Category Archives: walking

June 8, 2012

Lake Placid Trip Day One: Food, Views, and Triathletes

I’ve arrived in Lake Placid for the Lake Placid Half Marathon! This is officially a father-daughter bonding trip that me and my dad are taking together, including the 5 hour drive it took us to get up here. Luckily, NO traffic! On the drive up the scenery was incredible. There were so many trees and open space that this NYer seriously appreciates.

The town of Lake Placid itself is cute and quaint with a bunch of mom-and-pop type stores. Its also right on Mirror Lake, which is gorgeous and makes for some incredible views. When we got here we noticed there were a ton of cyclists riding around the town and found out that there is a bike festival going on this weekend, as well as bike races the following two weekends and an Ironman Triathalon in July. Plus the marathon and half marathon on Sunday. Its a very outdoorsy town.. I love it!

So we were starving by the time we arrived so we checked into the hotel (which is awesome by the way), freshened up, and headed out for lunch… with a view! The restaurant was called the Cottage.

Our lunch with a view restaurant!

Mirror Lake and the Adirondacks from our table.

And I had to get one with dad! He’s such a great dad, I’m so lucky :)

Father-daughter bonding.

After lunch we walked around the town (basically up and down Main Street) and checked out some of the local stores. There was a ton of hockey memorabilia, especially from the 1980 Miracle on Ice team.

In the stores there were some seriously random, but cool items. I love shopping around places like this, its so unique. Here’s some of my favorite finds…

Hand blown glass! So beautiful.

Moose hat!!! There are moose toys everywhere in the stores here. Its their signature animal.

I also had read about this awesome ice cream shop nearby called Emma’s Lake Placid Creamery and of course had to get a treat :) I’m on vacation and that means its allowed. Plus I couldn’t finish the whole milkshake anyway, it was huge!

Black and White milkshake with a moose cookie (saved for another day)

After our walk around the town we decided to drive on over to see Whiteface mountain. Even though I’m a skier, I have yet to ski here unfortunately. After seeing it, I’ve decided I HAVE to ski on it. Its the biggest mountain I’ve ever seen and taller than Killington. Honestly the pictures don’t do it justice in terms of how massive it is. I need to conquer it.

Winter 2012-2013: I’m coming for you Whiteface!

There is a “highway” you can take to the top of Whiteface and see the views. My dad and I tried to do this but it was already closed for the day. BOO! We were both disappointed but are going to try to check it out tomorrow. I want to see what it looks like at the top to prepare for my domination of this mountain in the winter (Domination.. ha.. I’ll probably end up falling all over the mountain).

Afterwards we headed to dinner at a great place off Main Street called Pan Dolce. Seriously, this place is the bomb. And I haven’t used that phrase since about the 5th grade so you know I’m serious about this. If you ever got to Lake Placid, head here.

I started with the French onion soup. Yum! For my entree I got a gourmet peppercorn burger with avocado, tomato, blue cheese dressing, smoked apple bacon, and homemade bread. I also asked for it cooked medium and they actually cooked it medium!! Places usually overcook my burgers–pet peeve!

Huge burger, couldn’t finish this either. But it was delish!

For dessert my dad and I split a chocolate fountain cake thing. Not sure of the name but it was really good. Neither of us could finish it though, it was so dense. I’m a sucker for choco!

After dinner we headed back to the hotel and watched some TV before I decided I wanted to go for a swim in the pool. Its such a nice pool area and its indoors (yay!), I was so happy to be floating in the water and swimming around like a little kid. I love being buoyant!

The pool!

Post-pool… repping Brooklyn in Lake Placid!

That’s basically day one of Lake Placid! Race packet pick up is tomorrow and we are going on a tour of the Olympic center, then hopefully to the top of Whiteface. More pictures to come :)

Who is running races this weekend? Tell me about em!
Have you ever been to upstate NY?

28 Comments

Filed under food, half marathon, restaurants, shopping, vacation, walking

Tagged as , , , , ,

April 25, 2012

Gait Analysis, New Shoes, and a Lunch Date

Today’s Workout: 45 minute elliptical, yoga video, stretching

Since I had no grad classes today I decided get some long over-due errands out of the way. First I decided to treat myself to a real breakfast instead of my usual Clif bar. So I made an egg and 2 eggwhites on a veggie protein link and toast. I also had a banana with some honey. All on a Mickey Mouse plate. I’m so classy.

Nice way to start the day.

Today I also wanted to prepare for my return to running next week. So I headed up to my favorite neighborhood: the Upper East Side, where I will hopefully live in the near future. I made a quick stop at the Lululemon store on 65th and 3rd to return a skirt and then headed to the Running Company on 63rd.

Running Company storefront

If you haven’t been to the Running Company, its a great store for all your needs.. from clothes to shoes to energy gels. What I went there for specifically was the gait analysis. I really want to make sure I have the absolute best shoes when I start running again. I’m not sure if my Asics contributed to the ITBS or not, but I’m not taking any chances.

When you get a gait analysis what happens is this: you put on a pair of lightweight shoes (so they can see how you naturally run) and run for 20-30 seconds on the treadmill at your own pace… while they simultaneously videotape your legs and feet. The only thing I was thinking though was, “Is this technician guy looking at my butt?”

After you get off, the technician analyzes your foot strike, pronation/supination, and your body’s natural biomechanics. Also, its really cool to see on the TV screen what your legs do in slow motion! My calves also looked more muscular on the screen than I thought they did. Oh, the things you learn during a gait analysis.

Anyway, the technician figured out that I pronate a little bit and that I need a shoe with support. I had a row of shoes to choose from and ended up trying on a few. Ultimately, I went with the Brooks Adrenaline GTS 12 and I think they feel great so far. But I’ll have to try them out when I run a normal distance to be sure. I’ll review them when I do. Anyone else wear these and like/dislike them?

Look at these beauties.

When I left the store, I spotted David’s Tea shop across the street and had to stop in. The first time I had David’s Tea was in England with my sister. I fell in love with it instantly and when I came back home I had to find it again. Unfortunately its a Canadian-based company and I had to order it online. Let’s just say I bought enough tea for about a year just so I could get the free shipping to the US (or else it was $20!). We have a whole shelf in the pantry for all my tea.

A few months later though I happily found out they just opened two stores in the city: here and here. This was my first time going in and its ADORABLE! They give out a free samples of tea and there are loose leaf teas in cute containers all over. Love it! I got a few sample sizes to try and some filters because I hate having to clean the steeper thing.

David's Tea.If you like tea, you should stop in there.

After I picked up my new kicks and some tea, I realized two things. One, I was hungry.. as usual. And two, I should visit Karl since I was near his job. So to satisfy both of these, we decided to meet up for lunch. I was tempted to wait on the block-long line for the Korilla truck because I’ve been wanting it ever since they were on the Food Network. But ultimately we decided against it (Karl had to get back to work) and headed to Financier for some yummy sandwiches. We shared the L’Italien and the Le Perigord (in normal people language: a fresh mozz/prosciutto pressed sandwich and a truffle chicken salad sandwich). They were amazing, just the kind of lunch I needed.

That's the L'Italien sandwich. Mean and cheese... heaven.

And since their desserts are what they are famous for, of course I had to get one. Look at these options!

I went with the chocolate/espresso tart towards the middle-left that looks like a dome. It was incredible.

Karl tried to sneak a bite. I let him have one.. this time!

Karl had to go to make some money so I headed home to work off that dessert. I spent some time on the dreaded elliptical, did a yoga video to stretch out, and did lots of foam rolling. But my new Brooks were just sitting in that box waiting to be tested out. New shoe smell and all. It took all of my strength to resist the urge to run in them. Honestly, there’s nothing like a new pair of shoes.

PS. Today was the lottery drawing and opening day for the NYC Marathon. Congrats to all those who got in!
PPS. There’s a great giveaway going on right now at Running Diva Mom! Check it out!

What are your favorite pair of running shoes and why?
Have you ever had a gait analysis?
What did you have for lunch today?

15 Comments

Filed under City life, clothing, food, shopping, walking

Tagged as , , , ,

April 15, 2012

Getting Some Vitamin D

Today I didn’t have a major workout, just some stretching and light strengthening exercises. Since it was around 70 degrees in NYC, I decided to make it a rest day and get my pale self outside. I need some Vitamin D… stat! Karl and I took a nice long walk around the neighborhood and went to the park to read. Even though I planned to swim today, one thing led to another and that never happened. So I’m counting the long walk and the stretching as my exercise for the day.

Our first stop was Starbucks in DUMBO. While I usually never drink coffee, I don’t consider a Mocha Light Frappuccino actual “coffee”. Its more like a milkshake, which suits me just fine. Plus, I had a gift card so my frappuccino and Karl’s iced tea thing were free. I love when things are free. Sweet!

 Nice cold drinks on a warm-ish day. Aren’t we cute?!

We scarfed those babies down on our way to the Empire Fulton Ferry Park at the Brooklyn Bridge Park, which was recently updated and is beautiful. The park is right in between the Manhattan and Brooklyn bridges. So you can imagine that the views of the bridges and the city skyline are amazing. People are always taking wedding pictures down there or shooting TV shows. Pretty cool stuff. They even restored a 1922 carousel and brought it back to the park for people to ride. We saw a bride and groom taking a ride on it. So adorable!

 
Jane’s Carousel
 
How gorgeous! And I clearly don’t mean me. Blah my hair is a mess.

 Afterwards we walked over to Pier 1 (Brooklyn Bridge Park) and sat on the lawn there to read. I was secretly jealous of all the happy runners I saw running loops around the park. Actually, I wasn’t so secret about it and kept complaining to Karl how much I wish I could run today. He kept trying to cheer me up but eventually he kind of gave up. I think I just needed to sulk about it. But I got it out of my system and I’ve moved on. Sort of.

So since I am injured I lazily laid there and read the Hunger Games, even though I just saw the movie recently (Nothing beats reading the actual books in my opinion!). This laying and reading thing would have been incredibly peaceful if it weren’t for all the gross flies hovering above me. Karl says flies like the color yellow, which was ironically the color of my shirt. I don’t think I believe that, but I buttoned up my sweater to hide my yellow shirt to test the theory. Didn’t work.

 
What you can’t see are all the flies above me… yuck.

 Eventually the flies creeped us out so much that we decided to do some exploring and find food. I am always ready for food. I’ve been wanting to try out a restaurant in Brooklyn Heights called Siggy’s Good Food. The chef was on Chopped on the Food Network once and I’ve heard good things about this place from other Brooklyn-ites. Its organic, healthier food so of course I had to sort of talk Karl into it. I’m glad I did because the food was great (and he agreed)! I had the 3 bean butternut squash soup with carrot-apple juice to start. The free bread was also pretty awesome.

Fresh, homemade soup.

 After I cleaned the bowl, of course, we had our main dishes. Karl had a beef burger and I had the organic chicken cutlet hero. Both were fantastic. Plus, I’m not sure what is in the ‘vegan mayo’ that was on my sandwich but it tasted really good. Just like regular mayo but better. Definitely recommended!

 
 Now, its time for movies with Karl for our date night after a really nice afternoon. The only thing that would have made it better would have been a long run… 2 weeks and counting!

What are your weekend plans?
Did you eat at any new restaurants lately? Any cool new dishes?
 If you live in NYC, did you take advantage of the nice weather today?

7 Comments

Filed under City life, food, walking