Category Archives: summer running

April 24, 2013

The blog is BACK & lots of updates

Did you miss me?! I know, I know.. I’ve been a bad blogger. But there’s a GOOD reason for it. It’s official, Run Like a Grl is now self-hosted (looong over-due). Of course, I am pathetic with technology so I had lots and lots of help from the lovely Becca (who I get to meet next week at the Nike Half!). Because of the transfer, I couldn’t post until it was complete. Hence, the blog silence.

I am trying to get all my subscribers transferred over from my old page, but just in case, you can always go to the sidebar and re-follow my blog so you get my posts by email. OR you can follow through bloglovin‘. Thanks, loves!

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Now for all the updates. So what exactly have I been doing in the past two weeks? Well, here’s the short version:

1. I cried, wore my race shirt, and ran for Boston. The events in Boston upset me more than I can put into words and I have been struggling to recover, despite not even being there. But I had friends there. Other runners were there. And when you attack one of us, you attack us all. I will be running in blue and yellow this weekend in the memory of those affected, and hope many others runners do the same.

Race shirt to work for Boston.

Race shirt to work for Boston.

2. I started my new job! This is the third week of my new job, and first one as a licensed occupational therapist. I am absolutely loving it so far and am happy to be treating patients again after time off to take my exam.

3. I went hiking at Bear Mountain in upstate NY. Karl and I took a day trip to Bear Mountain and went on a really challenging trail to test out our Merrell hiking shoes.

Bear Mountain hiking

Bear Mountain hiking

First, the shoes are AMAZING (mine have Vibram soles). Second, it was an amazing workout I was seriously sweating even though it was a chilly day. Plus, its fun and I didn’t fall once. Score!

Making our way up..

Making our way up..

My artistic photo of Karl through the trees.

My artistic photo of Karl through the trees.

4. I will be teaming up with Reebok to run the Spartan Race on June 2nd in Tuxedo, NY with a group of awesome Fitfluential Ambassadors. I am so lucky to be able to do this and recently got a bunch of awesome gear from Reebok. I’ll be sharing them with you, but this weekend I tried out the Reebok Sublite Duo shoes and loved them! I only did some walking in them, but they have a roomy toe-box and good support. Oh and the color is an obvious love of mine..

Reebok kicks.

Reebok kicks. Sublite Duo’s.

The Sublite Duo is made of a lightweight, dual-density foam technology which allows it to be super light but also supportive. As someone who gets occasional plantar faciitis and ITBS, I need some arch support in my shoes and these feel great in terms of that. I also like that the midsole has a softer density directly under the call of the foot. They also don’t need any breaking in which = love.

5. I signed up for the JP Morgan Corporate Challenge 3.5 mile race in June with my new company. I have always wanted to run this race so I signed up as soon as I found out I could. Can’t wait to run with my new coworkers!

6. I went to Smorgasborg in DUMBO, Brooklyn and enjoyed lots of delicious schnitzel and large donuts from Dough.

Sitting in the park after chowing down on deliciousness

Sitting in the park after chowing down on deliciousness

7. I’ve been running a lot, and feeling pretty good while doing it. Most recently I ran my last long run before the half at 10 miles across the bridges and the West Side. I’ll admit I have some lingering pain below my knee but I’m still hoping it goes away with more strength training. Its not awful though, so crossing my fingers it just disappears and I never have to worry about it again. Hey, it could happen!

The view from my recent run.

The view from my recent run.

8. I ate free Pinkberry every Wednesday this month. Pinkberry had a promotion this month for their new Greek frozen yogurt and has been giving away free cups every Wednesday in April between 11am-2pm. So needless to say I got on line early to get my froyo on.

9. I got lots of goodies from the amazing people at Vega and got to try out some amazing products from their Sport Edition. I especially love the cookie dough protein bar.. its de-licious and full of protein for post-run. If you haven’t check out the free Thrive Forward Sport Edition program (especially all you health-conscious runners out there) for lots of tips and recipes!

Vega goodies!

Vega goodies!

10. I’ll be running a half marathon on Sunday. Anyone else running the Nike DC Half?!

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Whew, that was a lot of info to update you all on. Now tell me what you’ve been up to, I missed you all!

PS. stay tuned for quite a few giveaways. They got backed up because of the transfer but soon to come!

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Filed under blogging, City life, FitFluential, food, half marathon, hiking, product review, summer running, Thrive Forward

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April 9, 2013

Is it summer yet & Thrive Forward Sport Edition

Today’s Workout: AM lifting/strength and PM yoga@ Om Factory

So it was 80 degrees today in NYC.. did we completely miss spring or something? Even though today was nice, I do like spring and a small part of me is happy it will be getting a little cooler this weekend. I plan on going hiking in my brand new hiking shoes that Karl and I bought on impulse. Now we have to make sure we use them because they aren’t cheap. That being said, I did enjoy sitting and eating lunch while looking at the flowers planted by the city of NY in 80 degrees today.

Flowers in Herald Square

Flowers in Herald Square

Unfortunately, this beautiful weather got me thinking about the summer, wearing bikinis, and also about starting training for my first marathon. So yeah, I sort of panicked because I can’t believe its already this warm out and I’m just not ready for it. Especially for the marathon training. I want to do it right and I want to do it healthy most importantly, from the inside out. Which means no beer…

beer

But no, even though it sounds delicious, I will not have beer. Not only does it add to the waistline which is the opposite of what I’m trying to do, but I also have upcoming races this year that I want to be tip-top for.

This is where the new Vega Thrive Forward Sport Edition program is coming in for me. You may have read my review in the past of the original Vega Thrive Forward Program created by Brendan Braizer and remember how much I love it. Now, they have introduced a brand new part of the program focused on sports nutrition to pair with their Vega Sport line.. um, can you say amazing?! How many runners (including me) have wondered how to eat more plant-based but still have energy they need? This will give you the answers… for free.

http://www.powercakes.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/Screen-shot-2012-12-28-at-12_57_43-PM_thumb.png

I’ll be talking more about the program the more I, myself, go through it but it includes:

Clean Sport Nutrition: Protein, Recovery, Training
Endurance Training
Strength Training
Functional Strength

Just like the original, you get videos, recipes, tips, and a TON of information that’s going to help me meet my running goals while still eating clean and mostly plant-based.

Here’s one video about endurance training sources for athletes:


My pre-summer goal is to incorporate as much of this program as I can as often as I can. For the original Thrive Forward, I printed out and made a binder of recipes and important information that I learned. I plan on doing the same with the Sport Edition, but making it a priority since I am so active and have a marathon (whattt?!) coming up. I NEED to put better food in my body!

Brendan Braizer

Brendan Braizer

If you already signed up for Thrive Forward (again, its FREE), the Sport Edition information/resources should be in your account already at the bottom. If you haven’t signed up, you can do it now here. You also have the chance to win some awesome prizes from Vega (like whole tubs of their protein powder) by participating and sharing information. You just can’t lose, seriously!

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Has it been warm weather where you are?
Are you ready for the summer? How will you make sure you are?

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Filed under product review, summer running, Thrive Forward, videos

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September 6, 2012

I’m in Love with Vermont: Vacation Recap Days 3&4

On Monday morning I woke up for my planned 9 mile run. I don’t know why, but I was pretty nervous about this one. Its the longest mileage I’ve run in a while since coming back from my injury and I’m always afraid the familiar knee pain is going to kick in when I run longer distances. But with the perfect weather and the quiet roads, combined with some motivation from the awesome twitter-world, I convinced myself it would be fine.

I ran a route similar to the one I described yesterday, with lots of livestock, trees, and mountain views. Safe to say, it was MUCH nicer than my typical runs in Brooklyn with cars everywhere, stoplights, and mean people. I tried to avoid the super hilly roads, but up in Vermont its impossible to stay away from them all together. It was a perfect morning for a run and was so relaxing. Also my asthma stayed well under control (which it didn’t during my 5 mile run this morning.. ugh) and I ended up completing 9 miles with NO knee pain. Win!

So happy for a fun, successful, relaxing run!

Heck yeah for 9 miles! Not my fastest, but it was hilly :)

After my run, I threw on my Aspaeris compression shorts and had a nice breakfast filled with lots of carbs and protein (of course). By the way, these shorts are the best ever, they really work for recovery and make my legs happy. Plus I knew Karl and I had a bike ride planned for later so compression was 100% necessary. After a little bit of relaxing, we headed out with our bikes to meet up with Karl’s other aunt who lives near Burlington.

We rode along a dedicated bike path in Burlington which was incredible! I’m so jealous we don’t have anything like this near me. Its a lane completely for bikes (with some runners sprinkled in) and has great views of Lake Champlain. It was such a pleasant, fun ride. And it was flat, thankfully, since I had run all morning already!

There was even a bridge to ride over!

Lake Champlain from the bike path

Karl and I on the bike path lookout spot.

We ended up biking around 16 miles total, but stopped halfway in downtown Burlington by the pier for an early dinner. Its really nice in downtown with a marina, restaurants, and a gorgeous promenade. I’m convinced everyone there either rides their bikes, runs, eats healthy, and has dogs. Is there anything better?! I fell in love.

The promenade in downtown Burlington

Apparently in Vermont they also have a type of soft serve ice cream called creemee’s, with a maple flavored version. One word: addicting. If they had maple creemee’s near me, I’d probably eat it every single day. SO good its not even fair! We also stopped by one of the restaurants located right on the water and I had a salmon salad which hit the spot. Everything just tastes so fresh in VT and its not overpriced either like in NY.

Heaven. Maple flavored creeme.

Salmon salad. Imagine eating this with a view of Lake Champlain and the marina!

Afterwards we biked back along the pathway to Karl’s aunts house, where we hung out for the evening. And she gave us some amazing fresh vegetables from her garden. I’ve been eating tomatoes non-stop since I got back, they are so tasty. 10000 times better than from the supermarket.

The next morning we woke up and had a nice big breakfast before saying goodbye to everyone, including this cutie who I was so sad to leave… look at that face!!

Leo!

We also stopped by Shelburne Farms for some fresh bread and cheese to bring back with us before heading back to the Essex Ferry. VT has the BEST cheese and bread, its unreal. I stocked up and hope I never run out, there’s nothing like it. I wished I could have brought home more, but there wasn’t enough room in my insulated bag.

I was so sad to leave VT not only because it meant my trip was over (forcing me to snap back to reality) but also because I really, really love it up there. I think that’s where I’m meant to be eventually! Its so laid back and relaxing… totally me. Anyway, I’m planning on going back in the winter to ski at Stowe. It can’t come soon enough!

Did you go on any vacations or trips this summer?
Have you ever had a creemee?
Did you run this labor day weekend?

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Filed under cycling, summer running, vacation, weekend

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