ashleyd /

NYCM Training Week 4: Pump Up Playlist

Last week was fun and I am pleased to have no regrets. But, now that I’m back in New York City and ready to jump into the month of August, it’s time to get pumped up and back on track with my weekly training.

My travel schedule is in place for the next six weeks and work is going to keep me on my toes.

  • August 14th-16th San Francisco
  • August 18th-19th Boston for Healthy Living Summit
  • August 22nd-24th Chicago
  • August 29th-September 3rd Seattle
  • September 4th- 8th Los Angeles

In order to make sure that I am ready for the challenge and in the swing of things before travel ramps up, these next two weeks are a huge focus for me. While I did a great job eating healthy while I travelled last week, I didn’t get the sleep that I need and I definitely enjoyed a few to many alcoholic beverages. These next two weeks I’m pumping up the workouts, increasing sleep, keeping my food in check, taking my daily vitamins, and focusing on foam rolling and stretching a bit more.

Today was a perfect start as you can tell from my lunch and my dinner. The dinner, made at 9:45 when I got home from Pure Barre, was put together from start to finish in 5 minutes using ingredients in our refrigerator and pantry!

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This week’s workout schedule is as follows:

Monday: 5 miles in Central Park+Pure Barre blogger class

Tuesday: cross training

Wednesday: 5 miles

Thursday: stretching and foam rolling

Friday: 14 mile long run+Physique 57 blogger class

Saturday: 4 miles

Sunday: yoga or light, easy run

Anytime I need to focus on pumping myself up I head over to iTunes and build a new playlist. This one is a keeper and kept me moving, faster than normal, this evening as I ran through Central Park with my co-workers! I hope you enjoy it and find at least one song to add to your mix!

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How do you get yourself back into a routine after a break week OR what is your favorite workout song right now?

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ashleyd /

It’s Getting Real

Happy Thursday gang!

I can’t believe that the race is less than 48 hours away. This shit is getting real folks! This morning, before heading to work, I started packing and everything started setting in. My pace bracelet is printed, my Garmin is charged, and my playlist is made. My amazing friend and run coach, Gia, not only provided me with a suggested goal time, but also studied the course before providing my pace plan.

In case you’re curious, here is my plan for Saturday:

Mile 1-4 – 9:50 pace
Mile 5-7 – 9:54 pace (when the uphill climbs begin)
Mile 7-9 – 9:45 pace
Mile 10-13.1 – 9:40 pace (If I’m feeling good, this is where I’ll let the adrenaline push my pace. Deep down I know that these 3 miles are where I lost the race last year and therefore want to have gas in the tank to push it.)

Since I can’t seem to decide what my favorite song is these days, I decided to make a 52 song playlist so I can put my iPod on random for the whole race and just rock out. I love each of these songs for different reasons and believe that the random selection will keep me from getting bored. I mean really, who can pick and choose the best of  old school Brittney, Rush, Soulja Boy, Lady Gaga, and Ludacris?

I’m planning to rock my neon pink compression sleeves and my favorite Lululemon run skirt . My fuel plan is to stick to the water stations and take Pink Lemonade Honey Stingers  early and often. I’m a little nervous about the water stations but I’m more nervous about running with my Camel Bak after not using it on any of my training runs this winter.

Hopefully I’ll be smiling like this when I see my friends along the course!

Nationalhalfmarathon

I’m not going to lie, I’m a little worried about the race and my confidence going into it. I’m feeling stronger than I ever have, leaner, faster, and more excited for this race than any race I’ve run lately. But, instead of stressing about the race I’m focusing on the fact that I have super fun running roommates this weekend (Caitlin, Laura, and Theodora) who will be perfect to pre-game with over pasta and foam rolling. When you add that to the fact that green beer day drinking will be waiting for me at the finish line, it’s hard for me to not smile from ear to ear.

I’ll see you tomorrow from the Bolt Bus!

What is your race strategy?

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ashleyd /

Mucho Monday

Hey gang! I gave today’s post the title Mucho Monday because I have lots to share so let’s get cracking!

First of all, many of you have asked that I start sharing my weekly workouts again. Since I’m working with a training coach, I can’t share my full training schedule on the blog but for now I’ll do my best to share my weekly plans with you on Mondays. Does that sound like a plan? As soon as I saw this week’s plan I realized that the taper is officially beginning for next Saturday’s half marathon! I can’t believe it’s already here. I’m definitely a bit nervous since I’m focusing on a PR this year.

Monday: 3.25 Mile Run

Tuesday: Personal Training Session + 3 miles GP

Wednesday: 10 min warm up, 5x(1/2mi @10k pace, 1 min cool down between) 10 min cool down

Thursday: Personal  Training Session + yoga (maybe)

Friday: Soul Cycle at 6pm

Saturday: 7 Miles (run this SLOOOW – 20 second slower than your goal pace)

Sunday: 2.5 Miles Rec or Yoga

This morning I ended up running outside since I overslept. The run was frigid but luckily my hands were warm thanks to my swanky PDA Running gloves from New Balance. These are definitely an investment well worth the price tag as they worked perfectly the entire run. They kept my hands warmer than I expected and the thumb and pointer fingers feature Touch Tip technology which allows them to work well on iPhones or other screens AND a very useful fleece on the thumb for wiping your nose, or screen for that matter.

This morning’s run wasn’t necessarily fast but it was exactly what I needed this morning: energizing. I put on my new favorite playlist which consists of more Rihanna songs than I remembered existed and dashed through the streets of New York enjoying the crisp, cold morning air and thinking about the week. Here’s the playlist that kept me going for 34 minutes and some foam rolling action.

Leaving work tonight, I had two options: walk a few blocks to the grocery store to stock up on basics for the week or go straight home and order dinner. I made the smart choice and spent 30 minutes walking the aisles of the grocery store discovering a few awesome deals (Chobani 6 for $5) while catching up with one of my college friends on the phone. I stocked up on lots of fresh fruit, which I’ve been craving since I gave up sweets for Lent. I think I’ve eaten an average of a pound of fruit each day! I’m especially loving bananas, pineapples, berries, and green grapes. While there, I also discovered that they have a huge selection of Alexia Foods products. Thanks to the Foodbuzz Tastemaker program, I was able to use a free coupon tonight to try one of their products.  Their spicy sweet potato fries took this basic dinner to a whole new level!


I loved that a serving size was 30 spicy fries, more than enough to give this meal a spicy kick! I paired the fries with a salad and a veggie burger on an english muffin. It was filling and delicious while the fries made it feel indulgent! If you haven’t tried Alexia All Natural products out I highly recommend checking out their Facebook page for more great products!

Last but not least, thank you so much for participating in the Target giveaway! I was overwhelmed by the entries and wish I could choose more than one winner. But, alas, the sole lucky winner is Jenn thanks to random integer. Please email me your contact information so the team at Target can send you your prize!

Hope you all have a fabulous week!

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