Thanksgiving Fitness

My sister lives in Dallas and my aunt lives in Plano, so the family trooped off to Texas for Thanksgiving this year. Frank was a little miffed that he wasn't invited until he found out he got to spend the long weekend with his trainer Jennifer. Frank now has his own Instagram account, be tee dubs.

I arrived at DFW on Wednesday and headed back out Sunday. I made it to three different gyms in between.

My aunt lives super close to Flywheel Plano so on Thanksgiving morning I agreed to help my cousin push one of his Mustangs into the garage if he'd drive me to Flywheel in the other. His other car is a white Shelby Cobra and it's beautiful and makes a ridiculous amount of noise and I love it.

Not Even Flywheel Could Help Me

Sunday morning I awoke with the distinct searing pain in and between my eyes that can only mean one thing - I stayed out way too late showing off my impressive endearing straight up terrifying ability to chug Fireball interspersed with the occasional tequila shot. Guess what Atlanta? I found my people. So help me God.

The reason I woke up was the screaming alarm on my phone announcing that it was time to go to Flywheel. During my drunken bedtime routine, I laid out my spin clothes and my shoes, so clearly I really wanted to go. This is like that one time when I woke up wearing my gym clothes because I was afraid I'd oversleep for the Holley Mangold seminar. What can I say? I'm special.

So I'm dressed, I get in the car, and I consult the park instructions that I saved in my calendar invite. Midtown one-way streets and random ass parking entrances confuse the beejezus out of me so I reached out to the Flywheel Midtown team and received a detailed email back. I realized that the street I thought went right actually only went left (not while I was on it, I realized this as I drove down 10th Street, thank God), completely throwing off my understanding of the directions. I turned around 4 times, and then finally said fuck it when I got concerned that I'd be late and told I couldn't go to class. I parked in a residential building parking structure in the visitor spot and I am in no way sorry. Who is visiting at 10:30 in the morning on a Sunday who isn't there from the night before?

Flywheel Wednesday(s)

So I coerced my friend Jay into going to Flywheel with me again tonight. Basically I'm thrilled when anyone is willing to workout with me and call it quality time. After last week's stressful late arrival, I made sure to leave work an hour before class. Of course the C train arrived immediately and I was in the west 80s with about 40 minutes to spare. I used that time to stake out possible places to inhale dinner afterwards.

Class was even better than last week. The playlist was better and by better I mean there was more thugged out rap dance mixes because apparently that's what I love to listen to when sweating my little heart out. Not so secret confession - I LOVE reggaeton when I'm running. I think the class's energy was better as well.

Flywheel and Fabletics

So last night I went to Flywheel UWS with my friend Jay. Although I left my office 45 minutes before the start of class and I was only traveling 49 blocks, I ended up arriving after class started and I missed the first 10 minutes. The people at Flywheel were wonderful because they recognized the sign of crazy in my eyes as I ran in flustered and unhappy. They checked me in and set up my bike while I got changed and even got my clips in the bike when I was freaking out some more. I don't like being late.

The class was great and it was hard. My lingering hangover didn't stand a chance with the torq in the high 30s. Neither Jay nor I had taken a class with the instructor John Wellman before, but I really liked him. He was funny, his music was great, and he reminded the class about our form. I'm under the belief that anything a coach says you should consider as directed towards you, and while I'm not narcissistic enough to believe that John spent the class evaluating my every move, I did find that his advice and feedback applied to me.

Flywheel Upper West Side

Darryl is BACK. New Yorkers rejoice!

Rebecca and I made plans to finally go to a Darryl Gaines spin class together after seven months of discussion. So at 12:30 PM on Saturday afternoon, I could be found clicking my spin shoes into the bike at Flywheel Upper West Side.

The commute from East 82nd to West 83rd was a struggle.

Yes I did send this photo to my brunch date.

Flywheel Atlanta's Cara on Burning Off the Booze

My amazing friend Anna, who is one of my primary reasons for wanting to move to Atlanta because then I could see her every single day, sent me this blog post written by one of her favorite Flywheel instructors. Anna actually took me to one of Cara's classes when I was in Atlanta in April and she was awesome.

I can take no credit for this post but I wanted to pass it on.

How to Burn Off Those Booze Calories (From a Fitness Expert)

source

Darryl Gaines Has Decided to Fly

This may be the most incredible use of KidPix I have ever seen.
source

After two months of obsessively Googling, "Where does Darryl Gaines teach spin?", the Internet gods have answered my prayers. Darryl will be teaching at Flywheel starting this week. I am a big fan of Flywheel. I am a big fan of Darryl Gaines. Win win.

The interview with Darryl about what he has been up to for the past two months can be found on RateYourBurn's blog. He is already on the schedule to teach at the Upper West Side and Flatiron locations, but based on this interview, we can expect Darryl to be teaching all over Manhattan. Let us rejoice.

Happy Hangover

Today I woke up with a candy cane stuck to my foot. To say it's been a rough day is an understatement.

I showed up to work looking like a lumberjack.

Yes, I voluntarily wore that.

I found an empty egg carton on my kitchen table and this in my refrigerator.

Drunk cooking is extremely dangerous. I'm really not okay  with the fact that this happened.

And I sent this text message.

As almost everyone knows, the best way to kick a hangover is to exercise. I left the office for a lunchtime session at Flywheel with my friend Anna and her sister Margot. I've missed Anna very much since she moved and I was so happy to see her! I was also a little afraid I'd throw up on her.

Margot, Anna, and me after class.
This photo is horribly out of focus and we all look spectacular, I know.

I've been to Flywheel once before. Some people are addicted to it. I can't really find a reason to justify not going to Equinox to spin, but it's a nice place if you're looking just to cycle and go to barre classes. We went to Flywheel Flatiron but there's locations on the Upper East Side and Upper West Side as well.

We went to Jesse Alexander's class. He had a sick playlist and great energy. Considering my near death state when I arrived, it's a testament to his greatness that I not only lasted the entire class, but I brought at least my A- game. My only complaint is that I can never figure out how to set up the Flywheel bike. Equinox uses Schwinn and I know my numbers there. Unfortunately the helpful lady set my seat too high for me and I ended up being sodomized by the damn bike seat every time we got out of the saddle.

I love that Flywheel has an arms portion for about 5 minutes. The bars only equal 6 lbs but by the end my arms were shaking. Hey Equinox, can we get that in our spin classes too?

I'm looking forward to peacing out to Long Island tonight and laying low for a Siberian Soul Reboot. While I feel a thousand times better than I did before Flywheel, my body still hates me.

C9 by Champion for Target Flywheel Event

A few weeks ago, Katie from the marketing and public relations firm Missy Farren and Associates, Ltd., contacted me about attending a C9 by Champion for Target event at Flywheel. My post about C9 by Champion for Target shorts had set off a Google alert and she found In Shape Out of Mind and my obsession with all things C9 (except for that one pair of pants.)

the invitation

This event was free to attend (Flywheel spin classes are normally $30) and we all received free C9 by Champion for Target apparel. As my sister says, "What's better than ice cream? FREE ice cream!" I immediately rearranged my work schedule to make sure I could attend the 2 - 4 PM event.

I snuck out left the office and headed over to Flywheel Sports Flatiron. I met Katie at the door and she handed me a big white shopping bag filled with C9 by Champion for Target gear. I felt like it was my birthday. No really. Most of my birthday gifts were C9 by Champion for Target items.

I went to get changed into my new workout gear. I chose a pair of black capri pants and the Cosmo Pink cardio tank with inner bra. I never wear pants to spin class but I have to admit that these worked out pretty well. I didn't feel trapped or overly sweaty. I am a huge fan of C9's cardio tank with inner bra. I wore my blue one during the 18 Mile Tune-Up.

The tank is no longer available but this one is similar.

The Flywheel class was a lot of fun. I've never been there before, but the space was really clean and the staff was really helpful. We spent most of the forty-five minutes spinning, but we did a short arm workout with these bars that are stashed on the sides of the bike. The arm workout was ridiculously hard (maybe because I was already tired?) and you're supposed to continue spinning while you do it. I'm not going to quit Equinox to start going, but I enjoyed incorporating arms into my cardio. Flywheel has these flatscreens called the Torq Board and everyone's bike appears on it. It's supposed to help generate friendly competition. For the record, I won.

A lot of cool bloggers attended including Fit Chick in the City and Bari Lieberman, Editor of Vital Juice New York. One, I was a little starstruck (I spend my lunch break reading Fit Chick in the City and I am obsessed with my Vital Juice e-mails) and two, I felt like a small fish in a big pond. In Shape Out of Mind started as a venue for me to tell my workout stories because no one I knew in real life wanted to listen (and yet many of them seem to read...) and these other bloggers manage to get paid to write. No worries. I was psyched to be there anyway.

Group shot post-workout.

C9 by Champion for Target sent along some messaging they would like to share with you:

Whether it’s the perfect gift for fitness enthusiasts this holiday season or making New Year’s resolutions more affordable, C9 by Champion offers quality activewear for men, women and kids – with every item priced less than $50. C9 by Champion, Target’s exclusive fitness and apparel line, offers options that work for a variety of training needs including basketball shorts, seamless sports bras, Power-Core compression shirts and premium yoga pants. The line’s on-trend colors and bright patterns make getting dressed for a workout fun. In addition to the stylish pieces, C9 by Champion incorporates technical features similar to those found in the high-end fitness brands, such as moisture wicking, ventilation, antimicrobial, and Duo-Dry™ technology, but without the high-end price tag.

C9 by Champion for Target invited me to a free spinning class at Flywheel and gave me some supersweet workout gear. They did not require that I write favorable things about the event or their gear. They didn't even require me to write about it. I love C9 by Champion for Target and I recommend it to my readers, my friends, and strangers I meet in the street. Stay tuned for posts reviewing the individual pieces I received. For a preview, take a look at the photos (from Target) below.

I got this awesome shirt in white.

similar shirt available from Champion

C9 by Champion for Target gave me a red one of these pull-overs.

similar pullover available from from Champion

We all know how much I love these shorts.
If someone wants to buy me this pair for Christmas, I would be very happy.

Champion makes printed and two-tone pairs

I was very fortunate to receive this jacket in pink.

similar jacket sans hood available from Champion