Wow. Last week really did me in. Most amount of classes I’ve ever taught in a week- 11. I am still feeling it, as I missed my long run Sunday morning from exhaustion anddd missed it again yesterday morning when I meant to make it up. Ugh. Marathon training is really not even remotely fun for me right now. I haven’t felt even a little excited about it and that makes me sad. But I love teaching a ton, and it’s a source of my income so it is more important than training to run 26.2 miles. Definitely never running a 2nd marathon. I love half’s but this full nonsense is just too time consuming! I NEED SLEEP. (and some strength training would be nice too)

This is how my week broke down.

Sunday July 6th: Taught my 9:00 AM class. Lifted a few weights right before class then walked around all day with heavy ass bags of groceries and other random errands. It was a very active day outside of my normal workout which left me really tired which is actually really sad 🙂 Goes to show you that just because you do 1-3 hours of cardio a day, if you sit at a desk the rest of the time (like me) then some of those benefits are negated.

Monday July 7th: Taught my 6:30 AM class in Brooklyn. Worked all day, then subbed 2 back-to-back classes at 6 and 7 PM. These classes demand high energy because of who I sub for, so I rode about 50 miles or more this day. I also did these exact 3 classes the Monday before and in just a week’s time it’s crazy to feel that I was less tired than the week before. Our bodies adapt so fast! I had this delicious bar right before the 2 classes to fuel up and it tastes like a macaroon. Mmmm.

Got home, ate avocado toast and my new nightly snack that is sometimes actually dinner because I get home late.

2% Fage strawberry yogurt, a couple mini chocolate chips and a few animal crackers. There is something so amazing about this yogurt. Please try it if you haven’t. Also please try to un-see how pasty white I am right now.

Tuesday July 8th: Wanted to get in a few miles Tuesday morning but OBVIOUSLY that didn’t happen. I slept in and felt like I was hit by a train. Worked all day then taught my 7:00 PM class. Only day that I only had 1 class. Pinkberry for dinner, yaaaaaaaaaaas.

Wednesday July 9th: Taught my 6:00 AM class which is always beyond rough to get up for, since I don’t get home til around 9 or after on Tuesday nights. Worked all day, then subbed for my girl Nicole at 6:00 PM. This is when my left hip and foot started to hurt during class, so I tried to scale back as much as I could.

Thursday July 10th: My last Thursday subbing the 7:00 AM class and I am really going to miss it! Worked all day, then subbed another 6:00 PM class. I taught in my sneakers instead of my spin shoes for both of these classes and it helped my foot and hip feel a lot better. I learned at the conference in Miami that stress fractures can happen to our feet in spin if the cleats on the spin shoes are too far forward and I think this is the case on mine. The guy actually said something like 80% of people’s cleats are put too far forward! So the sneakers took off some pressure from my toes so I was able to go pretty hard Thursday morning. Thursday night I taught 3 songs off the bike for my first time (it was both awkward and glorious) and welcomed Friday ready to finish my last 2 classes.

Friday July 11th- Taught my 6:30 AM class in Brooklyn. Love my Friday class. We’re so pumped for the weekend and everyone works hard! I was feeling pretty good for having 9 classes under me already. Worked all day, then subbed the 6 PM class that I will be subbing for the rest of summer! I love it and it really helps people get ready for the weekend.

I then had to work overtime Saturday morning where I was a miserably exhausted mess 🙂

My weeks won’t be like that often and at least right now while I need to be running too, my body can’t handle that amount of high-mileage cycling. It’s much different than high-mileage running of course, but it has it’s cons as well. Mainly the fact that I have no real recovery time so I feel too sore and achey to push myself in my classes later in the week. I’m good at faking it on the bike (like any good instructor 😉 ) but the truth is the energy an instructor has while they are also pushing themselves and struggling along with the class is different. I’m still woo-ing, and so encouraging to the classes- off the bike, plus I’m now not afraid to sing along to my songs (i feel bad for my classes haha) but they watch your every move on the bike and it really makes a difference in how hard they work. I’m just not comfortable teaching off the bike (yet? ever? I’m not sure) so I’m figuring out what works for me. If I’m teaching 11 classes in a 5 day span, they can’t all be my own workout too. I HAVE to scale my own intensity back or my burn out is going to happen and it’s my job now to not get burnt out! I do love that this is such a learning process, and I would truly love to be a full time instructor/trainer so I need all the advice I can get from fellow instructors- and those of you who take spin!! Tell me what you love and what bugs you about an instructor!! My #1 thing- I know I used to hate when instructors would come up close to me and touch my resistance knob- hello what if that person has an injury that they didn’t want to announce to the class?!- and I think that motivating and pushing from up front is more effective overall. That’s my opinion, and I’ve asked my classes before if they like that and 99% of them have said they hate when an instructor doesn’t ride with them and when they get all up in their business.

This past Sunday I taught in the morning and then Brenda and I went to the Brooklyn Bridge Park to lay out in the sun. I got REAL burnt like an idiot- it was cloudy and we were too afraid of rain to go out to the beach- but it was nice to just lay out and talk and laugh after a long week! I finished my Sunday with a chicken pita, froyo and bed at 8:30. Gloooorious.

Total weekly mileage for cycling:

Why it says 9 and not 11, I do not know.

That’s my last week and a half! How have yours been? 🙂

This is a ramble.

We still have some catching up to do so be prepared, this is looooong!

Basically my life is spent doing nothing but working. Luckily right now I love my jobs, but I don’t love cleaning, laundry or grocery shopping and I had to do all of the above on my 3-day weekend. But the weekend before was no work and ALL play, so lets get to that fun stuff first.

John went out of town for a few days so Brenda and I planned a romantic weekend together since we hardly get to see each other for more than an hour at a time these days. First up: seeing our favorite comedians from the show Broad City! Anyone watch that on Comedy Central? Well it’s hilarious and a very REAL depiction of what life is like in NYC when you’re a broke 20-something. They were performing at FIT along with Bevers from the show and Jason Mantzoukas because he is at literally every comedy show ever. The show was awesome and we were hurting from laughing.

 

On the way home I stopped and got myself a cheese-less pizza from Patsy’s to take back to my apartment and eat alone in bed. It was seriously glorious. I love John to death but sometimes you just need a night alone in bed… with pizza. Ya feel me?

 

I slept in Saturday morning and casually drank coffee and watched TV. I NEVER get relaxing mornings anymore since I’m always teaching, so this was much needed. In the afternoon I headed to meet Brenda at Whole Foods for lunch then we spent the rest of the day walking all over the park. Once we got back to my apartment for a sleepover (yes, were 11) we ordered cheese-less Domino’s (please don’t comment on my pizza addiction) and watched Blue Crush because we will always be wanna-be Surfer Girls.

Sunday morning we lifted a little before my spin class, then headed to my friend’s birthday brunch at Bagatelle. It was Pride weekend so we knew we were in for some fun. It started out innocently enough with rounds of Prosecco, then some appetizers, and the main courses. She had a pre planned menu and we all passed the dishes and ate what we wanted. It was the perfect amount of food because we all really wanted more champagne than food 😉

Then it got wild. Wild for 2:00 PM.

Superman bringing out champagne to another birthday girl. If this isn’t what your brunch looks like, you’re doing it wrong.

Gigantic ice cream towers with sparklers. Again, NYC brunch > all other brunches.

Happy Birthday baybeeeeee

It was so fun and I hadn’t drank since my birthday so it was much needed. Brenda and I went back to my apartment for awhile and I was asleep by 8. Perfect weekend!

Last week my spin schedule was lightened and I was so grateful. I really needed some rest so the holiday weekend was perfect for it. My Thursday and Friday classes were cancelled, so I did a 3 mile run on Thursday then went to a CYC class on Friday morning. CYC is a boutique cycle studio (like SoulCycle except not a cult and less expensive) and Brenda loves it so I’ve wanted to try it for awhile. It gave me a run for my money, that’s fa sho. 45 minutes of crazy-ness including 4 songs where we turned up the resistance almost all the way so we weren’t moving our legs much and used 2-3 lb weights for back-to-back strength training. Sure that weight is nothing but it gets into your tiny little muscles and left me shaking! The founder of CYC, Keoni, was the instructor so it was a blast. He has the best energy and inspired me so much! It was nice to be the student and not instructor for once!

French toast, coffee and cuddling was next up for my 4th of July.

I alternated from my bed, my couch, and a lot of cleaning for the rest of the day. It was so nice to be able to catch up on life things that never get done because I’m always working!

Saturday morning was long run time with Andrea! This girl is going to be my saving grace for marathon training. The 3 miles I ran on Thursday were terrible, and while I still felt out of shape on Saturday it went much smoother. 8 gorgeous miles with the birthday girl!

 

Followed by my favorite brunch with John at Grey Dog!

Fried egg, turkey sausage and goat cheese on a croissant with sweet potato fries. YAAAS.

We walked around and got coffees and started to look for running sneakers for John becauuuuuuuuuse he told me he wants to start doing a little running with me. Yes, I almost died. I hope he sticks to it! 😉

What else? I ate fried chicken Saturday night. First time in like 4 years? It sounded so good, John loves it, and it was only $5. Long hair, don’t care.

Taught Spin yesterday morning with a little upper body lift before, then had an extremely active day that has left me very sore today. Started with a nice walk to get an acai bowl at The Juice Shop in Flatiron. Highly recommend this place.

They also gave me 3 free green juices (maybe they could sense I ate fried chicken the night before?) but they didn’t taste so good, not even a little. I did some healthy damage at Trader Joe’s and lugged 2 very heavy bags back home. Then took 3 big bags of clothes from our cleaning frenzy Friday down to Buffalo Exchange to see what I could sell and donated the rest to Good Will. I made out pretty well and it felt really good to get rid of those size 2 pants I will never fit in again. I’ve been holding on to them for too long! Size 6/8 is working out just fine for me, thank ya very much 🙂

Meal preppin’.

I’ll share what I’m eating this week and my new obsession from Trader Joe’s later this week! Feels good to blab on about my life to you all again! 🙂

How was your July 4th weekend?? Oh I also ate a hot dog on Friday too. John bought the all pork ones since I can’t have beef and it fulfilled a 3 year craving for me, on a nice white bun with ketchup and mustard. Mmmm the bad stuff!

AND- 29 days til Costa Rica. But who’s counting?!?! 😀

!!!!!

I am so sorry to have neglected you guys. I thought my life would slow down after leaving Chanel and having more normal work hours, but all that has changed is that I am happier! I’ve been teaching so much- currently have 6 set classes a week plus I sub usually 1-3 more times- so I am exhausted alllll the time but in a good way. Add on that I am now starting my first official FULL MARATHON training plan and I seriously have no extra time. Well, I made time to watch all of season 2 of Orange is the New Black in 2 weeks, but that made for way too late nights and ended up being not quite worth it. 😉

Let me catch you up on my last month of life.

My best friend Brenda and I had an amazing weekend in Miami about a month ago. We went for the WSSC Conference for Spin and just to get out of NY for awhile and hit the beach. I am terrified of flying and hadn’t flown in 5 years so I took an Advil PM and chugged 2 glasses of wine. We watched Bridesmaids the whole time while I squeezed Brenda’s hands every time I got scared (basically the entire 2.5 hour flight). I HATE FLYING. But boy is Miami gorgeous!

The Spin conference was amazing and we took 3 classes total plus a class on how to properly fit people to the spin bike. We ate breakfast after the first session and then went across the street to a cafe with delicious food for lunch. After the last session, we snuck out onto the pool (we weren’t staying at the hotel where the conference was held) and it was SO gorgeous. There was an aqua zumba class going on that looked like so much fun too!

Once we got back to our hotel, we showered and got into bed where we stayed for the rest of that night. Don’t worry, we had no plans of actually going out in Miami… this is our version of heaven. Working out a ton, eating a ton, and resting a ton. We ordered food from the sports bar downstairs in the hotel and no picture but it was so, so good.

We woke up Saturday morning with no alarm which was such a treat for both of us, then got some coffee and breakfast and headed to South Beach! Miami’s public transportation is pretty awesome for how big the city is, and the bus we took was really easy to get around on. South Beach is GORGEOUS! I wasn’t even expecting the water to be so clear since it’s still America, haha. Clearly I don’t travel much 😉

 

My first ever fish taco’s.

And after the beach we went back to the hotel, ate, and slept. LOL I’m telling you, this is why we don’t have friends but each other. Sorry not sorry. Oh and this was me on the plane ride back Sunday morning. I did NOT do well on the flight black. God help me for my Costa Rica trip in a month which is 2x longer than Miami.

I’ve barely been running at all which really stinks since I wanted to build at least a 2-week base before marathon training started for me this week. Well, I ran twice (one 1.5 miler and a 3.35 miler, wowza) and then did the Queens 10K. It was a GOOD race. I pushed myself way out of my current comfort zone and averaged 9:57 miles for a finishing time of 1:01:48, only 1 minute-ish off my PR time from 2 years ago. I also got to meet up with Andrea again and it’s always so great to see her cute face! 🙂

In true Jen fashion, I refueled with nutella banana french toast and fries. Just so you aren’t worried that I’ve changed! 😉

Oh and I also met Joe Caputo from Orange is The New Black on the train to Brooklyn a couple weeks ago. He is my favorite character on season 2! He was SO nice and we talked for almost 10 minutes. Love NYC.

So besides Miami and teaching Sunday-Friday for the last 6 weeks (usually 2 of those days includes AM and PM classes!!) I have really been doing nothing else. As you can imagine it’s exhausting, but I am really happy that I am out of that terrible disaster of a job I had at Chanel. While I’m still not 100% sure what I want to do, it’s great to have this time to clear my head and get a lot of teaching under my belt. This week officially started marathon training, too. How much exercise can one person take?! Haha I also need to fit in some strength training and yoga here and there, too. I mean it’s a good problem to have, but I really want to get back into blogging at least once a week specifically while I’m marathon training to keep a log of all this! So this is my unofficial I’m-back post. I’ve missed you all so much and I don’t want this to end! Bare with me.

WHAT HAVE YOU ALL BEEN UP TO??!! Fill me in!! ❤ ❤

<3 <3 <3 <3 <3

I promise I haven’t deserted you guys forever! I am here and promise to post at least once a week, so don’t leave me!! 🙂 Update soon!!

HI!

HELLOOO! Ahhh, I miss you guys. So much. My new schedule is still something I’m trying to adjust to so I need to get on a blogging schedule since the only time I can blog now is at night when I’m home. I’ve just been subbing a lot of night classes and then waking right back up to teach in the mornings, so my nights are spent getting home at 9, wolfing down a bowl of cereal (meal prep fail) and going to sleep sweaty. Beautiful, I know. But the new job is going good so far and overall I am 79% less stressed. It’s making a difference already!

So here’s what I’ve been up to the last couple weeks in a big summary of pics. Let’s get caught up!

Enjoying my weekends off to the FULLEST! I’m not one to waste a weekend day doing nothing anymore, so brunching is always necessary. This is my new favorite brunch meal from Grey Dog:


Egg, sausage & goat cheese on a croissant with perfect sweet potato fries & a soy iced latte.

I finally met the gorgeous & super sweet Andrea the weekend before last! She lives in Hoboken so she met me for a 6 mile run & took my Sunday spin class where we had a blast! Brunch afterwards at Tavern 29 up on the rooftop.

(Red pepper & goat cheese omelette w. homefries & avocado)

I’m looking forward to being friends with this gal. She is a doll and her positive energy is just what I need in my life! 🙂

1st day at the new job and it was so beautiful outside. Took my stripey pants, studded oxfords & homemade salad outside to eat… Along with everyone who works on Park Ave. Love it.

First week I did so good with meal prep, even snack prep, so I have to get back on that train because I only get 30 minutes now & it’s too hectic to buy and eat in just 30 mins!

Absolutely loving my outfits. I’ve always wanted to dress preppy but never thought I could pull it off. I’m loving it.

J Crew Factory “city fit” crops are the best pants ever, FYI.

Teaching loooots of spin & improving my watts! My “flat road” resistance number is getting higher which is awesome to feel myself getting stronger! In fact, I see my clients improving and it’s such a great feeling!

Brooklyn 1/2 Marathon bib pick-up in downtown Brooklyn! Gorgeous views.

Ran the 1/2 with my roomie Kira since it was her first half! It was so nice to take it easy & help someone achieve their fitness goal. She did awesome and it was a hot one out. The course is amazing & I can’t wait to demolish it next year!

Refueling the right way… 5 Napkin turkey burger with melted blue cheese, mushrooms & onion with sweet potato fries & diet coke.

I went home to crash and John went to dinner at Dinosaur BBQ in Harlem with a friend and brought me back pulled pork, mac & cheese and coleslaw. Their mac is my favorite ever so I indulged… So dumb. Still in pain 4 days later. Cheese (except blue, goat or feta) and I just can’t. 

11 PM that night I left for a less-than-24-hour trip to Binghamton to see my amazing little brother graduate from Binghamton University. 

He is hands down the smartest, funniest & most kind hearted person I’ve ever known. Love that he is my brother! I was actually emotional watching him put on his cap & gown & walk across the stage. We’ve been through hell and back with family things for the last 2 years, but he perservered and still did amazing graduating with a Biology degree! 

That wraps up my first week and a half of my new life! The nights I don’t teach, it’s pretty amazing to be home by 6:15! Oh, it also helps that my new co-workers are absolutely HILARIOUS. Like, they make me cry from laughing so hard and just being goofy. I fit right in 🙂

🙂 Tell me how you are!!! What’s new?!

Binghamton 1/2 Marathon 2014

Thank you for all the love and support on yesterday’s post about my new job! I am truly so excited to start my new chapter (I sound like a broken record at this point ha) and I can guarantee you are going to be super annoyed with my posts about my outfits 😉

Warning: long post, lots of pictures. Pretty typical of me but I feel the need to warn you. 🙂

So last week at this time I was in Binghamton for a long weekend of relaxing, food, family, friends and racing! The Binghamton Bride Run 1/2 Marathon was my first half marathon ever last year, and I think it may be one of my favorites. The route is perfectly challenging and good for a PR, without the crazy overcrowding of NYC races. Plus I can just drive to the start versus getting on the subway early or taking a cab which is muchhhh less stressful! Once I arrived on Thursday, I had Enterprise pick me up at the bus station (pretty sweet perk when renting a car through them), grabbed an iced soy latte and met my brother for lunch at my favorite diner, Broadway Diner. As usual, I had to have the greek chicken salad with honey mustard on the side.

Later on I made my mom, brother and I an awesome healthy meal since I knew the rest of the weekend would be indulgent as all get out. Baked teriyaki chicken, sauteed mushrooms in coconut oil, and roasted sweet potatoes topped with coconut almond butter. Why is cooking at someone else’s house so much better? Answer: because your mom does the dishes. 😉

Friday morning I woke up and went for a 4 mile run in absolutely gorgeous weather. My hometown is really beautiful on the 40-some days of sunshine we actually get a year!

My highschool!

Hills galore!

My brother and I went to another one of my favorite cafe’s called Corbin’s for brunch. It’s one of the healthiest restaurants in the area and not one that many people know about even living there. I had eggs with pumpernickel homemade toast, bacon and homefries (nothing is cooked in oil even for a calorie savings) and we shared an order of buckwheat banana pancakes with sugar-free syrup. Absolutely delicious and great way to begin carb-loading!

 

I did some shopping at TJ Maxx then headed to my hair appointment. This is my favorite part of being upstate is getting my hair done by my friend Sherette at Friends & Co. She is so ridiculously talented and I swear my hair looks better and better each time. We spend hours talking and laughing with the 2 other stylists (Patrick and Keith, both AMAZING as well!) and I leave feeling wonderful every time. My perfect blonde hair being just a perk of going!

That moment when you know your hair won’t look this good again until your next hair appointment.

Later on Friday night my brother and I took my mom to an early mother’s day dinner at her favorite restaurant Little Venice, a Binghamton staple. Truly the best italian restaurant you’ll ever go to, mark my words. Drew and I split their bbq baked chicken wings (so much better than fried) and THE BEST PIZZA IN THE WORLD. I had never had their pizza before but since I needed to carb up and pasta kills my stomach, we gave their pizza a whirl. This was the margarita pizza and the little bits of fresh mozzerella were so easy to pick right off for me. The sauce and the dough was just magnificent.

A few hours after digesting, I picked up Brenda who had just got into town and we went out with our friend Lisa to downtown Binghamton. Back in the good old days, we used to party every weekend at these bars and were the life of the party. Turns out at 26 years old, we were the oldest people there besides a group of 45 year old men from out of town who were there for something to do with golf. We had a drink, took a picture, and went to Denny’s. So old. (Side note: we had blueberry pancake puppies and they are life changing. Please don’t judge.)

Saturday morning I met up with my high-school health teacher who is one of the most amazing people I’ve ever known in my life. We had breakfast at Broadway (of course) and spent a good chunk of time catching up on each others lives. So great to have a mentor like him, and I love that he is wildly successful even after retiring. He travels the country giving speeches and lectures from his book, Zen and the Art of Public School Teaching. If you are a teacher, I HIGHLY recommend reading this. Even if you aren’t, the man has such a way with words it’s really incredible.

Brenda and I then headed to get coffee and to the expo to get our race stuff. Then it was off for froyo round 1 where we discussed future business plans that I can’t wait to explore!

I headed down to Pennsylvania to scoop up John and visit with his mom for awhile, then we met back up with Brenda and my brother for pizza at Joey’s in Endicott. This was delicious, but a little too cheesy so once it was scraped off there was basically no sauce left. Next year, I will be carb-loading at Little Venice!

…Picked up my friend Amanda and we met my friend Jordan for froyo round 2. Absolutely no shame. Also, I love these people. So much.

Let’s just say I spent all weekend trying to get Brenda to back out of this race. I was SO over it from the moment I woke up Saturday from not getting enough sleep. By the time I knew I was only getting 4 hours of sleep before the race as well, I wanted to scream. I woke up Sunday pretty miserable but sucked it up of course. We had no time for coffee but it ended up being fine somehow. We parked a few blocks from the start and met up with our friend Adrienne who we ended up running with the whole time which was such a life saver. Having the added motivation and person to talk to really helped us and it went a lot smoother than I thought it would. The hills from last year seemed like nothing this year, but by the time we got to mile 10 we had only stopped once and Brenda and Adrienne were ready to kick it into gear. Unfortunately, this is always where I fall short. I am TERRIBLE at picking it up for the end of a race. In spin class, hell yeah I can find that energy and bring it home- probably because that’s what I get paid to do. But in a race, I’m terrible. Once we passed mile 11 I was really lagging behind them, so I told them to go because Brenda had a HUGE PR if she kept up with Adrienne. I felt so terrible that last mile and a half, but instead of walking I just slowed down a ton and this guy and I fed off each other to push one another to the finish. I wish I got his name because he really saved me and I think I did the same for him! Once I saw my brother and John at the finish, I booked it and ended up finishing in 2:22:31, only a minute off my PR!! And Brenda? She finished in 2:19, giving her an 11 MINUTE PR FROM LAST YEAR! I am so, so, SO proud of her!!

 

The exhaustion hit me like a ton of bricks after this one from the lack of sleep for multiple nights before, and the culmination of all the emotions you go through during a big life change. Drew and John took me to Friendly’s (I have been craving this for literally 4 years) so I could eat every single thing I wanted to at that moment: french toast, french fries with honey mustard, runny eggs and bacon.

 

Luckily post-race I am too sick to eat much so I just had a few bites of each thing and was good to go. Except for the fries… those I dominated. Drew and John had banana fosters pancakes while laughing about how stupid it is to run a half marathon. LOL love my support team 😉

Enter in a nap followed by a little more food that my stomach wasn’t accepting. Long bus ride home with terrible anxiety (does anyone else ever have anxiety after a long workout? Sometimes a lot of cardio does that to me but I also turn into a baby when I’m overtired) and having to wake up 4 hours after I got in to teach spin. I came right back to my apartment and crashed for the day. Felt reeeeal good.

What’s your favorite race you have participated in? Any repeated ones?

New Beginnings

I’m alive! I feel so bad that I haven’t been able to update like, ever, lately- for those of you who leave the sweetest comments telling me that you really love to read my blog, I’m really sorry that it’s been so few and far between lately. I hope to get back on some type of regular schedule with blogging soon since I have some fabulous news to share.

If you know me in real life then you know I have been very unhappy in my job for a long time now. If you are a smart cookie, you could probably read between the lines of a lot of my blog posts talking about how stressed and unhappy I’ve been over the last couple of years. Not just at work, but family issues as well have caused the last 2.5 years to be nothing short of miserable- with of course some AMAZING things that happened during, as well. I kid you not, there have been more moments where I have wanted to give up than to carry on. Moments turned into weeks of feeling desperate, hopeless and completely defeated. A year and a half ago I went on a low dose of Welbutrin to help with my anxiety and depression and it has definitely helped a ton. My circumstances actually got worse since I’ve been on the medicine, but taking it along with beginning to teach spin has helped me see and manage everything in a new light.

Back in March I decided it was time to work hard at finding a new job. I still have no clue exactly what it is I want to do but one thing I do know is that I am ready to be done with retail and the luxury fashion world. Yes, you need to be thick skinned to handle it. Have I developed a thicker skin than when I started in December 2011? You bet I have. But at what cost? I have turned into a miserable, bitter, actually bitchy person. Mean to strangers, NO patience whatsoever for anything or anyone- all characteristics I didn’t posses before this job. Except for the patience part… when I started I had a smidgen of patience, now it’s below 0. I started to work with recruiters and went on lots of interviews and got my hopes up about a few that didn’t end up working out. Finally after 2 great interviews and a long weekend of waiting and praying and hoping, I got the call last Monday that I was being offered a job that has a lot to promise. Better hours, better pay, better benefits and most of all; better quality of life. It’s going to give me the chance to teach more classes, and have a clearer head to figure out the path I want to go in. I truly can’t even think straight once I leave work and head right to bed the minute I get home, leaving me in a cycle of nothing but work and sleep. I HATE it and have hated every minute of it. Since I gave my 2 weeks notice last week, I have felt nothing but extreme relief and not an ounce of doubt. Even better, I was off for a week that I had already planned so my stress level is so far below what it has been for years that I am feeling like a brand new person. I am excited for my next chapter and more than anything I am SO READY for it!! 🙂

Things I cannot wait for with this new chapter:

• Being able to wear nail polish again. Yep, haven’t been able to. MANICURES EVERY NIGHT, YA’LL!
• Wearing normal clothes again. Looking fashionable. Do you know how terrible it’s been to my style to have to wear the ugliest uniform of all time for a fashion company?! It doesn’t even make sense! I’ve already spent too much money on new clothes and I don’t even care. J-Crew Factory until I’m broke. Oops, already happened.
• Teach more night classes/sub them. I can never do them because I work until 7 or later… not no mo!
• Take classes at night since I teach 3 mornings a week! HELLO, STRENGTH TRAINING!
• WEEKENDS OFF. WHAT.
• I will be doing long runs on Saturdays now, followed by spending the rest of the day out on the beach, sleeping in a bit on Sundays and then teaching my Sunday morning spin class. Heaven?
• Stability.

So ready to embrace this next new chapter. I promise to you, my amazing readers, that I will post at least a couple of times a week again. And I am 99.9% sure they will be about me being a happy person again. 🙂

(I will have an awesome re-cap of my weekend upstate with my family and friends, and running the Binghamton 1/2 marathon tomorrow! Sneak peak: I was only 1 minute off my PR and my best friend Brenda had an 11 minute PR!)

Have you ever had a big career change? For the better or worse?

What are the “perks” of your job? I truly consider being able to be your unique self and wear your own clothing to be at the top! I feel like I can be so much more productive when I’m happy and comfortable and feel good!

Vacation. Need.

Warning: random blabberings ahead. Only way to describe my need for a vacation is just, NEED. This week did me in on all fronts and I am beyond exhausted. I was expecting some good news on Friday and when it got postponed, I had a breakdown. A private one, until I texted my brother who always makes me laugh hysterically. Not only did he make me crack up, but he also Venmo’d me a very specific amount of money to get some froyo to make me feel better. 

So sweet, right? It cheered me up a ton but on my way to Orange Leaf, I got sucked into Pinkberry. The horror. I haven’t had Pinkberry since I first moved to NYC over 3 years ago, because it just wasn’t close to as good as the others and not to mention it’s not self-serve. This was a new location and the signs for the chocolate chip cookie drew me in. I planned to just get a taste but the flavor was SO good. I may have to incorporate them back into my froyo rotation.

Waffle cookie, cookie dough, almond roca (DELICIOUS), coconut flakes and thin mint crushed cookies made this the best bowl of froyo of my week. I’m such a fro-hoe.

ANYWAYS- about those vacations I need. This is the best year ever because I am going to Costa Rica in August and Mexico in November and neither trip cost me an ounce of debt because I had saved up for them both. But I started thinking that I really needed to get away before August. Like, REALLY NEED TO. I want to rip my hair out on a daily basis thanks to stress and since it doesn’t seem to be getting warm here anytime soon for me to take a quick hour trip to the beach, I started to do some research. Every year at the end of May, there is a conference held for Spinning in Miami, the WSSC Conference where you can earn the points needed to keep you a certified Spin instructor. I started thinking that hey, Brenda and I could go down for 1 day of the conference and then stay another day for the beach and maybe we both wouldn’t go completely crazy in the next few weeks? She agreed, and my co-worker/friend Sharde also decided that she will tag along, but without the spin part. So, a mini girls vacation in a manageable distance of time was born.

Those are the classes that Brenda and I are signed up to do at the conference. I am looking so forward to learning how to become a better instructor! Equally as excited to lay on the beach and finally see Miami! What am I not looking forward to? Flying. I haven’t flown in 5 years and I am PETRIFIED to say the least. Any tips or fellow scaredy cats out there? I’m gonna need some Xanax.

Just to prove that I still do eat my veggies, I have to share with you the salad that I am completely obsessed with that I need to recreate on my own because I can’t keep spending $13 on lunch every day.

Chop’t is officially the best salad joint in the city. Expensive as hell, yes, but the salads are gigantic and the mixes are the bomb. I get the cobb with grilled chicken, chopped up bacon, avocado, blue cheese, tomatoes, romaine, red onion and I sub the hard boiled egg for roasted broccoli. They give you a couple of thin pieces of flabread and I get the tex-mex ranch dressing on the side to dip. The way they chop it all up together (hence the name) makes every bite so flavorful!

I have been so great about mindful eating the last few months, but I definitely let it slip a little this week and honestly? It’s okay! This will happen. The thing I feel the best about is that it isn’t making me frantically open up the MyFitnessPal app and start obsessively counting calories again. I actually don’t think I ever even did a post on how I stopped because I didn’t want to jinx myself, haha. I used it for 4 years and would recommend it to ANYONE to assist in your weight loss journey, or even weight gain if that’s what your goal is. But I needed to know that I could maintain my weight on my own and start to build a better relationship with food, and I did it. And of course there is going to be setbacks here and there because this is it. For life. I’m in it forever, and that means failures. I’m dragging my tired ass to Trader Joe’s after work tonight to get some healthies for the next few days until I go out of town to Binghamton. And then after my half marathon next weekend, I am going to eat either a burger or chicken wings and then die. And then come back to vegetables. Sounds good. Give me a week.

Other random things? I haven’t strength trained since January and my glutes and hip are suffering. I also run once a week if that and I really miss it. Teaching spin 4 early mornings a week (and then going into work until 7 PM or later) is making running next to impossible to fit in, but at least it’s so much fun to teach. I do miss the serenity that a lone morning run brings you. If only there were more hours in a day. Once I get my life figured out here (hopefully THIS WEEK) I will have to make more of an effort to strength train though before I need a hip replacement before I’m 30.

What was your last vacation? I haven’t taken an actual vacation in almost 4 years!

Ever been to Miami?

Are you scared of flying?

Food, Sun, Best Friend & A Celebrity = Great Weekend

Is the title of my post not extremely obnoxious? I never claimed to be creative, ya’ll. I’m so sorry with how MIA I have been lately but I am hoping for a very positive shift in a big area of my life where I will be a whole lot less stressed, and therefore have the energy to do anything other than just drop into bed fully clothed and fall asleep at 8:30 PM. That has been happening almost every night for the last few weeks. Long story short: I miss writing! So I apologize for the abundance of pictures coming your way, but last weekend was nothing short of amazing so I want to share 🙂

First off- the amazing weather that we’ve had for not even a full week yet. I celebrated one day last week by wearing my new J Crew shorts that I scored for $22 through their factory website, and these great gladiator sandals from Forever 21. Be proud of my artistic angle. This was the same week that it also snowed. WTF.

 

I also need to spread this PSA and say that if you hate low-rise jeans and don’t wear anything other than workout clothes because of it, try Express jeans. They have the perfect amount of stretch that let you breathe but don’t make you look like you are wearing denim leggings or “jeggings”- that word alone terrifies me. The anchor printed shirt is also from Express and I have been living in it.

Okay, not to food. John and I had a little Friday night date at 5 Napkin Burger and it ended in a huge dessert that we actually could both eat. Waffles, ice cream, raspberry sorbet and whipped cream. I ate half of the waffles and all of the sorbet while trying to not eat the whipped cream but of course I did.

Saturday morning I taught Spin then enjoyed the absolutely gorgeous day with Brenda. We walked around all day (probably close to 6 miles) and carbloaded. We got froyo, then lunch (omelettes and french fries, that’s how we rollll) and while we were sitting at the diner Brenda saw Elijah from Girls walk by to the deli next door and pick out flowers. We hadn’t paid yet so we rushed to the counter to pay while I stalked the front so as to not let him get away. When he exited the deli, I bolted at him like a complete freak and literally scared him. He was physically trying to get away from me when I approached him yelling “OMG YOU’RE THAT GUY FROM GIRLS!!” because I could not remember his characters name for the life of me. He laughed, still trying to walk away, while I asked him for a picture and admitted that Brenda and I had been stalking him. I literally screamed into the entrance of the diner “BRENDAAAAAA!!!” and she came running out. It resulted in a very awkward/terrible selfie that Brenda made me crop her out of, but I left her cheek in it.

It’s been awhile since I saw a celeb so I was pretty stoked. Looooove my NYC!

We decided to actually be fun for once and went out with my co-workers for a drink, and then of course landed at Lombardi’s since we were in SoHo and hadn’t eaten dinner yet. Awesome friends, awesome pizza, awesome way to end a carbload.

After a late night out, waking up early to run and teach wasn’t easy but it ended up feeling so great. I dressed like an easter egg for our easter run of 7 miles through the park.

Such a dork. Followed by teaching THE BEST spin class I have taught so far. The energy was incredible, everyone was working hard, having so much fun and singing along. We all sweat some serious buckets and I’m still riding that high days later. Have I mentioned how much I love teaching?! 🙂

How was your Easter weekend?

More/Fitness Half Marathon

Half Marathon #5 was completed this past Sunday with my best friend Brenda. Truthfully, it was the worst race I can ever remember running. It was unexpectedly hot and we were dehydrated and completely over it from the start. We finished 4 minutes slower than our first half together last year (and 12 minutes slower than my PR), but this one included multiple walk breaks and about a 5 minute stop at the port-a-potties at mile 5, so we are still in much better shape than last year! At the end of the day, all that really matters is that we got out there and did what we could and we did it together which was automatically a blast.

Before the race started

Stuffed our faces afterwards at brunch with my new post-race ritual of chocolate chip pancakes, eggs and turkey sausage.

Followed by a pedicure that John treated me to. BEST IDEA EVER to get one after a half! The leg massage was so great. I broke my right big toe in half during this race along with worsening the permanent blister below my 2nd toe on the right side, too. It was a pretty painful pedicure to say the least. 

I taught spin Monday morning with SO much less soreness than last month’s half! I ended up finishing last weeks training with 99 miles total of running and cycling. Insanity.

My brother came to visit Monday night and stayed with us all day yesterday and John was also off of work from the day. We had a blast. Drew came to my spin class with me Tuesday morning and KILLED it! It was his first spin class ever and of course he beat me in mileage. Boys. Then we went to brunch with John, went back home and laid in my bed all day watching TV and napping. Dinner was Domino’s and POPEYES FRIED CHICKEN because we were just in need of a fat day. We ate super early and took another nap, so on the way to the bus station at 10 PM we stopped for froyo at Orange Leaf where they were selling froyo for $4.15 regardless of the weight of the cup for tax day. We ball hard. 

It was a super fun few days and I’m paying for it today in exhaustion and bloat 😉

Did any of you guys run the More/Fitness half last weekend? What did you think if you did or did it in the past? I just can’t pay $80 to run in Central Park again. Not when I run it for free and not when the swag bag is absolutely terrible!