An Active Bank Holiday

Good morning from London! I am spending a long weekend here catching up with some girlfriends. Today I’ll be working from Casey’s flat but once 5pm comes around the weekend will begin!

Yesterday I took advantage of our bank holiday in Geneva to enjoy the perfect weather and workouts before heading to London.332Bo and I had full intention of sleeping in but around 6am we both found ourselves wide awake. Instead of fighting the urge to wakeup we spent an hour in bed sipping coffee and just chatting. It was so nice to spend this time together as we’ll be apart for the next few days. While I’m in London he’s in the United States for a friend’s wedding in Savannah followed by a few days in New York City. While I’m sad I couldn’t make the trip back it just wasn’t financially smart and would have been difficult with work.

328After a relaxing few hours around the house he headed to the airport and I headed out the door for a trail run. Yesterday’s weather in Geneva was absolutely incredible – 65 degrees and sunny.  I ran along the Rhone River trail which was busier than normal due to yesterday’s holiday and the beautiful weather.

334339347 After finishing the trail portions I stopped at a ramp where I did 4 hill repeats. Renaud and I did this ramp last week 3 times and while it definitely wasn’t easier it felt good to be able to push for four sprints up the zig zag ramp. You can’t really tell from this picture but the ramp is super steep and therefore is a great place to practice running on the balls of my feet, leaning forward and engaging my glutes. 349310

An hour after finishing my run I headed to InnerCityoga to meet Katie for a rare mid-day treat of a 90 minute yoga class. The yoga flow class was described as a class for all levels but the sun salutation set and multiple plank portions definitely left me sweating. I took advantage of the studio’s showers and saved myself a trip back home by showering there before heading to the airport for my flight to London. There is a delicious health food spot in the train station where I was able to refuel with an Indian salad including curry chicken, pineapple, cucumber, nuts, and lettuce. So fresh and delicious!355The flight to London was smooth and before I knew it I was enjoying the late evening sunshine in Regents Park as Casey and I took their adorable dog, Lady, on an 1.5 walk through the parks and along the canals. I didn’t bring my camera but it was perfect weather! 366

We spent the rest of the evening at their favorite neighborhood restaurant, Lahore Kebab House. A Pakistani restaurant located in Marylebone, everything we ate was delicious though a few dishes definitely left me drinking water and craving the cool, cucumber sauce.  I am not an expert on Indian or Pakistani cuisine but many of the flavors seemed similar though I noticed more meat dishes on this menu than I feel like I’ve seen at most Indian restaurants. If you’re a London local I highly recommend this spot as the prices are very reasonable and the flavors will leave you thinking about it a day later. 1309357Do you take advantage of holidays to squeeze in extra workouts or do you relax? Have you ever had Pakistani food?

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May Favorite Things – Summer Fashion

Spring has arrived and Summer is quickly on its way which means here in Switzerland people plan long, exotic holidays for two weeks at a time. While we’re not heading anywhere exotic, we are going to enjoy 10 days of rest and relaxation in Savannah, Georgia for Bo’s 30th birthday with some of our closest friends and of course our family.

This month’s favorites revolve around the items I’m loving for the upcoming warmer months including my favorite sunglasses, a perfect sweater for cool evenings, a relaxed t-shirt dress, a long dress perfect for date nights, and a cover-up which will be perfect for Summer evenings along the lake or out on the boat in Savannah.

Summer Fashion Favorites

Folding RaybansJCrew Canvas Espadrille WedgesHive & Honey Lizzie Stripe T-Shirt DressJCrew Factory Printed Crinkle Tunic  JCrew Factory Pleated Key Hole TopJCrew Floral Charm NecklaceSam Edelman Lynn espadrilleJCrew Merino Tippi sweaterLilly Pulitzer Deanna dress

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Geneva Triathlon Training–Week 1

Welcome back from the holiday weekend for those readers who honored veterans yesterday on Memorial Day and my UK friends who had a bank holiday yesterday. This is a short work week here as well as we have Thursday off for Ascension Day and then I will be working from London on Friday.

As I mentioned a few weeks ago, I finally pulled the trigger and registered for my first triathlon, the Geneva International Triathlon, which takes place on July 19th. There are multiple course lengths but as this is my first, I opted for the short course.

500 meter swim – 20 km bike – 5 km run

or

.3 mile swim – 12.4 mile bike – 3.1 mile run

When I glance at these distances none of them seem overwhelming, not even the swim. However, I know that the difficulty comes in asking my legs to run even 3 miles after they’ve kicked my way through an open water swim and pedaled up a challenging bike course.

Therefore, after consulting multiple websites and starting to read Your First Triathlon I kicked my butt into full gear last week. I don’t have a full plan in place yet and clearly need to add biking into the rest of my weekly workouts but for now, I’m happy to have logged some solid run and solid swims last week. I already know that this week will include a training ride with Charlie in London and next weekend Bo is helping me practice clipping in (que the fear) while we enjoy a long ride in Geneva! It doesn’t hurt that I have two training partners for my triathlon even though neither of them are in Geneva. Charlie is doing a triathlon in June and I’ve loved being able to text her questions back and forth as she is ahead of me on the training journey.  If you head over to Theodora’s blog today you can see that she just started training for her first 70.3. Her workouts inspire me to push through and wake up even when I don’t want to and we often text each other updates from workouts we dread like pool swims.

So, without further adieu, here’s a recap of last week’s workouts:

Monday: Rest day

Tuesday: AM: 1800 meter swim including 50 meter race in the middle PM: 2 hours of music power yoga at InnerCityYoga

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Wednesday: 3.5 mile trail run including hill repeats with Renaud

Thursday: 2000 meter swim including 100 meter race in the middle

Friday: Intense track speed workout with my friend and running coach, Renaud. My plan was a 1 mile warm-up followed by 8 x 400 meter repeats at 1:40 pace followed by 1:20 jogging before a 1 mile cool down.  More details to come on this workout later this week as I have an awesome app to share with you and tips to figure out what your speed pace should be!

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Saturday: 5 mile shakeout run through Rome with my friend Raj

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Sunday: Walking approximately 6 miles through Rome

Your turn – If you’ve done a triathlon before, what is your #1 tip for a rookie?

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