Best Made Plans

Woody signed us up online for a two week free trial of 24hr Fitness (the Derek Jeter gym) and we planned to activate it this morning. So, we got up, got ready and headed out for the subway. There are only three 24hr Fitness gyms in the city, none too close, and Woody chose the Madison Square Park location for our trial. Sounded great to me, I love the area and it's close to Union Square so I could hop down there Monday morning for apples and my weekly trip to TJ's. The city is pretty dead at 7:30am Sunday mornings. Really quiet. We got off at 28th St to walk down and we ran into a movie shoot on Madison Ave! Lots of extras dressed in 1920's-30's outfits and old cars. They had even changed the outside of some of the buildings by adding period store signs. I asked one of the production crew what movie it was and he said it's for HBO. Pretty cool.

Anyway, we got to 24Hr Fitness and it was pretty quiet. Walked up to the desk, Woody pulled out the online passes and the guy said we had to meet with a membership counselor in order to activate it, and unfortunately they don't arrive on Sunday mornings until 11am. Well, that wasn't going to do us much good at 8am. Quite disappointed in the situation, we knew there was a NYSC close by so we walked to the 23rd St gym. I'm all for switching up the atmosphere when working out and while I really wasn't too thrilled that we couldn't go to 24hr Fitness, at least there was another gym nearby and we didn't have to go back uptown without a workout. The 23rd St gym had a few good things about it. (1) lots of windows and natural light, (2) the cardio floor wasn't as crowded as our gym and had really high ceilings, (3) wasn't crowded at all, (4) nice locker rooms. Unfortunately, Woody said the weight room in the basement was dismal, hot, and a mess. He couldn't get out of there fast enough. And, like our gym, weights were scattered all around and it wasn't all that clean (even though a woman was going around vacuuming. Strange). I don't understand why some gyms are so uninviting. Shouldn't they be bright and energizing? Oh, I wish I could start my own gym sometimes! There was a pilates reformer room, which I thought was cool, but those classes are an additional cost at NYSC.

We decided on our walk to NYSC that we'd try to salvage the morning by stopping by PUMP for breakfast after our workout since there is one close by. PUMP is a great restaurant that doesn't use any butter and doesn't fry anything. They're all about the healthy foods. We used to absolutely love them, but they've made several changes over the last year, as they've expanded, that I'm not too fond of (like taking the baked falafel off the menu). Still, there isn't one close to us and they have some great sounding breakfast options. We walked over, closed. Apparently they don't open till 11am on Sunday. (I'm sensing a theme here). A big dejected, we walked back to Park and picked up a bus to head back uptown. Not a great morning. We were starving by the time we got home and I made a big bowl of oatmeal, banana, strawberries, pb, flax and chia seeds. It hit the spot.

Guess we had a better morning than the thousands of people trying to travel who are stranded because of the volcano eruption in Iceland though, so I really shouldn't complain.

Quick backtrack to yesterday since I never once turned on the computer:
I rode the stationary bike at the gym for 26 miles. Yes, almost a marathon on the bike! Reminicent of a recent Biggest Loser episode! I figure that if by some miracle I'm able to run the half marathon next weekend, I'll need to know I can make it 2+ hours. So, a 2hr bike ride should help get me ready, right? At least more so than my usual 1hr rides. I felt pretty good afterwards (although a little bored) and had to make sure I got enough calories in me throughout the day. I wasn't really hungry, but I know how my body works. After a good long workout (like when I was training for the marathon) I lose my appetite after my initial meal, but the next day can be torturous. Hungry all the time. Yesterday I took a pre-emptive strike and so far it seems to be working well!

We went to the farmers market where we found carrots as big as my forearm! Seriously. Woody brought a few home. We already had carrots here, but I think he's amused by how incredibly large they are.

I did try something new last night. I bought multi-colored popcorn from the bulk section at Fairway last time I was there, so I put some in a paper lunch bag, folded it closed a few times a put it in the microwave. We weren't sure how it would turn out, but it worked well! Cheaper and healthier! This is definitely the way to go.

Will you be watching the Boston Marathon tomorrow? You can check it out on Universal Sports.

Good luck to all the runners!

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Workout Stats -

4/17:

26mi bike

100 crunches

stretching, foam roller

4/18:

14mi bike

200 crunches

3x10 upright row

3x10 seated row

3x10 front arm raise

3x10 bent side arm raise

stretching