Along with the MuckFest MS Mud Run card my aunt and uncle sent yesterday, they also passed along a CD of race photos.  I love this one!

Since the blog has lacked food photos lately, I thought I’d share a few noteworthy eats from the past week, starting with Sunday’s trip to Smorgasburg in Brooklyn.

It’s highly possible the maple bacon on a stick happened.  And it may have been absolutely delicious.

Anyway, Sara and I spent the afternoon grazing and hanging out, and I tried South Indian food for the first time.

I ordered a Masala Dosa, which tasted like a rice pancake and packed a nice kick thanks to the spicy potatoes.

And last night, I went to Madison Square Eats with some teammates.

[source]

Situated in Madison Square Park near the Flatiron Building, this outdoor market showcases 28 of New York City’s most popular restaurants—think things like Korean BBQ, comfort food, gourmet Mexican street food.

[source]

My evening of eating started with a margarita and—wait for it—a lobster BLT from Red Hook Lobster Pound.

Disclaimer:  The margarita came from a different vendor.

Lots of flavors worked together—lobster, bacon, chipotle mustard—and this was easily the best BLT of any kind I’ve had in my entire life.

Rounds two and three included a chipotle pork taco from Calexico and hazelnut and tiramisu gelato from Eataly, and unfortunately, both went undocumented.  Eh, you win some, you lose some.

And on a semi-related note, I spent this morning making my staples:  sweet potatoes wedges and spicy black bean quinoa.

Have a great weekend!

What’s the best thing you’ve eaten recently?

The post Foodie Friday – Smorgasburg and Madison Square Eats appeared first on Fitness and Frozen Grapes.

1.  Hello, Saucony Kinvara 3’s!

These new sneakers carried me through two runs this week:  Wednesday’s run off the bike and today’s speedwork.  I’m tempted to #shoegeek out and share the details, but I’ll spare you. (Unless you come to the store for a shoe fit, then all bets are off!) I will say, though, it’s an extremely light and comfortable shoe, and I plan to use it for speedwork and racing only.  On a related note, does anyone know if Lock Laces come in orange?

2.  Speaking of racing, I officially signed up to volunteer for Ironman Lake Placid in July.

One of my teammates is tackling the 2.4-mile swim, 112-mile bike, and 26.2-mile run, so another one of my teammates and I decided make the trip, volunteer at the race, and support him.  We also plan to turn it into a fitness-cation of sorts, meaning we’ll bring our wetsuits, bikes, and running shoes.  When in Rome Lake Placid …

3.  My aunt and uncle sent the sweetest card from our MuckFest MS Mud Run escapades.

In total, our team raised more than $8,300 for the National MS Society.  Way to go, Mighty Mucks!

4.  And now for the big news—I got my first big-girl job promotion!  I’m the new Community Outreach Coordinator for JackRabbit Union Square!

Since day one, this job has really clicked, and I absolutely love it:  doing shoe (and wetsuit!) fits, talking about training goals, and helping people discover healthy living.  I’m excited to take on more responsibility, and in this position, I’ll be in charge of brainstorming, planning, and organizing community events like yoga classes, informative workshops, and basically getting JackRabbit’s name out there.  There are a few ideas I’m kicking around already, and did I say I’m so excited?  Oh, and I get a company email address and business cards.  Woohoo!

Tell me about your first job that clicked.  Did you love it immediately, or did you grow to enjoy it?

The post My First Big-Girl Job Promotion appeared first on Fitness and Frozen Grapes.

What I really want to know is where the past 365 days have gone.  Life at Camp Hoho—filled with classes, papers, and weekend shenanigans—seems like both yesterday and several years ago.

It’s so strange to look back on college as a past experience:  During high school, the number one goal was to do well and get into a good institution; and during college, the number one goal was to do well and graduate with a degree.

Anyway, graduating from college marked a huge transition.  This is when I started blogging and gave triathloning a shot, and I moved from my tiny hometown in Upstate New York to New York City in October.  My big-girl internship started in January.

As I adjusted to these changes, I didn’t blog about what I was experiencing.  Basically, going from college life to the real world was much more challenging than I anticipated.  The high-school-to-college change wasn’t too difficult for me, so I expected a similar transition, but I really missed living with my best friends, having my support system of mentors at my fingertips, and being in an academic atmosphere.

And to further complicate things, my big-girl internship wasn’t what I expected either.  After college, I envisioned myself working for a diet and fitness publication.  However, things in the office didn’t click, and I came to the realization that the field wasn’t for me.  This was a huge, somewhat scary discovery because it essentially took me back to the career drawing board.  Where do I go from here?

Aside from the support of my family and friends, one constant throughout this journey has been triathloning.  I gave it a tri try last summer, became totally hooked, and started training with Full Throttle Endurance in January.  The sport has become a lifestyle, and I rediscovered how much I love being part of a team.  Between training, traveling, and racing, you spend so much time with your teammates and coaches, and it’s like having a second family.

This sounds dramatic, but I have no idea how I would’ve coped with these changes without FTE.  Waking up and getting after it in the pool, in the saddle, or on the track gave me a sense of purpose, and even though I struggled to figure things out work-wise, I could always count on my teammates to start my day off on the right foot.  Having this excitement and positivity every morning during a time of change made a world of difference.

Anyway, moving away from the sappy stuff, if you told me that one year after graduation I’d be living in NYC, training for triathlons, and working at a baller running store, I would’ve given you a skeptical look.  Big Apple life?  Sure, that’s been part of the plan all along.  But doing tris and fitting people for running sneakers?  Not really on the agenda—but I absolutely love it!

I’ve been working at JackRabbit Sports for about one month, and I couldn’t ask for a better bunch of coworkers.  Even though I’ve had several internships, this is the first group of colleagues I’ve really clicked with.  Everyone lives an active lifestyle—running, cycling, triathloning, doing yoga, you name it—and we truly want to help others discover healthy living.

The little things have also made a huge difference.  I’ve been given a lot of responsibility since day one, my training has been expedited, and after every shift, at least one of the floor mangers or assistant managers thanks me for coming in and doing a good job.  Obviously, I don’t need this feedback, but it’s nice to know you’re valued and appreciated.  My coworkers also treat everyone as a friend.  After closing the store Saturday night, we hung out for a beer or two, and one of the floor managers invited me on a long bike ride. (She and a two others are training for the Musselman, a half-Ironman that takes place in my college’s town.) These things have never happened at any other job.

So one year after graduation, I feel like I’m finally starting to figure things out, and I’ve found “my people” in terms of my social life, work life, and triathlon life.

What were you doing one year ago today?

The post One Year Ago Today appeared first on Fitness and Frozen Grapes.

“Today is Mother’s Day!”

Yes, I’m 23 years old and still make Full House references.  The show is applicable to everything.  Plus, John Stamos.  End of discussion.

Happy Mother’s Day to all the mommas out there!

And a little fun from this afternoon’s Smorgasburg visit.

Now it’s time to switch gears and talk workouts.  A bunch of my Full Throttle Endurance teammates and coaches are off biking in Italy this week—yes, really—so there are no official organized team workouts until Wednesday morning.  However, a few of the non-Italy goers made plans to link up, so I’ll be running and biking with teammates Monday and Tuesday.  Here’s this week’s edition of Write It Down, Do It Up!

(If you’re new to WIDDIU, here’s how it works:  Every Sunday evening, I post my workout schedule for the week, and I invite you to do the same.  This way, we can motivate each other and hold ourselves accountable.  Sounds like a win-win, right?)

Monday – a.m. run; a.m. strength train

Tuesday – a.m. bike; a.m. strength train

Wednesday – a.m. brick workout with Full Throttle Endurance (FTE)—indoor cycling and running off the bike

Thursday – a.m. bike; a.m. run

Friday – a.m. swim with FTE

Saturday – a.m. swim with FTE

Sunday – a.m. easy bike or off

How did your workouts go this week?  Did you do anything fun for Mother’s Day?

The post Write It Down, Do It Up – Week of May 12 appeared first on Fitness and Frozen Grapes.

Anyway, Zelda wanted to pop in and say hi.  She hasn’t been on the blog recently and was feeling neglected.

She also told me to share a link to a story.

Yep, that’s Zelda on the Slowtwitch.com homepage.  She even got a shout out in the Q-and-A itself, so check it out!

The post Zelda’s on Slowtwitch! appeared first on Fitness and Frozen Grapes.

I made a loaf of Paleo chocolate chip banana bread and enjoyed a brief siesta this afternoon.  After a late night JRab shoe biomechanics class and an early morning brick workout, I needed a nap.

So switching gears a bit, remember way back when I blogged about my Chinese horoscope?  Remember the injury projection and how I predicted a bike wipe out?

Well, it happened yesterday morning.

Our bike session in Central Park started off great.  My coach led one pace line and told me to take the front spot on the other—progress!  Anyway, as we made our way through the park, he told me to try moving into aero.  Riding this way makes me nervous, and honestly, I haven’t been able to hold this position on the road yet.

Being in aero while my bike’s hooked up to an indoor trainer is fine.  On the road, though, I can place only one arm on the aerobars; when I try to shift the other, things feel unstable, and I always chicken out.  But he’s my coach, and I trust him, so I gave it a shot, slowing moving my right hand and arm from the handlebars to the aerobars.

When I made the adjustment on the left, my bike drifted that way, and I panicked and overcompensated:  I steered too far to the right, which caused my bike and my coach’s bike to collide.  He’s an experienced cyclist, so he rode through it, but I went down and took another teammate with me.

Thankfully, everyone is fine.  I’m a little cut up on my knee (I’ll spare you pictures), but nothing serious.  The actual wipe out didn’t hurt, but I felt really bad:  My rookieness caused practice to stop and created an unsafe environment.

Even though I felt so frustrated and defeated, I got back in the saddle and finished the ride.  I wasn’t in a great place mentality, and my coach definitely noticed and gave me a pep talk.  My teammates were great too, checking in throughout the day and making sure I was feeling OK.

On the bright side, I couldn’t have asked for a better (?) first wipe out.  After all, I was riding with my coach and teammates, so I wasn’t alone, and we were in a familiar location.  Plus, no one was seriously injured.  And it’s the nature of the sport too.  As my Twitter buddy Chris so eloquently says:

How do you pick yourself up after you’ve been knocked down?

The post My First Wipe Out appeared first on Fitness and Frozen Grapes.

Available in a variety of colors, Lock Laces can not only match or complement your sneakers, but they also ensure ease in terms of putting on and taking off your sneaks.

I love these red ones because they match my Sauconys and team racing kit.

I’ve been using Lock Laces for a few months, so I’ve had the opportunity to wear them for regular runs, brick workouts, and actual multisport events like Nautica South Beach.  Transitions can be so discombobulating—where’s my spot?  Wait, it was by the tree, right?  Where’s that tree …—so it’s important to streamline the process of switching gear.  And taking one step out of the equation—lacing up your sneakers—can make a huge difference.  If you’re a triathlete, then you need to be rocking speed laces, and these Lock Laces work great for me.

Full disclosure:  Lock Laces contacted me and offered a sample of their product in return for a blog post.  As always, all opinions expressed are my own.

What are some of your non-negotiable items of gear?

The post Lock Laces Review appeared first on Fitness and Frozen Grapes.

We left New York City at 7 a.m., biked north across the George Washington Bridge (my first time ever!), and arrived at the race site around 8 a.m.  Although the ride over was a little stressful—mainly due to a super-narrow uphill bike path that led to the GW Bridge—it was worth it.

This video tours the half-marathon course, which we rode after finishing the 5-K.  It was absolutely beautiful and reminded me of Central New York riding.  During the season, most FTE members ride to and around Jersey at least once a week, so I’ll definitely be back soon.

Anyway, at the race site, we signed wavers, picked up packets, and stowed our bikes in transition the secured area.  And took a few team photos of course!

We ended up hanging out in transition by our bikes for a while, so I didn’t visit any of the booths.  It seemed like a home-grown race, so there weren’t a ton of national vendors, but there was a huge Muscle Milk table.

About 15 minutes before the 9 a.m. start, I had this strawberry Hüma Chia Energy Gel. (Full disclosure:  Hüma contacted me and asked if I’d like to test two gels in exchange for a review.  As always, all opinions expressed are my own.)

In terms of road races, I don’t take gels for any event shorter than a half-marathon, but I knew a pick-me-up after biking and before running would be a good idea.  I’ll post a full review after I test the second gel, but so far, I’m a huge fan.  This one tasted exactly like strawberries, and aside from its flavor and consistency being spot on, it also didn’t give me any stomach trouble.  Total win-win.

Anyway, onto the race.  An out-and-back course, the route contained lots of hills, including a killer one at the beginning that spanned half of a mile.

Screenshot from the first 1.5 miles of the half-marathon course, which is why the image is so tiny.

But what goes up must come down:  on the bright side, this hill made it easy to negative split the race, which was my primary goal.  During both Nautica South Beach and the most recent two-mile time trial, I aimed to get progressively faster each mile, which didn’t exactly happen.  My pace group teammates were on board with doing a progressive/tempo run with the goal of negative splitting, so we decided to stick together, but if one of us wanted to make a move, then pulling away was obviously OK.

This was my first 5-K race in nearly one year (was RUNapoolza really my last one?), and I forgot how quickly it goes by!  We held a steady 8:20 pace on the hill, which actually acted as a great separator.  Yes, it was a smaller race anyway—about 150 runners—but it was still nice to have lots of space.  Shortly after clocking the first mile (Garmin said 7:58 I believe), we saw our coach and two teammates making their way back already!  Our coach won the entire race (casually running 5:20 miles, crazy!), and our two teammates took second and third.  Nice job, FTE!

Once we hit the turnaround mark and headed back, a lot of runners cheered for my female teammate and me. (One guy is also in our pace group, and he was holding strong with us too.) Apparently we were the first two women.  What the what?!  Guess there’s a first time for everything, right?

At mile two, my teammates told me I should leave them and make my move, but I couldn’t find the next gear; maybe it was biking to the race, maybe it was forgoing a true warm up, maybe it was a combination of the two.  It just wasn’t my day; what can you do?  With the downhill to the finish line in our sight, my female teammate opened up her stride and flew down.  She rocked it and took first overall for women!  When I saw her attack, I knew she was gone.  I crossed the finish line a few seconds later and posted a final time of 22:29 (7:14 min./mi.), which was good enough for second place overall for women and (lucky) thirteenth overall, including the men.  Gotta love the local races!

Overall, FTE did really well:  eleven finished in the top 14!  Unfortunately, we didn’t stay for the awards ceremony, and it wasn’t until after we were back in NYC we found out there were plaques for the winners.  Maybe we’ll bike back next weekend to pick them up!

Do you prefer doing races with friends or by yourself?

The post Escape to the Palisades 5-K Race Recap appeared first on Fitness and Frozen Grapes.

Too hot for the black Under Armour pants–ditched those for some shorts after this photo was taken.

We came (via bike), we raced, we conquered—and then biked more, ate some delicious carbs, biked back to Manhattan, and finally enjoyed some Cinco de Mayo festivities.  The race recap will be posted within the next few days, aka when the official finishing times (and photos!) are released.  It was a hilly course, and even though it went relatively well, the highlight of the day for me was biking.  Riding in Jersey was absolutely gorgeous, and it reminded me a lot of good ol’ Central New York.  Plus, I logged 40-plus miles roundtrip, which is the farthest I’ve ridden—ever.  Very solid Sunday!

Time for this week’s Write It Down, Do It Up!

(If you’re new to WIDDIU, here’s how it works:  Every Sunday evening, I post my workout schedule for the week, and I invite you to do the same.  This way, we can motivate each other and hold ourselves accountable.  Sounds like a win-win, right?)

Monday – a.m. run with Full Throttle Endurance (FTE); a.m. strength train

Tuesday – a.m. bike with FTE; a.m. strength train

Wednesday – a.m. indoor cycle with FTE; a.m. run off the bike

Thursday – a.m. bike; a.m. run

Friday – a.m. swim with FTE

Saturday – a.m. swim with FTE

Sunday – a.m. easy bike or off

How did you celebrate Cinco de Mayo?

The post Write It Down, Do It Up – Week of May 5 appeared first on Fitness and Frozen Grapes.

1.  This will be my first time in four years celebrating Cinco de Mayo.  How is this possible?  In college, I always seemed to be stuck at a prof’s house for final portfolio presentations (ah, the joys of a small liberal arts college), which meant no Cinco shenanigans.  Things will be different on Sunday!

My teammates and I will bike to the start line of Escape to the Palisades, run the 5-K, and then ride around Jersey.  More likely than not, some adult beverages will be consumed—after the race of course.

2.  While working at JackRabbit Sports last night, I wore the Saucony Kinvara 3’s—and immediately fell in love.

I’ve been eying this pair for a while, and my size was finally available last night.  I’ll spare you the shoe geek specs, but it’s an incredibly light and comfortable shoe.  Coincidentally, I’m also due for a new pair of sneakers.  Hmmm …

3.  In terms of cooking, I took a risk and threw together a new spice blend.

I don’t remember the exact measurements, but it contained cayenne pepper (obviously), garlic powder, brown sugar, and dried thyme, plus some cinnamon and salt.  Huge success!

4.  This Facebook post made my day:  MuckFest MS shared one of my aunt’s photos.

What a great race–and we’re famous!

5.  Thanks to working tonight and swimming tomorrow morning, I’m going to have a crazy night filled with some baller reading material.

If you missed yesterday’s post, Jen and I teamed up to start a book club.  Just fill out this Google form if you’d like to join!

What are some things that are making your Friday extra awesome?

The post Friday Favorites – May 3 appeared first on Fitness and Frozen Grapes.