January 2014 – Run To Munch

Tone It Up – An embarrassment to women

There, I said it! I’ve been biting my lip, biting my tongue, trying to hold back my true feelings. But I can’t hold it in anymore, I really can’t stand the Tone It Up girls. It’s okay if you still love them, we can still be friends, but I just can’t participate in any conversations regarding Katrina and the other.

First, I will admit, they are very successful, so they must be doing something right. Damn, If I could make money-making fitness videos on a beach, I would too! I wouldn’t look as good, but I would do it! Second, while I don’t like their workouts, I like how they’re basic enough to be welcoming to anyone at any fitness level. I can’t stand their protein powder or majority of their recipes, but that’s just personal taste and there’s many diets out there I’m not a fan of. That’s not what annoys me the most.

What really bothers me:

Dumb stereotypes… nothing perpetuates the assumption that fit, hot girls are dumb like these two. Just hearing their voices literally makes me cringe. I’ve tried their workouts, but I’ve never been able to get their a complete workout video without feeling like I just killed a few brain cells. I know they spend a lot of time on the beach, in the sun, doing these workouts, but I’m starting to wondering if all that sun killed some of their brain cells, or if they were born this way? Maybe, they’re really smart and this act is part of their brand that they sell to make money. Either way, selling yourself on being stupid and ditsy is not very respectable to me.

Average is perfection misinformation… I keep seeing comments how people love seeing average women on TV. They’re not average, they’re beyond and above average. Their full-time jobs is being a trainer. Your greatest asset as a trainer is your body, so of course it will be perfect. Yes we can be healthy and fit, but chances are of the “average” person ever resembling these two are slim without giving up something else in your own lives, like your own job. Second of all, being healthy is important but not everyone needs to look model tone it up stick thin. Personally, between their diet plans and the branding, I think most of this is just fueling more disordered eating.

Now that I got over my rant, I will move on. I know I’ll probably lose some followers (but worry not, I don’t have that many to begin with) but I just can’t stand the constant media I see on those two without over-sharing my opinions.

Kung Hei Fat Choy!

Two of my roommates are Chinese so we did some celebration! Sorta…

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We went to scope out the new Shake Shack in Harvard Square. Let me tell you something, that place was packed! Trying to get a seat after waiting way too long on that line is quite a challenge in being a dick to anyone who looks like they’re almost done eating. Basically, you watch everyone like a vulture hoping to grab the first chair that empties.

All of us double stacked our burger and split a shake because Friday is vegetarian day!

Even the cats participated! Well they got a bath so they could start the lunar new year all clean!

photo 3 (2) Their fur is now all soft and fluffy!

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Jack was like a king in his blankie this morning!

What are you up to this Friday? I’m packing for New Orleans after work!

#RnRNola Marathon – Thoughts and Expectations

In about 4 days I will once again toe that line. The line that starts the journey of 26.2 and beyond before it ends. Between the spring and the fall I’ve gotten very comfortable racing. My 50 miler training last year made it really easy to bang out a marathon and a 20 miler in one weekend. Okay, maybe not easy, but it got done with a sub 4 hour marathon. Winter training has been a brutal story this year. This will be my 3rd winter running and the coldest, iciest yet. To be honest, I don’t know what to expect in New Orleans, I know I’ll finish, but how the journey happens, I’ll have to wait until Sunday to find out.

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Advantages

This is a flat course which makes it easier than say a hilly course.
It’s going to be nice and warm, reaching up to the 70s
I ran four 20 milers in the past month
I’ve been having some killer tempo runs

Disadvantages –

It’s going to be nice and warm reaching into the 70s which might feel like 100 degrees for someone used to running in 20 degree weather. I’m hoping my treadmill runs at work where the gym is kept at 70 will prepare me for it.
Two of the four 20 milers were done 13 days before race day
I introduced biking into my training to further build up fatigue
Current forecast says thunderstorms – I’m really scared of lightening!
If it doesn’t rain, it will probably be humid
Since I took most of November and part of December off, my training has been less than 2 months

Basically, at the root of it all, I feel severely under trained for the distance at my targeted pace. I just don’t have enough long or medium long runs under my belt for this training cycle. Have I gotten faster? Yes, but can I hold my pace for my distance? Probably not. I’m targeting a 7:30 pace. However, due to the snow and ice on the roads, I haven’t really trained race pace on my long runs, leaving me a little nervous.

Why haven’t I switched distance?

I have flirted with the idea of running a half marathon to see what my fitness would be. I would love to PR; however, I booked this marathon a year in advance and most likely won’t be returning to New Orleans soon. I’m passively tying to collect all 50 states. I’m not a marathon maniac member (cause I don’t want to pay to join), but I like the idea of running this distance in every state. Besides, I got plenty more marathons in the Spring, so this can just be another training run!

Regardless, rain or shine, I really can’t wait to eat gumbo, crayfish, and jambalaya! Drooling just thinking about the food.

Have you ever been to New Orleans? Any suggestions?

Weekly Recap – 100 Miles of Sweat

Monday – 22.2 Miles
Since I missed my long run over the weekend, I had some catching up to do. 8:28 pace while I slipped and slid over the same 2 mile path over and over again.

Tuesday – 8 Miles, 15 miles biking on trainer
I tried to take it easy but ended up in the grey of 7:45 pace on incline 2. My spin class got canceled cause of the winter storm we had, so I biked 15 miles at 17MPH according to the Garmin. Who knows if that’s even true.

Wednesday – 10 Miles
Ran this in two parts, 8 miles at incline 3, 2 at incline 2. Average pace 8:05 per my notes but I forgot what each individual run was

photo 4 (3)

Thursday – 8 Miles
7:37 Pace during lunch. Tried harder but did not reach my 7:30 pace. Bad sleep, lots of coughing. Went to a 7:30PM spin class afterwork. Don’t know my distance for that.

Friday – 2 Miles
Just a little shake to break a sweat for 15 minutes or so at home.

Saturday – 20.25 Miles 8:12 Pace
Final long run before New Orleans.I was suppose to wake up at 4:30 AM to run a 50K at the Cape, but due to potential snowstorm we bailed and I slept in til the afternoon.

The weather warmed up a bit to 30s, but the wind, wind was brutal. I actually opened my door, got blasted with a gust of wind and went back and changed into my windbreaker. I hated the orange Boston jacket when I first got it, but after seeing the 2014 colors, I’m feeling better and better about my shade of orange.

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I held to 8 minute pace for 15 miles on a flat path were 24 MPH winds were against me half the time, but as I wrapping up into my 20 miler, getting the last miles done was painful.

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I was definitely dragging myself mentally and physically for the final 5K.

long run sat

Sunday – 15 Miles Trainer ride
Kicked of my taper week with just a short biking session

sunday bike

Actually I spent most of my day doing things like kitty salon for Jack Meower

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Total Mileage – 70 ran, 30 biked + 1 spin

Total Feeling – Pretty good! Wish I had 3 weekends all the time, I’d become a super athlete then.

New Orleans in 6 days! Are you running?

P.S. Don’t forget to enter my giveaway for a stylish hat just like mine.

QOTD – How did your workout week go?

#TurnItGreen – Repreve Hat Giveaway

Its another cold, snowy dreary winter day in Boston. We ended up not going to the Cape for the Fat Ass due to high chance of bad weather in a 4 hour round trip drive. If, I lived closer, I would have went, because it’s still one of the most beautiful and unique runs I’ve ever done, but for now I’ll have to wait until next year. Instead, I’m going to slip and slide around my neighborhood after posting my awesome new giveaway! And I won’t lie, I did enjoy sleeping in until 10AM vs. 4AM had we went!

You may remember my two posts regarding my favorite ways to #turnitgreen and Repreve and the awesome hat they mailed me. Well I got two hats and I was going to give one to Tony, but since he refuses to run outside when it’s below 50 degrees, I decided one of my awesome readers will give it more use. Although I personally think I look quite awesome commuting on the train in it as well.

a Rafflecopter giveaway
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And after entering my giveaway be sure to check out their contest for some cold hard cash!

REPREVE #TurnItGreen X Games contest:

Grand Prize: $5,000 cash

To celebrate the X Games, REPREVE invites participants to share how they “turn it green”, or how they live a more sustainable life by recycling or reusing materials, by sharing an image or video on Twitter, Instagram or Vine with the #TurnItGreen hashtag.

How to Enter

Once you share the image or video with the hashtag, you will be entered into a sweepstakes where five entries will be randomly selected as the Top Five. Those five will be voted on by visitors to Repreve[dot]com where the image or video with the most votes will win a $5,000 cash prize. The other four video entries will receive a REPREVE Jacket and a Go-Pro camera (retail valued at over $350).”

Friday Fab – Eating, Spinning, Juicing

It’s been one of the coldest weeks of winter this year, and yet, I’ve managed to do so much this week! Brownie points for staying active and social.

1. Went out to dinner on a triple date with some besties to Tornado – A swank little number that just opened up in Malden. They serve Asian inspired tapas. At first I was worried it would be like an overpriced Dim Sum, but it proved to be anything but.

We pretty much ordered everything off their menu to eat and drink

Time for Thyme Martini, oysters, quinoa salad, muscles, fried oysters, tuna poke

Tuna Ceviche, truffle fries, pork confetti, thai wings, duck, seafood pasta

and there was plenty more that was eaten before I remembered to photograph! Not a cheap meal, but quite a mouthgasmic experience.

2. Flywheel – A new spin studio called Fly Wheel opened up in Boston and I got to check it out with some yelpers.

They provide bike shoes and towels. What’s also really cool are performance metrics! I have to confess I’m not a big fan of spin. It’s hard and I feel like since I have nothing concrete to gauge my effort on, that I have nothing to track. This whole use level 10 effort vs 8 vs 3, makes no sense to me. I’m a CPA with a finance background, so numbers, those make sense. Perceived effort? Useless! Luckily, Flywheel is a leader in giving you performance metrics. You get Torq (which is your resistance), RPM, and a power meter! You can also login later and get more stats like Torq, Speed, Power, Distance and even Calories Burned. I love it, absolutely love how you can track the metrics.

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Love the bikes with the metrics! I did learn a lesson, shorts that are great for running, don’t work well in spin. Thank god the room was dark, cause I’m pretty sure the person behind me saw more than they cared to during position 3.

3. Fruitata – A juice bar (typed bra 4 times before I got it right) at the PRU!

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A few steps away from Fly Wheel is Fruitata, an organic Juice bar that opened up sometime in the summer. We sampled a few different ones as well. To pick my favorite, would be impossible since they’re all insanely good.

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I ended up with a Kirachi Kale (all juices are named after a city!) with a shot of hemp protein so some rebuilding.

4. Did you hear about this guy who tripped over a wire or something at the IRS and sued and won 862K. Keep in mind the IRS is funded by tax payers and the only true losers is each tax paying citizen. Also the guy was meeting with the IRS cause he owed over 60K in taxes that he should have paid. Scumbag what?

5. What’s better than a hot dog?

QOTD

Do you like spinning? Tell me about your favorite spin studio if you do?

Lets go run on a frozen beach!! and Weekly Recap

Cape Cod Frozen Fat Ass 50K/Half Ass 25K

If you’re close to the Cape (cod) and are not doing anything on Saturday, I highly recommend this trail race on Saturday. It’s free, has a 25K, or 50K official distance, but you could really run 5 miles, 10 miles, or 1 mile if you’re up to. Very informal with lots of tasty pot luck “fuel.” I did it last year and it was one of my favorite races.

Last week was very low mileage for me. I went to Brooklyn to visit my parents and with 10 + hours on the road, there went my free time for long runs. I would normally have done two a day, but I have some work things happening that just left me too busy, drained and exhausted to run twice a day. Don’t worry, I’ll make up for it this week.

Monday – Rest

Tuesday 8 Mile Run & 10 Mile Bike
Ran 8 miles during lunch. Really pushed it at incline 2 for a 7:24 pace. Wish I had a phone to capture the moment that I can do it if I try. After work I decided it’s about time that I set up my bike with it’s cadence reader and all that. I got to 10 miles at an average speed of 17.6 MPH. I was playing around with resistance while trying to keep my RPM at 90, which was way too hard. Got cranky but I’m moving on.

Wednesday – 8.5 Miles
Average pace was 7:24. The weather was so perfect that I had to go outside. It was partly sunny and in the 40s with no snow or ice on the ground. Something that’s rarer than rare this year. I thought I would take it easy, but I found in it to pick up the pace a bit for 7:20 pace for the first 8 miles. I really wish I had more time to run longer since I was feeling so great.

Thursday – 8 Miles
After a long cray cray day I come home with plans to hit the couch. Then I figure why not run/walk a little for 4 miles. Before I know it I’m running beyond my plan because I don’t want to interrupt my episode of Nashville!! I was pretty miserable for 20 minutes, but then I got completely into it that I finished with 8 miles at 7:45 pace. Goes to show that the hardest part is to start.

Friday – 6.2 Miles
I’ve been avoiding my incline 3 run all week. Brought my ipod so I could watch Scandal while on my runch. Ended up with an 8 minute pace. Key to dreadmills is a good distraction.

Saturday & Sunday – I wish driving counted as a workout

Total Miles – 30.5 Ran 10 Miles Biked

Feelings – Restless, but trying to relax. tomorrow is another day

QOTD

Do you use a trainer to bike on? Tell me about it! I find it so open ended! Maybe that’s why I like running and treadmill, your measurements are limited and simple to understand. You got speed, maybe some incline and that’s about it! Biking there’s gears, resistance, cadence, it’s like I need a degree before I feel comfortable that I’m doing something right.

How did you workouts go last week? Ran? Biked? Feel free to link up!

Do you watch Nashville? Can we all agree that Gunter and Scarlet should be together so they can write and sing pretty songs that I can run to? Mmmkay?

You can’t win if you don’t try

Run To Napa Contest When it comes to contests, I prefer the luck of the draw vs. popularity. I’m a small blogger in a big blogger world. That’s being said, nothing is won if you don’t try.

I entered a popularity contest that allows me and one of my readers to win a trip to Napa! Not only is that trip amazing, it’s on a weekend I can travel as well! I’ve never been to Napa and this would be truly amazing!

How you can help?

Go to this link – http://woobox.com/h3xho2/vote/for/1850738

You have to X out of my photo and then click “vote” over my photos.

You can vote DAILY and you can vote for more than one person! So help a gal out?! 😉

My 5 Favorite Ways to #TurnItGreen & REPREVE

Thanks to REPREVE for sponsoring today’s post!

Remember how I mentioned REPREVE a few weeks ago and all the cool things they’re doing, like my awesome hat made from plastic bottles?

Well I thought I would share some of my favorite ways of staying green! I don’t know about you, but reading about the glacier size plastic in our oceans, and all the drastic weather freaks me out. Besides yelling at anyone who throws out a plastic bottle, here’s my favorites of how I try to stay a little more green.

1. Recycling – That’s a given! It makes me feel good about myself and compared to trash pick up, it’s free in Malden. The U.S. plastic bottle recycling rate is less than 30 percent—so less than one-third of all plastic bottles get recycled.

2. Brita Filter + Soda Stream – Not only is my seltzer tastier but I don’t have to go through plastic bottles and cans. Also, since I have everything I need in my house to make seltzer, we no longer need to make trips to the store to buy some. Less driving, less gas!

3. Taking the train instead of driving – Cheaper, and better for the environment. Even though sometimes I really hate the train. Okay most of the times.

4. Runmute – Running instead of driving to work. Get to work, while getting your exercise in. With all the traffic, it takes just as long to run 8 miles as it does to drive!

5. Wearing REPREVE – Cute, WARM and made out of recycled bottles. REPREVE is what turns 6 recycled plastic bottles into a green beanie that keeps you warm and protects you in the winter weather. You can even wear your REPREVE while on your runmute!

http://www.runtomunch.com/wp-content/plugins/ultimate-tinymce/addons/media/moxieplayer.swf

REPREVE will also take recycling to new heights with a special green event at the 2014 Winter X Games Aspen (Jan. 23-26, 2014).

Professional snowboarder Elena Hight, REPREVE’s brand ambassador, will compete in the Women’s Superpipe in a bright green Volcom jacket made with REPREVE (from 50 recycled plastic bottles). REPREVE will also hand out free beanies (6 recycled plastic bottles) to fans at the Women’s Final Superpipe event, to wear and line the pipe with REPREVE green. So if you’re there, check it out!

REPREVE #TurnItGreen X Games contest:

Dates: Jan. 1-31
Grand Prize: $5,000 cash

How to Enter

How will you turn it green? I read this post about picking up some bottles on a runmute. I’m thinking of trying this out myself on my next one. Or maybe next time I’m on an easy run on a trail.

My new haircut – 5 Things Weekend

1. Remember when my hair used to be up to my waist?

Hair

Well it’s no longer attached to me head

Haircut

2. A visit to my parents came with an interesting alarm clock

Alarm

But that wasn’t enough to get me to go run outside with the freak snow storm that came around

3. My favorite meal of the weekend was my dinner at Bogota Latin Bistro

Bogota Latin Bistro Paella

Tony got Paella Bogota Latin Bistro Cat Fish

I got Jalapeno grilled cat fish. It was one of the best things I ate in a while.

4. Did you know that cough drops come with life advice now?

Advice from halls

5. During one of my many meals in my car (the drive from Boston to Brooklyn and back is a long way) I tried Fresh City as one of the road stops.

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I got the Thai Chicken Burrito Bowl. Aside from the disgusting blob of “peanut sauce” the rest of the dish was tolerable.

How was your weekend? Tell me one thing!

Fit Gear for the New Year – Koss Headphones Review

This post is sponsored by Koss and Fitfluential. All opinions are my own.

I haven’t had the greatest start to the new year. I got a sinus/ear infection. I lost my phone and I went through two pairs of headphones within a week. Luckily, Amazon has pretty good customer service, so I was able to get a refund, but I still had a problem. I had no headphones. For 4 out of the 6 days I run, I tend to be on a treadmill. If the weather is bad, the number could be 6 out of the 6 days. Treadmill running without headphones is like trying to cut something with a butter knife. Can you do it? Yea, but it’s so dull, why bother.

Luckily, I think things are turning around! I had a chance to try out some Koss Headphones! The people from Koss sent me two different styles, the fit buds and the fit clips. These headphones are designed by women, for women. Koss’s female designers teamed up with Gold Medalist Dana Torres to create them, with active women in mind. They come in fun colors and are reasonably priced.

Koss In Ear Blue

The Fit buds are 33% smaller than any earbud Koss has ever created. Both the buds and clips are sweat resistant and come in three different sizes of ear cushions included for the perfect fit.

To be honest, I couldn’t get the fit buds to fit into my ears perfectly. I have never been able to fit any type of earbud into my ear. I don’t think it’s them it’s me; because everyone else in my house loved the fit buds. Maybe my ears come from a special alien life force? They did work well enough on my bike trainer, but when I started running, my ears were just too small. Or I like to pretend I’m too fast for ear buds to keep up with me.

Ipad FItbuds

The fit clips; however, I’m obsessed with. After switching to the smallest ear cushion, they fit perfectly into my ear. They even block out some sound so I can focus on my teen dramas and need for speed instead of my own huffing and puffing of the treadmill clunking.

I even took them on my 20 miler to make sure I can wear them during RnR NOLA Marathon! They passed the test.

Ipod SUnday

Who needs a smartphone when you got an Ipod with a 2003 playlist?!

Besides the fit and lovely color, I noticed a few more differences between Koss and my other headphones (Phillips and Sony both around the same price range as these) that I used.

1. I don’t get static shock anymore. I’m not sure if that’s because they’re sweatproof, but my other 2 brands of headphones would static shock me once in a while just to trip me up. Or maybe it’s because I sweat like a beast. Hard running = hard sweating.

2. The wires seemed to be coated to last better. Since I run and hold my phone, I tend to twist the wires in all sorts of directions until the metal wires are poking and breaking through the casing. So far, the headphone wires seemed to be sturdier and holding up.

3. While they still seem to tangle up just like my others; the untangling process seems to be easier and faster then my old headphones. I think it has to do the with wire casing.

I’m officially converted to Koss. The headphones have been added to my nightly ritual where I pack a fresh set of running clothes, my Iphone (Ipod for now), socks and headphones to not forget anything the next morning.

bag check

You can purchase your own Koss Fit Series headphones at Best Buy, Wal-Mart, Walgreens, Kmart, and Sears for $29.99.

What’s your latest and greatest fit gear of 2014 so far? Koss Fit Clip headphones. I love the color and the fit.

What kinda headphones are you currently using? After having a Sony and Phillips (each about $20) break on me in one week, I’m using the Koss fit clips.