Tag: spin

day one: tolerable

green juice, spicy lemonade and the beet concoction

One of the reasons I’ve never been drawn to cleanses is that I really like solid food. I love the texture. I love the flavor. I love salt, butter and the delicacy of a perfect goat cheese or a melt-in-your-mouth filet mignon.

But I’m in a cleansing mode in other capacities. I’ve done closet and drawer purges for the boys and me. I “weeded out” the toys in their playroom. I’ve consolidated memorabilia. And I’ve tried to embrace happiness rather than obsessing about worry after worry. So in the spirit of this attempt to let go of the left rope (I’ll go into depth on this analogy another day) it seemed like an appropriate time to take on an internal cleanse. Plus, Nancy is out of town this weekend so temptation will be minimized.

In advance of the cleanse, I gave up caffeine a few days ago. I haven’t had any wine since Tuesday. And for 14 hours on Saturday, I drank my meals.

My day went something like this:

6:45 hot lemon water

7:15 green juice (celery, kale, cucumber, spinach, granny smith apples, parsley, lemon)

8:00-9:00 spin class

10:00 second green juice

12:15 first fruit juice, a combo of pineapple, granny smiths and mint

4:30 spicy lemonade

7:00 juice of carrots, beets, celery, apples, lemon

9:00 cashew milk (aka dessert)

I did better than expected but I won’t say it was easy. I almost licked the peanut butter knife after making the kids toast. I then had to make them lunch (more peanut butter) and dinner (leftover tacos). At soccer practice, one of the parents had the grill going and made hotdogs for all the kids. I hate hotdogs, but they sure did smell good. Kate and Rob asked if the kids and I wanted to go to dinner with them. It was hard to say no.

But I didn’t need to nap. I didn’t get too cross. I got only one headache when I stood up too quickly, and it immediately went away.

I don’t know what today holds, but after getting nine hours of sleep, I jumped out of bed. No headache. No fatigue. No cravings for my son’s peanut butter toast (yes, they eat a lot of peanut butter) or even for my typical morning latte.

Off to spin!

Triple Workout Styling

Here it is. A compilation of what I decided to wear to my spin+spin+barre workout at Biker Barre today.

To the left is a great to and from the gym jacket, or in today’s case, what I wore to recovery breakfast with spin sister Monica of Blue Print for Style in the air conditioned Ted’s Bulletin so that I wouldn’t freeze from my sweaty workout clothes.

For the workout itself, the No Limits Tank from Lululemon provided the support, freedom and inspiration I needed for today’s mental and physical challenge.

What two hour and 45 minute workout would be complete without a Sweaty Band to keep your hair out of your face? That mine has pink skull and crossbones on it just makes it more cutely fierce. I swear, it doesn’t move out of position at all.

And barre socks are totally a must for me. I don’t tuck barefooted. I like that this pair has a little message to remind you that if your legs are shaking, you are doing something right.

It all worked so well that I am already signed up for the same adventure next Saturday.

Hope to see you there.

current obsession: biker barre

Spin in the morning. Spin in the evening. Barre at lunch. Spin-barre doubles on the weekends. Anytime of day everyday of the week is a good time for a class at the newly-opened Biker Barre in the Barracks Row district of Capitol Hill.

I won’t ever be able to run again, but a year and a half after my back procedure, I can finally spin. Varoom, just like that, I have found my new favorite cardio.

While I still miss the flexibility of being able to lace up a pair of running shoes regardless of the time of day, in any location, to hit the road for a run of any length, the robust schedule at Biker Barre presents numerous opportunities to get your workout in, whether you are a morning, noon or night worker-outer. And while my runs typically lasted longer than the 45 minutes you spend on a bike in spin class, the instructors (especially co-owner Katie Fouts) are especially diligent at ensuring you don’t leave an ounce of energy untapped. But if you do have something in the reserves at the end of your virtual bike ride, I recommend following spin with a barre class. The perfect combination of pilates and yoga, barre’s emphasis on core strength has been key to alleviating the residual back pain I still get from time-to-time. And it tones you in all the right places.

I truly consider both exercises lifesavers.

But don’t take my word for it. Find your way to the Biker Barre studio. There are several pricing options available, whether you want to buy a one-class pass (with the second class free for newbies) or do what I did and buy the one-month unlimited option (there’s a special on that too).

Come to class. Prepare to sweat. Just don’t take my favorite bike.