Monthly Archives: June 2010

Hey there! How’s your Saturday going? Mine has been pretty low key and I am liking it!

We had a great night with Brian’s friend Joe, his daughters, his girlfriend Jen, her little guy, and Joe’s parents. Joe bought a mega camper (more like a motor home) and came up from Iowa to camp right along the river. Everyone fished and we are some delicious “camp food” (brats, burgers etc.).

I got a great night’s sleep and even slept in until 8am! This is definitely a good thing. The training book I used said to get a good night sleep the 2 nights before your triathlon because you most likely won’t get a good night’s sleep before the tri.  I did a short little brick workout today just to loosen up my legs, make sure everything was feeling good, and to ensure that my bike was working well. It felt REALLY easy and I definitely felt like I could do more which is a good thing since I’ll be doing A LOT more tomorrow. I then went about packing my transition bag for tomorrow. (Please note there is a sheet on our bed because a certain big yellow dog like to sleep on it and I don’t want it smelling like a dog!)

Swim

Bike

Run

And more!

Tomorrow to the race I’ll be wearing

• My tri-suit
• A sweatshirt (if it’s cold)
• My running shoes (you have to park at the high school and ride your bike to the transition area)
• Socks
• Bike helmet

I’ll be carrying my backpack which contains

• Wetsuit
• Swim cap
• Goggles
• Towel
• Flip Flops (to walk from the transition area to the swim start)
• Bike Shoes
• Sunglasses
• Bike gloves
• Race belt with race number on it
• Extra socks
• Extra pair of goggles
• Extra swim cap
• Extra fuel
• Water bottles (2 with water one with Gatorade)
• Mini-Camera

Now I just have to make sure Brian has the cameras in his “spectator bag” and we’ll be good to go.

My plan for tomorrow is

• Wake up at 4:30am
• Do a short 20 minute yoga session to wake up my muscles
• Eat a fueling breakfast of oats, milk, banana, nut butter, and egg whites.
• Leave the house by 5:30am
• Get to park by 6:00am to set up transition area/get body marked/ get timing chip
• Between 6:20 and 6:30 get in water for quick warm up
• 6:50 line up for swim start
• 7:00 Start!

I do have a few worries. One is eating. As you can see I plan to eat breakfast pretty early, I hope it holds me over. I plan on taking in some GU either before the bike or half way through the bike depending on how I feel. I’m also worried about my hair (silly I know!). By hair is at a weird length. I can put it up but it takes a lot of clips. I need to make sure that what ever I do holds up during the swim, fits under my bike helmet, and stays put during the run. I think I have it down but you just never know, my hair seems to have a life of it’s own! I’m also worried about going to the bathroom. I always seem to have to go to the bathroom a lot in the morning and when I’m nervous or excited. I know once I get that wetsuit on I won’t want to take it off to go to the bathroom. I’ll just have to time everything out right. If I don’t get a warm up swim in I’ll be okay too.

So that’s it! Do I seem ready to you? I can’t wait!

Hi! Happy Friday!I am nearing the end of my taper week and I haven’t gone crazy….yet! Actually with all the free time I have on my hands I am trying very hard to stay busy!

Last night after work I picked up my race packet at the Y. Check out the swag!

We got a bunch of coupons to local businesses, a complete healthy teeth set with tooth brush, tooth paste, and floss, aome Hammer Gel (like GU) a pen, a cool mini first aide kit to keep in your purse, and of course a really cool running singlet!

I love that we got this instead of a t-shirt, definitely more useful! Last night I also made a new nut butter. Basic, natural, peanut butter!

  This whipped up really fast and was super creamy without adding anything to it.Why would you buy nut butter when it is so east to make?

I also did some knitting while I watched a movie with Brian and read part of a book for grad school.

Today I had off but I was up bright and early. I made something new for breakfast. Unfortunately my pictures didn’t turn out very well because it was really dark and gloomy this morning. I made toasted pumpkin spiced quinoa with pumpkin yogurt. I got the recipe here from Caitlin at Healthy Tipping Point. It was just okay. The texture was really weird and it didn’t keep me full like a smoothie or oats would. I find this odd as quinoa has protein in it. It sure made my house smell yummy though!

I managed to walk the doggie before a big storm rolled in. While it was raining I worked on some Zumba songs. I’ve also been trying to get all my work done for grad school which starts in a week!

Tonight we are meeting up with one of Brian’s good friends Joe and his ADORABLE daughters. I hope to take lots of pictures. That reminds me! I also made a dessert to bring to tonight’s gathering. It’s a “mock” chocolate eclair dessert. You can find the recipe here. It isn’t the healthiest recipe but I did use low-fat graham crackers, fat free, sugar free pudding, and light whipped topping. I’m pretty sure that the whole can of chocolate frosting I used canceled all that out! I still can’t wait to try a piece!

That’s all for now! I’m on pins and needles waiting for the tri!

Well it’s official….I’m obsessed with Glee! I never watched the show until one of the high school kids I work with lent me Season 1 Vol. 1. I watched the whole thing in two weeks. So addicting! Now I have to figure out how to watch the rest of the episodes from this season since you can only see the last 5 on Hulu!

Perhaps you are wondering if I am doing anything different in regards to my diet before the triathlon this Sunday. The answer is yes, and no. One thing I have done, but have not mentioned on the blog, is I haven’t had one sip of alcohol for 4 weeks. I’m not sure why I decided to do this. it’s not like I’m a huge drinker. I have been known to have a glass of wine or beer in the evening or a maybe a couple at a social event. I guess I just didn’t want the temptation to be there and I thought if I cut it out completely it wouldn’t be there. It actually wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be, I don’t really miss it. If I wouldn’t have cut it out for the past month I probably would have for at least the week before. Other than that I have been trying to eat as clean as possible eating lots of fresh fruits and veggies and limiting my sugars. I’ve been trying to get some good carbs in there too. On Saturday night we are planning to go out to an Italian place for pasta. I really want to go out for pizza after the tri and most likely will have beer with my pizza! I don’t think doing an event entitles you to eat whatever you want. Before the race I want to consume food that will provide my body with the energy I need for the race. Afterwards I want to replenish the calories I burned, which I am estimating to be over 2,000! I think a little splurge on pizza will be okay!

After work I’m picking up my race packet! So excited! Today is one of my total rest days. The only exercise I did was walking the dog. It’s really weird to not be exercising, especially when I was use to working out 6 times a week sometimes exercising more than once a day! That’s all I have for now! Hope you’re having a good day, it’s almost Friday!

Hey friends! How’s your Tuesday going? Good I hope! Mine has been pretty quiet. This is the first time in 11 weeks when I didn’t have to get up early for training work AND teach Zumba at night. I’d like to tell you that I’m really enjoying this tape week but that would be a lie! I’m already getting kind of antsy! It just seems like I have so much time on my hands! I’ve heard of this happening to people during the taper week for marathon training but I’ve never experienced it before. I just can’t wait until Sunday!

I have also noticed that my appetite has changed during this taper period. Last night when I was done volunteering at the Salvation Army the head chef said the volunteers could eat. I knew that Brian had made duck, but nothing to go along with it. I thought I would have a little taste of potatoes and eat the duck when I got home. Well, I had a little taste but I was full and satisfied. The thought of eating did not even sound good to me. This is extremely odd for me. I LOVE food and I LOVE to eat. I guess that’s what happens when you go from burning between 600-1500 calories a day training to 200-400. I’ve been keeping track of how many calories I burn just out of curiosity. I was eating more to compensate for the extra burn but now I’ve cut back and I’m glad to say my body is giving me clear signals that it doesn’t need that many calories!

I did have a leftover Vegan Black Bean Burger for lunch today on top of a very fresh salad. With a side of cherries for dessert!

Well I need to review my NEW Zumba songs for tonight (leading new songs always makes me nervous!). I have no other plans for the evening! Maybe I’ll watch a little more Glee!

Hola! I have a minor in Spanish, can you tell? I have had quite the productive day off. It’s amazing what you can get accomplished when you don’t have to do a 2 hour training ride/run!

I got up semi early but later than I normally do at 6:45am. I walked the Izzy monster and then did a quick 20 minute run per my training plan. I then proceeded to scrub the floors and vacuum the carpets. I worked on a few Zumba moves for my class tomorrow. Then my good friend Jess called all the way from Peru! It was almost lunch by this time but I still hadn’t showered, gross! By the time I got all cleaned up I was STRAVING! I really wanted to make these vegan black bean burgers I saw floating around on the blogs the last few days. They sounded super easy and I had all the ingredients.

Oats and pumpkin seeds all ready to be pulverized!

PLUVERIZED!

Black beans rinsed and drained.

I used the shredding attachment for my food processor and shredded them right into the mix. So easy! I love my food processor!

The key to these burgers are the spices. All those flavors mixed together taste AMAZING!

All ready to go in the oven.

I was SUPER hungry by this point so I made myself a salad with fresh lettuce from in-law’s garden! This lettuce is the most tender, wonderful lettuce you will ever taste. I can’t believe how excited I am about eating this this summer. Yes, those are bacon bits on my salad (don’t judge).

I scarffed down this salad while the burgers were baking AND whipped up some of my home made spaghetti sauce to use in a dish I’ll be making later this week.

I did not snap a photo after they came out of the oven, I was THAT hungry. These are so delicious and so easy to make. You really must try them!

Then I cleaned up the kitchen, paid the bills, AND started writing a paper for grad school. I then volunteered at the Salvation Army for about an hour and half. I got home awhile ago, played with the pup and finished up that paper. Whew! I like to make the most of my time! I still might work a little more on my Zumba set but then I plan on relaxing in front of the TV with The Bachelorette!

Hope your day was productive or relaxing respectively!

P.S. Only 5 days until the triathlon!!!!!!!!!

I’ll be doing the triathlon! So excited! Brian and I headed out to lake Neshonoc so I could get in one open water swim with my wetsuit. I wanted to try wearing my tri-suit and my sports bra under it and to just see how it felt to swim with a wetsuit on since I’ve never used a wetsuit before. I was wondering how much trouble it would be to get the suit off when it was wet.

Here’s me in my tri-suit before we left.

I got my tri-suit about 9 years ago when I was getting ready for my second triathlon. My dad bought it for me (thanks Dad!). I’ve used it ever since. It’s basically a one piece suit that you can swim, bike, and run in. It is made out of a nice light material that dries quickly. I actually bought a men’s because they zipped in the front and I could unzip part of the way to keep cool. I highly recommend wearing one, it makes transitions so much easier.

As we were driving towards the lake some storms started rolling in. We decided it wouldn’t be safe for me to swim so we stopped at our friends Jen and Chad’s house to wait it out. Finally the storms cleared and we headed to the lake.

All ready to go!

Isn’t the lake pretty?! It was nice and calm after the storm. I wanted to hurry and get the swim over with in case the storms came back. I jumped in an just started swimming. I am very confident swimming in open water during a race but I’ll admit swimming in a lake by myself was a little scary.  I felt really good swimming with the wetsuit on. I didn’t have to work as hard to hold my body in the proper position. I could really focus on my arms and breathing. Brian got a few shots of me out in the water but I was pretty far away. I swan until my fingers touched the sand which was pretty much right to the boat landing. I stood up and unzipped the wetsuit and pulled the top part down (I read about this technique in a book). When I got to the grass where the car was parked I took it the rest of the way off and it came off easy peasy! No trouble at all! I feel really comfortable with wearing the wetsuit now. Plus it was a fun adventure!

I forgot to mention that last night we went to a birthday party for one of my friends from high school. Here’s a picture of all us girls together again!

Marianne, Me, Becky, Amy (the birthday girl), and Aleecia with her adorable daughter Caroline. It was so fun to see everyone together again. It’s rare that we all get together at the same time. I call these gals my high school friends even though I didn’t go to high school with them. They went to the public school and I went to the Catholic school but we were friends through Girl Scouting. The most entertaining part of the evening were Aleecia’s kids. She has two little boys besides Caroline.

Trevor and Luke with the birthday girl.

Such a fun night!

That’s all I have for now. This week is the REAL taper week. I only have one run planned, I’m teaching one cycling class, and one Zumba class. I also have one little brick workout right before the tri just to take sure everything is good to go and my legs are loosened up. That means I have 2 whole rest days! I don’t know what I’ll do with myself…probably enjoy it!

Howdy! Whew today has been a busy but productive day! As I mentioned yesterday, now that it’s summer, I have Monday’s and Friday’s off. So nice!

Last night’s Fix a Flat clinic was awesome! I kind of knew how to do it but the folks at River Cycles gave us some really great tips and were available to help us. I was going to snap some photos but I forgot my camera! After the clinic I walked down to the lake where I will be doing the tri. That’s when I really wish I had my camera. It was so beautiful! I can’t wait to get in there and swim!

I did get in the last long swim of my training this morning at the Y which was nice and quiet for once. I then dropped my bike off for it’s tune up. Now it’s all shiny and ready to go. I came home and worked on some new dance moves for my Zumba class. I really needed to work on some homework for my Grad school classes but the State Track meet is taking place just down the road from my house. All I could hear was the sound of the start gun and voices cheering. I decided to get out of the house and head to a local coffee shop to work.

The Root Note features organic, fair trade, and local food and beverage. Plus in the evenings they have music! It’s a really cool place. I settled myself in an extremely comfy chair and ordered a Roobios Peach Iced Tea.

Interior shot from where I was sitting.

I thought I would be distracted by all the other conversations going on around me but I managed to get a whole paper written! I then headed to the store to pick up some food for dinner. I also made this really great dessert and started to document it but  then something got messed up and I had to fix it so I forgot to take more pictures.

Brian and I just got home from shopping.  Brian needed running shoes and some running clothes. It was fun shopping with him, he hates to shop but seemed in a pretty good mood!

Well, I’m going to watch a movie with Brian and paint my nails. Tomorrow I have a brick workout planned. Can’t wait to try out my nicely tuned bike. Oh! I almost forgot! Look what came in the mail today.

My wetsuit! I rented this for $40 from wetsuitrental.com.  I feel like I am really going to rock the swim in this thing! I hope I don’t have too much trouble getting it off! I plan to take it for a practice swim next week.

It’s really getting close now! I am so excited!

Hey there! Happy Thursday! Actually for me it’s Friday as I’m off on Friday’s in the summer. Yay!

Last night was my first Wednesday night off since the end of March. It was amazing how much I did between coming home from work and going to bed.

First off, Brian met me on my way home from work with the doggie. He said he was going to start his running program as soon as we got home! I told him I’d run with him, I was so excited! We alternated running for 60 seconds and walking for 90 seconds. We were suppose to go for 20 minutes but we ended up going for 25 and covered 2 miles! I was so proud of him! Then I went on a 45 minute bike ride. I came home and dinner was already prepared (I know what a great husband I have!). After dinner I did the dishes and then decided I’d do a little experiment in the kitchen. Can you guess what I made?

Cashew butter! Now, I haven’t actually bought cashew butter but I heard you make it the same way you make almond butter.

After a minute of processing

A little longer

Annnnnnnd………done!

It actually whipped up a lot faster than the almond butter but I also had a lot less cashews. The end product was a little sticky but tastes really good. I didn’t add anything to it but next time I might add a little oil. I enjoyed some on a piece of whole wheat toast before my morning run today.

After my run….I got really sweaty. I only went 30 minutes and it wasn’t that hot out!

For breakfast I had Overnight Oat in a Jar. Pretty much the same thing as Oats in a Jar but cold. We had a very empty peanut butter jar just waiting to be used.

In the mix

• 1/2 C Plain non-fat yogurt
• 1/2 C Vanilla almond milk
• 1/2 tsp ground flax
• 1 TBSP agave

Overnight Oats are starting to grow on me. I find if I  add frozen fruit the night before that helps or in this case the peanut butter was fantastic. I topped this with a banana and some shredded coconut. Very good after a hot run!

For lunch I had my old favorite food topped with my new favorite food. A microwaved sweet potato topped with vegetarian baked beans!

With a side of kiwi of course. I am really loving baked beans these days, must be the summer weather! So quick and easy! A little bit of beans go a long way. This is only 1/4 of a cup!

I usually don’t eat the skins on my sweet potatoes if I microwave them but I do eat them when I bake them. I thought I’d try eating the skin today, it wasn’t that bad! Plus it made it more filling. I do eat the skin on my kiwi. I just give it a good rinse and a scrub, slice and eat. So much easier that trying to peel it or scoop the fruit out!

Tonight I’m going to a FREE Fix-A-Flat clinic offered by River Trail Cycles who are sponsoring the triathlon. I know for sure I’ve changed a flat on my “in town” bike (the one I ride to work and around town) but I’m not sure if I changed one on my road bike. I think it would be good to know how to do it and practice with some pros present.  Tomorrow my bike goes in for it’s pre-race tune up!

Catch ya later!

Hey peeps! It’s Wednesday already! See I told you the week would go fast!

Things around my part of the world are pretty quiet. Something totally unhealth related – I just started watching Glee. Can you believe I had never seen one episode until last night? Crazy I know! One of my students lent me the first season on DVD. Perfect for summer when a lot of shows take a break. It won’t take me long to get through it that’s for sure!

I mentioned yesterday that my Olympic Distance Triathlon is less than 2 weeks away. I’m pretty excited about it! But of course I’m always thinking about what my next goal will be. As I mentioned before I signed up for the Walt Disney World Half Marathon in January of 2011. That is a long way off! I would definitely keep my running up before I begin officially training for that half. So, I am hoping to do the Maple Leaf Half Marathon. I still need to sort a few things out with work and grad school before I officially register. I figure training for this race will keep my running up and give me a goal to work on before Disney. I’m a little worried about training for a half during Wisconsin’s cold winter which potentially could start in October! I plan on using a training plan from Marathon Training Academy. I’ve really enjoyed listening to their podcasts and their training plans have you running 3 days a week which I think will fit in well with the classes I teach at the Y  and the rest of my busy life! So that’s what I have planned for me! I wouldn’t actually start training for the half marathon in September until the 2nd week in July which would give me plenty of time to recover from my triathlon.

In other news my husband has expressed to me his desire to get in better shape and he thinks he might like to start running. I am really excited about this! I have never tried to push my healthy lifestyle on him. Of course he eats more veggies since he married me but other than that not much has changed. He loves to hunt and fish and he hopes that by improving his fitness he’ll feel more comfortable doing these things. I plan on giving him the Couch to 5K program. I think it is totally doable!

Well, I skipped a bike ride this morning because the weather looked iffy. Now I’m hoping it holds off so I can get a nice 45 minute ride in after work! So far I’m really enjoying the taper week! Have a good one!

Hello blog world! How’s your Tuesday going? It’s always hard getting back into the swing of things after a nice long weekend. The good news is Friday will come even faster now! Sorry for disappearing over the weekend. I had every intention of blogging but after some pretty fun filled days I was just too tired! When we go home last night I of course had to get caught up on laundry and get ready for the week ahead.

As I mentioned my sister-in-law volunteered us to help at the Great Midwest Marathon and Half Marathon. This was the inarguable year for this event. There were only about 120 runners in both the marathon and half marathon. The normal temperature for this time of year in eastern Wisconsin is between 65-75 degrees Fahrenheit. On Sunday the high was 90 degrees! We got there at 7:45am to set up our station. Ironically enough our water station was on the same path that I ran on on Saturday. It was already hot and muggy when we got our station ready.

We had plenty of water and Gatorade to go around. The marathon course was a loop so we would see the marathon runners once and the half marathon runners twice. We were about miles  8 and 18 on the marathon course and the first marathon runner came by about 9am, he was already sweating like crazy! The last marathoner was a funny man from Japan (I think) who stopped to take pictures of everything! The marathon course joined up with the start of the half marathon course and so we were expecting a rush at about 10am. We were about mile 5 1/2 for the half marathon and by the time the runners got to us they were looking pretty miserable. I honestly don’t know how they did it. I was so hot and I was just standing there. I was mostly busy handing out beverages but I did manage to snap a photo of some of the runners.

They had a big hill to climb before they got to our station. I guess a lot of folks dropped out. We waited a long time for the last marathon runner (the Japanese guy). When he reached our station he was so grateful that we stuck around. We gave him the rest of our ice and a lot of water. He didn’t know if he’d be able to make it but I checked the results page today and he did!

It was really fun helping out at this event. I certainly have a greater appreciation for race volunteers. Even though it was really hot and a lot of the runners looked beat as far as I know there were know injuries or cases of heat stroke. We also had the EMT’s at our station so that’s how I know. I really give the runners a lot of credit for sticking it out. I don’t know if I would have been able to do it. I’m hoping the weather is not like that for my triathlon in LESS THAN TWO WEEKS!

After we were done volunteering I helped my sister-in-law deliver a wedding cake (she owns her own business Sweet Creations By Caren check her out!). Then we vegged for awhile before ordering Chinese food. We were all too tired to consider cooking.

Monday I got up and ran for 45minutes. It was hot and muggy again but not nearly as bad as Sunday. Then we headed out to a Memorial Day parade. I took Izzy for her first parade and she got really freaked out by the marching band! Other than that she was great! We headed back to the house to play some Wii. We ate some lunch and then headed back home.

It was a great weekend away! Now it’s back to the grind. Actually things are really slow around here and I don’t have any evening events for awhile. I teach Zumba tonight and then am looking forward to a night at home. Hope your weekend went just as swimmingly as mine did!

P.S. I can’t believe my triathlon is in less than TWO WEEKS!