Snow time like now to Workout (February 2014)

Too Snowy to Workout?

This winter has been brutal.  Between the polar vortex, icy weather and snow, no one feels like coming out for an early morning workout.  Whereas 5 or 7 in bootcamp and 10 or 12 in spin were excellent early morning numbers now 3 and 5 are becoming the norm for my classes, and that's when the snow doesn't force us to miss them.  The good news is that we took advantage of the snowy weather to learn how to snow shoe.

Picture of me snow shoeing in Liberty State Park. 

Picture with Lady Liberty.

But, I think we still put in some pretty hard core workouts despite the weather.  In bootcamp, I decided to my upcoming vacation to Costa Rica as incentive to up my weight and designed a workout that incorporates heavy weights, high intensity cardio and more to give a killer workout. As the class is an hour, I broke the work out up into 3 roughly 10- 15 minute segments with a 5-7 minute warm up and cool down a few minutes rest in between. I also pointed out that they could do any of the 3 15 minute segments on their own and get in a great workout if they were at home, a hotel or pressed for time.  Better to do something than nothing!

Heavy Weights and High Intensity Tough Tuesday Boot Camp Training

 3 rounds as fast as you can
10 burpees
10 dead lift row heavy weight
10 low jack push-up
10 lunges with heavy weight
10 step ups heavy weight
10 plank taps with push-up, tap each shoulder, push up

50seconds on/10 seconds off, 3 rounds, heavy weight
Squat press
One legged squat with one heavy barbell, I used 12 or 15 lb
Switch and other side
Dead lift row bicep curl
Clean & press

5 min - repeat exercises until time is up
 Section 1

10 squat overhead press
20 lunge curl
10 jump squat
20 jump lunge

Section 2

10 burpees
20 dragon lunge
10 side to side jumps
20 mt climbers

Back to Running

In the past few weeks, we were also very fortunate that it finally stopped snowing enough on the weekends for us to get outside.  Last weekend, the weekend of the Superbowl it was nice enough for us to get in a run and a bike ride and while this weekend was back to winter, we were able to get in a run on Saturday and Sunday before the snow hit Sunday night.  Getting back to running was tougher than I imagined but it was nice to change up the workout.

This is me running along the Hudson on Sunday morning.  You can see the ice flows behind me.

After our run we came home and did a quick round of some abs and unfortunately my running partner saw fit to throw some pillows at me.

Yoga Sunday

I ended this weekend with a session at Garden State Yoga, the new yoga studio in Hoboken. I had done hot yoga a few years ago but not in awhile and I was pretty sore from picking up running again.  The class felt great but it was definitely one of the more intense workouts I had that weekend. I had definitely forgotten how hot it can get. I definitely felt reengerized by the class through and will certainly try it again. 

Eats

I made some awesome food this weekend that I will attempt to share.  I've been trying to cook at home as often as possible. We've been making our own homemade pizza as our Saturday or Sunday treat.  But this weekend, I made some scrumptious apple/cinnamon/oat pancakes and some great chicken with veggies. Yum!

Chia Seed Pudding (or the goop I've been eating for breakfast that doesn't taste terrible)

So, soon after getting engaged, booking our wedding and booking a trip to Costa Rica for the winter, I realized I was going to have to watch what I was eating, meaning I could no longer watch as the Ben & Jerry's Fro Yo went from full to empty, I had to have some control. I am of the opinion that crash diets don't work and only result in me suddenly giving in to temptation and going on week long pizza and ice cream benders, which is what happened in December so new year, new college try.  With Costa Rica that much closer, I am definitely motivated.  The last thing I'd like is to weigh down a surfboard so it sinks.

So, we set up the juicer that had been in the box for a month, bought veggies, pre-made brown rice and quinoa (a food I couldn't pronounce 5 years ago), and bought some proteins.  I went back to making healthy lunches.  Then when the Food Network magazine showed up with Giada's stay healthy tips, it seemed fate. I tried most of the recipes she had in the magazine including the crispy chick peas and a green juice and for breakfast, this chia seed pudding. I had bought chia seeds awhile back and had no idea what to do with them, but I was willing to give them a fair shot. 

I made a a few adjustments to her recipe, but it worked out. I had enough for 3 servings. Her recipe is here. I made mine like this:

1 cup of almond milk
1 cup of plain yogurt
1 tbsp of honey/maple syrup (I didn't have enough maple syrup so I used honey)
1 tsp of vanilla extract
2 tbsp of chia seeds

Mix and I poured into a big container and each day took about a 1/2 a cup with chopped berries (strawberries and blueberries) and granola to work.  The granola was recipe of Giada's as well with oats, sliced almonds, coconut and cranberries. Surprisingly it was delicious. I've eaten it now for 3 days.

The last of my chia seed pudding, which looks a little like goop.

Mouth Watering Mac & Cheese | Sinful Chocolate Chip Cookies

A few weeks ago, when we had thought winter was here to stay, I got in a comfort food mood and made two of my finest masterpieces (read: really good dishes).

Mouth Watering Mac & Cheese
My mom makes a delicious mac & cheese and I almost never make it, which means that often times i end up CRAVING mac and cheese like a crazy person. However, I've often deviated from my mom's recipe and experimented with adding bacon, veggies and other cheeses.  Here I used Ina Garten's grown up Mac & Cheese Recipe, which can be found on the Food Network, here.  However, I made a few substitutions, since I had a ton of really good VT cheddar from the Cheese and Wine Shop in Hoboken, I used that and a little mozzerella to equal 8-9 oz of cheese and I topped it with panko bread crumbs.  Also I used crispy bacon and roasted brussel sprouts in the recipe.  I love roasted brussel sprouts.  I started by roasting the sprouts with EVOO and S&P for 20-25 minutes until cripsy.  I like them almost burnt.  Then I fried 6-8 strips of bacon.  Then I made the cheese sauce (as per Ina's directions except with the Cheddar and Mozz instead of the other cheeses she uses) and cooked the pasta and mixed everything in one big bowl and then I put it in a big dish and cooked, according to directions about 40 minutes. 

Awesome mac & cheese with bacon, brussel sprouts and cheddar. Oh boy!

Sinfully Delicious Salted Chocolate Chip Cookies

The HGTV/Food Network stars seemed to be my inspiration for cooking these days.  I follow David Bromstad of HGTV on Twitter and when he posted this cookie recipe to twitter it was too much not to make them.  And then when my better half and his brother were off to the Giants game in the cold, it seemed like an even better idea. Once again, I made some changes to this recipe but otherwise followed exactly.  My edits:  instead of 3 tbsp of salt I used 2 tbsp of regular salt and 1 tbsp fleur de sel, or a hand harvested sea salt I got in the Cheese and Wine Shop (that place is great!) and instead of 2.5 cups of choc chips, I used 1.5 cups of chocolate chips and 1 cup of butterscotch chips so you can got a sweetness, chocolately, saltiness that was delicious. I am a huge fan of salted caramel so this was right up my ally.  The only thing to note with these cookies is they get huge so put lots of space between them.  Enjoy! Here's David's Recipe.

Here’s my famous Salted Chocolate Chip Cookies recipe! (from David Bromstad) They disappeared too fast for a picture, but make them!
2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1tsp baking soda
3tsp salt - I used 2 reg and 1 Fleur de Sel
1 cup unsalted butter-2 sticks at room temperature
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 packed brown sugar
2 tsp vanilla
2 large eggs
2 1/2 cup semi sweet chocolate chips - I used a combo of butterscotch and chocolate
I like my cookies crispy so I cook them at a lower temp. For regular cookies cook at 375 degrees until golden brown.
I like to cook at 325 degrees and let those babies marinate in perfection! They will be crispy. I don’t have a specific time but when I see the tops getting golden brown I pull them. Let them set for a few min, put on a cooling rack and eat the crap out of them!

Enjoy the holidays - Pasta & Powersquats and see you in the gym on Dec. 31st!!!  

A little view of our Xmas Card!

 

6am Winter Wake-ups (aka No Holiday Weight!)

Since our trip to Nashville and my running partner's knee injury, I haven't been working out as much as I should. I lost interest. I did the HoBOOken 5k with my running buddy and my good friend Jen who came down for the 5k.

I had the best costume I've ever put together - not super original, but I loved the outfit, especially the spiffy socks with little capes on the back - thank you Amazon!!

Then I was always running (hehe) out of time to run, but in the past few weeks I've been trying. With my trip to Costa Rica and wedding approaching, I know it won't be long before I have to squeeze into a bathing suit and also a wedding dress, which I picked out this weekend!

The gorgeous hotel we're staying at in Costa Rica's pool which is directly in front of the beach!

I've been slowly getting back on track the last 3 weeks.  I've been running about 30 minutes outside 3-4 days a week, teaching spin 2 days a week as well as bootcamp once a week and adding in sessions at Local Barre once a week.  I've also been trying to cook healthy, making a ton of soups to take to work, as well as serving lots of veggies for dinner and trying to cut back on the PSL's from Starbucks. *sigh*

Purple sweet potatoes, carrots and organic chicken from the Farmer's Market in Hoboken.

New Workout
I also tried a new workout last night at Sky Club in Hoboken, the Monday kickboxing, it was great.  My hands still shaking from hitting the bags and the cardio and bootcamp style exercises definitely upped the workout. 

Tough Tuesday Workout
I've been very bad about posting the Tuesday workouts and I'll admit, last week no one wanted to come to the gym, it's been getting cold in Hoboken and getting up at 6am doesn't sound all that great. 
 

However, this morning as luck would have it, I rolled out of bed, put on my winter gear and expected maybe 2 for my 6am class but we had twice that with 5 showing up.   We did a pretty good workout this morning.

HIIT Style Workout

What you need: mat, bench, risers, one set handweights, one bar with weights.

Warmup: Run, Jacks, Jump Rope, squats and lunges and stretches.

Workout
 8 rounds 20 sec on 10 off (in between the sets of 8, one minute jump rope (JR))

Pushups (I did them on my knees after doing all the pushups for KB last night)
JR
plank or plank walk (forearm to pushup position) for 4 rounds and rollups for 4 rounds (hold boat pose for 10 seconds in between)
JR
Squats
JR
Alternate Bicep Curl and Tricep dip (option: add a weight in your lap for more of a challenge)
JR
crunches/hold up during rest
JR
dead lift (last 4 alternate one-legged dead lift)
JR
Foot ball run drop down for the ten seconds (4 rounds), pushups (4 rounds)
JR (switch to 20 seconds)
MT climbers (4 rounds), crunches (4 rounds)
JR (20)
squat jumps/alternate with squats for 2 and lunges for 2

Cool down.

Back to Healthy: Post Vacation Shape Up

It's been a while since I posted anything to the blog and there's a very good reason for that - it was my birthday!! My birthday was in October and we had just finished the Hoboken Urban Challenge (and it was challenging) - when we took for Nashville and Memphis.  Now we've been to Nashville, but I've never been there not sick, and we were going to see the Lumineers at the Ryman Auditorium!

Lumineers at the Ryman - Pretty Awesome!

It was an amazing trip, but we did ALL kinds of eating.  We ate everything in Nashville and Memphis. I tried fried chicken for the first time, we ate tons of mac and cheese, and all kinds of carbs! And we barely did any running, certainly not enough to keep up with the food and the drink.

Birthday Treats were in addition to all the food we ate!

 For my birthday we got to the Memphis Zoo, which was adorable, we got there at 2pm and we were able to see the whole zoo in 3 hours.  We were back near Cat Country at 5pm, and we got to see all the lions, tigers and other cats up and about. And I got to take in a sea lion show and they are my favorite!!

The lionness and lion in Cat Country! 

My favorite animals the Sea Lions!

 When we got back home we continued our bad eating binge and ordered pizza, went out to dinner, got sushi and Chinese - it was a bad display.  So Sunday we finally got back on the horse and went for a run, which felt tiring but great and decided to make use of the veggies we got at the Hoboken Farmer's Market and we did some shopping for pantry staples.

What I made:

A Veggie Barley Soup - some fresh and some frozen veggies, with Chicken Stock and Quick Cooking Barley, this cooked up in ten minutes after the veggies softened added the chicken stock and barley simmer 10 min and then add the frzn veg and 10 minutes more.

I took this took work several days.

I also bought tons of squashes at the farmer's market.  I made a butternut squash soup with roasted butternut squash and chicken stock, and with the rest of the roasted squash I put that in quinoa with spinach, toasted pine nuts, sauteed apples and carrots and golden raisins, I added a bit of lemon/olive oil and S&P and it was delicious.  We used the other half of the quinoa last night with some other roasted veggies when we both got home at 10pm.  I had roasted kale, eggplant and mushrooms earlier this week and we put that with the quinoa and it was delish. We are using the rest of the roasted veggies tonight in pasta.

Also this week we (finally) used some of the fresh fish we got at the farmer's market, we made swordfish with spaghetti squash.  This was my first time using the spaghetti squash and I was imitating a recipe from Becco I had had (Lidia's restaurant!).  I roasted the squash after I cut it in half flesh side down with EVOO and S&P for about 40 min, heated some sauce from Rao's and boom  - side dish.  We also had green beans.  The spaghetti squash was a big hit! I will definitely buy some this weekend and will be buying one for my mom as well. I ate the leftovers at work.

Spaghetti squash, green beans and a veggie burger.

At the grocery store, I also stocked up on milks (almond and regular), yogurts, fruits, salad, the rice and quinoa and pasta, some meats, and veggie burgers and string cheese so I can make some healthy stuff for work and home.  I still have leftover soup and I am planning to do it again this Sunday.  We have to get ready for our wedding this Summer and heading back to Costa Rica.

On the running side I went running this Thursday for 2.5 miles and it was awesome.  The rest of this week was a  BIG week at Sky Club. I subbed a Monday Spin which meant I was there 4 days this week.  The classes were amazing and it felt great (but sore) to teach spin M,W,F and bootcamp Tuesday. I'll post the bootcamp workout and our obstacle workout later this weekend.

Are you shaping up for winter or enjoying a break?

Tough Tuesday Workout: No Stoppin! (9/10/13)

Like I said Tuesday between weddings, workouts and work, all words with "w" have prevented me from posting any of the Tuesday bootcamp workouts that I've been doing, but we have to make time for what we love so here was out workout this past week 9/10/13.

There were 3 segments that made up this workout - all from Bodyrock and Zuzka Light, my two favorite sources of inspiration. I like these workouts because you can do them as a class with proper intervals in between, in between each set we took about 2 minutes to recover and get water.  But in a pinch you could do these workouts on your own in a gym and only spend a few minutes.See below for my BodyRockin trip to Vegas.

What you need: One set of light weight and one weighted bar, bench w/ 4 risers (high) and a mat and a gymboss or other interval timer. 

Warm Up - Jog, Jacks and Jump Rope, Wide Leg Pushups (3), Squats and Lunges  (about 20 of each) and stretching for the hip flexors, shoulders, calves, etc.

This round of workouts was the ultimate test of pushing for 10-15 minutes, recovery and then going again. I called it No Stoppin' because despite the 10 seconds rest there wasn't much time to recover between moves

Set 1 - You can see the Bodyrock version here and I made some edits based on what equipment is in the gym.Set the timers for 50/10 and I put about 1 minute between sets. This one combined cardio, weights, body weight and plyometrics for real interval workout

We used the bench but you could also do this on the floor.  Hold plank, do a 3 point jump bringing the knees in each time, Right, Center, left, Center. Pushup, Jump in, Star Jump.

• High knees, tapping on the bench.
• Sitting on the bench, relax back on the sit bones and crunch knees in and out. 
• Elevated push up, we put our feet up on the step, hands on the floor. 
• With the bar, step up, step down on the risers, alternating legs. 

Set 2 - This workout is the from Zuzka Light Power Cardio and is number 6. This workout was again a 50/10 and there was no recovery between the 3 sets. This was straight up cardio, my heart rate monitor hit 172 which is over 80% for me.

•  Plyometric Sumo Squat Jump
•   Flying Jump Lunge
•   High Knees
•  Side Burpees
•  SuperHeroes - lying on back arms and legs held up in superhero flying pose

Set #3
This last one was again 50/10 and we only did 2 rounds because we were running out of time. I took this one from Bodyrock but made edits so we'd be lifting. The pushups were exhausting.

•  Reverse lunge
•  Pushups
•  Deadlift Row
•  10 biceps 10 triceps and keep alternating
•  Squat curl press

Then it was onto rest and stretching.

As I mentioned, I use Bodyrock and Zuzka a lot when traveling.  I went to Vegas a few weeks ago for work and hated to miss my Tuesday bootcamp, plus I had a triathlon that weekend. I spent 30 - 40 minutes in the gym.  I did 20 minutes on the treadmill and then did a Bodyrock workout that I looked up on my phone.

I took my NYRR mini 10K shirt to Vegas and repped some pink while staying in the Flamingo hotel. With a pink yogurt. 

At the conference I scored this cool red waterbottle.

The flamingos at the Flamingo hotel!!

Niantic Bay Triathlon (and a Surprise), Camping and Catch up!

A Big Surprise Waited for me at the End of the Niantic Bay Triathlon!

I have not been blogging in awhile, sorry for the drop off, but a lot has happened since the Niantic Bay Triathlon last month!

Catch Up
I am still teaching classes and we're still rocking our Tuesday bootcamp workouts, and I'm going to start up with those again this Thursday. (Promise!)

I have a few triathlons to catch up on, first and foremost, Niantic Bay today. But we also did the Tobay Triathlon on Long Island for the first time and I did the Women's triathlon for the 3rd time.

Races
The Niantic Bay Triathlon is one of my favorite out of the Hartford Marathon Foundation races. I love the location.  The swim is great (especially when no jellies!), the bike is scenic (who doesn't love a course where people blast music to get you up the toughest hill?), and the run is flat and so scenic (which as a lousy runner - I love).  The whole experience makes you want to get up and do it again.

Quick Race Recap

Swim 13:19
I beat my best swim time by almost 2 minutes coming in at 13:19.  I made myself move to the front and tried to stay with the leaders as best I could. I definitely think there was a strong current pulling us in because I felt like I'd landed back on the beach in no time flat and despite being unable to find my wet suit strap I got a helpful hint from the announcer on the shore.

T1 2:28
Shocking! Considering it normally takes me 20 minutes to get out of a wetsuit, but I must've been in high spirits.

Bike 45:25
Not a bad showing for me, exactly where I wanted to come in at.  I was hoping to be at an hour after the bike and that's just about where I was. I was glad to see the family blasting helpful tunes up the hill.

T2: 1:27
After a smooth showing on the bike I ran down the hill, if you've never done Niantic Bay, there is a big down hill after the bike and you need to remove your bike shoes to get down quickly and safely. 

Run 35:38
Running is always my downfall and since my great illness of May and June, I haven't been running like I should.  But, I was pleased to keep my average pace under 12 minute miles and to run the entire course with only a small stop for water at mile 1.5.

All in all it was a great race, and I had always thought I'd never go under 1:45 on this course and I made it in 1:38 so that was a huge success!

Crossing the finish line at the beach!

But the best part was still ahead.  Turns out I got a big (semi) surprise at the end and was rewarded for my hard work with a proposal. (That's why I've been busy!)  Wedding planning, working and running around can make you crazy!

Slightly better than the Niantic Bay medal. 

A great day with the additional surprise of having our favorite kiddies and their parents there! And my mom and dad! 

Fortunately, we also did not have to right back to work after getting engaged and were able to enjoy my first camping trip in the Maine Woods.  We went up to Portland, Me. and had a great weekend just outside Portland at a campground and then staying in Portland. A few highlights

I only spent one night camping and though I enjoyed it, it wasn't without challenges. It took us awhile to build a fire, which almost meant no s'mores (I almost went home!)  We had an animal sneak in to test out our left out beers at midnight and he came back a few more times. And I had to pee.  But all in all it was great. We had s'mores, pancakes and enjoyed a day at the beach the next day.

Our Humble Home for one night outside Portland.

Delicious goods from Two Fat Cats. 

We taste tested most of Portland after fending for ourselves at the campground. We had ice cream and fried clams near Old Orchard Beach.  We ate pie for Breakfast at Two Fat Cats (and whoopie pie) and we had croissants at Standard Bakery.  We ate a great meal at 5 Fifty Five and a out of this world meal at Fore Street. Fantastic foodie town Portland. And we had lobster rolls, all over!!

My wall climbing. 

We did a lot of biking, walking, running and other activities while on vacation. Our last day it was rainy and I was feeling pretty tired. I had done a triathlon that weekend!  So Thursday morning we went for a long walk and stumbled across this park which had awesome obstacles.  We tried to do each one and it gave us a great workout.  I am thinking about signing up for Hoboken's obstacles course race in a month and this was a good test!

Well I will get back to Tuesdays this Thursday.  We had a great workout this morning.  Post my end of summer spin playlist and recap the latest 2 triathlons soon!  We have one more triathlon this season this weekend HAMMERFEST in Branford. It's scheduled in amongst wedding venue searching! Last week's triathlon was in and amongst dress shopping.   Then its on to some runs before the cold sets in. But all in all.

Yes, we spent a lot of money in the life is good store, but look how cute this towel looked on Long Island's beaches.