Tag Archives: races

Keeping Myself Accountable

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.photo 1.JPG

Past a foggy Bryant Park.

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

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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.

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And I’ll eat a lot more of these.

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

Biking on the Brain

Just about this time two years ago, I started running. I was sick of working out like a hamster on a wheel inside and wanted to take things outside. After just a few months, I ran what I consider my first “real” 5K.

Two years later, I’ve run quite a few races and it’s pretty safe to say I’m obsessed with running.

But I’m pretty sure a new hobby is about to enter my life. A few weeks ago, I rode about 20 miles on a bike–up to the George Washington Bridge and back. The company helped, but I also had a really good time on the bike. Bikes aren’t cheap, so I’ve held out on buying one for quite a while. I wanted to make sure I really wanted one, and that I wasn’t going to plunk down a few hundred dollars on one and it sit in my apartment collecting dust.

But I haven’t been able to stop thinking about biking since then, and I found out this week that I’ll be getting a nice tax refund. You can guess what it’s going towards! I’ve been asking people about what they ride/recommend, and last night I stopped at a bike store on my way home. Unfortunately, I was wearing a dress, so I couldn’t do a test ride.

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So far this Trek 7.2 is one of the frontrunners. I’m trying not to be a victim of marketing, but they do say it’s the most versatile bike ever. Dorry and Kath also both have and love this bike.

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The Giant Dash 3 is the second bike I looked at. It’s prettier, but I’m trying not to be a huge girl and make a decision based on looks. (But isn’t it pretty?) I had asked last week about going for hybrid or a road bike. Heather and Kate both advocated for road bikes, saying that if I wanted to do anything longer than a sprint tri, I’d want a road bike and therefore would only have to buy a bike once.

While I’m pretty sure that I’ll at least do a sprint tri, when I started running, I signed up for a 5K with little to no thought of ever doing a marathon. While maybe I’ll do a longer tri some day, I’m willing to cross that bridge when I come to it and start out with a hybrid that I can have fun on and also race on. If, at some point, I have to sell the hybrid and get a road bike, I’m cool with that, too.

Now to go ride one of these babies! And sit and wait for my tax refund to come.

And then I’m pretty sure I’ll be looking for a sprint tri in the tri-state area. Any good ones you know of? (I guess I really am addicted to races. I’m okay with that!)