Weekly Workouts and Protein Two Ways

What a Monday. I can already tell this week is going to be a crazy week in many ways. But, in order to make sure I don’t miss any workouts, I’m going to share them with you before we get to today’s highlights.

Weekly Workout Plan

Monday: 7 mile run in Central Park with my office running group

Tuesday: Abs+Arms followed by an AM hour yoga class at Equinox

Wednesday: AM run+ PM Summer Solstice Yoga in Times Square

Thursday: AM spin at Equinox

Friday: AM long run with Leticia

Saturday: Dancing the night away in Chapel Hill at a wedding (this counts as cross training right?)

Sunday: Long walk

I love running with my co-workers on Monday as it is a perfect way to relieve some stress and it helps keep me accountable on the eating front. I used to be a horrible stress eater and little things like this have helped me change my habits. Knowing that a group of people are waiting to run with you at 6pm can make a handful of chocolates or a bag of M&M’s far less appealing in a moment of stress or temptation. Instead, today I went for pretzels and almonds! In case you’re looking for a great NYC running route, here’s the route we took tonight. I really enjoyed the few hills, beautiful reservoir path and dodging tourists. We joked that it makes you feel like you’re in some video game. image

This week is a bit of a chaotic mess on the workout front due to a quick trip down to Chapel Hill for a high school friend’s wedding along with some special events. I don’t normally specialize in two a days but as marathon training ramps up, I wouldn’t be surprised if there was at least one 2 a day in the schedule each week. Normally one of the workouts is a more relaxing yoga like workout to stretch and restore my muscles versus beat them up further. Also, you’ll notice the worlds “at Equinox” in my workouts plans more and more. I love the convenience of Equinox but feel I need to do a better job trying their different classes versus spending unnecessary money hopping around to NYC’s boutique studios. So outside of the occasional Soul Cycle date with Bo or friends, most of my workouts will be outside or at Equinox unless they are special blog events.

The rest of today’s highlights revolve around protein. As part of a Fitfluential and GNC partnership, I have the opportunity to review a few of their different protein powders. Today I tried the 100% Whey powder two different ways: oats and smoothie. I was amazed at how well the protein blended with my oats and loved the vanilla flavor. It wasn’t very sweet due to the low sugar but was just enough to give both a bit of flavor.

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After my run with the group all I wanted was a relaxing night in the tub. There is nothing like a few good magazines, bath salts, candles, music, and a smoothie after a long day.

008Before we part ways, I have a reminder and a Pintrest update.

Reminder: If you’re in the NYC area, Athleta is sponsoring this year’s Summer Solstice Yoga event in Times Square on Wednesday from 7:30am-8:30pm. I’ll be sweating it out with Theodora during the 7pm yoga class if you care to join!

Pintrest: I created a new board tonight on Pintrest featuring my upcoming races! If you are interested in health, beauty, running, travel, or recipes I’d love for you to follow my boards!

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West Coast Bites and Sips

The past few weeks have been filled with not only lots of running but also some delicious dining to balance out all the workouts. Luckily, the West Coast cities to which I’ve traveled to lately are known for their amazing restaurants. This time around it just so happens that there was one restaurant in San Francisco and Seattle that left a lasting impression on me.

Seattle: Japonessa 

Over the years Amy and I have spend many an evening sipping cocktails and eating sushi. As soon as my visit to Seattle was made official, she secured reservations for us and some of our friends at their favorite local sushi restaurant, Japonessa. This swanky spot is located conveniently close to Pike Place market so locals and tourists alike can enjoy the artistry and flavors from Billy Beach’s kitchen.

Their cocktails are a perfect way to start the evening, ranging from tangy summer cocktails to cool, cucumber refreshing drinks.

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But, what stood out more to me than anything was their amazing rolls. The flavors were unique and unlike anything I’ve tried in any other restaurant. Even better was the fact the the rolls were reasonably priced for their size and fish to rice ratio. The Casanova roll (king crab, avocado, shibazuke, topped w/ seared spicy snow crab, scallops, tobiko, served w/ soy glaze, pico de gallo) may be the most delicious roll I’ve ever tasted. In fact, I think I’m still dreaming about it.  027 The next time you find yourself in Seattle, enjoy a delicious dinner with a friends or loved ones after a day exploring the city. You won’t regret it!

San Francisco: The Slanted Door

021While the idea of Chinese or Viatnamese food rarely excites me, when my co-worker suggested we dine Charles Phan’s renowned restaurant our final night in San Francisco, my face lit up in excitement. After hearing about their cocktails and food for years I was thrilled to try it for myself. While I failed to capture a picture of my cocktail, The Bee’s Knees, their signature cocktail. While I normally err away from sweet drinks, the waiter insisted that their specialty cocktails couldn’t be missed due to their unique and fresh ingredients and liquors. The Bee’s Knees included Miller’s Westbourne strength gin, blackberry honey, and lemon juice served up. It was perfectly balanced and left me craving another!

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As we contemplated the menu, our group enjoyed the people watching and views made possible by our window table. The restaurant itself was packed already even though we had early 6pm reservations.

In order to ensure we were able to enjoy as many tastes and flavors as possible, our table of 7 decided to enjoy everything family style. Per our waiter’s suggestion we went with their signature dishes (left to right: crispy imperial rolls, cellophane noodles with crab, slanted door spring rolls, spare ribs, and organic chicken claypot. My personal favorites were the crispy imperial rolls and the spring rolls. The crispy imperial rolls brought many textures together through the crispy outside, soft inside, warm pork and shrimp, followed by the cold fish sauce. The spring rolls stood apart partially due to the amazing peanut sauce but also the filling. While these looked unassuming when they reached the table the succulent gulf shrimp and mint flavors were a perfect pairing with the sauce and took the whole dish to another level.

022 027023 024    028This is the perfect restaurant for a business dinner, romantic night out on the town, or a celebration with friends. In the end, I’d make any excuse to go here again as long as I could enjoy my three favorite tastes of the evening all over again. Make sure to reserve a table in advance as they tend to fill quickly and the night we were there the wait was over 3 hours!

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My Triathlete

Today my husband became a triathlete! 

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I couldn’t be prouder of Bo’s accomplishment and feel like the proudest wife in the world right now.

Those people who know Bo, realize that a triathlon is actually his perfect sport. He has been swimming for years and still to this day can hop in the pool and bust out 2 miles like it’s nothing, thanks to high school swim team practices. His strong legs get pushed on the bike in Equinox or Soul Cycle spin classes at least once per week and he’s run numerous half marathons which means the run distance, while not his strongest leg, is something he can always accomplish.

For years, Bo has been my biggest cheerleaders, pushing me through two marathons when the going got tough. Never once did he show any jealousy that I was doing something he hadn’t achieved. Therefore, this year when Theodora told me she was signing up for her hometown triathlon, I suggested it to Bo before I even considered doing it with her. While a triathlon is something I eventually want to complete, and in fact is on my Fitfluential Fitness Bucket list, I knew I wanted to cheer Bo through his first official triathlon before I toed the line for mine.

While he jumped at the opportunity to do a nearby triathlon which was longer than a sprint as his first experience, his work schedule as of late, left him a bit hesitant. His long hours don’t always allow for daily workouts and although he pushes himself anytime he’s in the gym, he was a bit unsure. In addition, he had the sheer pleasure of dealing with a wife (ahem, me) who wanted to make sure he knew everything there was to know about triathlons including transitions, open water swims, and bike repairs so his first tri would go smoothly. In the back of my mind I had this fear that something would happen and result in a negative experience, similar to Theodora’s triathlon horror story from last year. I sent him links, talked to amazing triathletes during the TEAM REFUEL run this week, and sent him links from all over the web. While he didn’t necessarily appreciate all my worry, it did help as today when he finished he had a huge smile and was already planning his next one.

Since I can’t provide a full race recap since I didn’t participate, I will provide an overview of the past few days and some awesome pictures of both Bo and Theodora, who rocked their triathlons today!

Thursday Night

Bo and I organized his gear for each of the three legs, referencing a few different posts (this one, this one, and this one). Since this was Bo’s first real triathlon, he wanted to keep the experience as inexpensive as possible in case he didn’t enjoy it. Therefore, he didn’t invest in a bike, wet suit, or tri suit. Instead, he only bought a pair of tri spin shorts which he has been using for spin the past few months.

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Friday Evening

Since Bo had to work until 6pm, I used my Summer Friday afternoon to run last minute errands including picking up Luna Bars for Theodora, buying some CLIFF Shot Blocks for Bo, and picking up his bike. He rented a racing bike from Spokesman Cycles. While the customer service was horrible, the bike he rented was a racing bike and only cost $40 for 24 hours and included the helmet rental as well. After I picked up the bike, I hauled his gear to Theodora’s apartment where our friend Shannon graciously offered to pick us up. Shannon is a key portion of Theodora’s cheer squad and therefore was making the trip out to New Jersey with us for the event.

Bo arrived in New Jersey via NJ Transit around 8pm, after which we enjoyed a delicious homemade dinner with her family. While her mom was more than accommodating, looking back at the pictures I think the 3 different types of pasta may have been enough to feed an army. Ooops!  (below pictures via Theodora)

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Triathlon Day

This morning our group woke up at the early hour of 5am in order to get ready for the event. By 5:40 we were out the door ready to head the mile down the road to the race start. While Theodora and Bo offered to just ride their bikes to the start, it seemed difficult to haul all their gear and Shannon and I were excited to experience the triathlon as much as possible.

When we arrived, I was immediately overwhelmed. There were almost 1,000 athletes running around with bikes waiting to get marked and setup with chips. Shannon and I decided the best thing to do was get out of the way and go check out the transition areas and scope out cheer spots while Theodora and Bo took care of everything.

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It was an absolutely perfect day for this event. The lake was pristine and 74 degrees while the air temperature never reached higher than 77 this morning. The sun was shining and the dew absorbed quickly as the athletes lined up on the beach, ready to splash into the water.

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IMG_2989 My cheering partners (Shannon and Theodora’s mom per the picture above) and I decided that it would be best to cheer them on from the beach area and then focus one quality spot for each leg versus trying to run around all morning. We knew that watching both Theodora and Bo added some complexity as we expected Bo to be a bit faster, at least in the beginning, due to his swimming ability.

The waves were very organized and distinguished by different color swim caps, based on age. Bo was in the orange wave which started 15 minutes before Theodora’s pink wave. 

As soon as they entered we headed over to the swim exit, watching in anticipation with cameras ready. (Unfortunately the following pictures aren’t the complete collection as Theodora’s mom’s camera has about 20 more!)

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I’m not going to steal Theodora’s thunder and share her times on here but I bet you can check out her blog later tonight or tomorrow morning for a full recap.

Bo definitely excelled in the swim portion and was actually one of the first in his wave to exit! He placed 157th in the swim, finishing the half mile lake swim in 17:16!

Once we saw both Bo and Theodora exit the water we headed over to the bike area, 1/4 mile from the transition area and grabbed a seat on the grass to enjoy the sunshine and watch the cyclists. This is the only area where we wish the event was more organized. As spectators, we saw numerous cars heading into the cyclists’ lane during the event, which caused us great fear. At times cyclists had to go around cars versus having a lane to themselves.

IMG_2992It was tough to watch for both Bo and Theodora since the cyclists fly by but luckily we had one defining marker for each of them. We knew Theodora was wearing a sleevless red tri suit (more common then you’d think) and that her bike has straight handle bars. We knew Bo was wearing a Lululemon grey technical tee and his bike had racing handle bars. These small things helped us pick them out as they approached.

The bike portion was harder than Bo anticipated due to some grueling hills and a 1.5 minute stop to fix his chain which conveniently came off during a hill ascent. It’s handy things like this that allow him to excel in a triathlon while causing other people to panic. (Note to self, take a bike repair class before next year’s triathlon.)

Bo completed the 17 mile bike portion in 57:56, placing him 402nd for the bike portion.

After we waved to both Bo and Theodora we headed over to the finish line, about an 1/8 mile from the finish to cheer them on to the end. Due to some confusion, we were only there for 5 minutes before Bo came running by us. He caught me off guard and therefore I was only able to snap an after picture versus a running picture of him. The run was the toughest part of the race today for him due to two things: his knee and the hills. The race course is known for it’s grueling hills, each of which is in line with Harlem Hill. Therefore, Bo wanted to err on the side of caution versus damaging something during this first triathlon. I have a great deal of respect for that and as his wife, am very pleased to see him being “smart.” 

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Check out that one climb between mile 3 and 3.5!

The run portion is where he slowed his pace versus Theodora, which we all expected. He finished the 5 miles in 48:27, or a 9:41 pace which put him 458th for the run portion.

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2:09:07 (382nd out of 661 finishers) later this TRIATHLETE was nothing but smiles! He finished injury free, had a blast and is already looking into nearby Olympic distance triathlons this summer.

I’m so proud of both Bo and Theodora’s efforts today and am already excited to train for this event next year!

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Now it’s time to enjoy a nap before celebratory double date!

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