Locks on the Bridge

I’ve had a pretty eventful few days, and the week is just starting! Is it bad to be looking forward to next weekend already?

Friday afternoon I left work early for an appointment with my Sports Doc. I’m happy to say that she said I’m healing well and she’s happy with how I’m doing. Unfortunately, still no word of when I’ll start running and still a month till I can go to yoga (one of my goals for 2012 is to take more yoga classes consistently through the year). So, still pretty light workouts for me till I see her again in a month. I’m happy she’s happy, but it’s frustrating that so much time has gone by and still no running in sight.

While I was sitting in the waiting room and was checking my work emails I got the one I’ve been hoping to get for the past two weeks. During the holidays I was working on a team that was putting together a pitch for a new business account. We found out just after the holidays that we made it to the second round and I was asked to go out to Minneapolis for the pitch. We went, we were cold, we rocked it. Then, we waited. And waited. Finally Friday afternoon our VP got the call that we had won the account! I was so freaking excited when I read the email that I almost jumped around in the waiting room! I think the receptionist may have thought I had temporarily lost my mind because I was smiling so much. I’ve worked on a few new business pitches before, but this was the first that got to the in-person pitch and then won! And I love the company too, so it’s even better! So, the non-news about running didn’t hurt so hard when I had this great news going into it.

Saturday’s weather was so fantastic that I was determined we wouldn’t spend the afternoon inside. After our workouts and trip to Trader Joe’s, we headed out for a walk to Brooklyn across the bridge. We were hoping that it wouldn’t be too crowded because it was still pretty chilly and it is the middle of winter. We’ve only gone during the summer and fall before when it’s packed with tourists. Well, there were quite a few people on the bridge. Guess they had the same idea! We headed over the bridge, walked around DUMBO for a bit checking out a few bookstores, dreaming about the pastries at Almondine and the chocolate at Jacques Torres and then headed to the Brooklyn Ice Cream Factory. Hey, we had to celebrate Friday’s awesome news somehow, right?

Random Fact 1: DUMBO stands for Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass

Random Fact 2: Even if it’s delicious, eating ice cream outside in 43’ weather will make you really, really cold.

We had three ways to get home. Subway, East River Ferry and walking. We chose to walk and work off a few more calories. On the way back, we discovered something we had never seen before.

There were padlocks all over the bridge and many of them had names, hearts and dates. I had to Google this and what I found out (there was a NY Daily News article back in November)…

About five years ago, Romans started imitating characters in the book “Ho Voglia di Te” (“I Want You”) by Federico Moccia and it has spread to other European cities before coming to New York. Apparently it is mostly done by tourists trying to leave their mark of enduring love on the Brooklyn Bridge. What a romantic gesture, isn’t it? As a New Yorker, part of me thinks it’s crazy since these locks will probably be gone not long after they’re put there, but I love the romanticism at the same time. Doesn’t surprise me that this idea is from a European novel.

Sunday was not so romantic. I had to cut my workout short because I had a follow up MRI for Cushing’s Disease. I haven’t had one since July 2010, so it’s time for a check. I am confident that it’ll still be all clear, but it’s still a tiny bit worrisome. Thankfully the staff at the Imaging Center at Weill Cornell are amazing. Every time I’ve been there I’ve had nothing short of a good experience. They’re all extremely nice, willing to strike up a conversation and they don’t rush you through the process. They understand patients are on edge and need a friendly smile, not a cold hand.

After, Woody and I had brunch in our old neighborhood then took a walk to see what’s changed. It’s hard to believe that in April I will have lived in NYC for 8 years, and it will have been 7 years since I moved out of my first apartment here. Crazy how time flies, isn’t it?

• How did you spend your weekend?
• What great things have happened in your life recently?
• Would you leave a lock on the Brooklyn Bridge to show your love for someone?

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Today’s workout -

• 2x15 cable twists (ea. side)
• 2x15 weighted side bends (ea. side)
• 35min elliptical
• 2x50sec plank
• 100 ab exercises
• stretching

If This Guy Had His Way, We’d All Have Pet Chickens

For Christmas Woody’s brother and his girlfriend bought us tickets to see Joel Salatin speak at the 92nd St Y. You might know of Joel Salatin from his appearance in the documentary “Food, Inc.” or from Michael Pollan’s book The Omnivore’s Dilemma. His latest book, Folks, This Ain't Normal: A Farmer's Advice for Happier Hens, Healthier People, and a Better World, was released last October.

From first reading about him in Pollan’s book and then seeing him in the documentary, I knew we were going to be in for an interesting evening! If you don’t know him, Salatin is a farmer and owns Polyface Farms, a “family owned, multi-generational, pasture-based, beyond organic, local-market farm and informational outreach in Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley.” (That’s a mouthful!) It’s pretty fantastic, enlightening and a bit confusing to hear him speak about his farm. Fantastic because he is so enthusiastic about what they are doing. Enlightening because he speaks truthfully about the industry, has incredible ideas and has created a farm that honors the earth, natural processes and treats animals well. And confusing because he’d go off on tangents spewing terms that almost sounded like a foreign language!

Salatin admitted that the farm is continually evolving and that they aren’t as self-sustainable as they’d ultimately like to be. Currently, they have to purchase grain from neighboring farms as their soil isn’t able to support it. They understand they’re not perfect, but they are always looking to improve their processes and offerings. Overall, it was a pretty entertaining to hear him interviewed by Dan Barber (chef and co-owner of New York's Blue Hill restaurant and Blue Hill at Stone Barns).

Just a few takeaways from the evening:

• Farmer’s farm because they don’t like people (it’s okay for me to write this because I have farmers in my family!)
• Beef (and giraffe) that are raised properly, are better choices of meat than chicken.
• There is a great organization called the Farm to Consumer Legal Defense Fund which supports farmers when faced with overstepping from the government.
• Everyone should have chickens at home rather than dogs. This way you’ll never have to pay for eggs again, thus doing away with large factory farms producing eggs, and they eat kitchen scraps which will greatly reduce the amount of waste in landfills! If you’re wondering, he did suggest that even us New Yorkers get chickens!
• Like the rise of ‘rock star chefs’, he hopes to see the rise of ‘rock star farmers’

I highly recommend that if you have an opportunity to see Joel Salatin speak, you should go! I’ve added his book to my list of must reads.

• What do you think of the idea of having chickens in your home? (I’m kind of intrigued by the idea!)
• Do you pay attention to how the meat, dairy and eggs you eat are produced?

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Today’s workout -

• 3x10 cable push downs
• 2x15 weighted side bends (ea. side)
• 2x15 upright row
• 30min elliptical
• 2x40sec plank
• 1x30sec side plank (ea. side)
• 100 ab exercises
• 2x15 back extensinon
• 3x10 bridges

(image from Polyface Farms)

The Dreaded Cold Invaded My Life

I’m sick. I hate being sick. It’s really gross and annoying. And I think I can say with good certainty that Woody would agree with that statement. A bug has been going around my office since the New Year and I felt this coming on when we were in Charleston but it hit hard Saturday morning. I had to finish a project for work on Saturday and it took me for-ev-ah cause it was so hard to concentrate. You know that feeling, right?

A lot of people get sick with colds and such during the winter, but I think it might be worse this year because the temperatures have been all over the place (this could just be an old wives tale that the weather has anything to do with colds, but I’m going to go with it). Unlike the flu, it can be tricky to know whether it’s okay to workout or not when you have a cold. Woody swears by sweating out a cold. He’ll wear long pants, a sweatshirt, and knit cap then doing a long cardio session on the treadmill or elliptical before hitting the sauna. Here are the guidelines Woody and I have come to follow, and which seem to go along with ‘expert’ advice I’ve read over the years.

Workout if….

1. You can breath without much trouble.
2. It’s all in your head, not in your lungs.
3. You got a good nights sleep.

Stay home if….

1. You can hardly get out of bed.
2. Every muscle in your body aches (or even half of them).
3. You’re coughing and/or sneezing frequently.
4. You have a fever.
5. You have a throbbing headache.
6. You simply feel like rest is more important.

I did go to the gym Saturday and actually had a pretty good workout. Sunday was a different story though. I just didn’t have much energy but I’m glad I got my heart rate up for a bit. Today I slept in, skipped the gym, and because I’m still feeling pretty nasty and don’t want to give this to my co-workers, I’m staying home from work.

Two things I did all weekend, and plan to do today, was load up on citrus fruits (thanks to my mother in law who sent us another shipment of grapefruits and oranges straight from Florida) and drank tea. Lots of tea….

• When you have a cold, how do you decide whether or not to workout?
• What’s your go to remedy for colds?

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Saturday’s workout -

• 2 circuits:
  • 15 cable side twists (ea. side)
  • 15 cable push-down
  • 15 weighted side bends
  • 25 kickbacks
  • 15 squatting rows
• 2x15 lateral arm raise
• 30min elliptical
• 30min stationary bike
• 2x40sec plank
• 100 ab exercises
• stretching

Sunday’s workout -

• 20min stationary bike
• 30min elliptical
• 2x15 upright row
• 2x15 lat pull down
• stretching

Today’s workout -

None.