Red Mango V Pink Berry

Happy Monday everyone! Hope we’ve all started the week on the right foot. I am for instance looking forward to a stellar week considering that I had to wait 45 minutes for my bus this morning which at one point I felt would never show up and I got to work exactly 1:05 hours late. So, I decided that after that morning fiasco things can only go up from there!

Today is my first “official” week back to classes after a week and a half off thanks to Jewish holidays. I have to admit I am looking forward to my classes this semester. My finance professor seems pretty cool and laid back and he is actually an established professional in a career which I’ve been thinking about pursuing post MBA so I’m excited to pick his brain on that. I am also taking a “feminist-type” of course (I’m pretty sure that’s not the point of the class but so far feels like it) about women and entrepreneurship. I’ll be sure to share a few of the things I learn.

Anyways, so yesterday I went on a run with a friend. He is all of a sudden up for running and increasing his mileage stamina and so we decided to challenge ourselves with the hilly running tracks of central park and boy did we run!

After a 5+ miles (which included about ¼ miles of heavy sprinting) he decided it was time to do push ups, pulls ups, sit ups, mountain climbers—we even did jumping jacks (that was my contribution, don’t act surprised). I was a little flabbergasted considering that when I run (especially more than 3 miles) I feel that’s more than enough workout and no additional “extra-curricular(s)” are needed. However, I suppose he felt it was necessary to finish “strong” and so, we did. I can’t lie—it was a great work out all in all.

After out run + additional random strength training we decided to go for some frozen yogurt over at pink berry. Actually, he said ice cream and I looked at him like “who eats ice cream anymore?” And so, I suggested frozen yogurt @ Pink Berry. I had never been to one in my life so I was excited to try it out:

 

I forgot to mention this but a few weeks back while my cousin from Tampa was visiting we went to Red Mango after a Sunday afternoon of “tourist-activities”:

So, now that I have tried both places, what’s my verdict? Well, in all honestly, Red Mango wins hands down. Why?

-I get to choose my own toppings and pile them up myself

-I get to pull the handle of the frozen yogurt myself (and try different flavors before I commit to one in the process without having to annoy any of the employees)

-The flavors are just sweeter/taste better and the yogurt is smoother (in my personal opinion)—at pink berry I got the original “tart/sweet” flavor and it was geared more towards tart.

Although the pink berry was also delicious I didn’t like the fact that the workers add in the toppings for me. Hey—if I want to try every topping available I don’t want to be judged. So, let me add my own stuff thank you very much. Also, the location we went to was super small and really busy!  I felt a little claustrophobic in there.

After I got home that evening I remembered I had some fruit to cut up before it went bad. And so, I spent about 20 minutes cutting up melon and making myself fruit salads for the week. Mission accomplished:

 

One of the highlights of my weekend was welcoming back my little cousin whom was on vacation with her family in the Dominican Republic. I was so happy to see her again! She is such a happy/gorgeous baby although she was half asleep in this photo:

Love. Her. And her big brother. They melt my heart.

And that’s all folks. Thanks for reading! Cheers to a great week.

Tell me, Have you tried pink berry and/or red mango before? What was the highlight of your weekend?

 

July was an Awesome Running Month (plus some news!)

First and foremost I have to share last night dinner, which I’ve had two days in a row and made up by accident:

Nothing fancy but so good! (black beans, garbanzo beans and corn mixed with melted part-skim mozzarella on Trader Joe’s ‘brown rice tortilla’ ßmy new obsession plus my usual steamed veggies on the side). I also had a small banana smoothie made w/ almond milk and spinach, not pictured.

So this morning I concluded an ENTIRE month of running every other day! I actually began running every other day in late June (around 6/19, as per my fitness journal). However, I am excited that I was actually able to carry that momentum in to July and finished strong.

I am not a long distance runner by any means and I kinda’ like it that way. My mileage ranged from 2.5 miles to 4.5 miles but mostly stayed at an average of 3 miles or so on most days. On my non-running days during the past month and a half or so I was able to complete a second round of Jillian’s 30 day shred which I finished and now Ive moved on to my beloved Gilad strength training videos for arms, back, abs, and legs. I alternate body parts but have been pretty consistent with the arms and back exercises. I see lil bit of muscle peeking usually post workout. He’s good!

I want to set up new fitness goals for August which I cant believe is just hours away (scary!). I have Jillian’s Ripped in 30 which I purchased a while ago but never finished it. I am considering going through the whole series for the month of august and continue running. I am not sure if I will continue the running every other day thing but now I have to run regardless considering that  last Friday (out of pure randomness) I signed up for this:

 

 

Yup.  My second half marathon! I was going back and forth on whether to do the 5K or the ½ marathon (is like two different extremes!). I really wish the race had a 10K which would have been nice and comfortable but that wasn’t an option. At the end of the day I decided a 5k would be too short so I closed my eyes and clicked the button for the half.

The next day (Saturday) I wanted to cancel it immediately and constantly asked myself what the heck was I thinking the nigh before (I promise I wasn’t drunk). Eventually I got over it and decided to suck it up. When I thought I could go on with my life I almost fainted when I realized that a while ago  I had already signed up for another race in October:

 



 

The Rock N Roll series race which I have been looking forward to for a while! I feared the Diva’s race would be the same day but thankfully it isn’t. That’s the good news. The scary news? They are only a week apart! Ah! Sometimes I wonder who the heck am I and what did I do with the real Mabelle.

Anyways, after my two minor panic attacks now I am kinda’ excited to set up a training plan specifically for the half as I’d love to improve my time from my first half which took place this past April (time was 2 hrs 17 mins). I subscribe to SELF magazine and this month’s issue had 12-week ½ marathon training plan in it. I think everything is aligning nicely. I may have to re-arrange it some how to make it work with the time I have left before the race but cant wait to get started with an “official” training plan. I have to confess Ive never followed a “strict” plan for any of my races. I just kinda’ go with it. We’ll see what happens this time around.

Anyways, thank you for reading.

Tell me, Have you ever signed up for two long races on the same month? How did you handle it?



Announcement!

Hey everyone! Just quickly wanted to share I decided to sign up for my first HALF MARATHON coming up in April! You can say I am quite petrified but I am trying to make myself feel better in that I can walk some of it if I feel that I cant run the entire 13.1 miles-- or whatever a half marathon is. This is nuts!!! Part of the reason I signed up was my sister's encouragement. She runs A LOT and having her there with me on race day will mean a lot to me. Also, thank you for those whom encouraged me on the last post where I mentioned it and I was having doubts. There is no turning back now! Excited and scared at the same time. Hopefully as race day approaches I'll be more excited than anything.

With that said, I have been running/working out more this past week as I "train" for this. I have no specific plan in mind in terms of a training schedule (maybe I should have one?) I am just running what feels comfortable for me and building up my mileage. I have never been the type who compares themselves to others or competes. As cliche as this may sound--- I compare all my progress to my older self, and how I personally improve. That always keeps me motivated without fail.

So, here is my weekly work-out wrap up:

Sunday: Jillians Ripped in 30-- week 3, day 2
Monday: 3 mile run
Tuesday: 3 mile run
Wednesday: Rest Day
Thursday: 3 mile run
Friday: Jillian's Ripped in 30-- week 3, day 3
Saturday: 8 Mile run (with my sister and her friend)

..And that's all folks! #committed

ANY ADVISE IN TERMS OF TRAINING? HAVE YOU EVER RAN A HALF? PLEASE SHARE YOUR FIRST TIME EXPERIENCE WITH ME! :)

Fortunate Fridays, Week Workout Summary, 1/2 Marathon Debate

Yup.

The title of this post perfectly summarizes what I want to talk about right this second. Looking to make this short and sweet.

First things first...

Five things I feel Fortunate for this week:

1. Finding the "classical" station on Pandora, which I find amazing to listen to during meals-- helps me wind down and really enjoy my food.

2. This post from The Candid RD on National Nutrition Month-- Loved. It.

3. My finance team member whom appears to be super proficient in excel and knew how to figure out our first homework. I have to admit I initially had no clue what I was doing! If it wasn't for him I don't know what I would have done. I tried to figure everything out myself and it took me nearly 6 hours! Ugh! Thats where my Sunday went last week.

4. Motivational fitness photos on Instagram and Pinterest which give me the boost I need to get moving and not give up on my healthy lifestyle when all I want to do is crash on my couch and eat. I have a fairly new fitness account: FitgalNYC and a fairly older personal account: LoveMyBlessedLife (both on Instagram). Feel free to follow! I will be more than happy to follow you back as well. (oh, by the way, if I haven't mentioned it I am also on twitter: @dolcemabelle).

If this is not motivating and inspiring I don't know what is:

5. Realizing new things about myself and my eating habits--- one of them being that sometimes I overeat and try to find "refugee" in food when I am trying to avoid certain things in life that I incorrectly feel are out of my control ( 99% likely 100% of the time they are not) and thus, I eat to hide from the world. I've realized that when I FACE head on whatever is bothering me the anxiety usually disappears and the urge to overeat is no longer there. Work in progress...

This is the book I've been reading which is putting a lot of things in to perspective (almost done, will give a review of it when I am finished):

Workouts for the week:
**Note: Some of the awesome blogs I follow summarize workouts for the week and is SUPER motivating. I want to start doing that myself! So, you may be getting a weekly wrap up of my work outs. We'll see how this goes! Taking this one week @ the time!

Saturday: 2.29 mile run
Sunday: Nada
Monday: 2 mile run/walk
Tuesday: 4.36 mile walk/run
Wednesday: 2.5 mile walk
Thursday: 4 mile speed walk
Friday: Jillian Michaels Ripped in 30 WEEK 3, DAY 1!!! (super tough but love love loving it!)

*nada= no workout ):

1/2 Marathon Debate:
Sooooo I kinda sorta' wanna sign up for this More-Fitness Magazine Half. The race is on 04/14/13 so, about 6 weeks away more or less?

The debate arises because of the following:
1. Ive never ran a 1half before in my life! (the most Ive ran is a 10K)
2. I haven't been running consistently lately. Meaning I should probably be running right this second if I wanna train for this.
3. One of my friends is having a birthday that weekend and Im supposed to be there (cant party the night away and then go run a half, right?)

The "positive" side:
1. I love fitness magazine and i've subscribed for years!!! It would be cool to run one of their races. I remember going to their pre-race expo once (back when I thought running was only for hard core athletes) and remember thinking to myself how I wish I could be a runner too. Well, this could be my chance!
2. I can get a cool medal to add to my collection!
3. I can run it with my sister and hopefully her friends too-- always so much fun!
4. This can help me get in to a habit of running more consistently.

Thanks for reading! 

• Any thoughts on whether or not I should run this half? if yes, where can I find a good 6 week training plan? :) 
• what was the highlight(s) of YOUR week?