Whirlwind...

That is what this week has felt like... I suppose I could say that about any given week. CR finally found a job that seems to be a good fit. He has been training his heart out this week, scouring over pages and pages of product information and memorizing sales scripts of such lengths you would not believe. I am quite proud. he was self employed for years so it will be nice to get back to a situation where there are some benefits and where we don't have to worry about quarterly taxes.

In other news, I have one tidbit of advice for you. If you ever have an accident in which you are hospitalized and you are out of state, thus out of network, have one of your closest friends drag you to the border of your "network" and drop you at a hospital safe inside the confines. Yikes... What a big difference in paying in network and out of network hospital bills. It almost doesn't seem fair in an emergency situation as you really have no choice.

Off the soapbox and back to fun. :) I got my much anticipated Peachtree Road Race Number in the mail this week. Time group B! The race organizers are trying a different corral approach this year to help ease congestion at the start as well as throughout the course. To give you an idea, I am in Time group B which is the 6th wave and I take off at 7:35 AM. Wave X, the final wave takes off at 9:00 AM. I guess that what happens when you have 55,000 runners in the largest 10k in the world. Can't wait but extremely glad to be closer to the front!

This week, my running, swimming and biking have been non-existent. Just really felt exhausted and decided to give a week off to regroup. I have played a ton of tennis (well not as much as John Isner) and plan to get back on the program Monday. Thinking of incorporating Jillian's No More Trouble Zones to give me a quick workout I can fit in at home.

Lastly, I will leave you with this... CR LOVES these potatoes. I borrowed the recipe from my friend the Pioneer Woman. She is cool like that. While CR drools over her potatoes, I drool over her Sugar Cookies but that is for another post.



These are yummy because they are soft on the inside and crispy on the outside. Give them a try! Easy, easy, easy.

In a large pot, boil several red potatoes. I usually let the water come to a boil and cook for 20 minutes. After 20 minutes, remove from the water. Heat the over to 450.

Prepare a large cookie sheet by covering in foil and spraying with non-stick spray. Place the potatoes on the pan. Mash down once with a potato masher. Drizzle lightly with oil and sprinkle salt and pepper. Bake for 10 minutes at 450. Enjoy!


Final note... Has anyone tried the carrot cake Larabars? LOVE THEM!

CSA week 2 & training plans

Check out the contents of my CSA bag this week.





Is it weird that I am so excited over vegetables? I even got fresh eggs this week from my personal farmer!





Sadly, my assigned food item for the tennis match suffered because I had to rush to pick up my bag. Good thing they don't take points off for presentation!





Sad but they ate it... :)

I have been trying to work out a triathlon plan for an Olympic tri in August. My work really gets in the way of training the way I would like! As always, I have too many interests and not enough time. Since my bike skills are lacking I think that needs to be a big part of my plan. I will also be building for the Chickamauga marathon beginning in mid-July so long runs are a component as well. It is starting to look like a two a day once a week is inevitable. How do the average workerbees with a penchant for endurance sports find the time???

Tri success! Sort of...

My two week mini training blast served me well, I was pretty well prepared for my race last Sunday. Check out my new gear... I was selected to be on Team Marathon. I got a variety of race kits and oodles of marathon energy bars to share! They are all about powering the everyday athlete so I guess I represent that pretty well. :)




And now the race... I arrived early got all set up and felt pretty comfortable. I don't know if it is this way with everyone but even though I consider myself a strong swimmer, the idea of swimming on, under, over and shoulder to shoulder with people is intimidating. We got the usual instructions and I took off in the first wave. Before I knew it, I was out of the water. One of the spectators yelled that I was the 10th female out of the water. Sweet! I wondered at one what point she would stop counting... "you're the 83rd female out of the water...". Not nearly as encouraging.

I ran up the hill to the transition, threw on my shoes and helmet and took off. (I have decided my helmet is too small so it takes a minute to get it positioned on my head where it doesn't hurt... The downside of having a pumpkin shaped head... There is a reason my friends call me pumpkin. I will be getting a new helmet asap). This is where the wheels fall off the race so to speak.

About 1.5 miles in going up a hill, I switch gears and the chain come off. This had happened to me before so I knew I could get it back on easy enough. I guess in the heat of the race I managed to forget my shoes are clipped in. You guessed it, I had the slow motion fall. Nothing you can do but hit the ground with your feet attached to the pedals while the other bikes scurry around you. If I had a unibomber type outfit with me I would have put it on at that point to avoid recognition. Lol. Seriously, the bike is my Achilles heel in the tri. Ugh.

So... For whatever reason, tbd derailer seemed off. All the way to the left and the chain wasn't feeding through it, it just clanked as it went by it. Me, being a total bike noob, figured I can't ride it like this and start making a walk of shame back to the transition area.

Bikes are flying past me, all of my teammates passed me and asked what was wrong as I am walking the bike back to the transition area. About a half mile into my walk of shame, I decide to see again if I can change the gears and maybe ride it out. The thought of walking all the way back to transition and a DNF was not appealing AT ALL. I get on and get the gears going! I did a u turn and got back on the course. I had one minor problem with the chain locking up about a mile down the road but got it going again. At this point, I am having the fastest ride of my life passing people right and left. I caught and passed all but one of my teammates. The last one I passed, who always claims I am a sandbagger, did a double take then yelled out "you know I hate you" as I passed her. Lol. She knows she is my long lost sister :)



It goes without saying that adding a half mile walk and an extra half mile ride to backtrack will not give you a PR. I was just uber excited I finished. Back into T2, tossed on my shoes and headed out on the run. I had trashed my legs a bit on the bike but still feel my run was strong. Despite it all, I was proud to finish and enjoyed myself. I am disappointed that I did not conquer my bike issues like I had hoped but am determined to do that soon! I have a 35 mile ride in July as well as an olympic distance tri in August so I had better get out there and figure it out, right?

After MUCH reflection on it, I don't recall riding bikes with gears all that often as a kid so maybe where I excel in swimming because of my childhood experience, I lack in biking for the same reason. Aren't we supposed to blame all our shortcomings on our upbringing? ;)

Have a good weekend! I have spin class tomorrow, work and two tennis matches over the weekend. Talk to you soon :)

CSA!

I have been looking forward to this day for a month! The farmers market in my area had it's debut which meant the first delivery of my CSA bag. I signed up with a local farmer a couple months back. For $20 a week I get a bag a fresh produce from his farm. It is a little like Christmas because you aren't sure what will be in the bag. I was not disappointed with today's offering!




My bag included peas, squash, red potatoes, rosemary, carrots, a lettuce of some sort (really lovely as lettuce goes) and a jar of homemade strawberry preserves.

The market is just getting it's feet so it was interesting to see what was offered on opening day. There is definitely potential there! There were all sorts of treats - fudge, rum cakes, soaps, plants, puppy treats, produce and meats.



















I couldn't wait to dive into my bag so when I got home, I baked some rosemary chicken and a fruit salsa. I decided to combine the two on top of my newly acquired lettuce and there was lunch!





The fruit salsa is so easy and is great with chicken, fish or just on its own.

Basically, you cut up about 3 to 4 cups of fruit. I used strawberries, canned pineapple tidbits and mango. Chop a red pepper, about 1/3 cup of onion and a little bit of cilantro. Toss it together with the juice of 1 lime, a little less than a teaspoon of chili powder and a teaspoon of olive oil. Stir it up and store in the refrigerator. Love it!




Off to take a nap and then head to see a couple of my neices and brother in law from Alaska at my Dad's tonight. Have a good one!

I have crammed for the Tri test, final exam on Sunday...

My super-short two week triathlon training plan is going swimmingly (so to speak). If I had to jump into a triathlon at the last minute, the sprint is the way to go. I would not recommend a 2 week plan for a 70.3 let’s just say…

I have really ramped up the swimming in the past week. I am not swimming miles and miles, as a matter of fact, I have probably swam 3000 meters in the last week which is kind of funny because when I was really giving swimming my full attention I would do that in a day. Oh well. I am diversified now, right? My last swim felt good, I am definitely back in the comfort zone. Funny how quickly a little effort can do that for you.

I had a group ride last night with my tri group. We did a short 12 mile ride followed by an even shorter run. I love how the run feels so easy after a ride. I have always felt like the first mile in any race is the hardest. It is absolutely because I am not warmed up. It is nice to get the warm up out of the way on the bike and have a great run from the first step. I am feeling pretty confident on the bike now. I have gotten used to clipping in and pulling up on the pedals. It really does make a difference in the way my legs feel. I like it! (Did I just say I like the bike – my how things have changed – see previous paragraph on how a little training and effort makes all the difference!). Shifting is becoming more natural as well. I still have to think about it a little but it is becoming more and more second nature now. It is not perfect as evidenced by my chain falling off halfway through the ride last night BUT I hopped off and put it back on and kept going. No prayer circle necessary like the time I had the flat, thankfully.

I feel great about the triathlon on Sunday. Really confident and looking forward to it. I have a tennis match right after the race so am hoping I at least have time to hang out and enjoy the festivities before I have to sprint to the showers for my match. It is going to be a busy day.

Speaking of versatility… Khianna from KBRunsDisney tagged me with the versatile blogger award. Check her out, she has quite the race schedule going on this year starting with the Goofy Challenge in January and ending with the NYC Marathon. I am pretty sure this award has made its rounds so I tag each and every one of you in blog land who want to play along :)

Here we go… 7 random things about me. I could probably come up with a list of 100 but we’ll do that some other time. I know you can’t wait. LOL.

1. In an effort to save money this week, I stopped into a Great Clips-type salon. There were no customers, I was a little worried. The stylist there was an older man. A little unusual for me anyhow, I am used to ladies who want to consult and tell you what would work best for your hair, but then again I am used to paying quite a bit more too. Lucky was his name. Lucky was a man of 8 words. The entire time I was there, he spoke 8 words to me. “how you want cut”, “you want blowdry” and “yes” when I asked him if the hairdryer shocked him. Lucky had to snuff out his Marlboro early to cut my hair. I guess he was in a rush to finish it. Oddly enough, Lucky gave me the best cut I have had in years.

2. I sort M&Ms by color before eating them. Once sorted, I also like there to be even amounts of each color. Speaking of, I have a things about even numbers. I prefer the volume on the TV or temperature on the thermostat to be on an even number. I know… that is probably a disorder of some sort.

3. I put myself through college. It took me over 10 years to get my undergrad and MBA. I am not sure I am really using them but am glad I did it. It is sort of a feeling of accomplishment like running a marathon. Except that I am still paying the entry fee in the form of a student loan 10 years later.

4. I have never changed a diaper. Really.

5. Shopping. Not that into it. I do love Target and mostly buy what I need (want) online.

6. I don’t really like chocolate. Again, some sort of disorder. I will eat it but given the choice, I go for vanilla.

7. I have Adult Onset Athleticism. I did swim team over the summer as a kid for several years which gave me a lifetime love of swimming (Thanks, Dad!). I was a cheerleader back in the day but that was when you only really had to clap, yell and occasionally jump. Who can’t do that?

Have a great weekend! I have big plans, running tomorrow, picking up my first CSA box, a cookout at Dad's, triathlon and tennis. Maybe a nap too....