Yesterday/Today

Good morning!

I'm happy to say that my power came back yesterday afternoon.  Woo hoo!  Of course then I get home and random lights are on, plus the bedroom AC.  Oh well, I'm just so happy it's back.

After a few days of chaos, my plan was to go home and do Insanity with Don Juan.  That was, until he called and said he was given tickets to the Mets game.

The weather here yesterday was GORGEOUS so it seemed like the perfect night for a baseball game.  So Insanity was once again put off and instead we went to the game and ate way too much.

Our seats were really good though, so that was nice.   Too bad the Mets kind of stink and did a good job of proving that to their fans last night.  That aside, it was a lovely way to spend the night.

Fit Talking...
So back to Insanity.  Yeah, I'm trying to bring Shawn T back in to our lives.  I'm feeling blah and I need a good and consistent a$$ kicking.  Insanity is the perfect answer, however due to issues beyond my control, I haven't been able to do it more than 2 days in a row.

So once I get back on track I'll definitely share and keep you guys posted on progress and my thoughts.

Help...
However, my two days of Insanity made me realize that I need more of a cross training shoe.  There's so much lateral movement that my running sneakers just aren't doing the trick.  After the first day my calves were super sore, but my feet were really achy.  Any recommendations for a light weight cross trainer?

Fun Stuff...
I just bought my tickets to see the Trans Siberian Orchestra.  Yay!  Have you ever seen them?  I saw them once and was blown away by the special effects and pyrotechnics.  Amazing.  So yeah, I'm a dork and a fan club member.  Presale baby!  :)

If you're not familiar witht them, this is a video I took when I saw them in 2008.

Sorry SHAPE

I LOVE magazines.  Not the digital version but the printed on paper, hold it in your hand original version.

I currently subscribe to Shape, Women's Health, Glamour, and the Nutrition Action Newsletter.  In the past I've also subscribed to Fitness, Marie Claire, and Cosmopolitan.

You get it, I like magazines.

However all of a sudden I've become VERY opinionated about who is on my magazine covers.  Typically the cover star also has a feature article written about him/her.  For the most part I have no issue, but unfortunately SHAPE has no rubbed me the wrong way twice.

See offenders below...

Kelly Bensimon

Audrina Patridge

Do these women have nice bodies?  Yes

That's where the good ends for me.
Why are these women "famous"?  Well for Kelly it's because she married a famous photographer and is on a reality show.  For Audrina it's just the reality show thing.
Are these natural beauties?  I can't say for sure about Kelly, but Audrina is definitely enhanced in several areas.
Do either of these ladies really have something to say?  NO

Yes, they're eye candy for the magazine cover, but the articles about them are weak and not worth reading.  Although to be honest, I haven't read the Kelly piece yet since I just got the magazine this morning.

But the Audrina piece...there was zero substance.  They showed her workout moves, which were fine, but she looked as though she might have a wardrobe malfunction in her skimpy top.

See the spillage?  Come on!

The magazine industry as a whole seems to be embracing the whole healthy is beautiful movement.  And yes, they're pretty, but I think that's where the story ends.

Don't name your child Irene

...at least not today.  Nobody on the East coast likes Irene today.

Unless you've been under a rock, you should know what I'm talking about; Hurricane Irene.  She hit all along the east coast from NC to VT.  Boy did she do a number in some areas.

Thankfully, my immediate area wasn't too bad.  Yes, there are tree limbs down, and yes, I have no power, but overall things are OK.  Unfortunately I'm being told that my power will probably be out for a few days to a week.  I don't like that, but compared to others, I shouldn't complain.

I ventured in to the office today not sure what I'd find since my building is across the street from a river.  Thankfully it was fine and we have electricity, which now feels like a luxury.

Since I had to toss most of the contents of my fridge, bringing my lunch was not an option.  However I also didn't think of the fact that so many places would be closed.  Thankfully one local spot was open and I was able to grab a salad.  While not my favorite lunch spot, the salad wasn't bad.

Spinach, walnuts, sun dried tomatoes (no oil), blue cheese, mushrooms, avocado, and bacon.  Served with a spicy honey mustard.  Sounds OK, right?

Rewinding to Saturday, I taught my 10a.  I figured it would either be packed since people wanted to get their workout on, or empty as people were busy buying water.

Thankfully it was almost full and the energy was great.  I can't put my finger on it but I blame the nervous energy on giving us a great and difficult spin ride.  I joked a few times that we were running away from the storm and I honestly think it helped us work harder.

I was just in the mood to hear the Bongo Song, so even though I may have done that ride in the past month or two, I did it anyway.  I hope no one minded.

If you take spin classes, how much attention do you pay to the music week to week.  Would you notice if the instructor played the same music twice in one month?

Lovely surprise

Greetings!

Wednesday night for my birthday was pretty low key.  Grabbed drinks with a few friends and then went for dinner with Don Juan.  Dinner was bad, but that's besides the point.

He had told me that on Thursday we'd go out to this delicious restaurant called Don Coqui in New Rochelle, NY.  Then he said he had a surprise for me after dinner.  OK. :)  First we were supposed to meet two of our friends but then they cancelled so the plan was to meet his brother and his fiance.  Cool.

So I get all dolled up and we head to NY, running late of course since that's how DJ does things (although it might have been party my fault this time too).

We get there and he walks past the maitre d, which I found odd.  He's walking towards the bar but saying he has to go to the bathroom.  So I'm kind of like OK, then why should I follow you to the bathroom.  He keeps saying bathroom.  then looks at me and nods his head over to the bar and who is there but my parents, my sister, and a few friends.  Surprise!!

My parents have been on vacation for the past two weeks so I hadn't seen them in a while.  My sister also just got back from Mexico.  And then friends, well it's always good to see friends.  It was very sweet.

This place is known for awesome food and huge portions.  It's a Puerto Rican restaurant so think paella, arroz con pollo, chimichuri sauce, etc...  Plus on Thursday nights they have a salsa band and dancing.

A personalized menu!
Check out the offerings.

Here's a look at our appetizers, after we ate to our hearts content..

There were also two other smaller plates

I didn't have my camera since I didn't know I'd want it, so I snapped that pic with my phone.

Like I said, the portions are huge.  This is the paella, although I don't think the photo does the dish justice.

Yes, that's a lobster on top
This picture doesn't show the true size of this dish (huge)

Everyone took home leftovers, serious leftovers.

Once we were done eating we moved to the lounge and hung out a bit.  Then my parents and sis left as they had a bit of a drive ahead of them.  So a few of us stayed and did some salsa dancing.

When there's dancing and Jessica there's always a ton of laughter, so it was very entertaining.  I know there are pictures out there so when I find them, I'll do another post.

Overall it was a wonderful and unexpected night and I have to thank DJ for putting it all together.

Delicious dinner

This was dinner the other night...


DJ made turkey burgers.  I didn't see exactly what he put in them but I know I recall peppers, onion, and basil.  He also seasoned them up.

Sometimes the glory of a burger is not in the meat itself but in the toppings or the accessories.

Our burgers were had on Arnold Sandwich Flats.  I honestly wonder what I ate before finding these things.

So what you're looking at is this...
Sandwich flat bottom
Turkey burger
Laughing cow lite swiss
Guacamole
Mango sauce (DJ made this the other day in the vitamix using mangos, strawberries, and jalapeno (I think))
Sliced mango
Tomato
Lettuce
Sandwich flat top

YUM!!!

Of course it was incredibly messy to eat, but it tasted sooooooo good.

I'm totally obsessed with mango on sandwiches.  It has such flavor that you don't need much else.  I'm also a big fan of Laughing Cow wedges, only 35 calories and so creamy!

It was a great dinner, consumed after day 1 of Insanity.  Yup, it's back.  But more on that in another post.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!

Nothing wrong with a self-indulgent post on your birthday, right?

It seems like this may be a pretty low-key birthday, but in the past I've always loved to celebrate.

Here are a few photos from years past....awww, memory lane...

My 30th, in case you couldn't guess.
I LOVE black and white cookies and was thrilled when my parents busted this one out.

Another cake for my 30th
There's no such thing as too much cake

Me on my 30th!  :)

My 31st at the Yankees game with my sis

I can't wait to see what this year has in store!!

Do you whole wheat?

Good morning!

So guess what?  My birthday is tomorrow.  Crazy.  In years past I've been ALL about celebrating but this year I'm just eh on the whole thing.  Strange.

I did have some great plans to go to the High Line in NYC on Sunday with some friends but unfortunately it looks like we're supposed to get hit with a tropical storm or hurricane.  Definitely not ideal weather for outdoor activities.  So now the plan is really TBD.

Last night I made banana bread.  I had some seriously overripe bananas on the counter and it was either turn them in to bread or throw them in to the trash.  I obv chose the bread route.

Not it's true color, I used a fancy effect :)

I used this recipe.  However when it came time to add the raisins I realized they had gone missing.  On a side note, I've managed to lose raisins numerous times.  I asked DJ where he'd be if he were a raisin and he said California.  Duh.  I briefly toyed with adding chocolate chips but realized that would totally negate the healthy aspect of this bread so I just added another banana (for a total of 4).  The last one wasn't as thoroughly mashed as the others.

This recipe uses whole wheat flour.  I like whole wheat flour, but do agree that it has a very distinct taste.  In my experience, the first bite really tastes like whole wheat and then as you eat more, your taste buds adjust and you start to just enjoy the flavors, not be smacked in the face with the wheatyness (new word!).

Have you had this happen?  Do you agree or disagree?  Do you even like whole wheat?

I find this is also the case with whole wheat pizza.  First bite, just eh.  But fifth bite and on taste wonderful!

Just another...

Good morning and happy Monday!  I honestly can't believe that Monday is here already.  Can we please start pushing for a 3 day weekend?

I apologize for disappearing on Friday.  I have no good excuse other than sheer lack of motivation.  Know the feeling?

I left things off with the bee incident, which still makes me shudder.  $125 later the hive is gone.  Thank goodness!  Just another "joy" of home ownership.  Can anyone tell me if there are actual joys and if so, when might I expect to experience them???

Thursday day, still reeling from the trauma and itchy as hell I tried to track down some non-drowsy benadryl.  Well, I learned that A) both CVS and Walgreens don't sell brand name Benadryl and B) there's no such thing as non-drowsy. Well, there was no way I was taking Benadryl in the middle of the work day, so I just pushed through.

Mid day I received a call from my friend who teaches the 5:30p spin class and he desperately needed a sub, so I agreed. Believe me when I tell you that I was not excited about teaching 2 hours of spin.  But oh well.  That was also another reason why I couldn't take a chance with taking Benadryl.

Thursday night after teaching both classes, my body was exhausted and I was so excited to have dinner, pop those benadryl and then call it a night.  Let's just say that apparently Benadryl no longer makes me drowsy.  Really?

Enough rambling...

Friday night I went out with some of the girls for happy hour.  Let's just say I had a bit too much sangria and payed the price on Saturday and possibly even Sunday.  Not fun.

Some other stuff occurred but nothing too notable, and now it's Monday again.

I'm looking at a significant revamping of my work out plan, eating habits, and fitness goals.  I think I'm in a rut and need to shake things up.  Once I've got the plan down, I'll gladly share.  And then perhaps this blog will get back to Fit Talking...not just mindless rambles.

And then it got worse...

Tuesday nigh Don Juan tried to kill me with a hot pepper.  Last night I tried to kill myself and DJ.  It's been a stellar week.

Last night started out like any other Wednesday night.  I headed to the gym after work for TRX, made a quick stop at Home Goods and then headed home.

DJ had a softball game but when he came home we were outside on the deck.  He started the grill and I was looking at some of my plants. 

While down on the grass behind the deck, I saw that under my deck I had left a big box from when I got my grill. I had been meaning to put it out for trash/recycling, so I figured while I was down there I should move it out. So I start to pull it out and apparently there was a beehive in it so of course I get swarmed by bees. The whole thing is a little hazy right there but I know I realized what was happening and started running/screaming/flailing. I ran around the backyard trying to pick them off and then ran around the building to the front. At this point, DJ had run outside when he heard me screaming and they went after him. He however ran back in to the house and then out the front door where I was completely freaking out. There was one on my shirt and I couldn’t get it off so I just took off my shirt. (thankfully I had come from the gym so I had a sports bra on which was a tad more acceptable than a regular bra). I was still screaming/crying/freaking out. One neighbor popped her head out to make sure I was OK. Then my next door neighbors came home, I was a sight to see. Standing in the driveway with no shirt and only one shoe (there was a bee in the other shoe), and crying. Nice.


I’ve never been stung by a bee so I was a touch nervous that I might be allergic, but thankfully I’m not. I came out of it with 7 stings. A few of them still hurt. UGH.

Once I had calmed down, I googled what to do about a bee sting. One of the suggestions was to make a paste of baking soda and water and apply that, which I did.  Can't say it did anything other than make me look silly, but oh well.

But overall I realized that if either of us was allergic, we would have known within minutes.

So that was my night.  I'm calling an exterminator today because that hive needs to GO AWAY pronto!

Sorry my posts lately have been not at all related to fitness...I'll get back to that ASAP. :)

Mean trick

Last night Don Juan played a very mean trick on me.

Background info:  my neighbor's parents have a farm.  She went home to visit this past weekend and brought back a ton of fresh veggies, some of which she shared with me.

Back to the story...dinner last night was a bit of a hodgepodge but there were a bunch of peppers in the veggie bag so DJ decided he'd throw them on the grill and roast them.  I think there were two different shades of green and a red one, all long peppers.  Thing was, we weren't really sure if they were hot or not.

At the end of dinner we decided to give them a try.  The first green one was charred beyond recognition.  The second green one was OK, it had a touch of heat but wasn't bad.  Last up was the red one.  Apparently DJ tried a tiny piece of it and it was SPICY.  Of course I was so glued to the TV (needed to see the Next Food Network Star finale which I had dvr'ed), that I didn't notice the face he made.

Being the generous boyfriend he is, he gave me a nice big chunk of the red pepper to try (with lots of seeds).  Being the trusting girlfriend I am, I put it in my mouth.  As you know, spice evolves so at first it was fine.  Then the heat grew and grew and grew.  I ultimately spit it out (as you'll see below) but not before it engulfed my mouth in flames and I accidentally swallowed a seed.

Holy friggin' cow!  I don't think I have ever eaten something this spicy.  First thought...milk.  Too bad I don't drink milk so I didn't have any.  Second thought, cheese.  I start chomping on some mozz and while it helps while it's in my mouth, the second I swallow it, the burn is back.  Next thought...bread.  Again, no bread in the house.  So I grab the pretzels.  And again, while I'm eating, it's fine, but the moment I stop it burns.  Not to mention that the seed that I swallowed seemed to be eating away at my esophagus and upper stomach.  Nice.

It finally passed and by then I was sweating like crazy.  We were laughing the whole time, but I did accuse him of trying to kill me by letting me eat that pepper.

The irony of this story, at least in my opinion, is that I had gone to the doctor earlier for my breathing issues and instead of her saying it was in fact lung related, she told me it was likely related to my stomach and reflux issues.  I'm sure the burning hot pepper was only going to help with those issues.

Shoop shoop

Good morning!

Before I forget, the subject came from the fact that I heard the song Shoop by Salt N' Peppa this morning.  I've been driving Don Juan's (new) car and it has satellite radio.  I've been crushing hard on 80s on 8 and 90s on 9.  Love.

I've been up and at it for too many hours already considering it's only 9am.  I subbed a 5:45a class this morning.  Why is it that 5:45 seems so much earlier than 6:00?  It's only 15 minutes but it seems huge.

Class was fine but rough on me.  I've been having some trouble breathing for probably over a month now.  I chalked it up to allergies as in years past I've had to go on an inhaler for about a month due to allergies.  With my crazy schedule I kept putting off going to the doctor.  Let's just say I now have an appointment for later today.  This morning was bad and in general I can't take a deep breath without stopping and making a conscious effort to do it.  Hopefully it's just allergies but I guess we'll see.

Last night I met a lovely friend for dinner.  We used to work together and while we live in the same state, we're still over an hour away so we don't see each other nearly enough.  We hit up Ruby Tuesday's since there weren't many choices in the area.  I told her all about the joy that the salad bar gave me last week when I was in PA.

We had the most delicious peach summer sangria.  We shared a pitcher and I seriously wonder just how much wine is in their sangria, but I digress.

The restaurant was at a mall so after dinner I figured I'd hop in to the mall to see if I could find some clothing.  I'm totally going through an "I need new clothes" phase.

There is one thing about malls that I despise.  You know what it is?  One word:  Abercrombie
I don't even have to go remotely near this store and it manages to make my physically ill (and angry).  I do not understand how it is OK for a store to blow perfume/cologne through it's vents.  It is the smelliest store ever and for some one like me with a scent sensitivity, it's like hell.
For years I have wanted to sue them because it makes me so angry that I can't even walk past their store without getting a massive headache.
Am I alone here?

Food for thought

OK, so maybe there's no "thought" involved in this post, but I thought it was a better title than just "Food".

Last week I ranted about my food experiences in rural PA but today I wanted to talk about good (tasting) food.

To start on the healthier note, I recently purchased this guy.

Trader Joe's Sweet Chili Sauce -  If you've read this blog more than once, you might have picked up that I'm a big fan of Trader Joe's and rarely does it disappoint.

In my fridge at home I have a jar of sweet chili sauce from a local Asian market but since it isn't every day that I'm in an Asian market, when I saw this at TJ's I knew it was worth a shot.

Since I eat a Dr. Praeger's California veggie burger for lunch frequently, sometimes it gets a bit old.  Enter Sweet Chili sauce to bring it back to life.  The sweet and (very) slight heat are perfect for an otherwise boring veggie burger (sorry Dr. Praeger).

Now the not so healthy...

Last night my amazing chef boyfriend (aka One Brotha Pizza) hosted a pizza party.  See pictures below and try to control your drool.

Dough and sauce from scratch

OK, now I'm hungry again.

Fabulous Friday!!

I'm back in CT.  Woohooo!  I don't think I've ever been so excited for a plane to land as I was yesterday.  I can't even say why, but I was just so ready to be home.

My trip to PA was really productive, just totally draining in several ways.  But now I'm back and I swear that I have an extra hop in my step.

I returned just in time to teach my Thursday night class, which was fine.  After class, we're about to start stretching and the fire alarm goes off.  I believe I mentioned this before, but about 1.5 years ago, I was teaching a 6a class and the fire alarm went off because there was actually a FIRE.  So of course I made my whole class leave yesterday and we were the only ones who even acknowledged the alarm.  Seriously.

Taught again this morning at 6a as a sub.  At least now I don't feel so bad for being super lazy and unmotivated the whole time I was away.

So I thought for some reason that today I'd mention the blogs on my "what I'm reading" column on the left.  I realized some of them are kind of random, so I figured I'd do a quick shout out as to why they're there and why I love to read them.

here goes....
Peanut Butter Fingers - Julie's writing is fun to read, plus she has the most adorable puppy!  I think I found her blog through other blogs and enjoy reading about her day to day.  oh yeah, she's also the smoothie queen so I've gotten some great info from her blog on that topic.
J's Everyday Fashion - Again, I think I found this one through another blog.  Everything J puts together looks awesome and she really makes me want to put more effort in to my outfits.  Plus she's really down to earth and willing to help.
Cake Wrecks - If you haven't checked them out, you must.  You will laugh, I promise.
The Fitnessista - Again, not sure how I found this one, but she's fun to read too.  She's a fitness instructor and a military wife, so it's always interesting.
Small Town Chic - This is my good friend Sarah, we went to college together.  I love being able to see what she's up to.  Her blog is mainly about fashion and her son.
Chrispins - Chris has a great blog for spinning music and she's so darn friendly.  I feel like we're friends even though we've never met.
The Un-Runner's Blog - A friend put a link to this blog on facebook and she made me laugh, so I added her to the list.
Darcy Knoblich - Another fellow spin instructor but she posts some useful information and recipes too.
Wedding Photographer - Watson Studios - OK, they are my favorite.  They're a husband and wife photographer team based in TN.  I went to college with Dan, the husband, and seriously think they're the BEST photographers out there.  If/when I get married, they're totally doing my wedding.  They recently had a baby though, so the posts haven't been all that frequent.
S p i n n i n g M u s i c - The original spinning music blog.  This was one of the first great sites I came across when I started teaching.  Unfortunately it's been a bit quiet now as I think people are all about ping, but it's still great!

If any of these sound interesting, check em out!  Or if you have any recommendations for other blogs, feel free to share. :)

Really?

This place makes me laugh.  As I've said before, they seriously have not picked up on the whole "being healthy is good" school of thought.

To prove this point...here are some examples of what I've eaten the past two days, and the reactions I've received.

Dinner Monday:  we went for Italian.  This town loves fried food and cheese.  Pretty much every appetizer was fried.  There was a salad course but it was a pretty boring salad.  I ordered a grilled portabella mushroom parmigiana, sounded good.  While it was OK, it was drenched in cheese.  I asked if the snap pea side dish could be steamed and it was like I asked the strangest question ever.
Lunch Tuesday:  they brought in sandwiches, when I asked if we could have mayo on the side, they looked at me like I was nuts.  Lunch came with a bag of chips.  I didn't want to eat a bag of chips but if I didn't, I would have been starving instead.
Dinner Tuesday:  I've never been so excited to go to Ruby Tuesday's in my life.  Two words:  salad bar.  Hooray for fresh vegetables.  I rolled with the veggie trio, which is 3 side dishes with the salad bar.  I had spaghetti squash, grilled zucchini, and mashed cauliflower.  Yum.  They also had some seriously delicious sangria.
Lunch Wednesday:  All day meetings, so again it was delivery.  The plan was Italian subs.  I don't eat most of the meats on a sub so I got a grilled chicken salad.  The fact that I didn't eat an Italian sub had people rolling their eyes (really??).  The salad consisted of iceberg lettuce, some chopped tomatoes, cubes of grilled chicken, and of course cheddar cheese.  The salad was a little small so I was excited that it came with bread.  Of course not just any bread, buttered garlic bread.  And again, even though it's the last thing I'd choose to eat, I ate it because I still had hours of meetings ahead of me and had no choice.

It seriously boggles my mind that people live this way.  I don't mean to sound snobby, but in CT I'm not considered a freak for my eating habits.  Here I am.

Where am I?

I'm not at home, that's for sure.

Once again, I'm off travelling for work.  My friend refers to it as Pennsyltucky.  Enough said.

I've spoken before about how unhealthy this area and it's food offerings are.  Yet unfortunately I have to come back time and time again.  Not to mention that the unhealthy food is just "eh".  If it was amazing unhealthy food, I probably wouldn't mind.

At least the beds are super comfy.

I'm going to attempt to get up tomorrow and do something physical, but we'll see if it actually happens.  I'm sure it will help me feel better but lately my body has been so hungry for sleep that I can't deprive it anymore.

My days are pretty busy so I probably wont' be so great with posting, but I just wanted to touch base.

And now I'm off to watch Intervention.  Anyone else love that show?

Green thumb

Look, I (almost) have tomatoes!!

I like to think I have a semi-green thumb, although there's not much I can back that up with. I work for almost 2 years for a gardening magazine so I should have picked up something, right?  My only problem is that I get lazy and forget to water my plants.

This year I purchased a tomato plant.  My dad suggested cherry tomatoes as he said the plant would yield more fruit.  It has taken a while, but I'm happy to say that I'm seeing a nice volume of fruits and a few of them are starting to turn red.  I'm excited.

I can't wait to have garden tomatoes!!  I'll probably end up eating them as I bring them inside, so I'm not even sure it's worth trying to find a recipe to use them.

Garden tomatoes.  Yum!

New food find

I love cinnamon raisin bread.  Love.

So I was super excited to see these at the supermarket yesterday..

Whole Wheat Cinnamon Raisin Breakfast Thins!
Finally!

Last night I had one toasted with spray butter and it was OK.  It seemed to be missing something but that totally could have been the fact that spray butter doesn't always taste like real butter.

This morning I had almond butter and jelly on one and it was delicious!  The consistency kind of reminded me of being a kid and taking a pb&j sandwich for lunch at school.  It had gotten a little mushy from sitting for a few hours, but to me that just made it even better.

Here are the stats:
100 calories, 1g fat, 170mg sodium, 5g fiber, 4g sugar, 5g protein

I'm a little obsessed with the whole sandwich flat concept so this is exciting!

Fun then, tired now

The resolution is going well.

On Monday night I had a glass of wine with my boyfriend after dinner, something that I'd ordinarily say NO to.  Last night I went with a friend to watch Don Juan's softball game, which was supposed to start at 9.  9 was a bit late, but I was bringing a friend and had told players on both teams that I'd be there.  When we arrived at 8:30 and the 8pm game hadn't even started I knew it would be a long night.

Let's just say I got home around 11.  Ugly.  Especially ugly since I was subbing a 6a class this morning. 

So while I'm totally exhausted now, at least I was fun last night.  I hope that's not negated by the fact that I am SUPER excited to be in bed tonight by 10p.  :)

On a total tangent, last night I tried a new form of bug spray.  My mother had told me that she heard that the original form of Listerine (the brown/yellow one) can act as a bug spray.  So I bought a bit bottle of it and put it in to a spray bottle.  I took it to the game last night, got very made fun of, but used it to repel the bugs.

It seems that I have no new bites.  Tons of old bites, but nothing new.  Plus, while bug spray feels really sticky, this feels light and refreshing.  Yes, you smell a bit medicinal, but it's not that bad.  I'll give it another try and keep you posted as it's way less expensive than bug spray.

Have happy Wednesdays!!

Ugly race photos

This was the beginning of the race, when the pack was just starting to thin.  It wasn't raining (yet).

In the background is a girl in a blue shirt with black shorts, then next to her is a girl in all black (capris and a tank) with a pink headband.  That's me!

The funniest part about these pictures is that a) they would make a good flip book, but really, b) they are very clearly of the guy in the neon shirt who actually saw the camera.  We're just in the background but as of this moment, it's the only proof I have that I was there and running.

On a side note, I'm rethinking the headband, it does NOT photograph well.

Saturday's spin sesh

Here's the ride I used on Saturday.  This was actually a very easy ride to put together as I took a bunch of the songs I've used when transitioning from a 45 to a 60 and put them together.  Of course that won't be much of a help tomorrow when I have to make a new ride for Thursday, but I'll deal.

This Is How We Do It - Montell Jordan - 3:38
Warm up

Ecstasy - Rusted Root - 5:02
This song totally takes me back to high school.  Light climb, in the saddle, keep the pace quick for the entire song, coming up to jog on the Ecstasy chorus.  There's also a hidden hill.  When the music slows down, I ask them to add on as much as they can take and muscle through it, then back to the fast light hill.

Where Them Girls At (radio edit) - David Guetta ft Flo Rida and Nicki Minaj - 3:15
Jumps, 6 or 4 count, staying up in position 2 during Niki's rap

Man Down - Rianna - 4:27
Back to climbing in the saddle.  I tell them that we've done something bad and the police are after us (there are sirens in the song) so we have to move.  5/10, moderate hill, fast legs for the whole song.  Yes, it's dorky, but they get the idea.

All Around Me - Flyleaf - 3:19
Climbing out of the saddle, ending heavy.

This is How A Heart Breaks - Rob Thomas - 3:51
Sprints!  Short recovery and then sprints on the chorus.

Moves Like Lady Jagger (Brian Cua Mashup Mix) - Maroon 5 and Christina vs Modjo-  4:44
Climb, start out moderate, mix it up, in the saddle, out of the saddle.  I keep this pretty unstructured and go with what I'm feeling.

Lighters (feat Bruno Mars) - Bad Meets Evil - 5:04
Climbing.  When Bruno sings, we're in the saddle with the hill as heavy as we can take.  When it switches to the rapping, back the resistance to about a 6 or 7/10 and come out to three, making sure that your combination of resistance and pace is challenging.  Then back to the saddle, heavy as possible when the chorus comes around.

One - U2 and Mary J Blige - 4:20
Continuing from the last song, standing climb.  Ending nice and heavy.  For the last 2 minutes I think I had them add resistance every 30 seconds.

Zorba the Greek - Kostas Papadopoulos - 3:28
Let the pace of the song guide your legs.  Light resistance.  The song picks up as it goes on, so by the end you should be at an all out sprint.  (This song was a departure from my normal style but something someone suggested ages ago.  It was fun and the one Greek woman in the class went nuts over it, so that alone made it worth it.)

Spotlight - Jennifer Hudson - 4:12
Cool down and stretch.

If you use any of these, let me know what you think. :)

August resolution

I meant to comment that today was August 1st on my post earlier but I got a bit sidetracked.

But it is.  All day.

For some reason I'm having a VERY hard time with this fact.  Here's what I'm thinking.  I LOVE the summer.  I pretty much spend all year anxiously awaiting the summer, the warm weather, and the fun activities.  This year however, while the weather has been warm, I don't feel like I've done much in terms of fun activities.  In fact, I feel like I've been extremely un-fun.  This bothers me sooooo much!

I feel like I have constantly had obligations or things hanging over my head.  I've been too busy to make plans and when I do get out, some responsibility is always looming so I feel like I can't really relax and enjoy myself.

Therefore, I decided to make an August Resolution.  The plan is to be more laid back, fun, and carefree.

I'll keep you posted on the progress.

Oh Monday...

Good morning and happy Monday!

I hope all your weekends were great!  The weather here was perfect and I'm happy to say that I finally got in some quality pool time.  Much needed and appreciated.

But first, the run...
The weather was a bit iffy and they kept announcing that thunder/lightning would delay the start.  While there was a little thunder at one point, thankfully it wasn't enough to hold things up.  While still not a super official race, it was way more official than the Bronx zoo run.
The route was nice.  It went through a park which had a couple of lakes/ponds, wound around some residential areas, and the returned to the park for the finish.  It had quite a few hills.  Nothing crazy, but definitely rolling hills.  I don't mind hills, so that was OK.  But hills definitely slow things down a bit, again OK.  I did the run with my friend C-Dawg and we stayed together the whole time.  She was a few steps ahead of me at times but that's OK.  She probably also got a kick out of my exaggerated "in through the nose, out through the mouth" breathing.
I'll admit, the first mile was tough.  My breathing was strained and my legs/feet hurt a bit, but as usual, once I got past that, all was good.
We also did the Bronx Zoo run together and agreed that at the end of that one we felt like we could have kept going.  At the end of this one we were very much ready to be done.  Guess that is the difference between an early morning April run and an evening July run.  Holy difference in air quality!

But I did it.  Ran the whole time and overall felt really good afterwards.  The next day I reflected on how it was even possible that I could run a 5K with zero training.  I used to not even be able to run a quarter mile.  It honestly blows my mind.

Saturday spin class was PACKED.  I honestly can not predict summer classes at all.  On a rainy day I figure it will be crowded and it's empty.  Then Saturday is gorgeous, and it's packed and I have to turn people away.  There is no rhyme or reason whatsoever.

I used a new ride and will post it in the next day or so.  But now, time to crack the whip.