it’s usually really nice. That’s a good time to finally head out, enjoy the summer for a walk, or some drinks outside.
  3. Eat seasonal food. Okay, so this isn’t specific to heat necessarily, but it could be. I think there’s a reason that there are so many fruits and veggies that are in season right now – they taste awesome raw. I keep the heat down at home by eating salads, raw veggie kebabs, and smoothies. Here’s a tasty raw corn salad I made with CSA corn and onions.
  4. If you must cook, time it well. It’s times like this that I really love my steamer, slow-cooker, and toaster oven. I can use each (early morning or late at night, of course, since I bookend) without totally heating up the kitchen too much. This is also a good time to make large batches and hang on to leftovers. I’ll steam a ton of brown rice and use it throughout the week for different dishes.
  5. Suppress the urge to workout like a maniac. Even if you’re used to workin it out like a maniac, summer is not always the time to do it. Neither is a heat wave. And neither is the middle of the afternoon. If you’re following the other rules, you should already be hydrating and bookending your day. So as long as your workouts are early morning or in the latter half of the day, you should be okay. Now my pitch for early morning workouts: if you live in a major metropolitan area (like here in NYC), smog and pollution levels tend to be at their lowest first thing in the morning and build throughout the day. (And if you’re interested in morning workouts, check out my post on starting them). Just sayin’. And while I hate treadmills, they become a good friend on days like this. Here are some great tips on working out in the heat:
  6. Siesta, baby. This is perhaps my favorite rule of all. On days when I’m home, I’ve really gotten accustomed to a post-lunch nap. Not necessarily a long one, but just 30 minutes to refresh myself. Other days, my “siesta” may just be a matinee at an (air-conditioned) movie theater, a few hours in a nice cool coffee shop/bookstore, etc.

So that’s how I keep cool! What do you do to beat the heat?

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So… how was high school?

Posted on July 20, 2010 by ellen

When I was in college, I bumped into a kid who recognized me from grade school. We said hi and laughed about the coincidence, and just as I was about to exit the potentially awkward situation (we weren’t even friends back then), he said it:

“So… how was high school?”

I’m not even sure if I answered… I think I just said “good” and walked away. It’s such a funny thing to say to someone you haven’t seen – how are you supposed to answer that?? Anyhow, ever since then, my friends and I say “So… how was high school?” when we haven’t seen each other in while.

So rather than answer that question, and give detailed descriptions of what I have or have not been doing over the last few months, I’ll just show some pics.

And, “high school” (ahem, my hiatus) has been awesome. Fun. Relaxing. (Mostly pesto, paella, and patio seating… not necessarily in that order :) )

And to you… how was “high school?” What have you been up to this awesome summer?

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