Week 5, Day 1, Part 1

First off, I would like to start this blog with some amazing news. Our friends Emily and Mike got engaged this Saturday! Congrats to the both of them! Holly and I are sooo happy for you guys.

But along with this amazing news comes the reason why I did not run my 5 miles yesterday and now have to dread running them all day today. Mike proposed to Emily right before walking in to an amazing surprise engagement party for the both of them that he had put together. Everyone at the party was so happy to be together for such an exciting reason that there was obviously a lot of drinking involved, especially since the open bar started at 7pm. (Sidenote: Dad, I know you're going to read this and call me tonight and tell me to take the post down because I'm talking about drinking, but I promise I'll delete the blog before I look for another job.) The entire night was a blur of dancing, drinking and taking A LOT of pictures. Could not have been more perfect!

Sunday morning I woke up and thought 2 things, obviously, I'm never drinking again, and where can I find the closest Dunkin Donuts or McDonalds. Long story short, we found a Dunkin Donuts, I slept for about 3 hours when I got home and spent the rest of my day on the couch watching Jersey Shore reruns and Kourtney and Kim Take New York.

So since there was no way 5 miles of running was happening yesterday, today I have to suck it up and get it done. Hopefully Holly and I will be getting together today at the gym after over 2 weeks of working out on our own. We're back!

Sorry!

I want to apologize to all our wonderful followers. If you don't live in NYC then you have no idea that we got like 18 inches of snow yesterday so I didn't work out and Holly is still stuck in TX I think. We're a mess right now but are determined to pull it together next week. I will be taking advantage of a built in rest day on Fridays and I am going to work out so hopefully I can get a post done tonight.

Football game tomorrow in 18 inches of snow, hopefully I'll have a winning post to share.

Week Four, Day Two

I'm not going to lie, today was the biggest off day I've had so far. We were suppose to run 3.5 miles but I was only able to run 2.5. Not good! I'm pretty down about it so I thought I'd end the day with a few jokes that made me feel a little bit better.


So there's these 2 muffins in an oven.
And one of them yells "Geez, it's hot in here!"
And the other muffin replies "Holy Crap, a talking muffin!"

Two silk worms were in a race.What was the result? A Tie.

Two flies are on the porch. Which one is the actor? The one on the screen.

Why did the girl fall off the swing? She had no arms.

Why did the book join the police department? So he could work undercover.


Anyway, hopefully tomorrow will be a better day. Fingers crossed!!

Week Three has come to an end...

Yesterday was our cross-training day and mine consisted of lugging bags around Newark airport. Continental must have known I needed to get some form of exercise in so they decided to move my gate to the other side of the airport and then move us again because our airplane had a cracked windshield. I was out of the apartment at 8am and didn't get to Houston until 5:30pm. Ugh. When I did get to my brother's house in Houston I wanted to take it easy because of the 5-mile run scheduled for today. We went for a quick bite to eat and then I went right to bed.

Although yesterday's travel experience was miserable, it did bring me to Houston which has some real nice weather this time of year. I've been running in 20 degree weather with extreme winds so it was a welcome surprise when I woke up and stepped outside to 60 degrees and sunny.

Houston is a funny place to run, people are so friendly and cars actually stop for you. As I was running, I came to a few intersections where cars definitely had the right of way but they stopped. I almost didn't know what to do so I just waved. Then as I was running, people were waving and say morning ya'll. Like seriously? When I run the streets of New York, cabs intentionally try to hit me and I think people may actually stick their foot out when I am trying to run by. Jerks.

Anyway, back to the run. This was my first 5-mile run so my goal was to get to the 3-mile point and take a short break before finishing up. When I did reach that point, I knew I could keep going so I ended up running the full 5 miles without a break. I was so happy that I ran inside, told my brother, and made him take me to get a latte as a reward. Haha.

This was an amazing start to the day, now the Jets need to win...

Quick Post

Today is a rest day so we don't have much to report on. I would like to share one thing though. Holly and I are both doing this run to raise money for amazing charities that mean a lot to us. Holly is running for Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and I am running for Big Brothers Bigs Sisters of New York City. If you have not done so already, please consider donating to our causes by clicking on one of the links below:

Holly's Fundraising Link - Click Here

Laura's Fundraising Link - Click Here

Thank you for all our your support!

Week Three, Day Four

Today at Boom Fitness I was joined not by my training partner Holly who decided to be a rock star and run outside, but by the most interesting and annoying people at Boom Fitness. Everyone knows, when you go to the gym you want to just get in and get out (that's what she said). Tonight I was greeted at the door by a very talkative Boom employee who must not have talked to anyone all day so that when I walked in the door she could tell me how horrible her day was going. After 10 minutes I some how ended the conversation but not after she could say this gem, "Today was horrible but I just got a mani and pedi and feel so much better." Thank God! Not a great start to my workout.

To explain the next person you have to understand the set up of the gym. When you walk into the cardio part of Boom all of the ellipticals are to the right and there is a line of about 15 treadmills against the far wall. Holly and I always go to the corner on the left so our slow running isn't being judged by anyone. When I walked in today there were only 2 other people on the treadmills and they were on the right side. I was so excited, I didn't have to work out right next to someone! But then Miss. I Don't Mind Being In Your Personal Space showed up and went on the treadmill right next to me! There were 12 other treadmills to pick from against an entire wall and she picks the one right next to me. Who does that?! Then, to top everything off, instead of just walking or running she ran and then stopped every single time she got a text or call from someone, which was about every 30 seconds. She was probably the most annoying person to workout next to ever.

Then came lifting. Now, if you know me at all you would know that I hate lifting. I try to avoid picking up basically anything so I won't gain anymore muscle than I did in college. I also hate lifting because at Boom Fitness that is where all the, as Snookie would put it, juice heads hang out. So as I was doing some bench presses with my 5 pound weights, the guy next to me was lifting what looked like at least 200 pounds while screaming out curse words. Like literally just screaming out the F, D, S, C words without anyone saying anything. Long story short, all I did was bench press today.

So after a day at the gym being annoyed by almost every person there, I'm home watching Easy A on our amazing couch, full from an excellent dinner, planning to go to sleep early.

Just another day...

Well hello everyone!! Laura has been taking over posting duties because I've been in Vermont learning how to snowboard. Let me tell you, for those of you who have not tried snowboarding, I would think twice before heading out to the mountains. It was probably one of the most physically demanding things I've ever done - even more demanding than our college workouts. I couldn't even tell you how many times I fell and had to pick myself back up (see video below) and the pain that resulted from my falls. My arms, legs, butt, and abs have been extremely sore to the point where I can barely sit down.



On today's agenda was an easy 2-mile run. I thought this would be great just to get back into the swing of things and also stretch out my muscles. Before I put on my running gear, I went down to the front desk because I had a package there waiting for me. It was from Memorial Sloan-Kettering. I finally got my Fred's Team shirt which I will be wearing on race day! This motivated me even more to get out there despite not feeling 100%. Plus, I'm almost at my goal of $1,000! So, I bundled up and finished my 2 miles. It was tough, I must say, because my legs have been throbbing for the past 4 days but it was good to get a short run under my belt before this weekend's 5-mile run.

Week Three, Day Two

Today was the first day back at the gym after an amazing long weekend thanks to MLK. I'm going to assume that most people who read this blog (all 4 of you, not including my parents) live in NYC and experienced the weather we got yesterday. On days like that the hardest thing about working out is actually getting to the gym. Like Woody Allen said, "Half the battle is showing up." So on my way to the gym I came up with some reasons why I shouldn't be going, and you'd be surprised how easy it was.

1. My feet are getting wet and cold, that might throw off my workout.

2. This gym is so out of the way (2 blocks), I should just workout at home.

3. I forgot an umbrella.

4. Missing one day won't ruin my entire training program.

5. I'm starting to feel a little sick.

6. Our couch at home is really comfortable.

7. Did I tape Teen Mom tonight? I should go home and check.

8. I ate pretty well today, working out wouldn't make a huge difference.

9. Some magazines say getting a lot of sleep is just as important as running the miles you have to, I should go home and take a nap.

10. I walked a lot today, it was probably 3.5 miles.

11. Can I get out of this Half Marathon thing somehow?

12. 3.5 miles sounds hard.

Even though I came up with some really great excuses to not go to the gym, I ended up going and finishing my 3.5 miles only walking once at the 2.5 mile mark for 2 minutes!!! Have a great day and I hope you're enjoying this beautiful weather as much as I am.

Week THREE!!!!

I can't believe we've made it through 2 weeks and are now beginning our third week of training. It feels like just yesterday Holly and I were eating pizza and drinking talking about how awful it would be to run a half marathon and how stupid people are who do it. Even after 2 weeks of training I think we would still agree on that statement

Yesterday I went on a 4 mile run along the Hudson River on my way to Street Meat's 2nd football game of the winter season. The run went pretty well but I can't say the same for the football game. The vibe of the team once the game started felt a little off. This continued through the entire first half, ending with us down by 16. During half time, no one had much to say and everyone's PMAs (Positive Mental Attitudes) were almost nonexistent. In the second half we finally scored a touchdown but by the time we did there was no coming back. The game ended and we had officially lost to the Flying Pink Popped Collars. Let me say that again, we lost to a team called the Flying Pink Popped Collars! After the lose everyone parted ways not being able to grasp what just happened.

Today I have off from work and Holly is coming back from Vermont, so the training team will be back together with way better posts and stories tomorrow. Today's training is just lifting and stretching so I may be doing that in my apartment considering the high for today is suppose to be 28 degrees!! Gotta love NYC in the winter.

I hope you're not at work reading our blog today!! Happy MLK Day Everyone!

Week Two, Day 6

While Holly is up in Vermont begin a snow bunny, I'm here in NYC trying to stay motivated to work out while my partner is gone. Today was a 30 minute cross training day. Unfortunately I slacked off and walked for my cross train. Even though I slacked I will say my workout wasn't boring. I got to walk with my boyfriend and his best friend while they talked about sports, working out, and best of all, is it faster walking to Union Square from our apartment or taking the subway? Most people would say, how is that an argument, of course the subway is faster. Somehow the conversation lasted over a half hour and looking back on it, I don't think there was ever an agreed upon answer.

Tomorrow is suppose to be a 4 mile run but I will be running to our football game which is 5 miles and then playing in the game. I promise tomorrow's post will be a little bit more interesting and will hopefully include a picture of winners after the game.

Week Two Day 4!

Yesterday was my rest day so I have nothing really to report on the half marathon training..... but I do have a confession!!!

After I posted on the blog on Tuesday night about not getting my ipod back and then praising my boyfriend for getting me a new one, the phone rang. I like to think it rang because every employee at Boom Fitness reads our blog, but I think he just works the night shift. The guy I talked to the night before at the gym called and told me that they found my ipod and I could pick it up tomorrow. Oops! I attempted to keep the phone call to myself, but living in NYC you can imagine our apartment isn't very big and you can hear everything that's going on. When I walked back into the room my boyfriend's face looked so defeated. He tried to do something nice and it blew up in his face. Then to top things off, of course I was so excited about my new ipod, within an hour I had already opened it and loaded all my songs on it so it couldn't be returned.

Anyway, now I have 2 ipods, an annoyed boyfriend, and 3 miles to run today. Crazy how things can change so fast.

Day Threeeeeeeeeee of Week Two!!

So today was another easy day for us half-marathoners. It was our cross-training day. Typically during cross-training days, we have the option of riding a bike, going on the elliptical, or even just walking. Laura decided to ride the bike at Boom Fitness and I decided to go for a long walk down the slushy streets of New York. Slipping and sliding definitely stretches out the muscles. From 57th and Park, I walked all the way down to Union Square (15th and Broadway). In the city, 20 blocks or 8 avenues is considered 1 mile. You do the math because I am tired of numbers.

During this whole process, I've been trying to eat healthy and lay off the booze. Unfortunately, I live with Julia Child (a.k.a. my roommate Jessica) and she made the most ridiculous mushroom lasagna. I am now in a food coma sitting here with Jessica's friends. It's actually pretty cool because they all work at Memorial Sloan-Kettering which is the beneficiary of all your donations.

On another note, I am preparing for a weekend of intense snowboarding...on the bunny slopes. I'll be traveling to Vermont to visit my friend Kristin and snowboard for the first time. This will be my cross-training for Saturday if I don't get hurt on my first attempt.

Today's post wasn't too exciting but thanks for following :)

Week Two, Day Two

Today was a day I was almost looking forward to. Holly and I have been running for over a week and I was excited to get on the treadmill and run 3 miles without being tired. Of course, the world had other plans for me....

After my workout yesterday I left my ipod nano at the gym. I tried not to freak out and called the gym. No one had turned in an ipod. I called 3 more times and asked when I got to Boom and still, no ipod. So during lunch I went to get new headphones at Rite Aid by my work and come to find out while I was running today... they SUCK. Maybe the worst headphones ever.

Then, while I was changing at work I realized I totally forgot my Nike+ watch that tells me how far I'm running and calculates my speed and then manages everything on my computer. I can't catch a break today!! So after I get over how mad at myself I am, I motivate myself to walk in the 25 degree weather to Boom Fitness. When I get there and ask about my ipod at the front desk, I get so distracted I forget to pick up a towel. I didn't realize I forgot a towel until I get on the treadmill and start running. DAMNIT! I don't stop and continue to run my 3 miles dripping in sweat whipping my forehead with my shirt.

But.... as I'm sitting here writing my blog complaining about everything, my wonderful boyfriend walks in the door and says he has a surprise me. Last night my surprise was Pretzel M&Ms which is by far my favorite candy ever, so that was going to be hard to top. He opens the bag and......he got me an IPOD!!!!! Best boyfriend ever!!!

Now it's time for the UConn game, Go Huskies!!!

Week Two - Day One

Well every one, I have been MIA and Laura has had to cover my blog duties. After Thursday's 3-mile run and lifting session, I just didn't have the energy to write a post. Don't worry, it won't happen again. But I must tell you what happened on Thursday because it was a good day. Laura and I completed the full 3 miles without taking one break!! It was an accomplishment for us and I was really happy about it. Although, one guy at Boom Fitness did rain on our parade by telling us we were cheating because we didn't go down all the way on our bicep curls. I guess he didn't read my earlier post which clearly states that we are chronic cheaters when it comes to hitting the weights. By the way, this is the second time we've done a lifting work out at Boom Fitness and also the second time we've gotten accused of cheating. I'm seeing a pattern.

Any way, I missed our 4-mile run on Sunday because I was in Jersey so I had to do it today. I won't lie, it's pretty cold in New York right now so when I got home from work, I put on my Under Armour ColdGear and headed outside. The run started off well but then it got darker and darker which meant it got colder and colder. My legs were literally shivering as I was running up and down the East River. I got through about 2.22 miles (I have one of those watches that can figure out mileage) and took a short break. Then I got back at it. I finished the 4 miles and as soon as I got home, I fell to the ground. This is what my roommate, Jessica, saw when she got home...

I might have been on the ground for a good 10 minutes before regaining consciousness.

While I write this, Laura is probably finishing up her light lifting work out. Monday's are supposed to be relatively easy because of the long run on Sunday. Unfortunately, that wasn't the case for me. Tomorrow we have a 3-mile run and I plan on doing my lifting tomorrow as well.

One Week Down!

Today was the day I have been dreading all week. For some reason three miles seems hard but doable but four miles, that just sounds horrible. After a rough start this morning waking up on the late side, I got my life together and made myself a nice breakfast of eggs and a sausage and then only 20 minutes later went for my 4 mile run. That was my first mistake. I literally have NOTHING to do today, but still felt the need to wait only 20 minutes after having a grease filled breakfast and go on the longest run I've ever gone on since high school. Second mistake, stopping to walk at the half way mark for a minute. My entire body literally cramped up from the cold and wanted to shut down. I still had 2 miles to go! The run would have been so much easier if I had just slowed down to a jog or done anything besides stopping and then walking.

On the bright side, I got to see way too many men wearing long spandex who should not even be going into stores that have long spandex for men in them. I also got a taste of what the marathon is going to be like by having a homeless man sitting on the bike path on the east river cheering runners on. But I doubt the people cheering for me at the marathon would call me sweetheart and tell me I have a nice ass. Although I wouldn't be mad if they did.

Tomorrow is a day of just lifting so hopefully Holly and I can pump some iron without being told by some tool at Boom Fitness that we are doing bicep curls wrong. Have a great end of the weekend!

Day Six

First, I would like to apologize to all of our loyal blog followers. I know most of you wake up every morning and rush to your computers to see what funny thing Laura and Holly have come up with to talk about on their blog to help get you through the day. I would like to promise missing days of blogging won't happen again, but I'm not sure I can do that.

We didn't post on Friday because as you all know from looking at our training calendar, Fridays are rest days unless we miss a workout during the week. Today, Saturday, was a cross training day so instead of doing the usual walking or biking, I played football for my Zog Sports team named Street Meat. This afternoon we played a team named the Giants in the frozen tundra that is Roosevelt Island. The turf field was completely covered in snow which I would like to think made my workout even more effective because we were basically running in sand. After a tough played first half against a team at least twice our size with a policeman and fireman on it we were only down by one touchdown. After inspirational speeches by almost every guy on our team during half time, we came back on the field in the second half immediately scoring by doing Russo's speciality. After a long bomb thrown down the field by Morgan to Russo the game was tied. Quickly after that we went up by a touchdown and the rest is history. After the game we all refueled with mozzarella sticks and are looking forward to a night full of football and hopefully a dance party or two.

Tomorrow is our first 4 mile run outside so I'm going to attempt to keep my drinking to a minimum (unlikely). I'm sure there will be a lot of hungover complaining in tomorrow's blog, so hopefully it'll be a good one. Have a great Saturday Night!

Day Three

Day Two was a rough one so it was time for Holly and I to look forward to an easy workout. After complaining to each other all day and coming up with a million metaphors for how sore we were, it was off to the place where the damage was done. Since all we did was ride the bike for 30 minutes I don't have too much to report on our experience. We did get to hear a woman who obviously thought she was Celine Deon sing while on the elliptical, but that was about it.

While we were on the bike, Holly read up on how all the celebrities are staying trim in US Magazine. She read about how Ali from the bacheolorette lost 10 pounds training for a half marathon that is a year away. So glad we gave ourselves less than three months. I passed the time by listening to The Hunger Games, my first book on tape ever. I read somewhere that books on tape are a good way to pass the time on long distance runs, so far it's working.

After our bike ride we were planning on doing abs or at least stretching, but after seeing that there were no mats for us to use in the most convenient part of the gym, we decided to just go home. We're so motivated!

Before I end the post I would like to say thank you to Janet McCormick for helping us post our workout calendar and donate links which you can now find on the right side of the screen. Thank You!

Day Two.....

After a rather easy Day One,I knew Day Two was going to be a bit harder. Unfortunately, I was mistaken, because it was a lot harder. For starters, Laura and I haven't really been hitting the pavement much so 3 miles wasn't going to be an easy task. Plus, we had just done some light lifting the day before and like Laura said in her last post, our legs were reaaalllyyy sore. It was actually pathetic. I remember the days at UConn when we would "max" out with 45 lbs. on each end of the barbell (we were the non-lifters on our respective teams so for us that was heavy). Well guess what? We only did body squats yesterday. Yes, body squats and we cannot move our legs. Pathetic. So getting back to the run. Throughout the day, I was IMing Laura asking her why the day was going by so slow and just mentioning how much I was dreading the 3-mile run. She was also complaining. But we did have some laughs discussing our new training blog. Any way, the clock hits 4:30pm and I'm out of the office on my way downtown to 34th and Park, the location of Boom Fitness. I hop into the locker room, drop off my stuff, and head over to the treadmills. I'm walking slow, contemplating turning back, but then I see our very own Laura Trzasko on the treadmill pounding it out (with her new Nike+ shoes). I hop up on the treadmill next to her and she's already 6 minutes into her work out. This was our first run so we didn't want to completely overdo it so our goal was to get to 1.5 miles and then take a very short break before starting up again. Well we both got to 2.5 miles, took a one-minute break, and then finished off. After completing the 3-mile run, we high-fived like nerds and went to stretch. The stretching part was painful and as I sit on my couch writing this post, I am still feeling a sharp pain in my quads. Little did I know that my quad muscles were still there...I was starting to think my legs were made of jello :(

Now I know this is a very detailed post but not only should it amuse you but it also keeps us in check. Reminds us of where we started and hopefully, where we can get to. Laura...Day Three is all yours.

Day One!!

So my friend Holly and I have been on a mission for years to get in shape and be "skinny mini's" since our days at UConn where freshman year we ate more than the people on Biggest Loser combined. Apparently you won't lose weight if you eat 3 meals a day at an all you can eat dining hall full of cheeseburgers, pizza, pasta, cheesecakes, and the most amazing cookies anyone has ever had. Even being Division 1 athletes didn't stop us from putting on the freshman 15. After many attempts at trying to lose weight and failing, Holly and I have now signed up for a program that will force us to get in shape, or we might die, the NYC Half-Marathon. Now if you ask me, looking back on this decision, it might actually be the dumbest thing we've ever done. Not only have we signed up for this run, but people are donating money for us to do it, so there is literally no way out.


This is a picture of Holly and I on Halloween at UConn probably about 5 years ago. I'm pretty sure you can only go up from that picture.

After much anticipation Day One finally happened and I'm not going to lie, I'm sitting in my chair at work almost in tears because I'm so sore and I never want to have to use my leg muscles to get up. So I would say Day One was a success! After some light cardio, we really pushed ourselves and walked for 10 minutes (I'm sure that will help us run a half-marathon), and then Holly and I lifted for basically the first time since UConn. When I touched that weight for the first time to do a bench press, I almost threw up. All the flash backs of trainers screaming in my face, the feeling of pushing myself physically further than I thought I ever could and the constant feeling that I was either going to throw up or just sit down and cry hit me. It took a minute to put all of those awful memories behind me, but after I did our work out wasn't too bad. We had one minor incident when a guy came up to us and told us we were cheating on our ab workout, but after we explained to him that we didn't care and we couldn't do the exercise without cheating, he left us alone.

We ended Day One the best way we knew how, SHOPPING! I purchased new running shoes that I will be debuting today for our first 3 mile run and Holly and I both got an amazing Nike fleece that we're going to wear for our first outside run together on Sunday. Tomorrow Holly will post about our Day Two experience, and it should be interesting because I can't remember the last time either of us ran 3 miles.