Archives For December 2010

Day 4 (Thursday’s) Workout:

-For cardio Do 30 minutes of steady cardio and then mix in 5 intervals of 5 minutes each in between your weight training, so you get a total of 55min of cardio today. You can do it all on one machine, you can run outside and keep weights nearby or you can mix it up and do the treadmill, kettlebell, jumprope, bike, elliptical or other type of cardio equipment.
-For weight training Try drop sets to really shock your muscles. It’s best to do this on machines at the gym, but you can do it with free weights as long as you have multiple weights. I like to do a modified version of a drop set, where I do 4 sets of 4 reps (back to back) for a 16 rep total. For instance, when I’m doing the cable shoulder machine, I start with 45lbs and do 4 reps, drop to 40lb and do 4 reps, drop to 35lbs/4 reps and finish at 30lb for 4 reps. If you prefer, you can do 5-5-5 for 15reps. Start with a heavy enough weight where it’s almost too hard to do the 4 reps. If you normally do your biceps with 10lb free weights, start with 20lb and work your way down to 5lbs. Just make it hard! I would only do 2 sets of these for each muscle group and target legs and arms. Make sure to do your 30min of cardio first so that your muscles are really warmed up.
-Abs: Do at least 10 minutes of abs. Focus today on planks. Do forearm planks, side planks (with some dips), planks w/your arms extended and try leg and arm raises during your plank.

Diet Goal for Today:

Make sure to eat at least 6 small meals. Your “meals” don’t have to be chicken and asparagus…get creative. Even something small like a banana and a handful of nuts can count as one of your meals.

Day 3 (Wednesday’s) Workout:

-For cardio do something with resistance so that your cardio workout also becomes a leg workout. I prefer running on an incline or hill runs outside. But, since my knee is bothering me…I may hit the spin bike. You can do the elliptical, but you really need to amp up the resistance and inclines. Make it hard for your legs and keep them tight, regardless of what you are doing. For a sample incline workout click HERE.
-For weight training Focus more on the smaller muscles today. Continue Reading…

Alright guys…one day down and 4 to go before NY Eve!! Are you doing this challenge with me??

Day 2 (Tuesday’s) Workout:

-Do some H.I.I.T. – High Intensity Interval Training. I’m going to do my intervals with the jumprope, but you can use any cardio equipment or running. I do this workout a lot at they gym to really break a sweat. I’m still battling a knee injury, so I can’t do treadmill intervals : ( But luckily jumprope works just as well and gets my heart rate up almost as high. You can watch my sample jumprope video I did for ExerciseTV HERE!
-For weight training (mixed in as intervals), I’m going to target the following muscle groups in this order: Continue Reading…

New Years Eve is this Friday!! I don’t know about you…but I always look forward to glamming it up in a new (short) party dress every year! So, I want to look my fittest on Friday when the ball drops and I’m out with my friends. This is going to be a challenge considering I spent the last few days with family and did have a few sweet treats and extra sodium : (  But, I’m prepared to kick but this week and see if I can drop at least 2lbs by Friday, so that I will look my best when I ring in 2011. I hope you’ll join me on this challenge! Post your ?’s and comments below and I’ll get back with ya!

Day 1 (Today’s) Workout:

Continue Reading…

Looking for some last minute gift ideas for someone that that loves to workout or is maybe starting a new fitness routine? Here are some of my Top Favorites:

1. Ipod Nano Touch and/or Itunes gift certificate
2. Foam Roller or The Stick
3. Food journal from FitBook
4. Lucy Propel Knee Pants
5. Lululemon Hoodies (I have this one).
6. Magic Bullet or Fit & Fresh Smoothie Maker
7. Gaiam Yoga Mats (they have a cool new one with a built in speaker)
8. Gift certificate to a new gym (I love FIT) or personal training sessions
9. A fitness dvd (Have you tried my “Long Lean Legs”?!)
10. A monthly pass for ExerciseTV
11. A new Polar heart rate monitor or Garmin if they are a die hard runner like me : )
12. Healthy cookbooks like ones from Hungry Girl, Biggest Loser, Tosca Reno, etc.
13. Organic treats from Hail Merry or other items at Whole Foods
14. Magazine subscription to Runners World, Shape, Women’s (or Men’s) Health
15. Spa gift certificate

I know most of you are making your last minute plans for the holidays now, which probably includes some travel, meals with family and parties with friends. But, just keep one thing in mind: Your Health! I’m not saying you have to starve yourself over the next week, but don’t do the opposite either and eat loads of crap! Find a happy medium where you can enjoy a few holiday treats without sabotaging your weight and fitness goals. I know it’s going to be hard for me to eat healthy because I will be with my family, so my plan of action is to eat way smaller portions and get in a few extra workouts where I can break a sweat. I’m packing my resistance band, jumprope and kettlebell. I plan to keep it simple and stick to basic arm/leg exercises mixed in with some training runs, depending on how my knee is. Try to do a mix of cardio and strength training, where you can keep up your heart rate and blast calories. Here is one of the sample workouts I plan to do:

Continue Reading…

2010 NYC Marathon

December 10, 2010 — 2 Comments

I ran the 2010 NYC Marathon last month and put together a short video of my experience of the few days leading up to the race and race day. Overall, it was a fun race and a great experience! But, it’s actually pretty hard. The course isn’t super hard, but the 5 bridges we crossed were tough. What’s hard is that when you get to NYC the day(s) before, you spend almost all of your time walking around! You can’t get around in NYC without walking…even if you take taxis or the subway. So, by Marathon day your feet are tired!

The day of the race is super long and starts out with a journey to the very south tip of Manhattan to get to the Staten Island Ferry Terminal. Then, you have to wait with all of the other runners to catch the ferry. Once you make it across to the island, you have to take a 10min bus ride to the runners “village” where you do more walking to get to your assigned village and corral. Then, after a long morning you finally start around 10am depending on your wave. The course was awesome and great crowds, but the last 6 miles going through Central Park are hell. You keep thinking you are almost done and then the course winds around and you have 2 more miles!

Once you finally cross the finish, you have a slow 30min walk with the other 45,000 runners to get out of central park. During that time you are freezing (it was in the 40′s) and wet. When I broke away from the park, all I wanted to do was get in a cab and go back to the hotel where I could enjoy my champagne (thanks Mom and Dad). BUT…all the cabs were taken! So, I had to take the bus, which ended up being pretty easy. An amazing thing happened to me when I was walking around looking for a cab/bus. I was so cold that I was shaking really bad and this nice woman actually offered me her coat! I turned it down, but just couldn’t believe that she was willing to give a stranger the coat off her back. New Yorkers are the best!!

For the recipe in the video click HERE.

Recipe of the Month

December 10, 2010 — Leave a comment

Sauté Legumes from the 2010 NYC Marathon Eve Dinner

This month’s recipe is from the NYC Marathon Eve dinner that I attended last month, the night before I ran the race. The dinner was surprisingly good with a mix of lasagna, vegetables, salad and bread. My favorite was this amazing vegetable dish! So, when I got home, I emailed the NYRR to see if there was any way they could track down the recipe for me and they did! I got the “official” recipe card emailed to me and now I can share it with you guys! Now..keep in mind that this recipe is to feed A LOT of people! So, you are going to have to do the math and scale it back a little, unless you are having a dinner party for 12,000. The dinner was really good (I’m picky) and would recommend it to anyone that runs the race next year.

Sauté Legumes (official recipe!)

*The amounts below are for 1 PAN that serves 30 people, so make sure you adjust. I thought you’d like to see the totals they used for the night (400 Pans!), so those amounts are in the parentheses. Pretty impressive! Check out the 50lbs of butter! Yikes! Continue Reading…

Last week I was back out in LA to film 4 Glade commercials with ExerciseTV! I also filmed 10 short videos that will be part of the “1 Minute Challenge” to the viewers on Facebook, the blog and YouTube. The day of the shoot, I had a call time of 7:45am at a house in Long Beach where we were filming. I got started around 8:30am with hair and makeup with Astrid, who did a great job. It was nice having the crew there to handle the props, lighting, sound and camera placement! When I do my own videos, those things take me forever to setup! The crew was really amazing and it was such a fun day! Here is a short video of behind the scenes, along with some of the photos from the day. Be sure to check on ExerciseTV’s site for the challenge videos and other workouts I’ve done. They also have a ton of great free workout videos to watch if you need ideas for your own workouts!

I’ve been doing a lot of traveling lately with trips to LA and NYC, so that means lots of time on the plane. I usually fly Southwest, which I love, but I don’t always want to fill up on peanuts and 100 calorie packs for 3.5 hours to LA. Although, I do have to give them props for offering some lower calorie options, unlike other airlines. I always plan ahead what I’m going to eat before, during and after my flight. On the way to LA this week, I ate a good lunch before I left and then packed some unsalted almonds and 3 clementines in my purse along with the bottle of water I got at the airport. The last few times I’ve flown out of LAX its an evening flight and basically will be eating dinner on the plane. So, luckily I found a good spot at LAX that had cucumber and crab sushi to go. So, I ate this along with my Fruit and Walnut Snack from McDonalds. oh and a glass of wine with my drink coupons : ) The Fruit & Walnut Snack is one of my favorite fast-food options since it has a good mix of carbs (via fruit) and protein (via walnuts) and is only 210 calories.

I ran the TXU Turkey Trot here in Houston on Thanksgiving day and thought I’d share the playlist and a tip that helped me land in 3rd place! I really haven’t been doing much speedwork or hills, so I wasn’t planning to go very fast. But, I decided I’d push myself for a change and see what I could do. I usually start further back and end up wasting time running round people that aren’t there to race. I think most people don’t realize that you should let the faster runners start up front and if you are planning to have an easy run, walk or jog with a stroller…you should start at the back of the pack.  So, my tip is: if you are planning to go fast…start really close to the start line. I felt bad pushing past people to get to the front, but I’m glad I did because it helped me get my time of 23:22. Another thing that I think helped me is that I was really relaxed and just there to have fun : )

Here is my playlist:

My Award:

A cute leather turkey coaster : )