Happiness is…

• Living in an apartment allll byyyy myselfffff….
• Two urban gardens around the corner from said apartment
  

  Dinner of champions: Whole-wheat pasta, frozen broccoli cuts, Ragu spaghetti sauce and cheddar cheese. Yum!

• My first home-cooked meal after two weeks of eating take-out
• Cabinet space, closet space, cupboard space, all just for ME!
• Amazing movers who moved me out and in in under four hours
• Wu-nderful friends who helped with choosing, decorating, moving, packing, unpacking, furniture-assembling and arrangement of new apartment
• Successfully hooking up a DVD player to a TV/VCR combo from 2000
• Catching up on favorite movies while unpacking
• Having internet in the apartment again
• Discovering an amazing Mexican restaurant down the block
• Being done teaching by Wednesday afternoons
• Being close to Central Park AND the East River (now if only I could actually make it out of the apartment early enough to run. Hey, there’s always tomorrow, right?)
• Outdoor yoga with 1,000 other crazy New Yorkers, not to mention the free yoga mat and goodie bags that came with it

The people doing yoga in the row in front of us in Times Square. Pictures courtesy of Lorna and Facebook.

• Awesome views from the East River Ferry and delicious food stalls at Smorgasburg afterwards. They even have a farmers market that accepts EBT, also known as food stamps.

I'm on a boat! And taking pictures with my camera phone. Skillz, yo.

• The newly opened section of the Highline, complete with outdoor wining and dining underneath. They have wine on tap…how cool is that?
• And last, but not least….the ability to write a non-running-centered post . You’re welcome, loyal readers.

Life in NYC this summer is wu-nderful, indeed. Who’s coming to visit?!!

 

Numbers Versus Feelings

“Forget the numbers, go by how you feel”. This is something I always tell my friends and clients when they talk about their weight loss goals. Sometimes I change it up and say ” go by how your clothes fit”, but the point remains the same. The human body can play tricks on us by fluctuating throughout a single day, thanks to this awesome thing called water weight. Muscle weighs more than fat, so increased physical activity can lead to larger numbers on the scale. Scales themselves are often not completely accurate either. For all these reasons, and countless more, I encourage people not to use body weight as the primary measure of success or healthfulness.

During my five mile run yesterday morning, I came up with another instance for which numbers don’t tell the whole story. After a busy and active weekend  (we will return to regulary scheduled, non-running -related recap shortly), I had a hard time getting out of bed when the alarm rang. It took a while for me to warm up as well, and I definitely felt like I was pushing my body hard just to run instead of walking. At points I felt like I was speed-walking (and probably I looked like it too). Sure enough, every time I looked down at my watch, my pace was closer to eleven minutes per mile, even though I had done this exact same route the week before with much more speed and much less effort. I got frustrated and dejected, and came up with all sorts of excuses as to the causes: it was hotter and more humid now, I was more tired, my body is worn out from another week of training, last week was just a fluke, and I really am just as slow as I was when I started running almost two years ago. The pity party lasted about two minutes until I decided to tell myself to ignore the pace and just go with how I felt. My heart was beating fast (in a good way), I was drenched in sweat (S-E-X-Y!), and whatever I was doing was better than skipping a day of training. The watch isn’t 100% accurate when it comes to predicting current pace anyway, and its important to learn how to listen to your body. To quote Tom Petty “Some days are diamonds. Some days are rocks”. Sometimes you just have to remember that and do your best anyway. Control what you can and forget the rest (but don’t forget TO rest once in a while).

 

The good news? My average pace for the run was ten minutes, eleven seconds per mile, which is definitely faster than just about any run I did last summer. I definitely got a burst of energy and speed right after I stopped for water at Mile 4, and ended up acheiving negative splits. And I only stopped twice, once at the turnaround point to stretch, and once for the water, which is better than my last run when I had to stop at every mile. Overall, I really do feel and see how much of a better and stronger runner I have become and can’t wait to see what the next 21 weeks of marathon training will uncover. I also loved that I used the foam roller right after my run yesterday and my knees felt great the rest of the day. It works! It really works!!

 

Today calls for cross-training, so tonight co-worker Lorna and I will be doing yoga in Times Square . Cross your fingers for no rain! Even though my knees felt fine yesterday, they feel a bit tight today, so I am looking forward to getting stretched out (and to the possibility of a free yoga mat and goody bag of course, as long as I’m one of the first 1,000 people there! ). I woke up this morning still exhausted, so am definitely looking forward to a much-needed rest day tomorrow. And to blogging about some exercise-related activities as well…you know you’re pumped too!

 

Fun- Filled and Action -Packed (Part One)

…pretty much sums up these past three days, not to mention my wu-nderful life in general (you know you’ve missed the wu-jokes). My Friday started at 5 AM, when I woke hungry, having to pee and mesmerized by the thunderstorm that was occurring.  I used the bathroom but could not fall back asleep because I was hungry (it should come as no shock to you that this is not the first time this has happened to me). After tossing and turning for 20 minutes, I finally got back out of bed, ate leftovers from dinner the night before, reset my alarm for 8 am since there was no way this storm was going to be over any earlier for me to get my nine-mile run on, and passed back out. When I got up the second time I had a hard time getting on the road but hey, better late than never, right?  The weather wasn’t too hot at 72 degrees, but the 90% humidity certainly made up for it! I had to stop at least once every mile to drink water, and I certainly wasn’t running my fastest, but I did it without too much pain (physical, mental or otherwise). The eternal optimist in me came up with a list of ways in which this run could have been worse, including:

1) It could have been hotter. A LOT hotter. My inner runner is not looking forward to training in July or August. They say your body can acclimate to extreme temperatures in two weeks though, so all hope is not totally lost. Let’s hope not all motivation is lost, either.

2) It could have been raining—the clouds in the horizon were purple when I left the apartment. I debated going back upstairs to grab my Metrocard in case the storm returned during the run, but decided to make a run for it anyway (ha! get it?)

3) I could have not had my energy gel and water belt with me. Still not 100% pleased with the water belt, but I was happier to have it than not.

4) There could have been no shade during the entire route. Luckily the East River path has plenty of trees and bridges to run under, so that kept me pretty cool for the most part. The unshaded stretches were much more bearable knowing that most of the run wasn’t like that.

5) The view could have been boring. It’s always fun to run in NYC, not just for the people watching but also for the scenery. Bridges, parks, statues (of Liberty, among others), new beer gardens, what’s not to enjoy?  Maybe one day I will feel super-motivated and actually bring my camera along with me. You know you’re excited!

6) Doing this run on Friday morning meant that the hardest and longest part of the training for the week was done. Yay freedom! Yay flexibility!

As I always like to remind myself, any run you do is better than any run you don’t do. Especially when that run turns out better than you could have expected. Man. I should get that printed on a bumper sticker or something. Or maybe a pair of running shorts. Thoughs?

 

Do Nothing

When I woke up this morning, I felt well-rested and alert. Not only was this amazing because it was before 6 am (hey, childhood obesity doesn’t sleep so apparently, neither do I!), but also because it was the first time since marathon training started that no body part was abnormally sore or tight. That made me feel a lot better about skipping the gym last night. Ahh (that’s the sweet sigh of validation, in case you were wondering)…

I got ready for the day and even had some time to talk myself out of getting breakfast from the bodega and make it for myself instead:

Two fried eggs from the Greenmarket and sharp cheddar cheese on a whole-wheat roll. And coffee. Sweet, sweet coffee (figuratively, as I only put half-and-half in my coffee). Bottle of water to go. Everything else in the picture can be ignored

The rest of the day went swimmingly and I got a lot done (so THAT’S what a productive day at the office feels like! Good to know). MPP and I met up at the new apartment in El Barrio, pretended we were part of Nate Berkus’s design team, and figured out furniture arrangement for the big move next week. Now I am even more excited for the move and to have visitors (ahem, that means you!). We then headed to Amor Cubano, a Cuban restaurant down the street, and feasted like queens at half the price (thank you, Groupon). Not only did we discover a restaurant in the new hood, but we discovered a restaurant that has $5 Sangrias and Mojitos on Sunday afternoons. Ole (and fiesta!)!

Even though I knew it was my rest day, I still found myself trying to figure out when I could sneak in a yoga session or some sort of light physical activity. While I am thankful that my motivation level for exercise is so high right now, I know I will also need to work on maintaining balance in my life, especially as the mileage increases.  That way I can help to ensure that 1) I will still have friends to cheer me on by the time the marathon rolls around , 2) I won’t get injured due to overuse or whatever the technical/medical term is and 3) I won’t get burned out on running and never want to do it again (we can always save that for after the marathon!).

On that note, I will work on trying to post more about my non-running life as well (I have one, I swear!). Any other requests?

 

Getting Behind on Staying Ahead

I wrote most of this blog on Wednesday night, but am finally getting around to editing and uploading it now. Here’s hoping WordPress lets me lie and say I wrote it then anyway…

As I sit here typing in my pj’s on my unmade bed, I am also playing hooky from a Chisel class at the gym and trying to talk myself out of the guilt. But being the selective perfectionist I am, I can’t quite let go of being behind on my schedule, even when I am actually a day ahead.

Due to the nature of my job, my work hours and workload are constantly in fluctuation (a long commute doesn’t exactly help either). My schedule this month has been a pretty manageable one, so I have been trying to take advantage of mornings when it seems possible for me to get a run in and get to work at a reasonable hour. I am much more likely to actually run/workout when it’s the first thing I do in the morning and I’m too sleepy to come up with reasons to get me out of it. As a result, I am one day ahead on my training schedule (yay! the one thing I haven’t been procrastinating on this month, it seems) but haven’t taken a proper rest day since…Saturday? I planned on getting in a three mile run this morning and going to Chisel tonight before stuffing my face with Asiakan and crying my eyes out  while watching a movie w/ Coach. However, my run this morning just seemed to take everything out of me, and it doesn’t seem like it’s going to give it back anytime in the next five minutes before class starts. I came up with a bunch of reasons for the tiredness, including:

• Wearing a long sleeved shirt in 62 degree weather. Nothing wrong with that, right? Except that when you run, it’s actually like it’s 20 degrees warmer, so in 82 degree weather it makes you sweat like a pig, which leads to thirst/dehydration/paranoia about dehydration. All very inconvenient things, especially on the run (literally. ha!).
• Having to use the bathroom at Mile One. Badly. VERY BADLY. Things would have gotten real messy real quick had some other kind runner not informed me of another entrance to a bathroom that I thought was locked. Thank you, kind running grandma in last year’s Brooklyn Half Marathon t-shirt. Runners are such a helpful bunch, indeed.
• An unintentional faster-than-average run on Monday night. Which I am still psyched about, but even though I didn’t feel like I was pushing at the time I guess my body is finally filling me in on. Always the last to know, it seems. Thanks body.
• This  Yoga/Kickboxing/Marital Arts class I accidentally took yesterday. The gym schedule changed from Spring Session to Summer Session on Monday, but again, I was the last to know (see above). So instead of Vinyasa Yoga it was something called Yoma, which I didn’t realize until the end of the class. Oops. I thought the “Yoma” written at the top of the sign-in sheet was just a) messy handwriting or b) bad spelling. Anyway, it might sound cool in theory, but not so much in practice when it’s not what you were expecting. Think cardio mixed w/ yoga poses, weights and martial arts. Just didn’t flow together enough for me,  and definitely won’t be trying that again.
• Too many early mornings. Or late nights, either one…whatever it is, it needs to change. Duly noted.

Wow. now that i’ve spent this time writing it all out, i feel much better about not going to class. It’s been a busy week! i earned this rest day so i might as well enjoy it. Plus, I should save my legs for my upcoming 9-mile run on Friday morning. It’ll be the longest time I’ll have spent with my Garmin. Good times and new friends! And yes, even electronic ones count. What? We’re in a digital age!

Speaking of other things I enjoy, check out pics from one of the schools I worked at this year. They made a bulletin board about me! This is the “feel-good” part of having a feel-good job. With kiddos like these, how could you NOT want to be a Public Health Nutritionist?!!

The kids and I made Banana Crunchy Sundaes at their monthy workshop, and then drew pictures about it afterwords. Some of their parents came as well. Too stinkin' cute!

 

If At First You Can’t Figure Out Your Runnin’ Watch…

So, remember when I said I was all pumped up to get up in the morning and run try out a new GU and my new running watch on a five-mile run? Well, the good news is that everything was indeed accomplished, but not necessary in that order. After snoozing for a good forty minutes this morning, I finally managed to get my still-spinning-sore-butt (and the rest of my body) out of bed, into a running outfit,  and body-glided and GU-ed up. For the record, the Espresso Love flavor was delicious, but I think I still prefer Cherry Chocolate or Mint Chocolate. Strapped on the new running watch and away I went! Only this was the first time I had actually turned on the watch and of course I hadn’t bothered to read the instruction manual beforehand. Got to the running path and could not get my watch to work, unless you count “beeping incessantly” as working.  Apparently not actually knowing what the “bezel” of the watch is can really screw a girl over. I was getting very frustrated and attempted to run anyway, but at that point I had already wasted twenty minutes and I was just over it. Plus it was overcast and humid, but still kind of cold, so i dejectedly walked back home (with a pouty face and my head down and everything!). I decided to put in one of my favorite yoga DVDs  and eventually managed to break a sweat and rid myself of some of this soreness and mental frustration.

Luckily the cool-ish weather held up throughout the day. After an in-depth study of the instruction manual (in English, but maybe I’ll try out the French, Spanish or German versions next ) I strapped on my watch after work, changed into another running outfit (different from the one I had one this morning, not sure how that worked out) and went on my merry way. And merry it was; although I started my run at 7 pm the sun was still out, as were a ton of people. During my five miles, I passed by eight senior citizens having a picnic along the pier, Chinese grandmas and grandpas doing calisthenics and tai-chi around the Manhattan Bridge, tons of kickball and soccer games and tons of fellow runners, most of whom were passing me, but only because I let them, of course. It was one of those great runs where I felt like I could keep going forever, but then again maybe I felt that only because I knew I would be stopping in a relatively short period of time. Mind over matter!

I am very happy I didn’t hurl the watch into the East River after all, as it filled me in on my running stats when I got home. Check it out below, and for those of you runners out there, would it kill you to pretend to be impressed? Some of us have short legs, yo! This is the fastest training pace I have ever clocked, and very close to my race paces. Maybe I will conquer this marathon thing after all…

Other good things about today:

• Foam rolling right after my run. Not only am I happy that this protects my knee and IT band, but I’m actually getting use out of the foam roller I bought six months ago and have barely used since.
• The giant bowl of macaroni, cheese and pasta sauce I just devoured. Mmmm….carbs.
• Acceptance of the fact that I am moving in less than two weeks (yikes!), and getting my internet, utilities and movers all lined up. Now if only the same could be said for packing…
• Cleaning up my room so that I actually have space to sit on my couch. I really should do this more often!
• Comments from my dear readers. Thanks for tuning in and for all your support!  I’ll try not to slack too much on the posting.

What was the best part of your Monday (besides reading this post, of course. Obviously, that should be given)?

Running Stats:

Split	Time	Distance	Avg Pace
Summary	00:48:31	5.04	09:37
1	00:09:32	1.00	09:32
2	00:09:50	1.00	09:50
3	00:09:36	1.00	09:36
4	00:09:44	1.00	09:44
5	00:09:26	1.00	09:26
6	00:00:20	0.04	08:52

 

Spinning Right Round Baby Right Round….

Same lights, different girl

Today’s schedule called for 60 minutes of cross-training, so to The S.T.A.R. treatment I went! The S.T.A.R treatment is a class at Crunch that consists of Spinning, Toning,  Abs and Relaxation (i.e. stretching). It was my first time spinning and as in all other areas of my life, I was not shy about letting in the instructor in on it. She was really nice and helped me adjust my bike properly, and away we went (only figuratively, as we were on stationary bikes). The playlist was amazing, even if they did not actually play any version of “You Spin Me Right Round”. Where’s Flo’ rida when you need him, yo? We spun for about 25 minutes, and I could totally see why people love it so much. It’s low impact, gets your heart pumping, and with good music and great lighting you can totally just let go of everything else that’s on your mind and lose yourself in it. It’s a lot like booty-dancing, only you don’t have to be coordinated to make it look good, the risk of getting accidentally impregnated is considerably lower, and there is a lot more sweat. A LOT more. Then we moved to the Group Exercise room and did approximately eight billion reps of arm stuff, abs stuff and push-ups and side planks. Slowly but surely, the side planks are becoming easier, even if nothing else seems to be. Could my yoga addiction of this past spring actually be paying off?

One hour and two sore buttcheeks later, MPP and I ventured to The Brindle Room where I promptly inhaled a chocolate-hazlenut donut topped w/ almonds (fun fact: did you know they used mashed potatoes to make their donuts?), shrimp and grits, and biscuits with jam and butter. Food coma kicked in almost immediately, forcing me to sluggishly drag said sore tush ten slow blocks home and then pass out for an hour. I realized I probably would not have felt so tired had I eaten less than 1200 calories at one sitting, but what can you do, besides not do it again? No point in beating yourself up about it! Tomorrow is a new, hopefully-healthier-eating day!

Speaking of tomorrow, I am looking forward to my morning five-mile run not only because it’s one more day I can cross off, log and blog about (so naturally, you are totally pumped about it as well!), but also because I get to give my new running watch a literal trial run (ha! get it?), I get to sample a new GU flavor–Espresso Love, and it’s supposed to be around 62 degrees in the morning. With the summer heat and humidity sneaking upon us more and more often, I am going to savor every minute of reasonable running weather while it lasts!

 

This One’s for Coach K

Hello Dear Readers,

Let’s ignore all the excuses I could make up for neglecting this poor blog and my captive audience for so long, and just be thankful that the Wu has returned, for now. So much has happened since I last blogged, and will likely continue even as I inevitably drop the blogging ball again. Can’t say I didn’t warn you!

Happy now, Al? Consider this an early birthday present!

As many of you know, I am now in full training mode for the ING NYC Marathon on Sunday, November 6th, 2011. I’m excited, nervous, anxious, obsessed  and a bunch of other feelings that I have yet to discover or identify (blame my Tiger Mom and Dad—Asian children were not raised to talk about their feelings). One of the reasons for reviving this blog, as suggested by my dear friend Ali (aka Coach K, you can kind of see her through the shadows of her blue hat in the picture on the left),  is to keep me motivated and not get burned out during these 24 weeks of training. I have also discovered another runner’s blog who I absolutely love and relate to and it’s reminded me of how much I enjoy writing, whenever I could find the patience to sit down long enough to semi-coherently record my thoughts. I am still working on a plan that will ensure I update on a semi-regular basis; you’ll have to stay tuned to see if it works!

As for marathon training itself, so far it’s been great! Sometime over the past year, I’ve transitioned from a  “I-like-the-way-I-feel-after-running-especially-the-part-where-I-have-an-excuse-to-sit-on-my-butt-and-stuff-my-face for the rest of the week” mentality to actually enjoying running for the sake of running.  Running really has been there for me through all the ups and downs of  life in this crazy city, and it’s made me a calmer, happier and stronger version of myself. Currently I am working on 1) getting used to running in the heat and humidity of the summer 2) ending my runs as strongly as I stated them  (i.e. not collapsing upon crossing the finish line) and 3) figuring out how to properly use my shiny new running watch.

My favorite part during my runs? The moments when I think about all the different reasons that I am so, so lucky I am to have the life I have, including but not limited to:  a job I enjoy, a strong group of friends and family in New York and beyond who I lean on on a regular basis, the confidence and peace of mind to know that I can run 26.2 miles and beyond one day soon, and of course, those clean and open bathrooms and water fountains along the East River Park. Hey, when nature calls, can’t exactly give her a busy signal.   And for this month, my trial membership at Crunch definitely needs to be on that list as well. Crunch is known for the wide variety of classes at various locations, so I have been going every day or every other day to check out different instructors and locations. I haven’t had a gym membership since last summer, but now that I am apparently on my way to being an exercise addict it may be time to reconsider. Unless Lifebooker or Groupon make me another offer that I can’t refuse (at a discount of 50-85%, naturally).