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I Am Really Excited About Everything in the Month of September

Summer is unofficially over. I do not feel good about this. Each day that passes that is not 90 degrees pushes me deeper into unhappiness. Luckily, I have a lot to look forward to this fall, like, I don’t know, running a MARATHON. Or spending lots of time inside a warm apartment watching football (I care about football. I even understand some rules).  So there’s some good here.

Here’s what I am excited about this month:

{} Labor Day Weekend

I mean, pretty much if there is a long weekend or any sort of time off work, I will include it in my monthly excitement. I really value all time off. In fact, I never understand when people say they wish they could be back in college. Not me. I love working because for the most part, when I go home at the end of the day, I am done. I don’t constantly have work hanging over me. Except this blog.

Over this long weekend, I saw my mom, got my fro tamed by Maria (discount to DSB readers on Keratin, haircuts, color and more — (917) 331-3450, ran 15 miles (more on that below), sat outside at three restaurants, watched lots of 90210 (Andy’s favorite show) and read. I loved the entire weekend.

{} My New Job

Speaking of my new job, things are getting good. I am really loving our Hydroxatone products; I got to “live tweet” from the Charlotte Ronson Fashion Week show where we were the Official Skincare Sponsor; and I would be forever grateful if you could help me out and do the following:

Seriously, I would appreciate this to no end. For the most part, the updates are from me. And if you are a blogger and want to do a review or giveaway, or work with me in any other way, let me know!

{} Getting Deep Into Marathon Training

Two weekends ago, I ran 15 miles for the first time in my life.

I ran it all by myself. The idea of doing long runs alone has terrified me, and I’ve managed to find a friend to run with each week until this run.

My strategy for the 15 miler was to break up the run in my head as three 5-mile runs. Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3. So instead of being like, “I still have 13 miles left, that is an entire half marathon, how overwhelming,” I instead thought “I have 3 miles left in Part 1.” The entire run felt much more approachable this way and it really worked!

During my 15 miler around the city, I stopped to take a photo of my office across the river. I tried to imagine tiny Dori, like a little ant, working hard in that building as I ran past. Strange.


[I work in one of the buildings pictured here]

Last weekend was another first: 17 miles. My plan was to run 8-9 miles myself, then meet up with my Girls on the Run Solemates team for the rest. I ran about 8.5 myself and then met up with the team, but shortly after we started running I realized thy were way too fast for me. I tried keeping up but after a mile I just didn’t have it in me, and I watched as they disappeared ahead of me.

While I don’t mind that I wasn’t able to run with them — in fact, I was a little relieved because I actually wanted to be alone — I do wish I knew ahead of time that they run so fast. The bright side is I won’t feel guilty anymore for not attending their runs.

Which is especially OK with me because I only have three new long run distances to conquer before the marathon! How did this happen already? And if I did 17 with so little issue, of course I can do these. 18, 19 and 20. I also have a few races lined up, so I won’t be alone. There are a few step-back weeks in between these distances, and a taper period after, which all fits into my two-month timeline before 26.2.

So after the team escaped me, I ran back up to the Reservoir for a couple more loops myself before running home, and I made it to 17 miles. My legs were screaming after and walking the rest of the way home was hard at first, but I recovered pretty quickly.

I was even able to run 5 miles just two days after that, where I saw this sunrise:

I remember when after a half marathon I couldn’t walk for a week. Now I can run 17 miles and run again a couple days later. AND my 13 miler this coming weekend, as part of my step-back week, actually seems like a “shorter” run. Perspective is funny.

{} Dave Matthews Band

Hurricane Irene canceled the DMB Caravan Governor’s Island show I was excited for last month and it’s been rescheduled for Randall’s Island. I saw Dave there back in 2006. I am excited to walk there this year.

{} Baseball Game

Yeah our tickets for this were also during Hurricane Irene. Instead, we are going to a Mets game against the Phillies (Missy is from Philly and we will be with her, so it will be extra fun) instead. Although I am slightly less excited that we are going in late September when I won’t be able to wear a tank top or a little dress (the only things I want to spend an outdoor event in) I will suck it up and be happy anyway.

{} Reading

Now that I commute every day, I have the time and motivation to read books. I have been a book fiend and it feels good to be back — although I have been getting significantly less sleep. P.S. Read The Hunger Games Trilogy. By far, the best bandwagon I have ever jumped on. And I generally don’t do bandwagons. These are the type of books that get into your head and under your skin and you can’t stop thinking about them long after you finished reading.

{} Being the Subject of an Interview

My good friend Ben interviewed me for his own NBC New York GO Healthy New York column in a post called Extraordinary Motivation: Dori’s Passion for Fitness. Apparently, I might be motivating or something?

 

{} My Final NBC New York Post

The opportunity to write for NBC New York’s GO Healthy NY blog was one of the most incredible things to happen to me this year. It fell into my lap at exactly the right time in my life — when I was desperately looking for a job in the fitness world and needed some solid writing samples, connections and visibility. Now that I am balancing my fantastic job with marathon training, it’s been harder to keep up with my NBC writing and class-taking that goes with that. I decided to stop writing for them and it feels like a weight lifted from my shoulders.

My last post is my review of my month-long FITiST trial:

NBC New York – Dori’s Quest: My Month of FITiST

{} Weekly Blogging for Work

I will be writing for a couple of blogs at work. One of these blogs will be a weekly column that I will link to from here each week the way I did with NBC. I am very excited about the content because it is not fitness related but still very much me. I’ll just say that any job that lets me write about my overall laziness when it comes to everything and doesn’t fire me is a job worth keeping.

What are you excited for this month?

(1) IntenSati Success (2) Exercise Pain (3) Writing Stuffs

(1) Missy’s and my free IntenSati class for BeFitNYC.org Launch Week

THANK YOU to everyone who came to the BeFitNYC.org launch week event that Missy and I held this past Saturday. Our IntenSati class was a huge success and I am still so happy with how many people showed up — even with the 11th hour location change from Central Park to an indoor space because of the weather.

We selected the biggest studio in Simple Studios and the room was still packed. It got hot and sweaty, but the class was so much fun I don’t think we minded much! I’m not generally a big sweater; I walked to and from work on that 100 degree day in NYC last week, a little over a mile each way and did not sweat a drop. But in this class, I was completely soaked, the bottom of my ponytail was sopping wet, my face was shiny and I felt awesome. I’ve only done IntenSati once before (when Missy taught for the first time!), but I got so into this class! Our instructor Lindsay was extremely motivating and awesome, and I had the best time. I still find myself repeating the catchy affirmations to myself — which I believe is the point.

Enjoy our butts:

Here I am with Missy in our post-class glow (sweat).

I loved the class so much that I decided to go to a CoreSati and IntenSati class at Equinox with Missy next week to take class with its founder Patricia Moreno! I completely get why Missy and many other people love this class so much. I wish I had the courage to try it when the gym I used to belong to offered it a few years ago! I thought IntenSati meant “intense” (it doesn’t) so I was scared away.  This was before I became a hardcore awesome exerciser.

So the giveaway winners.

I’ve gotta be honest, I threw in my very own Physique 57 DVD because I know you all get wet for that class, so I was a little surprised more people didn’t RSVP just to say no to enter the contest. Oh well. Better odds for the winners and really, I am beyond thrilled by how smoothly the event went.

The winner of the Physique 57 Classic 57 Minute Full Body Workout and IntenSati Great Body, Great Life and other DVDs prize pack goes to Emily!

And the runners up  who won a free YogaVibes class — and I have to apologize, I had 3 classes to give away, not 5 like I initially thought —  are Sam, Grace and Amber.

Thank you so much for entering and thank you for helping make NYC your gym! This is not the end of my partnership with BeFitNYC.org so I hope to announce more exciting events soon.

(2) On to the next topic:

I tried a new class on Friday that temporarily destroyed me. In addition to physical bruising and torn skin, I thought I messed up my hip again. I spent Sunday crying and being angry at myself. I work so hard in the classes I know well — mostly Refine and Core Fusion, but I also know how to modify yoga, barre, strength, cardio and other similar classes — that in this situation, the exercises were all so new and different that I had no idea my hip would take it so badly. I did not think that I might destroy all the work I did for months over the course of ONE hour.

It did not hurt at all during the class, and I didn’t do the things that I know typically affect it, like turning my hip out. However, looking back, there was definitely flexion over 90 degrees as part of exercises like bear crawls, but the class was a boot camp and you kind of just have to go with it. It was intense and I didn’t really think much except how to push through in the moment. I didn’t think before or during the class about whether something so unfamiliar might be a bad idea. I was so excited to review the class for NBC New York, a brand new type of class for me — which, I must add, was the hardest workout of my life and actually very awesome for people who like ass-kicking boot camps — that I just didn’t think much about how my body would respond.

I was not being dumb by going to the class. I was not in any hip pain before or during. I just wish I thought more about my decision to try something I would not automatically know how to modify. I got a little too confident in my own abilities, when in reality I am just a girl who learned how to modify the things she does every day. I am not a fitness professional or expert (although I have been toying with this idea lately . . .) and therefore I do not have the knowledge to adjust to every possible fitness scenario. Lesson learned. While I am marathon training, I am going to stick to exercises I am comfortable with — and there are plenty of classes I can try that fit that formula — and not go for anything too out of the ordinary.

After the marathon, when I am not as concerned about my ability to run for 5 straight hours, I can revisit different types of workouts.

So I basically spent Sunday feeling depressed and beating myself up (I am trying to be less of a bitch to myself, but it is hard) because my hip was hurting more than it ever did when I was injured. I could barely walk and I could not even lift my leg to get into bed! I had to get in on my good side and then use both hands to hoist my other leg up onto the bed. I also could not put on a pair of pants. I was certain I destroyed my months of hard work, rest and healing that I went through to get my hip better. Up until last week, I was running again! Pain-free! And then suddenly I could barely even WALK. My hip was swollen. I was scared.  I was a wreck. I was sure the marathon was not happening. I was sure I would never even get to go back to Refine or Core Fusion. I iced and Tiger Balmed like it was my job.

I woke up on Monday feeling a LOT less pain. It still hurt, but I felt much more hopeful about my future. I made the (hard) smart decision to cancel the Core Fusion Cardio class I had spent all week looking forward to. The dramatic difference from Sunday to Monday made me suspect this was not a re-injury; rather, just a little inflammation from trying something different. And now, Tuesday morning, I feel almost completely better. The difference between Sunday and Tuesday is incredibly drastic. I am still going to take it easy this week, but I am confident now that I will be OK.

I think that because I have this hip injury, it reacts to the unknown by becoming inflamed. I think that is all that happened here. I do not think I permanently destroyed it. I do think that after some rest, I will be fine. Lesson learned — and thankfully this happened before marathon training and not during. This experience also serves as a reminder that I am not 100% better (and I might not ever be) and I need to continue to be cautious and modify exercises in my classes. Even if I think I can try something, right now, as I begin to train for the ING NYC Marathon, is not the time to experiment.

It helps to think of everything as a lesson.

(3) And lastly, I want to share some of my newest writing with you.

My guest post on the Real Business at Xerox blog with my time managing tips*



*Any time management tips taken from me are at your own risk. By reading this, you agree that negative outcomes cannot be blamed on Dori Heather Manela, including but not limited to: inability to get out of bed; neglecting responsibilities until the last possible second; weeks-old dishes toppling over the sink; clothing flung on all surfaces; a bedroom in complete and total disarray; flies; wrinkled clothing; a torn-apart bedroom because you can’t find anything, even after creating dedicated spaces for things — you won’t actually put your things in those spaces; inanimate objects taking over your bed so all you have for yourself is a tiny corner at the top; and, an overabundance of old books that have not yet made their way to the donation box at the library 20 blocks away, despite owning an old-lady shopping cart (which currently functions as a place to throw bras).

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