FitBlog 2013 and I'm Done with Law School!

Hi all!

This week has been crazy busy, if you couldn't tell from the lack of posts. Finishing up papers, taking care of graduation requirements, getting ready for some travel (I am so excited to share about this next week!), and taking lots of super sweaty classes.

I'm posting this from the sky, courtesy of $10-for-90-minutes wi-fi. This ridiculously high price seemed worth it because I'm an internet addict.

I'm away until late Monday night, but I wanted to recap the awesome day I had yesterday at FITNESS Magazine's Meet & Tweet at the Mercedes Club here in New York.

First, I have to say a huge thank you to FITNESS Magazine. This event was incredible. Not only did it expose me to a huge number of new brands that I’m eager to learn more about, FitBlog allowed me to meet "in real life" several bloggers I love, like Tina, Monica and Christine. 

I checked in and grabbed my name tag and free CamelBak... which I forgot at the event! I'm a tad bit heartbroken about this, since I loved it for the four hours I had it. I might need to actually buy one...

So official!! This made me inordinately excited, not going to lie.

The event started with breakfast. I’d eaten a bite before heading out, but I assumed they’d have food – breakfast is the most important meal, after all! – so I saved room to enjoy whatever was available at the event. I’m glad I did because they had juices, mini muffins, hard-boiled eggs, and coconut yogurt parfaits! I snagged a green juice and mini muffin. I have no idea of how healthy the muffin was, but it was delicious (I’m going with “not-so-healthy”).

Healthy blogger heaven right there.

While waiting in line to check in, I introduced myself to the girl in front of me. Kayla's blog is adorable, and we chatted while eating breakfast. I love seeing undergrads get into health and fitness! That was certainly not my number one priority, and I yo-yo'd up and down up to 25 lbs throughout college. I saw Kara arrive, and we all three decided we needed a picture with the FITNESS Magazine sign.

Me, Kara, and Kayla

Since Kayla's blog is titled Blondes Have More Run, the fact that this photo is all blonde runners seemed appropriate.

Most of the event was held outside on the Mercedes Club's deck, which was great since it was lovely spring weather and it would have been a shame to be cooped up inside.

Around 9:30, Betty Wong, the Editor-in-Chief of FITNESS, kicked off the day before the first panel started, welcoming us to the event. I loved her perspective on healthy living. And her awesome camo pants. 

Top Left - Heather Muir and Sarah Lucero, Top Right - Lisa Haney Dr. Jennifer Ashton
Middle - Christie Griffin, Dana Weiss, Deb Perelman, Jill Hanner, Erin Whitehead
Bottom Left - Brett Hoebel and Mary Christ Anderson, Bottom Right - Pam O'Brien and Rocco DiSpirito

The panels began with Sarah Lucero, the Executive Director of Global Artistry for Stila Cosmetics, being interviewed by Heather Muir, Beauty Director for FITNESS. Sarah spoke about her battle with breast cancer and gave her advice on makeup for the hot, humid summers we get in New York. 

One of Sarah's tips was to match your makeup to your clothes, i.e. if you're wearing light clothes because it's hot out, you should wear light makeup like a tinted moisturizer. Heavier clothes = heavier makeup. Another one was to match your lipstick to your blush. This sounded obvious to me, but then I realized I tend to use lighter blush (when I wear it, which is almost never) and berry-colored lip tints.

Next, Senior Editor Lisa Haney interviewed Dr. Jennifer Ashton, an ob-gyn, about her holistic approach to health. Dr. Ashton urged women to consult their ob-gyns about their total health, not just their pelvic region. 

Dr. Ashton also advocated the "5 and 2 day" approach to eating -- straightforward healthy eating on weekdays and more indulgence on the weekend. I love this idea and *basically* follow it, although as a student it can sometimes be harder to keep the 5/2 approach and it becomes more like 4/3. Getting to that 5/2 ratio is a priority for this summer!

The third panel had me extremely excited -- it was a discussion with four influential bloggers entitled "my blog is my business." One of them was Deb Perelman of Smitten Kitchen fame!

I get so excited when I meet someone like Deb. Her blog is one of the first blogs that I ever followed – her recipes are uniformly fantastic yet pretty easy and she has a great writing style. The fact that she is responsible for multiple wonderful dinners, desserts, and brunches makes me love her even more. 

Deb doesn’t write “healthy” recipes, per se, rather she uses lots of whole foods and is big on cooking with fresh, seasonal ingredients. If you don’t already follow her, you need to add Smitten Kitchen to your reader. She’s my first stop whenever I want to make something awesome and (relatively) foolproof.  


All of which is to say, I basically pounced on her and begged for a photo, telling her how much my bff Katie and I adored her. Sorry for being a creeper, Deb!

One of the panel's biggest points they emphasized was writing good, original content and not writing in order to make money. Of course, money could follow and they all suggested that bloggers should advocate for themselves for freelance writing, product samples, etc., but all four women strongly believed that good content was key to turning a blog into a moneymaking venture.

Brett Hoebels was then interviewed by Deputy Editor Mary Christ Anderson. Brett was a featured trainer on The Biggest Loser, season 11. He emphasized the importance of pushing yourself past that comfort threshold, saying people needed to "get breathless" in their workouts. 

Finally, the panels portion of the day concluded with Rocco DiSpirito, the award-winning chef and author of Now Eat This! Italian. The cookbook focuses on recreating Italian recipes in healthier ways. Rocco discussed spending time in Italy with Italian home cooks and how much he'd learned from the experience. He also gave tips on healthy eating, such as advocating for yourself at restaurants and asking for things to be changed in order to be healthier.

Peanut butter-fueled shenanigans

After the panels, lunch was available and we could walk around and meet with all the sponsors, which included Athleta, CamelBak, Crystal Light Liquid, Ford Fiesta Movement, Marmot, Reebok, Saucony, Smart Balance, Tonalin, and Vichy. 

We received samples at a lot of the sponsors' tables, which was amazing, and it was great to learn more about the brands. 

I am definitely a creature of habit, so being exposed to new brands and products is a great way of getting me to try new things. I'm looking forward to using the samples we were provided!

The Jens!
(Photo credit: Jen)

After checking out all the sponsors and eating lunch with friends, I grabbed the bag full of goodies we were given and left an hour early. 

Insane, right? THANK YOU FITNESS!!!

Leaving a bit early meant I missed the end-of-day workout. I wanted to take part, but I had a paper I needed to finish and submit, in addition to packing, before I took Sourabh out for a celebratory movie and early dinner. Yep, yesterday was his last final! He's officially done with his first year of law school, which is by far the toughest. I'm so proud of how hard he's worked the past nine months!

And oh, by the way... after I submitted that paper yesterday, I am officially done with law school and am graduating in less than a week. Craziness! I still have the two month, extremely intensive Bar Review course and, oh yeah, the Bar exam at the end of July. But at least I'll have a J.D.?

Sugar Detox Recap and Zola Coconut Water Review

Last week, I took part in Laura @ Mommy Run Fast's sugar detox. The challenge called for no added sugar for one week, meaning sugar could not be an ingredient; there could be sugar in something, it just had to be naturally occurring.

I wasn't perfect. A few times I ate out and had some soy sauce-based sauces that I'm guessing had added sugar. But I didn't eat any baked goods, candy, etc. from Monday to Sunday and I only moved on from the detox on Sunday by having a splash of maple syrup on my oatmeal and a square of dark chocolate.

What I realized from the detox is that I don't need sweets. So often when we're hit with a craving, it feels like we absolutely need something sugary. But since cookies and sweets weren't an option at all, I had to just take a deep breath and move on.

What I realized was that my cravings would subside. I didn't spend all afternoon thinking about cookies and baked goods if I didn't grab a sweet when I was in a coffee shop. In fact, the craving would be gone fairly quickly. It was all mental based on seeing or reading about sweets rather than being an actual message from my body.

The one time my sugar craving didn't disappear. I made a batch of my peanut butter balls sweetened with dates and shredded coconut, and that hit the spot perfectly. It's something I'm going to make again for future sweets cravings!


Zola Coconut Water Review

A couple of weeks ago, I was sent a sample of Zola coconut waters and acai juice (and some sweet shades). I drank one of them during the week leading up to the Nike DC Half Marathon and I loved it. I often don't like coconut water because it tastes a bit stale, but this tasted incredibly fresh. Both coconut waters also have no added ingredients -- it's pure coconut water.

I  polished off the second bottle this past week during the sugar detox. Since I couldn't drink nuun because it has added fake sugar, I used coconut water for electrolyte replenishment after particularly sweaty workouts. Both the regular and "with pulp" versions tasted great! I'll be getting these at the store if I see them.

I also loved the acai juice, which I'd actually never tried before. This one does have some added sugar in the form of organic evaporated cane juice, but no more than your average juice bottle, and it has otherwise stellar nutritional stats. I don't buy juice very often, but if I were looking for an antioxidant boost, I would definitely purchase this.


Do you drink coconut water? What's your favorite brand? Have you tried a sugar detox before? What were your results?


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I received a free sample of these juices and coconut waters. As always, opinions about the products are my own.

Workout Recap and Weekly Goals: Runner Happy Hour, SELF Workout in the Park and Sweaty Sundays

This weekend kicked off with a runner happy hour at Boat Basin. It came together initially over Twitter, and Beth followed up and organized it. Thanks, Beth! (Also, please write your awesome PR race recap!!!)

I'm not sure who took this picture so I don't know who to credit!
It was someone in this photo who is not me, however.
Edit - it was Beth's camera!

It ended up with over 20 runners (not everyone is pictured here). It was so much fun to catch up with some I've only met a few times and to hang out with others I see frequently! Can't wait for the next one.

My weekend continued to be lots of fun, first with the Self Workout in the Park on Saturday and then dinner with one of my closest law school friends who I haven't seen in a while (she graduated last year and is incredibly busy at her law firm).

Obligatory blogger pic with Laura and Meg!

The event was one of the first of these kind I've been to and I enjoyed it a lot, although unfortunately the weather wasn't great. A lot of people go to this event every year (it was the 20th anniversary!), so they knew that you had to get in line early on to sign up for the yoga and crossfit style workouts. I didn't realize this and didn't find out until I met up with Laura, so I was too late to get a wristband with an assigned time since they were sold out.

Instead, we wandered around through the different sponsors' tents, picking up samples. Sponsors included Luna Bars, Green Mountain Coffee, LeSportsac, Reebok, Wendy's (they were giving out salads, but still, I thought that was odd), Sweet 'n' Low, and SkinnyGirl (Bethenny Frankel made an appearance at the event). I am stocked up on snack bars for quite a while now! Shay Mitchell from Pretty Little Liars was the celebrity host and Danielle Monaro from Z100 was the celebrity emcee.

Because the weather was so dreary and humid, we mostly took part in the workouts while waiting in line for the samples and checking out the sponsors. That was possible since many of the mainstage workouts were dance-based, so you could follow along while waiting in line.

My biggest tip for those going next year would be to get there early so you can sign up for the side workouts that you want to! I was bummed I couldn't try CrossFit.

Sunday, I met up with new blogger friend Angela for a double workout! Angela and I met at the Lean In book club event at Uplift Studios. We'd been planning to work out again together, and had the idea of doing a double. Initially we were going to take it kind of easy and do spin then yoga, but we ended up deciding on a Flywheel spin class then a Refine Method class after.

Honestly I wasn't sure I'd survive be able to really get my "money's worth" out of both classes. But I ended up working my ass off in both classes and loving how tough it was. Don't get me wrong, both classes are normally a challenging workout, but I really had to push myself past my normal edge in an exercise class.

Otherwise, I've spent most of this weekend doing errands, hanging out with Mason, and rewatching Arrested Development for about the fourth time. I'm midway through the second season and so excited for May 26 when new episodes will finally air. It's been a loooong seven years since the show was canceled, but it's still my favorite comedy ever.

Workout Recap

Monday: 2.5 mile easy run. Garmin-free and fabulous. Gorgeous day in the park!

Tuesday: Rest (was going to go to an evening class but Sourabh got us tickets to a Knicks playoff game, which obviously took precedence!!).

Wednesday: Rest.

Thursday: 60 min. Refine Method class. Incredibly difficult -- it left me 

Friday: 45 min. Real Ride spin class at Revolve.

Saturday: Self Workout in the Park (dabbling in different workouts, not a ton of sweating).

Sunday: 45 min. spin class at Flywheel. 60 min. Refine Method class.

Goals for this Week

I am feeling so inspired after the awesome workouts I had at the end of this week, so I've planned a somewhat jam-packed week until I go away this weekend.

• 1 spin class

• 1 run

• 2-3 strength training sessions

• 1-2 yoga classes

• foam rolling and stretching

What are your exercise goals for this week? What's your favorite canceled TV show?

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I received complementary admittance to the SELF Workout in the Park. As always, opinions about the event are my own.

Things I didn't know existed until I started running

Runners are weird. There's no other way to put it. We get up at 5 AM to run. We discuss paces and heart rates and training plans and BQs when we get together.

There are a lot of things that I treat as normal now that I run consistently, but many of them I had no clue even existed before I started running, or are things I'd never consider doing in public. I was thinking about them the other day and thought they'd make a fun post.


Snot Rocketing and Spitting

This one had to be first, right? It's so gross and impolite and I do it all. the. time. when it's cold or I'm suffering from allergies. And I'm not alone. This is something runners do.

Okay, that is excessive spitting.
(source)

Obviously there are ways to be polite about it (snot rocket or spit to the side of the street, avoid other people), but can you imagine if people did this in the gym or normal exercise classes? It's kind of hilarious how we just spit on the street casually when running but would be horrified if we saw someone doing that while just walking down the street.


Chafing

Oh my gosh what the heck, right? As if running wasn't tough enough for long distances or in hot weather, we have to worry about chafing, AKA skin rubbing against something that eventually causes it to wear away the skin. Hence the need for things like body glide that prevent you from rubbing the skin off your body.

[no picture for the good of humanity]

The fact that chafing is a thing makes me sad, not going to lie.


IT band

The IT band is something you don't hear a lot about outside of running. I had no idea this existed until I foam rolled it and realized, oh hey, there's a band of muscle running down the outside of my leg and leaning on a foam cylinder is basically a surefire way of guaranteeing myself pain.

The oh-so-glorious IT band
(source)

From the all-knowing authority that is Wikipedia:

The iliotibial band is a thick band of fascia on the outside of the knee, extending from the outside of the pelvis, over the hip and knee, and inserting just below the knee. The band is crucial to stabilizing the knee during running, as it moves from behind the femur to the front of the femur during activity. The continual rubbing of the band over the lateral femoral epicondyle, combined with the repeated flexion and extension of the knee during running may cause the area to become inflamed.

Foam Rollers

Speaking of which, I didn't know that there was such a thing as a foam roller. Probably because I don't read about medieval torture.

I have such a love-hate relationship with this thing.
(source)

Foam rollers are both incredible and horrible at the same time, in the way a good deep massage is. It hurts so much, but you know that digging into those knots is good for you and will relieve all that nasty tightness later on. Foam rollers are, of course, meant for digging out all that tightness runners create.


That's my list -- what's yours? What did you not learn about before you started running or cycling or whatever you do?