Taking It Easy Before Vegas

Few more days to Vegas.  I'm getting more excited every minute.  I still don't really know what I'm going to pack.  I think that it'll be a good race.  It'll be interesting to see what it's like to run in dry, cold weather.  I've run at night before so I know that I can have a fairly big meal at breakfast and then just need to snack the rest of the day until the race. 

I made it to the gym yesterday and got in a 4 mile run with 2 miles being 1 mile repeats at 6:30.  I wasn't sure how that run was going to go, but I finished dripping with sweat at the end of 32 minutes.  I did some weights afterward focusing on back and biceps.  I felt cramped up the entire time, though.  But, I made it through and did a light stretch afterward. 

I went for my second swim since B2B this morning.  It went well.  I felt good when I woke up which is always a good start when I'm on my way to swim.  I could definitely tell that it's been a while though because I got water in my ears during the first lap and probably about another 10 times by the time I finished.  Here's what I did:

warm up:

• 5 X 50 with swim fins
• 5 X 50 with board - 3 laps kick, 2 laps - pull right arm down, pull left arm back
• 5 X 50 with pull buoy

main set:

• 5 X 50 - 25 easy, 25 fast
• 5 X 100 - med-hard pace

cool down:

• 2 X 50 - 25 breast stroke, 25 back stroke

It wasn't a lot but it was a nice ease back into things.  I got to use my new Garmin 910XT too.  I think I'm in love with it.  It tracks your distance in the pool and it was right on the entire time.  I'm sure it's not always, 100% of the time, going to be accurate.  But, if it can get through 30 laps and it measures the whole thing exactly, I'll take it.  When you set the watch to 'lap swimming' it measures how far you go by the strokes you take.  Pretty cool. 

I am finally not tired and I have about 2 hours of free time right now.  I am going to use this time to get started on creating my training plan for Vineman. 

Taper Town…aka the Kitchen

The day after Thanksgiving marked the first day of an abbreviated tape for the Rock’n’Roll Las Vegas Marathon. Since then I’ve gone a few short, easy runs, done a couple of boot camp style workouts and spent a lot of time stretching and walking. I’ve also spent more than my fair share of time in the kitchen cooking things that don’t necessarily fall under the category of health foods but do qualify as quite tasty.

Cesar’s birthday was Sunday, so many of the things I made were for his birthday dinner. First up, this amazing baked Brie. I didn’t even get a chance to take a picture before it was more than half gone, but trust me when I say it is fantastic. So fantastic, in fact, that I made twice in one weekend. I made it once with apricot preserves as the recipe suggests, and I made it a second time with fig jam. The fig jam was preferred by my taste testers.

Next I whipped up this Quince and Mascarpone Tart, which is a gussied up version of Pasta Frola, one of Cesar’s favorite treats.


I thought the creaminess of the mascarpone was a nice complement to the sweetness of the quince, but Cesar prefers the original, unadorned version. I finally got a chance to use the mini pie cutters I bought on clearance at Crate and Barrel last year. How cute are those fall shapes??

Cesar requested a marble cake for his birthday cake, so after some web browsing, I settled on this recipe from Food & Wine.


Please ignore the awesome decorating job I did. I was in Miami visiting family and didn’t bring any of my cake decorating tools. Of course, let’s be honest -  it probably wouldn’t have been much better even if I had brought them. Anyway, some of the reviews of the recipe state that the cake turned out dry, so after baking it, I poked both layers with holes and soaked them with a bit (or lots) of amaretto. I also put the leftover candied walnuts from the baked brie between the layers. We all thought it turned out pretty well, but I don’t think this particular recipe warrants a repeat appearance in our house.

And now for the most awesome thing to come out of my kitchen this week – Movember cookies!! My husband, as you can see in the photo above, is participating in a Movember challenge with a bunch of his coworkers. Today was their last department meeting before the end of the month, so I decided to send some cookies to work with him in celebration of the completion of the challenge. I bought these ridiculous Munchstaches Cookie Cutters from Amazon, and I had a lot of fun playing with them last night. If you are looking for an easy to roll, soft sugar cookie recipe, I highly recommend this one from allrecipes.com. I replaced half the granulated sugar with powdered sugar and doubled the vanilla. The dough was some of the easiest sugar cookie dough I have ever worked with, and the cookies came out soft and buttery, just the way I like them.


I clearly did a little bit of indulging over the weekend, but from now until the race on Sunday, it’s going to be lots of clean eating! I don’t foresee a PR in Vegas, but I do want to enjoy every minute of my time in Vegas, and that means toeing the start line with a solid taper under my belt

Getting Over Thanksgiving and Thinking About Next Year

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving and didn't get hurt during any early Christmas shopping that you may have tried to squeeze in.  I am definitely a Cyber-Monday shopper.  Getting up at 4:30 for a 2 hour workout is hard enough.  Getting up before 4:30 to stand in line and deal with crazy people for the next 12 hours is borderline suicide for me.  So, I did a 2 hour spin class Friday morning which definitely helped me feel a little better about all the food that I ate.  I was able to get in a bike ride on Saturday and a productive 8.8 mile run on Sunday.  Saturday was the first time that I have been on my bike since B2B.  It was awkward getting down into aero position at first.  But, after about 90 seconds I felt right at home again.  I also received an email today from the group that I trained with a lot on the bike and they are ready to start getting into a regular training schedule again.  I am very happy about this.  It has been a real struggle to get motivated to do even 30 minutes of an activity for the last couple of weeks.  I feel like even my stretchy clothes are too tight to wear.  Doesn't help that it's that time of month either.  <shrug> What can you do, right? Move on.  Daniel's cousin posted on Facebook the other day a picture of a girl sitting on a bed hugging her knees with the caption "Why can't mother nature just send a letter once a month saying "Congratulations, you're not pregnant"?  LOL.  So true!

In other news, I'm looking forward to the Las Vegas trip coming up.  Almost all of my favorite people will be there.  What's better than travelling somewhere fun with awesome friends and family and being able to get in a race?  Not much.  I really don't plan on hitting a PR, but as long as I finish the race feeling good and can finish under 3:45 I'll be a happy camper.   

I also talked to a tri coach today.  He was very nice and easy to talk to.  I'm still not sold on needing a coach.  Even though he really wasn't trying to sell me anything.  He was pretty open and understanding when I told him that I don't really need him to set up a training schedule for me.  But, that I would find him more useful to me when it came to creating a strength training program to integrate with the tri plan.  I think that I would take him on as a tri coach if I didn't already have groups that I train with now.  I don't have a swim group and I told him that I would like him to help me with that and with speed work as well.  We'll see how this develops.  He told me that he was ok with just letting me talk to him when I needed some advice and wanted to bounce ideas off of him too.  One take away that he had for me was to think about what I wanted out of tris and running.  To think about what my short term and long term goals were other than just time goals.  I went to the gym today and was thinking about it the whole time.  This is really hard because when it comes to competition, really the only measurable thing is time.  But, racing doesn't always have to be competitive.  It can be fun and/or challenging.  Honestly, if I could, I would quit my job to do triathlons, run races, coach, put on races, and run my own store.  But, at least for the next 5 years that's a pipe dream.  So, in the meantime, my goal is to race at Ironman 70.3 World Championship in Las Vegas, Ironman World Championship in Kona, Hawaii, and I want to qualify, not win in a lottery, for New York.  I want to find what my breaking point is.  Why do I want to do this?  Because I can, for now it's fun, and I like meeting people while training and being healthy as opposed to drinking beer and eating greasy food that only makes me happy for 3 hours at most but makes me feel awful physically for the next 12 to 24 hours and mentally for the next week.  Yesterday I went to the Bucs game and drank 3 beers at the game and 2 beers at a bar after the game.  I ate 3 slices of pizza at the bar.  I passed at around 6PM and woke up around 10PM.  I felt awful.  I had to drink a ton of water, take an advil, and passed out again until 7 AM when I had to get up to go to work.

Over the next couple of days I'm going to try and put together a training plan and hash out some training days with my various partners in crime then maybe have another chit-chat with the tri coach, Jon.   

Happy Thanksgiving

This is supposed to be a blog mostly about health and fitness. Unfortunately, neither of those things have come into play in my life over this last week. Friday night, Cesar noticed that our cat, Syd, was breathing a little heavier than normal. She’s gotten kitty colds a couple of times in the last few years, so we decided we’d see how she was on Saturday morning and take her to the vet to get some antibiotics if she was still feeling rough. When I went to check on her in the morning, her face was covered with dried mucus and she was very lethargic. We took her to the vet where they did some blood tests and took an xray. To make a long (and sad) story short, the diagnosis was carcinoma and we were told to expect the worst. I was supposed to go to Miami on Saturday to run a half marathon, but I decided that spending time with my sweet cat was far more important than any race would ever be, so I stayed home instead.



Syd ended up in the ICU in an oxygen chamber which kept her comfortable for about day, but the cancer was so severe that even on oxygen, it became clear that keeping her alive was not in her best interests, and Cesar and I let her go early Tuesday morning. So instead of racing and lifting and cooking and enjoying deliciously healthy treats these last few days, I’ve been mourning the loss of the most precious cat I’ve ever known by laying around my house cuddling with pugs and a sad husband and eating S’mores Stuffed Chocolate Chip Cookies (these are amazeballs, btw) and peanut butter straight from the jar.

However, today is Thanksgiving, and instead of focusing on the deep sadness of losing the cat who has been my faithful companion for the last 11 years, I’ve decided it’s time to reflect on all the amazing gifts in my life. I’m grateful that I did get so many years with Syd. We adopted her from the Humane Society, and all they could tell us about her was that she had been found out in the country as a stray. She was an affectionate cat with an adventurous streak; she never met a fence from which she didn’t want to escape. She was also a teacher – she showed my best friend’s kitten how to use a litter box and taught my oldest pug how to sit on the very top of any piece of furniture. I have a very saggy couch thanks to her passing on that piece of knowledge. She loved to lick butter and sit in weird places like empty boxes, half unpacked suitcases, and on top of empty flower pots. Our time together was a beautiful gift, and I wouldn’t trade a second of it.


I’m thankful to have a husband who is kind, generous, smart, and ambitious, but who also knows how to act like a little kid and make me giggle like a school girl, even when he is sporting a ridiculous mustache for Movember. I’m grateful for my awesome family. There has never been a single moment of my life when I haven’t felt their love and support, and even from across the country, they share in my grief over Syd and do what they can to let me know they are there for me. I’m thankful for good friends who have known me since childhood and have been there for me through virtually every major life experience I’ve ever had, both good and bad, as well as those I have met here in Tampa – the kind who understand when I cancel on a race we’ve been planning together for nearly a year and who not only motivate me to get off my butt and run when all I really want to do is sit around and wallow but who also don’t mind when I talk about my cat for 10 miles of a 20 mile run. Lastly, I’m glad I still have two pugs who brighten all my days with their silly antics and remind me on a daily basis what it means to unconditionally love another living being.


I hope everyone had a fantastic Thanksgiving filled with family, friends, and laughter. I just got home from feasting on a delicious dinner that I did not have to cook (score!), and now I am about to give in to my food coma and pass out.

Reading Enjoyment

This weekend was fun.  Maybe a little too much fun.  I was fairly well behaved Friday night, but Saturday was Kevin and Becky's wedding.  The reception was at Columbia Restaurant in Ybor City.  Open bar included sangria and the dinner included chicken paella.  I was a pretty happy camper.  I can't say as much for Sunday morning.  Saturday I did Body Pump at the gym and Sunday afternoon, after a couple of naps, I met up with Sarah for a 13 mile run.  It went a lot better than expected.  I also got to test out my new Garmin 910XT that I was able to get half off from a friend.  We only stopped once for an extended period of time and that was for a bathroom break and to fill up our water bottles.  Since we started just before 5 it wasn't too hot and it only got cooler as it got later.  I think that was a saving grace for me.  I think today was my laziest day, though.  I called in sick from work because my throat was sore and I knew I would be useless at work.  I spent most of the day sleeping.  I spent about an hour reading and the rest of the time, if I was awake, it was because I was eating. 


What was I reading?  I was reading this book called "Sex, Lies, and Triathlon" by Leib Doddell.  This is a comical read for triathletes.  I think some runners would find it amusing as well.  I'm only about half way through it right now.  But, Leib talk about the life of a triathlete through some true and some fabricated stories that I'm assuming are based off of some kind of experience that he once had.  The parts that I've laughed the hardest about are when he's talking about health nutrition stores like GNC and NutriShop.  He says (summed up in my own words) "you go into a store and there is a young kid jacked up on new energy and tries to sell you on pre-workout, during workout, post-workout, when you're not working out, when you're thinking about working out supplements.  Why can't they just come up with a supplement so you don't have to work out?"  Another part is when he's talking about how when you tell people that you do an endurance sport, and they don't, they automatically assume that you are always full of energy and ready to get up and go at any moment in time.  Meanwhile, while sitting at work "I have to prop my head up with a pencil so that I can focus enough energy in my fingers to hit the keyboard keys hard enough to let the computer know I mean business".  This part really cracked me up because I literally do this all the time.  Except, I am usually using a water bottle.  Also, he says "it's just about every day that I am so tired that I am almost tempted enough to curl into the corner of the elevator to get 20 seconds of sleep while I'm waiting to get to the 20th floor of my office."  Yup, I wish almost every day I had found a secret place somewhere in my office that I could just go and hide for 10 minutes.  If you're looking for a slightly comical book about triathlons and triathletes, then go ahead and pick this book up.  It's pretty cheap and an easy read. 

On the subjects of eating and reading, I read an article from Active.com by Matt Fitzgerald called "When It's Good to Gain Weight".  I thought it was perfect timing for me to find this article because I have gained 5 solid pounds back since October 20.  I really liked this article because it differentiated why losing weight and maintaining a certain weight is different for endurance athletes as opposed to non-endurance athletes.  Here are the main points that I took away from the article:

• Runners and other endurance athletes like to look good and be healthy too, but they also care about performance, and an athlete’s optimal racing weight is not the same as his or her healthy weight range. Most often, the body weight at which an athlete performs best falls at the lower end of his or her healthy weight range
• [maintaining a certain weight year round]... For endurance athletes, this is unrealistic. Training and racing occur in cycles
• (this one is my favorite) You could minimize post-race weight gain by reducing your food intake by an amount that’s commensurate to your reduction in training.  But it would be difficult to pull off because it takes a while for appetite to decrease after a drop in training volume. 
• It is possible, of course, to let off-season weight gain get out of hand. The best way to avoid this is to take another cue from the elites and set a personal weight-gain limit.

This last point is talking to me (not literally) because 5 pounds is a good weight gain and I need to start reeling it in now.  I started off my tri season at my current weight and so I don't want to surpass that.  Especially since Thanksgiving is in a few days, followed by Christmas and New Year's and then on February 11 I start training for Vineman.  Wish me luck!

Walnut Butter Cran-Raspberry Chia Seed Jam Cookies

Maria and I are heading down to Miami tomorrow for the Rock’n’Roll Miami Beach Half Marathon on Sunday, and since we are going to be spending 8 hours in the car over the weekend, I wanted to make bake some healthier snacks to deter me from buying a bunch of gas station junk food to munch on en route. I’ve been craving nut butters lately like no one’s business, and I have had this packet of Artisana Raw Walnut Butter in my pantry for a few weeks now just begging to be used, so I decided to bake up a clean version of Peanut Butter & Jelly Thumbprints.

Walnut Butter Cran-Raspberry Chia Seed Jam Cookies

Makes 16 small cookies
Adapted from here

2 tbsp natural walnut butter (I used Artisana Raw)
1/2 cup old-fashioned oats
1/2 cup fat free ricotta cheese (I used Calabro brand)
5 packets (or to taste) Stevia
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 cup egg whites
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla extract

4 tbsp Cran-Raspberry Chia Seed Jam (recipe below)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Line cookie sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat.

Mix everything all ingredients other than the chia seed jam together, stirring until the ricotta and walnut butter are thoroughly incorporated. The cookie dough will be on the wet side.

Using a small cookie scoop, drop the dough onto the prepared pan. Smooth the dough into a round cookie shape using the back of a teaspoon. Make a small indentation in the middle of each cookie and spoon about 1/2 - 3/4 tsp of raspberry cranberry chia seed jam into the center of the cookie.

Bake for 13 - 15 minutes or until tops of cookies start to brown.

 

Raspberry Cranberry Chia Seed Jam

Makes 16 One Tablespoon Servings

1 cup frozen raspberries
1/2 cup fresh cranberries
8 packets of Truvia (or to taste)
1/2 cup water
2 tbsp chia seeds
1 tsp vanilla extract

Add raspberries, cranberries, Truvia, and water to a small saucepan over medium-low heat. Cook until the raspberries and cranberries have broken down and become a slightly watery jam-like consistency, stirring frequently. Remove from heat and allow the mixture to cool for about 10 minutes. Add the chia seeds and vanilla and stir. Store in an air-tight container in the refrigerator.



The cookies turned out soft and chewy, with a nice nuttiness from the walnut butter and a slight tart tanginess from the chia seed jam. These are small (think 2 – 3 bites), not overly sweet cookies, and they taste like the healthier version of cookies that I wanted to make. Speaking of the health aspects of these cookies, the nutrition stats aren’t bad for a treat. As an added bonus, you’re getting clean carbs from the oats and fruit, a dose of omega-3 fatty acids from both the walnut butter and the chia seeds, and a bit of protein from the nut butter, chia seeds, and ricotta cheese. I’ve become a fan of using chia seeds before long runs to help keep me hydrated, so I can feel good about eating these all the way down to Miami Beach tomorrow!

Nutrition Information per cookie
Calories: 32
Fat: 1.5g
Carbohydrates: 2.6g
Protein: 1.9g
Calculated on Sparkrecipes.com

Cruises Are Fun, 2 Mile Runs Are Awesome, and Destination Races Are the Best

I’ve been a little MIA lately.  I left Thursday for a 3-night bachelorette cruise starting in Port Canaveral, FL with one stop in Nassau, Bahamas.  We were all well behaved.  I don’t think any of us exceeded 5 drinks in a day, but most days were only 1 or 2.  Of course, we ate like crazy.  I tried to make fairly healthy choices, but within an unlimited supply of ice cream and sweets in the cafeteria, I can only resist for so long.  And, then at breakfast and dinner when you can also eat as much as you want of whatever you want that’s on the menu.  I had some sort of fish for my main meal every night.  But, of course I had to get dessert too  J.  Oh well, I worked out Friday and Saturday on the ship, so at least I wasn’t a total bum.  Oh, and let me just say, it’s quite interesting trying to stay straight on the elliptical and even more so on the treadmill when the ship is swaying back and forth.  I did 30 minutes of cardio both days followed by about 45 minutes of weights.  Friday we were docked at the Bahamas and the day was pretty uneventful except for while we were at Senor Frogs for a quick snack and a drink.  There was a bachelor party there that were entertaining and at some points annoying and gross.  The guy getting married is from St. Pete.  Small world, right?  In case you’re unfamiliar with the Tampa Bay Area, St. Petersburg is about 45 minutes away from Tampa.  The one getting married was also the most annoying and gross.  He ate a huge piece of lettuce from one of our trays and was chewing it with his mouth open.  After he chewed it all up, he tried to spit it back out into the tray.  I kind of wanted to punch him right them.  I think Saturday was the best day.  We spent all afternoon lying out by the pool and the ship entertainment was great.  Also, that was when we discovered that they had Blue Moon on the ship.  Wish I would have known that sooner.  All in all, it was fun.  Not the best cruise experience I’ve ever had, but I was glad to hang out with my friends that I hadn’t seen in a while and just relax for a few days.  I was glad to be home on Sunday, though. 

My training plan had me do 2 miles yesterday.  And, compared to the rough 15 miler that Sarah and I did Monday morning, it was awesome.  I felt like I was flying.  Not because of speed.  It was at an 8:30 min/mi pace.  But, because my steps were so light and felt almost effortless compared to just about every run I’ve had over the last 6 months.  I got done and was ready to tackle the weights.  I started with pull ups and my bubble quickly burst.  I’ve gained 5 pounds since B2B.  My clothes are a little tighter but still fit comfortably.  But, I can really tell the extra weight is there with the pull ups.  I was able to complete 10 at my peak just before B2B.  Yesterday, I did 5.  Granted, it’s still better than none.  But, pull ups are so hard!  I dread doing them almost as much as doing abs.  Oh well.  I’m still happy about my 2 miler.  I’m not going to get upset about it.  I just need to start watching what I eat more closely.  My rest period is over and I need to be more conscious of that. 

Why are destination races great?  Because it gives you an excuse to travel to places that you want to go to and to places that you would never go to otherwise.  It allows you to get in a workout and then eat more of the local goodies that are available without feeling so bad about it.  The one I’m most excited about it is Windsor, California… Wine Country!  I found someone from one of the tri teams that I’m on to get in on the buy 1, get on 50% off deal for the Full Vineman being held on July 17, 2013.  It was great how it worked out.  I posted on the group pages on Facebook if anyone was interested in doing the race with me and gave the details.  Tanner responded within minutes with a “Yes!”, followed by a “I know you!”.  Turns out his girlfriend looked at my bike a few months ago to buy.  We haven’t seen or talked since then.  She didn’t end up buying my bike, but oh well.  I made sure to clear it with Daniel before I even posted the question and again before I registered.  I’m super excited about this destination race because 1) it’s a race that was on my to-do list.  I was planning on not doing any full distance races next year and had actually planned to do it in 2014.  But, that would put it right in the middle of the 2014 World Cup of which I have been instructed not to plan anything during  :), 2) it’s in Wine Country and this time I’m going to get to enjoy it.  Last time Daniel and I went we didn’t have enough time to go to even one vineyard, 3) it's before the September and October festivites that we missed this year because of Augusta and B2B of which Daniel wasn't very happy about, and 4) (this is the most improtant) it’s the week after my 30^th b-day.  So, it’ll be a happy b-day to me!  It would be cooler if it was ON my birthday.  But, I'll take it.