I can’t quit the banana/sunflower seed butter sandwiches for breakfast as of late. But considering I was spending too much money on breakfast before I started doing this, it’s okay with me. Even if you, like me, are lazy and not a morning person, this is probably the easiest thing you can make. Grab bread and banana. Throw in bag. Get to work. Spread sunflower seed butter (or whatever nut/seed butter of your choice). Cut banana. Spread. Cut sandwich in half, if that’s your style. (It’s totally mine.)
And yes, despite loving to work out now, I’m still lazy. I go for the seat on the subway versus standing, if I can. I prefer to lounge on my couch as often as possible—especially after a hard workout!
On another note, how do you make yourself work out in the morning? I can do it if I know I’m busy at lunchtime and at night, but otherwise it’s a losing battle with the alarm clock. Every single morning, I set my alarm for “early,” and every single morning, I snooze through. People who aren’t morning people: how do you make yourself do it?
One of the things Leah the Nutritionista suggested was that I try to incorporate more strength training. During marathon training, I did a few moves every morning that Joel recommended and worked out with him once a week doing strength. Strength training is definitely something I’m bad at doing on my own. Leah wrote out a few workouts, but I didn’t feel like thinking/navigating the gym tonight, so I decided to try a strength/cardio class instead.
I may not have mentioned it on the blog, but I joined Equinox a few months ago. I had cut back on my cable and decided to use the extra money on a fancier gym. I’d been going to New York/Washington Sports Club for more than six years, and I was getting sick of their classes. I wanted to try all kinds of new, challenging classes that NYSC didn’t offer. Honestly, I think it was a bit of a waste for me to switch to Equinox during marathon training because I was mostly running outside or biking and didn’t get a chance to take advantage of the classes. I vowed once the marathon was over I’d try out the classes.
Tonight, I decided to try 30-60-90, a cardio/strength class. From the description on the website:
Created by Kristi Molinaro. A high intensity interval training workout consisting of cardio, strength training,plyometrics and static holds designed to get you into the best shape of your life. Very challenging but modifiable for all levels.
One of the really cool things about the NYC Equinoxes is that many of the classes are taught by the instructors who created them, so this class was taught by Kristi herself. At the beginning, she said that anyone new might experience nausea, no matter how fit they were, since the intervals were really hard. I didn’t get nauseous, but it was definitely hard. We did lots of lunges, both static and dynamic, and jumping over step benches—and a lot of these moves were with weights. I’m lucky that I don’t usually sweat a ton, but I was absolutely drenched in sweat by the time I walked out.
I tried to go grocery shopping afterwards, but I was too hungry and tired. And my grocery store sucks and didn’t have have the stuff I was looking for. Pump was out of brown rice (WTF?), so I tried a new-to-me place, Yorganic. I got brown rice with some veggies and Korean chicken.
And now I am a lot less cranky.
I was also cranky at lunchtime today (I had a serious case of the Mondays), so I took a long walk and ended up at Thalia, where I had my usual soba noodle salad:
