How Fitness Bloggers Get Their Move On

This past weekend, I had the pleasure of attending Fitbloggin', a conference for fitness bloggers organized by the fabulous Roni of RonisWeigh.  We kicked off Saturday morning with a 5K run or 1 mile walk.  Compared to the Disney Princess Half Marathon I ran earlier this month, the 5K was cake.  And thanks to the bread factory we ran past, it smelled a bit like cake, too.  Observe:

Sunday morning, there were three back-to-back classes to choose from.  Nut that I am, I took all three.  We started the day with a little yoga led by Heather Ashare from DietsInReview.  I need to get my butt back to yoga pronto.  I was so, so stiff.  Considering all the CrossFit and running I've been doing, I guess that's not a surprise, but I felt pretty silly.

Next up, Jessica Smith took us through 30 minutes worth of 10 Minute Solutions.  10 Minute Solutions is a line of video workouts and the name pretty much says it all.  I almost skipped this one because it sounded kind of gimmicky and because women from workout videos tend to be ever so slightly annoying.  I'm glad I went.  10 Minute Solutions was a legit workout.  We did squats, push ups, lunges, tricep push ups, mud crawls - all the basics that really work.  The workouts were fast-paced and seemed really efficient.  After 30 minutes worth, we were pretty tired.  I have no idea how she comes across on DVD, but in person, Jessica was lovely and great instructor.  10 Minute Solutions gave me two DVDs, Ultimate Boot Camp and KockOut Body, which comes with adorable pink weighted gloves (yay, swag!), so I'll let you know how those are soon.

I'm glad I stuck it out all morning, because they saved the best for last: Sensei Guillermo Gomez's Martial Fusion class.  Martial Fusion is a combination of cardio kickboxing and latin dance.  Jab, cross, cha cha cha.  Sure, it's silly, but it's really, really fun and Guillermo has a lot of personality.  He teaches in Florida and has a series of Martial Fusion DVDs as well.  Sadly, he ran out of swag.  I don't know if this one would be as much fun at home in my living room, but I may need to find out.

I'll keep you posted.

-Gym Belle-

The Pool

"You really swam in the pool in Central Park?" Yes. Yes, I did.

Here's the scoop. After rollerblading at Summer Streets during Day 1 of the heat wave, my friend and I were desperate to find a pool. I've noticed Lasker Pool on my loop runs in the park, and we decided it was worth a shot.

In order to get in, you have to be wearing a bathing suit and you have to bring a lock for the locker room. These are non-negotiable rules and I don't recommend debating the, um, bouncers. The pool is open from 11-3 and then from 4-7. We got there around 2 and went right in.

The 3-4 break is no joke. Just before 3, everyone had to get out of the pool, empty their lockers and leave the premises. Seriously. People started lining up for re-entry right away. I have no idea if this means that there are normally lines to get in.  It may be that my friend and lucked out because we got there so close to the break.  (Anyone?)

The pool is huge. There were a ton of people there that day, but there really was room for everyone. A few lanes in the middle of the pool were set aside for laps, but mostly it was open for playing. (There was also a separate shallow pool for babies.) We laid our towels out on the concrete steps and jumped in. Ok, my friend jumped. I eased in. It felt soooooo good. We splashed around until we had to get out for the 3 o'clock break. It would have been nice to have more time, but I can't imagine that lying out on concrete is all that pleasant anyway.

If you want to swim - by which I mean actually get in the water and splash around with your friends - outside in NYC, I totally recommend checking out Lasker. The pool seemed perfectly clean to me. I didn't notice super high levels of chlorine or anything - but, to be honest, I'm kinda sick of having my bathing suits change color on me, anyway, so I'm ok with that. If you're looking for a place to lay out, I say stick with Sheep's Meadow, or your roof, or wherever. (Or splurge on one of the hotel rooftop day passes.)

Don't expect any frills. Aside from a few, mostly out of order, vending machines, there's no place to get food or drinks. Also, if you're the squeamish type, you probably won't like the locker rooms. They're public pool locker rooms in NYC, though, so what can you expect?

The pool closes after Labor Day, so I may not get another chance to check it out this year.  If I do, I'll keep you posted.

-Gym Belle-

Summer Summer Summer Summertime

Ok, the weather kinda sucks lately. I get that. But we only get one summer a year and I practically lived at work through June and July, so I'm making the most out of this August, come rain, shine or ridiculous humidity.

I was away for the first Saturday of Summer Streets, but made it to the last two. If you didn't get to check it out this year, mark your calendars for next year. Park Ave. gets closed off to traffic from 72nd street down to the Brooklyn Bridge. You can walk, run, bike, blade, skateboard ... or whatever. There are free bike and rollerblade rentals available. Along the route there are little tents with water (kudos to the Kitano hotel for the excellent, very cold water and to Equinox for the little water bottles), coffee, cheese (seriously) and silly photo ops. This weekend I may have been out too early, but last weekend there were dance and musical performances. Apparently, Crunch was offering aerobics classes along the way, too.

For my first Summer Streets experience, I went rollerblading with a friend. It turns out that Park Ave. is not so flat. I'm a big fan of going uphill, but downhill scares me. I know that speed and momentum give you greater control, but my brain and my body seem to have a disconnect on the issue. The spookiest part was heading uptown around Grand Central. You go past that Hyatt and then you're in a curvy tunnel going downhill. I rode my break pretty hard.

That was the first day of the heat wave, so I was very impressed by the number of people running and biking. I was even more impressed by the very perky people telling you when to stop for traffic. I don't know how they did that for 5 hours.

Yesterday, I wanted to run Summer Streets, and my sister and cousin invited me to run with them. While neither is actively training for a race right now, both are marathoners. Until yesterday, I don't think I'd ever run more than 7.5ish miles (from my apartment to the park, around the loop and back). They were talking about an 8 mile run. That sounded good. I'll be doing my first half in March, and while it's too early to train, it can't hurt to push it a bit.

It wasn't quite as hot as the previous weekend (it was pretty early in the day) but it was raining. The rain actually felt pretty good until I stepped in a puddle and my sneakers got all wet. Oops!

We ended up running from 72nd and Park down to more or less the Brooklyn Bridge and back. According to mapmyrun.com, that's about 9.2 miles. Go me! I more or less kept up with the fam for the first few, but after a while, I fell behind. I'm slow. I also have little legs.

Those little legs are a tad sore today, but survived an advanced Physique class, so I've got no complaints.  What will the rest of the week bring?  I'll keep you posted.

-Gym Belle-