Blog Update

Hey everyone! Just a quick update post since I know there’s been silence from my blog for a week now. The reason is because I’m doing some blog maintenance and will be transferring my domain, etc this week. I have been getting help from a wonderful fellow Sweat Pink Ambassador and because all the posts are being transferred, I cannot post new ones right now. Follow me on twitter, FB and instagram to keep up with me for the next few days!

Stay tuned..

#prayforboston #runforboston

Is it summer yet & Thrive Forward Sport Edition

Today’s Workout: AM lifting/strength and PM yoga@ Om Factory

So it was 80 degrees today in NYC.. did we completely miss spring or something? Even though today was nice, I do like spring and a small part of me is happy it will be getting a little cooler this weekend. I plan on going hiking in my brand new hiking shoes that Karl and I bought on impulse. Now we have to make sure we use them because they aren’t cheap. That being said, I did enjoy sitting and eating lunch while looking at the flowers planted by the city of NY in 80 degrees today.

Flowers in Herald Square

Unfortunately, this beautiful weather got me thinking about the summer, wearing bikinis, and also about starting training for my first marathon. So yeah, I sort of panicked because I can’t believe its already this warm out and I’m just not ready for it. Especially for the marathon training. I want to do it right and I want to do it healthy most importantly, from the inside out. Which means no beer…

But no, even though it sounds delicious, I will not have beer. Not only does it add to the waistline which is the opposite of what I’m trying to do, but I also have upcoming races this year that I want to be tip-top for.

This is where the new Vega Thrive Forward Sport Edition program is coming in for me. You may have read my review in the past of the original Vega Thrive Forward Program created by Brendan Braizer and remember how much I love it. Now, they have introduced a brand new part of the program focused on sports nutrition to pair with their Vega Sport line.. um, can you say amazing?! How many runners (including me) have wondered how to eat more plant-based but still have energy they need? This will give you the answers… for free.

I’ll be talking more about the program the more I, myself, go through it but it includes:

Clean Sport Nutrition: Protein, Recovery, Training
Endurance Training
Strength Training
Functional Strength

Just like the original, you get videos, recipes, tips, and a TON of information that’s going to help me meet my running goals while still eating clean and mostly plant-based.

Here’s one video about endurance training sources for athletes:

My pre-summer goal is to incorporate as much of this program as I can as often as I can. For the original Thrive Forward, I printed out and made a binder of recipes and important information that I learned. I plan on doing the same with the Sport Edition, but making it a priority since I am so active and have a marathon (whattt?!) coming up. I NEED to put better food in my body!

Brendan Braizer

If you already signed up for Thrive Forward (again, its FREE), the Sport Edition information/resources should be in your account already at the bottom. If you haven’t signed up, you can do it now here. You also have the chance to win some awesome prizes from Vega (like whole tubs of their protein powder) by participating and sharing information. You just can’t lose, seriously!

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Has it been warm weather where you are?
Are you ready for the summer? How will you make sure you are?

Colon Cancer Challenge 15K Race Recap & Fit Four Gloves Winner

This morning I woke up and headed to Central Park for my very first race this year: The NYRR Colon Cancer Challenge 15K. I have a much lighter race schedule this year than last in order to try to stay healthy for the NYC Marathon this fall. I was excited for this one for several reasons 1) it was my first 2013 race 2) I ran with my sister and 3) this was the first time I ran a 15K distance (9.3 miles). Plus, the weather was beautiful and sunny.

Central Park on race morning

There were three events happening this morning: 1.7 mile walk, 4 mile run and 9.3 mile run plus a festival to increase awareness of colorecta cancer. They even had a giant inflatable colon at the festival that you could walk though. I really liked that this race was in support of this organization and helps to increase awareness.

Colon Cancer race shirt and bib

The race:

The race itself was held in Central Park and was almost two full loops of the lower loop (excluded the Harlem hills.. to my relief!). I typically am not the biggest ran of races where you repeat loops but today it didn’t bother me for some reason, although I would have preferred a route where this didn’t happen. I have also never ran a 15K distance before so this was different for me, I’m not used to stopping my runs mid-mile!

At the race start there was a bit of a bottleneck before it opened up, which is always annoying for a runner. We were basically fast walking at the start but once everyone spread out there was plenty of room on the rest of the course so it wasn’t a huge deal. There seemed to also be a good deal of people cheering on the sides which I always appreciate a bunch.

Approaching the finishline in pink and blue :) As you can tell, I’m obsessed with my blue capris, I promise I wash them in between each wear!

The hills of Central Park came out to play for sure. I haven’t run there in a while so I didn’t even think of it, but the rolling hills of the West side are, in my opinion, are always the toughest. My legs are certainly going to be sort tomorrow, the quads got a workout!

Luckily, I felt pretty good for most of the race and my breathing did settle in. My sister ran at a nice pace which pushed me to pick up mine to more than I have been running, plus I wanted someone to chat with during the race so we stayed together for most of it. I didn’t have any foot pain (yay) but my knee was a little tweaky (is that even a word?). Still, its not awful and the French toast bagels at the finishline made everything all better :)

I ended up finishing 9.3 miles in 1:25 (9:11/mile) which I’m happy with since I did it without too many body parts hurting me.

Recovering after the finish.

Pros:

• Beautiful weather: sunshine, nice temperature
• The distance. I never ran a 15K before but its a nice distance below a half marathon. Since I’ll be running the Nike Half in a two weeks, this was a nice training run
• Besides the bottleneck at the start, the runners spread out quickly for the rest of the race.
• French toast bagels at the race finish

Cons:

• The double loop course wasn’t my favorite but it wasn’t horrible either.
• Short bottleneck at the start of the race.

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Lastly, the winner of the Fit Four Gloves giveaway is….

Jill Snethen

Congratulations Jill! Contact me at runlikeagrlmegan [at] gmail [dot] com within 48 hours so I can get these gloves to you!

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Also, I *may* be switching my blog over to self-hosted this week so if you get error messages or things look funny, that’s why. I’ll tweet updates if that happens!

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Did you run this weekend? How did you do?
What is your next upcoming race?