Losing Weight in the City

There’s been lots of good this weekend.

Doing good for my body and soul having dinner with my high school friend Sara at Westville (and walking there, for a total of five miles of walking yesterday.) I had salmon teryaki with bok choy and we started with roasted butternut squash.

Doing good for my wallet by getting a free glass of wine for checking in on Foursquare.

.

And then doing good for the community by volunteering for Junior League. (They did good for my soul by having bagels and coffee for us in the morning.)

From 9-3, we pulled weeds and planted bushes in Sara. D. Roosevelt park on the Lower East Side. This is the 20th anniversary of the Playground Improvement Project. I’m not going to lie—doing good for the community also feels great when you’re getting a decent workout through manual labor. (I totally trained for this with that Vipr class.) And spending the day outside with your friends.

Lunch was good, too. A chicken and avocado sandwich, cookies and a fruit cup.

And a walk, some snacks and beer with Lacey.

And then a walk with Bailey once I got home. Yeah, that’s a horse. In Manhattan. And Bailey was barking. I’m not sure whether it was at his shadow or the horse. (Speaking of Bailey, go check out Ali’s blog to see more about his day. They had a date today.)

And walking past the New York Auto Show and seeing a Jeep roll over a giant ramp.

Tonight, I rest.

YES!

Original Article

I was looking at my calendar this morning, and realized it’s full of races.

• May 14: Healthy Kidney 10K
• May 17: Wall Street 3M
• June 11: Mini 10K
• June 18: a potential century ride…
• July 27: NYRR Sprint Tri
• November 6: NYC Marathon

In addition to the races, I’m also trying to build strength and get my abs a little less flabby and a little more beach-ready.

My question for you: how the hell do I build training plans, both long- and short-term, with so many goals?

I didn’t want to go to the gym this morning, so I did one of Jess’ mini-workouts while watching the royal wedding.

After denying myself the wrap for awhile in the interest of bringing my own food to work, my cravings for it are back in full effect. This one got smushed in my bag, though.

Did you see last night’s post? Do you eat organic? I was thinking about this on my way to work this morning and realized that a few years ago, I was definitely the asshole who asked my friends why the hell they were being such hippies and eating organic. I told them I liked the chemicals in my food, thankyouverymuch. Nowadays, I definitely don’t eat completely organically, but I do make a concerted effort, especially with meat and the tiny amount of dairy I do eat.

Original Article

After a stressful day, all I wanted to do was go home, but I rallied and met Ashley at a blogger event at Counter, a vegetarian restaurant in the East Village. There are rumors it’s closing, but if not, I’d like to go back—I liked the vibe.

Stonyfield had teamed up with Robyn O’Brien, who wrote The Unhealthy Truth, a book about the dangers in the American food industry.

Ashley and I missed the first few minutes, but O’Brien talked about how she realized the U.S. has allowed certain chemicals into our food supply that are banned around the world—chemicals that have been shown to lead to asthma, allergies, ADHD and cancer. Things like aspartame, high fructose corn syrup. She talked about how Europeans don’t have the same health problems Americans do—because they don’t eat the same chemical-filled food many Americans do. Thirty-one percent of American girls, she said, are starting puberty at the age of 8 because of what they’re eating.

She says she switched to organic food because she was concerned for her four children and their future, admitting it wasn’t easy. One of her kids, she said, hated carrots so much that just getting him to allow carrots on his plate was a big step. From there, she slowly got him to nibble on the carrot and then eat and enjoy the carrot.

As we all know, organic food is not cheap. Some of her tips were: don’t try to be perfect—don’t avoid cake at a birthday party just because it’s not organic. Do you have something you eat every day that you can start eating the organic version of? If you’re eating strawberries every day, a small switch is switching to the organic strawberries. Do you drink milk everyday? Start with rBGH-free (rBGH=bovine growth hormone) milk and then maybe switch to organic milk. For produce, start with the “dirty dozen,” those foods most likely to be contaminated. She also mentioned OrganicDeals.com and OrganicCoupons.org as places to look for organic deals.

It didn’t say it on the menus, but I’m assuming all or most of the food we ate was organic. (Although, I did once go to a press conference on avian flu and was served…chicken…so you never know.) These are tamari almonds and a roasted mushroom and caramelized onion sandwich.

I don’t know what this was, but it was yummy.

Since this seemed to be a mom-targeted event, we got YoBaby tote bags with her book, a bib, a spatula and some coupons.

Add it to my pile…(also add my book club book(s) that I need to pick up.)

The nuts were actually my favorite thing I tried at the event—they reminded me of these nuts above I had this morning that I got at last night’s event.

So, obviously my question here is, do you try to eat organic? Why or why not? I certainly try to eat organic as much as I can, and when not eating organic, eating quality ingredients. With that said, I desperately need to go grocery shopping…

Original Article

There’s a lot going on the work front right now, so I needed to summon some strength this morning.

I absolutely summon strength through my sartorial choices, so this morning I put on the dress I was wearing when I interviewed for this job and my marathon necklace. (Yes, this photo is in the bathroom stall. Too paranoid to do one outside the stall for fear of being caught.)

I also summon strength through my workouts. I never thought I’d say this, but waking up early to work out is becoming much easier (except yesterday. I totally overslept for Physique :( ) This morning, I woke up before my alarm and took out my bike, which I’ve decided to name Bruiser (since I will likely fall relatively often) for 9.12 miles to attempt to burn some stress. I rode up to Central Park, rode the loop and rode back, and it took me about an hour. I have no idea if that’s slow or fast, and I don’t care to know right now, so don’t burst my bubble. I’m tracking my speed and distance to see how I improve, but I’m not ready to compare myself with others yet.

Knowing that loop so intimately, I knew exactly where the uphills and downhills were. I expected that the uphills would be easier on a bike, but they actually felt much harder than they do running.

I’ll do a more in-depth post on the differences I’m noticing between biking and running (other than, you know, the wheels and that big pole between my legs), but one immediate difference is that it’s much harder to stop and take pictures. Sorry.

I also summon strength through eating my healthier versions of comfort foods.

I picked the winner of my Starbucks giveaway this morning! I used a giveaway winner plugin, and it chose…

Me. I shit you not. While I may buy myself a Starbucks gift card anyway, I figured I should pick a real winner…

So Sara, please email me so I can get you the gift card!

Original Article

As the chair of the NYJL PR committee, I work with my committee on publicizing most of our public events, which means I also attend most of them.

Tonight’s event was Bags and Bubbles, a handbag auction which raises funds for our Women’s Cancer Prevention program, among others.

Champagne and purses? Okay!

Ashley wanted this Prada beauty but didn’t want to spend four figures on it. Fair enough.

After a few cocktails, I started bidding on this Rebecca Minkoff bag. I hadn’t planned on bidding on anything, so I set a limit for myself. $200 for a bag with a $475 sticker price. Once it went over $200, I wouldn’t let myself bid on it. It would have been a great deal still, but I just wasn’t looking for a new bag before I got there, so I didn’t need it.

Mmm cookies.

Pretty coasters.

Lots of ladies.

My strategy ended up being to bid on the poor little items nobody else had bid on, like a $35 BCBG clutch. We bid using iPod touches, and we were told at the beginning of the night that we would be charged $229 if we didn’t return them.

The BCBG clutch I ended up winning for $35!

And a super-random $5 clutch.

So, I have a question. Lately I’ve been blogging more about the fun stuff that’s been going on in my life than the food. Do you want to see the food? Do you still want to see how I try to eat healthy while busy, even if it’s sometimes repetitive? Do you want to see more Bailey?

Original Article

I just got it, but I do <3 my bike.

After a few trips to the bike store, I finally bit the bullet and bought a bike! (Thank god for tax refunds!)

I went with the Giant Dash 3, a performance hybrid. It’s basically as close as a hybrid can get to a road bike without actually being a road bike. Which means it’s comfortable and has straight, not curly bars, but is light and fast.

Riding it home afterwards was absolutely terrifying. Riding down 9th Ave at rush hour? With a heavy purse on my shoulder? I am so glad I didn’t die. I dropped off my purse and headed back out for an 8ish-mile ride to Battery Park and back.

Dog not included.

I asked the nice guy in the bike store what I absolutely couldn’t walk out of the bike store without, and he said all I really needed were lights, if I ever rode at night, and a helmet. I already had a helmet, so I bought the lights. I also bought a water bottle holder (pink, since the bike is blue) and a lock.

Things I didn’t buy immediately but foresee in my future: padded shorts, a rack for the back in case I want to take it grocery shopping.

Things there is no chance in hell I will buy: clips. I am too clumsy to clip in and out.

So since I just dropped a nice wad of cash on this baby, and we’ll be spending a lot of time together, he needs a name. (Yes, I named my cars, too. I had a blue Jeep named Bluebird and a red Volvo named Ruby. So yes, I am that girl.)

And that’s where you come in. Because I love you so much for reading my ramblings everyday, I’m buying you a present. Just one of you, just for suggesting a name for my bike.

I’m sending one winner a $10 Starbucks gift card. You can buy approximately 3 spinach feta wraps with this.

All you have to do is leave a comment (sorry Tumblrs, please click through. I use a Wordpress plugin to pick winners) suggesting a name for my bike. The only two criteria for the name:

• It has to start with a B. (Its full name will be B___, the Badass Bike.)
• It should be a gender-neutral or a male name. Though this bike is for a lady, the bike itself is a dude.

Just leave a comment by 11:59 PM EST on Wednesday, April 27, 2011. I’ll pick the winner Thursday.

[original post]

So, this morning’s plans didn’t include Physique like I was planning, but I did get my three-mile run in, despite screwing around on Twitter and Foursquare on my phone for far too long in bed.

Remember when it looked like the Titanic a few months ago? Thank god the weather’s coming around. I ran in shorts and a T-shirt this morning and was nice and sweaty by the time I got home. This morning I switched things up just a tiny bit and had an English muffin with almond butter because I’m out of sunflower butter at work and didn’t want to bring a new jar until I’d brought home the empty for overnight oats in a jar.

Slowly but surely becoming a morning person…

Original Article

I’m proud of how I stuck to my workouts last week.

Monday: Physique + 3-mile run

Tuesday: yoga

Wednesday: Physique + 3-mile rurn

Thursday: spin

Friday: yoga

I did nearly 120 minutes of Physique, and I’m going to fudge and add my yoga in to get to my 120 minutes. (While yoga is definitely a strengthening exercise, I’m trying to make myself do more lifting-type strength.)

Saturday I ran the NYRR 4-Mile and had a pretty amazing PR.

The only thing I didn’t accomplish was doing a strength workout, by myself, in the gym.

However!

The Easter Bunny brought me this book:

Kelly swears by it, and she’s looking pretty buff these days, so I wanted to read it. Plus, I need to get over my girlie fear of lifting so that I can pick up guys at the gym/lift like a badass. I’m going to read it this week and start incorporating its workouts into my schedule next week.

My workout plan this week:

Tuesday: Physique + 3-mile run

Wednesday: BIKE RIDE. Outside! I paid for my bike tonight, and I’ll be picking it up tomorrow.

Thursday: Physique + 3-mile run (I got two more free Physique classes, and I want to use them now, before I forget.)

I’m still trying to decide my workouts for the rest of the weekend. I’m volunteering outside all day Saturday, so I may just use that as a rest day/count that as exercise.

Tonight, I was supposed to go to book club, but I wasn’t feeling so hot after a big Italian Easter, so I stayed in with Bailey.

When I got home from work, there were two coconut waters waiting for me from the Bolthouse Farms people. I don’t always say yes to product reviews, but I’m secretly pretty obsessed with coconut water—I probably drink at least 3-4 per week. If you’re not familiar with coconut water, it’s basically nature’s Gatorade. It hydrates and replenishes electrolytes. After my race this weekend, lots of wine on Easter and an upset stomach, I was pretty dehydrated. I guzzled one of these babies when I got home and my headache felt better after a little while. (Dehydration is a major cause of headaches.)

I loved the taste of this coconut water, but it was a little higher in calories and sugar than other ones I’ve tried, so I’d probably save it for after a hard workout.

I had some leftover ziti for dinner and added broccoli to sneak in a serving of veggies.

I need to put away some Easter goodies and get to sleep or I’m never going to get these workouts in. Good night!

Original Article

There’s Easter, and then there’s an Italian Easter.

Salumi and mozzarella. And yum.

Raspberry and orange spread. Yum.

Mom, you better watch your back. I like this little guy.

He wasn’t quite as happy with this as he looks.

So he made me wear the ears for the family picture. I don’t know why I look so awkward. Maybe it’s because I have bunny ears on and I’m holding 22 pounds of dog.

Baked ziti. Probably the best part of Easter. Or any holiday.

Stuffed artichokes. Cheese makes anything better.

Prime rib.

Salad with baby spinach, goat cheese, dried cranberries, walnuts and balsamic vinaigrette.

My plate: round 1. Ziti, broccoli, prime rib and ham. The ham was made with pineapple and had a nice juicy taste.

It wouldn’t be an Italian holiday without cannoli.

Carrot cake.

Another cake. We don’t mess around. Marty, my cousin’s husband, helped me line up the shot. “Put the flowers in the back!”

Teddy. He’s a bischon.

Original Article

After a few hours of relaxing, cleaning and jumping up and down over my PR, Lacey and Laurel came over and we headed out to NJ for Easter.

Here bunny bunny.

Raspberry and brie in phyllo dough. There was more dough than filling, so these were a little disappointing to everyone.

Some vino. Obviously.

And no trip to my parents’ would be complete without some spaghetti and meatballs.

My mom is the Italian one, but my Irish dad is the chief taste-tester because he likes the pasta really al dente.

Nice balls.

I’ve been dyeing Easter eggs since I was born, and just because I’m closer to 30 than 20 (ew) doesn’t mean that we’re going to stop now.

Someone slept on the job.

After shot.

This morning, we got dressed up and went to church. I love Lilly Pulitzer-appropriate holidays.

While my mom made breakfast, I had half a bagel thin with marscapone.

Breakfast was omelets with mozzarella and now we’re watching Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps while waiting for our next course of food.

Happy Easter if you celebrate it!

Original Article

What would you do if you woke up to this gloomy scene? I wanted to roll back over and go back to sleep, but I was registered for the NYRR 4-Mile. I checked Twitter to see if any of my friends were bailing. Ashley and Ali weren’t, so I decided to (wo)man up and do the damn thing. I knew I’d be really mad at myself reading their race recaps, and I knew I wouldn’t be able to fall back asleep, anyway.

That I have to walk Bailey before I can leave for a race is the best thing ever and the worst thing ever. When there’s good weather, it’s great. I’m excited to get out there. When there’s bad weather, it makes it that much harder to go back out once I bring him back to my apartment. I got a preview of the rain this morning, brought him upstairs and turned right back around to leave before I could change my mind.

I huddled in the bandstand with a few hundred other runners trying to keep dry. Finally, Ashley showed up and we chatted for a few minutes and walked over to the corrals, where we ran into Melissa, who looked like she REALLY didn’t want to be there. We all started together but separated within about 30 seconds of the start. I knew from the start that I wanted to PR at this race, and I figured it was probably within reach.

The last four-mile race I did was the Race to Deliver in November, which I ran in 35:15, about a month after the marathon, when I still felt like my legs were a little heavy. I did a lot of speedwork for the half-marathons I ran last month, so I knew I had it in me. The first few minutes, I ran a bit gingerly. I was really afraid of slipping on the rainy road, breaking something and never being able to run again. The course was the same as the Race to Deliver—it ran a small loop counterclockwise. There were a few uphill climbs, but there were also a TON of downhills.

Running three half-marathons last month helped a lot mentally. I just kept thinking “I ran three times this distance THREE TIMES last month. I totally got this.” I only checked my watch at the mile markers, and all of my miles were UNDER 8:45. (8:25, 8:08, 8:39, 7:57, and the last .05 at a 6:55 pace!) Less than two years ago, when I started running, I was running nearly 12-minute miles. It just goes to show what hard work and stubbornness can do. I crossed the finish line at 33:28!!!

Afterwards, I went to the JackRabbit Running Show with Ashley and a VIP.

It was sort of a glorified expo—even in the same building, the Metropolitan Pavilion, where most of the expos are held.

But I bought some goggles for my upcoming tri.

Ashley got some new sneaks (and poured water all over this poor man when her hood flipped over when she was trying on these shoes)

There were jazz hands. Um, my hands were too cold to properly jazz-hand.

And there was ladies’ Body Glide? We asked the Body Glide guy—he said it’s just the same as the men’s. Yup. Marketing trick.

Yeah, I was pretty wet.

When I got home, I ordered an egg and cheese on an everything bagel. As you know, I usually get bagels after I run. They’re amazing, but eating nothing but carbs means that I’m usually hungry again within an hour. I decided to go for adding some protein, and it was delicious!

I’ll be walking around with a smile all day today after my badass PR in the rain, thankyouverymuch.

Original Article

I haven’t been posting my dinners because I’ve had the same dinner for four nights straight:

The garlic whole-wheat pasta with broccoli rabe and turkey sausage. And cheese. (I’ve given up most dairy, but I just can’t quit cheese.)

I managed to do some form of exercise before work every day this week!

Monday: Physique + 3-mile run

Tuesday: yoga

Wednesday: Physique + 3-mile rurn

Thursday: spin

This morning, I was even up before my alarm. I can seriously count on one hand the number of times in my six-year post-college career that’s happened on a workday. I did some Zen in Your Den on OnDemand this morning before work and 10 minutes of yoga poses on my own after.

And a sunflower butter sandwich. Obviously.

So part of the reason I’m trying to beef up my strength training is to get stronger and faster. But also? I just want to look good in a bikini. Like Tina. She (and quite a few other people) do BodyPump, which I am so curious about.

It looks like they have a few of them in NYC, some at Gold’s Gyms and 24-Hour Fitness. Has anyone ever tried it in NYC? Do you just get a guest pass to one of those gyms?

A few random things:

• Today is Good Friday. I need to remember to not eat meat today.
• I’m going to Fitbloggin’ in May. If you’re interested in going, Attune Foods is doing a contest for a free ticket + $500 stipend for travel. Go forth and enter.
• Caitlin has some reviews of motivational books up, including my review of her book and the Happiness Project.
• My tax refund was deposited this morning! A bike will be mine soon!
• I’m excited for the NYRR 4-miler tomorrow. After all those half-marathons, a four-mile race sounds so amazing.
• Please send good thoughts Ali’s way. She’s waiting to hear if she got picked to Run for the Rabbit. Please also send good thoughts my cousin’s way. She’s waiting for some good news that’s been a long time coming.

[original post]

What are you excited about today!?

I think this salad changed my life.

To you, it looks just like a nice salad with some chicken, avocado and tomatoes. To me, it’s hope. Do you know how hard it is to lose weight/stay healthy when you can’t eat an entree salad? I’ve stayed away from salad for years because it made me sick to my stomach, but I’ve really been craving it lately, and…so far, so good!

Look at me. I’m a morning workout-ing, salad-eating beast!

Um, now I’d like a beer and a cupcake, please.

Original Article

I’m not gonna lie—I’m really proud of myself.

This morning, I went to a spin class at my gym, like I said I was going to do. My third class before work this week! When my alarm went off at 5:45, I was GRUMPY.

Why did I decide to work out in the morning?

Why did I have to tell the Internet?

I don’t have plans after work tonight—can’t I just do it then?

Then I remembered that I had reserved a bike, so I didn’t really have a choice. And any excuses would be just that—excuses. When Jess asked me to go to Physique on Monday, I realized I really had no good excuse not to. Why couldn’t I work out before work?

And why should Ali get all the awesome morning pictures?

(Because I can’t walk anywhere without seeing a pizza place.)

Morning workouts mean I get to have breakfast and blog before work, too. Look at all this free time!

Do you work out at night or in the morning?

Original Article

That’s why I started this blog. To keep myself accountable. It worked, and I lost 50 pounds. (I mean, there was a lot of other hard work, too. You can’t lose 50 pounds just by taking pics of food, unfortunately.)

Lately I’ve felt a little bored writing about the minutiae of my food and workouts, but when I don’t keep myself accountable, I’m less likely to stick to my healthy habits.

I love races, and I love challenging myself, but since the half-marathons last month, I’ve felt in a little bit of a rut. I’ve been trying to challenge myself with strength-training, but my heart isn’t totally into it.

You stick what what you like, and I found a new thing I like: Physique 57. I tried it Monday with Jess, and I really liked it. More than I liked Bar Method when I tried it. I had one free class (you get two-for-one with your first class) left at Physique so I did it again this morning, while it was still on my mind. My body is slowly getting used to this class, and it was easier this time. (Still really hard, mind you, but no longer so impossible I couldn’t do a huge portion of the exercises.)

I woke up too late and grabbed a cab up there (something I swore I’d never do—take a cab to work out? Really?!), so I didn’t run there. I still wanted to challenge myself to run 3 miles, so I ran 3 miles home.

Past a foggy Bryant Park.

Let’s just pretend this is artsty and not just a line on the street.

Past the main post office.

I’m excited that I am challenging myself again. I have that awesome feeling of accomplishment back that I had when I was losing weight two years ago.

And I have a feeling that once I sign up for my first triathlon today and start swimming and biking workouts, I’ll feel challenged all over again.

And I’ll eat a lot more of these.

What kind of exercise doesn’t feel like exercise to you?

Original Article

I should know myself by now. If I don’t plan it, it might not happen. And planning while falling asleep in bed doesn’t count. The Equinox closest to me didn’t have a spin class before work today, so I told myself I’d run before work.

I woke, laid in bed for awhile and told myself I’d run when I woke up. Well, I realized when I woke up that I ran yesterday and Sunday, and I’ve never run three days in a row, so I wanted to be nice to my knees. I got out of bed and intended on doing some yoga. Of course, once I was out of bed, I realized I had something to do for Junior League. By the time I was done, I only had about 20 minutes, so I did a 15-minute Active Recovery yoga On Demand class.

I should have added yesterday that if you don’t live in NYC, it’s still possible to try Physique 57: they have DVDs and Marie Claire did a story on their moves that you can try at home.

I have to walk Bailey at lunch, and I have a Junior League meeting tonight, so I won’t be able to fit in a workout at any other time except for when I get home this evening. I am planning on doing some more yoga on demand when I get home tonight.

Things I’m good at planning: oatmeal. With almond milk, and frozen pineapple and berries. And sunflower butter, of course.

Since I’m loving Jess’ Say It, Do It lately, I’m going to put my own workouts out there for the rest of the week:

• Tomorrow: Physique 57 before work and running there and back
• Thursday: Spin before work
• Friday: Either rest or yoga—definitely before work since I have after-work plans
• Saturday: the NYRR 4-Mile
• Sunday: Easter and I have friends coming home with me. A definite rest day!

Original Article

I feel like I’ve been awfully indulgent the past few months: there was my birthday, Winter Ball, a weekend in D.C., a weekend in Vegas, a night of karaoke.

Honestly, I wouldn’t change any of it, but I’d like to be cognizant of it—especially because indulging, for me, can sometimes beget more cravings and lead to a cycle of indulgence. (I saw someone post something along these lines over the weekend, but I cannot for the life of me remember who it was to link to. If it was you, please let me know and I’ll link.)

Sugar and carbs and fried, fattening food can definitely be addicting, and my recent indulgences have brought back cravings for those foods that I previously had under control. Lately, it’s my healthy routine that’s kept me on track, because my body hasn’t been craving fruits and vegetables like it usually does. When I walk past pizzerias and bars with fried food on my way home, it takes a lot of “don’t do it, Theodora” to talk myself out of it. I remind myself of how crappy and bloated I feel when I eat fried food or pizza. How it doesn’t fuel me for my workouts.

Work’s been tough lately, and it would be easy enough for me to slack off and eat crappy food and not work out—but I know that would only make the situation worse. So I’m just going to keep talking to myself and keep telling myself to eat the right stuff and work out.

Tonight when I left work, I knew I needed to grocery shop. But I was tired and hungry and had no idea what I was craving. I started looking through blogs for recipes and nothing looked appealing and/or easy to me. I looked at Skinny Taste, which one of my friends recommended for her delicious and healthy recipes, and her first recipe was for my latest favorite dish—pasta with broccoli rabe and chicken sausage. I was happy that my grocery store had broccoli rabe—it definitely made this dish better than when I used spinach the first time around.

I know I’m in an absolute cooking rut, but I grabbed easy stuff for this week. Next week I’m going to challenge myself in the kitchen. Seriously.

Original Article

If you’ve read my blog for more than, say, a day, you know I am not a morning exerciser. I am not a morning person. But when I’ve paid for a class and know that I have a friend waiting, I can do it.

This morning, I put some on Lululemon (I feel like I need to dress to impress for these sorts of classes. Whether it’s true or not, it makes me feel better.) and met Jess at Physique 57 for a 7am class. I made sure to go to sleep before 10 last night so that I could actually get out of bed and make it. The studio, on 57th between 5th and 6th, is about a mile and a half from my apartment. It would have been a few stops on the subway (and I have no idea how reliable the subway is before 6am, but I’m guessing not very) or a mile and a half run. I decided to run there so that I could kill two birds with one stone: getting there faster and being badass.

I ran into Jess outside Starbucks and we walked in together. I told her I was pretty nervous and glad that she asked me to take the class with her, since I never would have tried it alone. Kelly Ripa is supposedly a Physique 57 fanatic, and I had visions of every single woman in the class looking and being as hardcore as her. We did some light cardio exercises to warm up before launching into quads, which Jess had told me was the hardest part of the class. She. Was. Not. Kidding. My quads were SHAKING.

Most of the exercises were really hard, but I was able to power through most of them. (It’s pretty similar to Bar Method, which I also tried with Jess.) Most of the exercises focused on the core and legs and used balls, stretching straps and mats.

The great thing about these kinds of classes is that they’re small (I don’t think there were more than 10-15 women in this class), so the instructors give you lots of attention. When I tried the Bar Method class, that actually scared me off (I felt like I was dumb and doing everything wrong and was embarrassed), but I realized they’re there to help. The 57-minute class actually flew by, and before I knew it, we were stretching. All new Physique 57 students get a second free class, so I think I’m going to try it again on Wednesday morning–anyone want to come? (Shameless plug: if you go and say I referred you, I get a free class. That’s T-H-E-O-D-O-R-A B-L-A-N-C-H-F-I-E-L-D.)

I ran home to round out my workout this morning to one Physique 57 class plus a 3-mile run. SWEET. I’ve been in a great mood all day, and I get that working-out-in-the-morning-extra-endorphin rush. Must. Make. Habit.

I couldn’t stop thinking of bananas after this workout, so I had a sunflower butter and banana sandwich for breakfast. Are you surprised?

For lunch, I ran over to the City Chow Cafe in Equinox and had a turkey burger with Brussels sprouts (when did I become obsessed with them?) and sweet potato.

I’m fudging things a little to make this workout a part of strength training challenge for the week, since I technically started the week on Monday afternoon last week.

So how’d I do?

• 1 35-minute Jillian Michaels Six-Week Six-Pack Session
• 1 30-minute mini-workout from Jess’ blog (why yes, I do have a little blog crush on her)
• 1 57-minute Physique 57 workout.

My goal for this week is to try Physique 57 again and also try to make myself do a strength workout, by myself, in the gym.

How’d you do and what are your strength goals for the week?

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