New Luna Protein Bar Flavors and planning my final long run

18. April 2014 · 1 comment · Categories: fuel, running, Uncategorized · Tags: , ,

T.G.I.F!

I was sent two new Luna Protein Bars to try. I’m not a big “bar” person. I probably haven’t tasted a Luna Bar in at least 3 years. But since they arrived at my doorstep I figured it was worth a review! (They were sent to me free of charge but all opinions are my own).

The new flavors are Lemon Vanilla and Chocolate Coconut Almond

Luna Protein Bars

Luna Protein Bars

They are gluten-free, but not soy-free. As a matter of fact soy is the main ingredient which is what makes them high in protein. So if you have soy intolerance these aren’t for you.

Let’s start with the Chocolate Coconut Almond stats:
180 calories • 7 grams of fat (4 of which are saturated due to palm kernel oil.
This is a negative in my book.) • 12 grams of protein • 21 grams of carbs • 12 grams of sugar •
3 grams of fiber • and 140 mg of sodium

photo 5

The texture is great….very much like a dense piece of fudge. I swear I felt like I was eating an Almond Joy! The flavor was spot on. I had one for breakfast and it kept me full for a while. Paired with my coffee…..delicious!

And the Lemon Vanilla stats:
170 calories • 4.5 grams of fat (3 of which are saturated due to palm kernel oil.
12 grams of protein • 21 grams of carbs • 15 grams of sugar •
3 grams of fiber • and 160 mg of sodium

photo 2

Texture was just as good here too. The outside coating was quite lemony and sweet but again, I enjoyed it. (Only took a bite of this one so far.)

So tomorrow’s my last official long run before the NJ Marathon. I’ve only got 7 miles to cover. I’m meeting my peeps Lisa and Mike in Brooklyn where I’ll catch up with them for the second half of their run. And we’re strategically finishing our run at Whole Foods! YAY! I’m making a fruit salad to bring with me on Easter Sunday so I’ll get all my produce there. Tomorrow marks a special date. It’s the 15th anniversary of my husband’s passing. It just seemed right to be running with Lisa since  she’s the one that got me into running in the first place.

Hope you’ve had a (good) Friday!

Catch ya later.

Question: Are you a “bar” person? If so what kinds do you like? Granola? Fruit and nut only? Protein? Kit Kat? =)

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NYC Easter Egg Hunt and 12 miles

13. April 2014 · 1 comment · Categories: labradoodle, recreational fun, running, running gear, Uncategorized · Tags: , , , , , ,

Hi! Happy Weekend,

Yesterday morning I got up super early to travel to the city to run with friends.

Verrazano Bridge

my beloved bridge

We ran two 4-mile loops in Central Park.

Central Park run

a real Spring day to run in Central Park

We had some fun post run activities planned too. First, we set foot on an Easter egg hunt…This sure wasn’t your typical egg hunt though. We participated in the Big Egg Hunt to search for Fabergé eggs. It’s a really cool interactive hunt where you download an app on your phone and then, as you find the eggs you take pics of them (well, technically you scan the QR code below them) to confirm the discovery of that egg. Each egg is designed by a unique artist. You can also share your finds on Twitter and Instagram too.

Fabergé Egg Hunt

there’s lisa snapping an egg

Fabergé Eggs

A handful of the eggs we discovered

These eggs were fairly large. Here’s a pic of me next to my new friend…

Terry Richardson Fabergé Egg

My new friend

After our egg hunt we went to Whole Foods for some breakfast and then parted ways. Always a memorable and enjoyable time when I’m with my running peeps.

I wore another new pair capris for the run, the Moving Comfort Sprint Tech capri.

Moving Comfort Sprint Tech Capri

Moving Comfort Sprint Tech Capri

Please excuse my gut! LOL! No washboard abs were used in the creation of this post. =) Seriously though these were SO comfortable. Much better than the Endurance Capris I wore the other day. These stayed put! There’s an internal draw cord but I didn’t even use it. Oh and 2 pockets! A small key pocket in the front waistband and a zipper one on the back of the waistband. While we’re speaking of waistbands, this wide one was very comfortable. The same for behind the knee. Thumb’s up!

When I got home, I showered and then pondered over where to take the dog for his walk. It was such a perfect Spring day and I wanted to get in a decent walk since technically I was supposed to run 12 miles and not 8 according to my marathon training plan. That’s when I decided on the beach. It’s just over 4 miles out and back.

4 mile walk

two great walking buddies—8 great feet

And what a nice surprise when we bumped into Duncan’s pal Chance who he saw Chance last weekend too.

walking

Boxer chose the harder surface and Doodle chose the softer surface

After all the time on my feet and out in the sun I was tired. I was flipping through Facebook while relaxing on the sofa when I noticed my friend Doreen was looking to do something.

looking for something to do on a Saturday night

That’s one way to find something to do on a Saturday night

Doreen has 2 dogs. They are French Mastiffs (also called Dogue de Bordeauxs). We walk with the dogs frequently like this time and this time but I thought it would be nice to get a chance to be humans “unleashed” so I suggested going to a local German Bar/Restaurant.  =) And so I picked her up and off we went. I was having one of those moments where I was feeling a bit funky about my appearance so I put on extra lip gloss because that always helps =)

lip gloss

slimming and beautifying lip gloss

Killmeyer’s was crowded. Eventually we got seated. They bring you a big warm soft pretzel with mustard to start. That’s my favorite part of this restaurant. If you read #7 on this list  you’ll see that soft pretzels are my secret pre-marathon fuel. For the main course I had German meatloaf. Anything with bacon on it is going to be good right?

German fare

German fare with my secret pre-race fuel

Before dropping Doreen home she gave me this lovely homemade cake pop!

home made cake pop

home made cake pop

(actually she gave me 3 but I ate 2 before I took a pic). Now you see why we’re friends. She is a great cook AND baker!

This morning I’m starting off slowly. Eventually I’ll go for a nice short and easy run and then drop the dog off to the groomer before doing some major cleaning of my house. Saw this posted yesterday and had to share!

taper time

taper time

Question: How’s your weekend going? What’s your favorite pre-race fuel? Have you ever been to a German restaurant?

 

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I should ALWAYS be happy with my pace

10. April 2014 · 4 comments · Categories: labradoodle, running, running gear, Uncategorized · Tags: , , , ,

Let’s just start off with this over-the-top cuteness…

photo 1

Honestly, I think he poses on purpose just because he knows how cute he is. Notice Lambchop has a hole? As soon as Duncan realizes that the stuffing is exposed that destruction of Lambchop will be imminent. lol!

I had a 6 miler on the schedule today…The weather here is so lovely. Mid 60s and sunny.

photo 5

OK today’s big revelation. I need to stop saying “I was happy with my pace today” because that ultimately implies I’m not happy with my pace when I don’t say it. 

I hope that makes sense. The reason this all came to me this morning was because during my run I noticed my splits were in the high 10s…I expected that I’d be running low 10s like I did on Tuesday and found myself annoyed that I couldn’t pick up the pace. Really? Annoyed? Why do I run again? It sure isn’t to win a race. It’s because it feels good and helps me to release my anxiety and stress. So what’s the point of running if I’m going to give myself anxiety and stress over trying to maintain some stupid pace. Granted I do have goals and I do strive to get better. But I don’t EVER want to lose the love of running along the way.

And so I am making a conscious effort moving forward to ALWAYS be happy with my pace. If it’s slower than I had expected there’s a reason for it. My body is telling me go slower. And I’m sure I can learn so much from those runs that feel harder just as much if not more than from easy runs where I feel speedy.

I wore new gear again today (part of my online shopping free-for-all from last week).

photo 4

pointing to my favorite detail!

OK let’s start with the good. The top is this Brooks Pure Project SS. It’s not cheap at $60 but I LOVE it! The versatile drawstring detail (there’s one on both sides) is my favorite. I drew one side up and left the other down. The material is really soft and the sleeves are sort of 3/4 which I have to say is a great length.

Although you can’t see (because this is a G rated blog), I’m wearing a new sports bra too. It’s this one from Moving Comfort called Maia. I bought the purple because it was on sale for $33. Otherise It’ll cost you $56! Yikes! If you’re as well-endowed as me I highly recommend it. Keeps my Ds in check. I’ve been wearing this style for years. Warning though: you must use anti chafe balm/cream for longer distances or this bra will chafe. I learned this the hard way but have it down to a science now =)

And lastly, the capris. They’re these Endurance capris from Moving Comfort. They ran me $58. I have to say I didn’t love them. They are REALLY tight behind the knees and there is a seam that runs behind the knee too and the whole run I was annoyed by it. I also felt like I was running in panty hose. I won’t order these again. But I’m keeping them because I think they’ll make great post-run compression gear =)

After running a few errands this afternoon I got to meet up with my friend and her dogs for an evening walk. Nothing better than an hour+ of chit chat. We both vented about life’s BS and also talked about all the good stuff too. It was a gorgeous evening! Perfect way to end the day. And the dogs loved it too!

photo 1 photo 2

I’m now having a glass of wine and getting ready to see who gets voted off on American Idol.

Question: What’s the weather like where you live? Did you get some fresh air today? 

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slight change of plans

09. April 2014 · 1 comment · Categories: running, running gear · Tags: , , ,

My plan for today was to hit the gym at lunch for a 4 mile hill workout on the treadmill. Ironically I was actually looking forward to it not like that other time.

Needless to say, today was one of those days at the office that spiraled into a disaster and a half and I wasn’t able to get out as planned.

But as the afternoon progressed I realized that it was a really nice day out today. Mid 60s and breezy (a little gusty but not crazy wind). So I told my boss I would take my lunch hour at 4pm 🙂 It was a running lunch hour!

before

before cubicle selfie!

I changed into my running gear in the ladies room and grabbed my phone (didn’t have my garmin so I used RunKeeper) and off I went. I ran cross town until I hit the west side and then uptown for a bit before turning around and heading back.

A few sights…

photo 5

The Intrepid • Duck crossing sign in the city just so weird • a duck imposter • some waves in the hudson river

The shirt I wore was brand new. It’s a Nike Dri Fit shirt and it is soooo soft! I don’t know what the weather forecast will be come 4/27 so I wanted a short sleeve option in my arsenal. I have decent sleeveless and long sleeve shirts that can withstand the marathon distance but most of my short sleeve shirts aren’t very comfortable. I’m happy to say this shirt was super comfy. I will gladly wear it for longer distances. It’s roomy, but not shapeless and the scoopy v-neck is great. I hate crew neck Ts. 🙂

photo 4I ended up running close to 4 1/2 miles and considering I had to stop a bunch of times at traffic lights trying to get cross town I’m really happy with my average pace.

after

after cubicle selfie

As soon as I ended my RunKeeper activity I got this lovely little screen showing me my progress for my goal to run 1,014 miles in 2014. I’m 31 percent there!

runkeepergoalI’m actually really happy that work got in the way today. I may not have had a hill workout but the change of scenery and Spring weather helped me snap out of the “work debacle funk”.

I’m off to pal around with this guy and then watch some mindless TV.

photo

How is your week going? What did you have for dinner tonight? 

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