Recovery Week...

While this recovery week has hit at a good time regarding scheduling (read: finding someone to watch the spawn) it's come at a bad time for my mood. I'm like a caged animal right now... caged w/ two wild crazy 4yo spawn that I'd like to eat just so I don't have to listen to the general craziness! ha ha (before you get your panties in a bunch I clearly love my spawn and would NEVER eat them.)

I KNOW the recovery stuff is part of the deal (and is highly beneficial), but I've always been outright TERRIBLE at recovery be it a single workout or a full on week. I always push too hard in the workouts and usually 'feel good' so I throw an extra workout in. This coached thing is going to really going to MAKE me do this and HELP ME to see the true benefits of it.

Now if I could get these kids to take a recovery week! DAMN!

One of the reasons that I exercise is to burn off tension, bring me down a few notches and help me cope with the craziness of kids. The sheer volume of it has already made me want to put on my shoes and RUN AWAY about 50 times and it's ONLY 9:30 in the a.m. Thank GOD Coach let me swim today! Mama needs a good workout. Time with my head underwater sounds about right!

I dropped my gym membership to move those funds over to coaching... well, the reality has already hit that that means running outside 100% of the time through the winter. Hmm. Northeast winter, curvy roads, snow plows... doesn't matter how much bright/reflective wear I wear I'm libel to get mowed over by a snow plow if there is fresh snow.

I have been spin certified for years now and never used it ... basically because I'm a huge chicken shit. I used to get up and talk in front of hundreds of people (in a past life) and while it was nerve wracking I did it, but I feel paralyzed to get on a spin bike in front of say 25 people. What's with that? My main problem isn't the workout.. I know I can make people work / sweat and generally suffer. It's the damn music. Putting it to music! UGH! Music people like. I had the exact same playlist on my ipod for OVER TWO YEARS!! TWO!! Over and over again I listened to the same music and it didn't bother me a bit. Also.. most of my music is explicit. CRAP! Anyway... 2011 is the year of awesomeness right? Time to get over this BS! And what a perfect time. I need a treadmill... don't want to pay for it... let's do this thing. So I start teaching spinning in a couple of weeks. I did a practice spin for my 50 min class last night. Worked up a good sweat, but my music ended at 34 mins. I've got a lot of work to do to get some playlists and profiles together. Hmm.. think I could just play music and wing it? So put a little prayer out there that I don't freeze up and that my music somewhat goes with my profiles.... oh and that the class members are merciful as I work out the kinks! Everyone starts somewhere right. Come on this isn't rocket science people! :)

Another great swim drill video

Tides are changing. I practically begged coach to let me swim a third day this week. I'm in a recovery week right now (these make me really twitchy.. I have to work hard to not workout.. craziness). I looked at the schedule and was shocked to see that I wasn't supposed to swim on Sunday. I emailed coach to MAKE sure it wasn't a typo or something. He said NO SWIMMING. Okay, back to the schedule. Wait!! I'm supposed to swim on Monday early and I can't so can I swim on Sunday instead?? Coach, FINE! Swim. YIPPEE! (Hmm.. I guess the point of PAYING a coach is to listen to him not BULLY him into doing what you WANT to do!? oh well... I get to swim. Notice get to not HAVE to.. my language is changing. Never EVER thought this would happen)


I had a GREAT swim session last night. I FINALLY felt what it's supposed to feel like to do rotation properly. I felt the stroke all the way down my arm and then down my side. NOT in my shoulders. It was awesome and I was definitely faster. (I was sharing a lane w/ one of the sharks. He's injured so he's slower than normal, but I kept up with him while he was lame (for a little while)... it's a start).

We did a couple of sets then hit the catch up drill w/ the stick. 50 drill / 50 swim. While this drill isn't my favorite this is the second time I've felt that it's really given me a good sense of what a stroke is supposed to feel like. (Mind you this time I'm also spending a great deal of time thinking about my kick and head position.)



We do the drill with the stick parallel to the bottom of the pool.

I'm feeling really good about all the time I'm spending in the pool and feel like I'm right on the verge of it all clicking and coming together (hence my desire to keep hitting the pool... and slight fear that if I don't it will all fall apart again.)

Our main set after the catch up drill was 2x400 (75 free, 50 back, 50 free, 75 breast, 150 swim) I NAILED that first 400. This is the VERY FIRST time I feel like I can say that I nailed a swim workout. I pushed myself out of my comfort zone!!! I'm so excited. I've always struggled with being able to really push myself into the HURT LOCKER in the pool. I'm glad to have gotten there. I was wipedout after that and couldn't get there the second 400. I did pushed myself, but couldn't quite get to where I was in the first set. Glorious swim workout!!!

Thanks to the sharks for giving me such good feedback and encouragement! You are playing a large part in things coming together for me and I truly appreciate it.

Too Legit to quit!

What can I say.. I wanna be one of the cool kids.

Jon over at SwimCycloRun recently posted about getting his own domain. He was inspired by Megan at The Daily Sweat (she just got a new job in my favorite city in the whole world. Go congratulate her.) How sweet is that? Totally makes you look all legit and stuff. Well I inquired with him as to how this works and what it entails. Well it was pretty simple... so I WANTED IN! It goes with my "2011 is the year of AWESOME" plan. I checked the availability of AUTHENTIC LIVING.. surprise surprise it was taken. So I went with my original idea of changing the name of the site and just went with my tagline. 

I can now be found at www.wifemotherathlete.com ... so if you follow me and want to continue w/ the google reader updates etc you might want to just click on that there "follow" button so as not to lose me. I'm not sure what will happen with any RSS feeds with this change, but I do know that if you keep the link to authenticliving.blogspot.com you will be rerouted to WMA.

So thanks Jon and Megan for the intel on switching to my own domain. I'm happy to be part of the cool club now.... see 2011.. I'm bringing the awesome already and it's not even 2011 yet!!!!

Hopefully everything will go seamlessly. If you have problems let me know!!!!

2011 is going to be the year of AWESOMENESS!!!

I'm putting it out there right now. You are on notice 2011 you are GOING TO BE THE YEAR OF AWESOMENESS!

Proof of this fact! Big things are planned. I've got myself a rockin' coach! I'm putting myself out there in ways I've always wanted to, but never gone through with! Things like.. the coach, the GREEN, and now I'm working on re-certifying for Spinning and am GOING to USE it (need something to pay for the awesomeness), I'm going for the BQ, putting my hat in the lottery for NYC and am stepping up my triathlon distance! I'm also working on building this blog into something more than just a 'journal' of sorts.  As I've alluded to before there is some other 2011 awesomeness in the plans too, but I'm not at liberty to discuss them here right now. It'll all come out some day...

I'm amped and excited about this. I've struggled for most of my adult life with the "what am I going to do with myself?" question. I've been painfully paralyzed by it. I'm not sure what happened, but I feel like I'm breaking free of it in a big way. I've always been ALL OVER the place with my interest and have really lacked focus, but the one constant has ALWAYS been the training/exercising. Granted it has come and gone, but over the last 4 years it has always been there. So I'm going with it. I'm not ready to really work per se. I am committed to the two little munchkins and being there for them in these years, but once school starts full time I want to hit the ground running with whatever it is I finally settle on. Part of the planning for that is doing the things above to either get them out of my system or ingrain them in my life to carry them on in different (read paid) ways as my time opens up. Word on the street is that kindergarten might be full time next year! Holding my breath and wishing hard on that one. Would certainly contribute to the second half of the year of AWESOMENESS!

I'm excited to take you all along with me for the support, motivation and inspiration. You all really do make me want to step up the game and live this life to it's fullest! Let's do this thing!

What awesomeness are you bringing into your life in 2011?

Anniversaries!

WARNING: If you read this blog only for my trials and tribulations as a triathlete/endurance athlete you can safely skip this post!!! Namely the first part w/ the photos. It's about to get personal up in here!

So it's weird.. I have a lot of "anniversaries" in the last quarter of the year.

last week we celebrated (using that term VERY loosely) our 1 year anniversary of leaving Madison and moving to CT.

This week we celebrate (again loose use of the word) our FIVE year anniversary of leaving Seattle.

Our wedding anniversary - 7 years - is at the end of this month.... (I don't have any wedding photos on my computer.... 7 years is a long time in the world of technology.)

                               We have a similar photo of our kids in this stage. Freaky huh?

AND I was just cleaning out some things (more on that later) and came across some old paperwork. There are a lot of new people here and I'm quite sure you haven't gone back to read my OLD OLD blog posts, but we did IVF to get pregnant (and if you care to know WHY) and I just dug up our paperwork ... Oct 18th I went into the hospital to have two tiny embryos place inside me! On Oct 28th (FIVE years ago) I found out I was pregnant! WOW! Looking over the paperwork with the words Blastocyst and embryos written all over them I feel a strange disconnection from it. When we decided to do IVF I always wondered if we would tell any resulting children how they were brought into this world. That question is still unanswered, but I rarely think about it. Now that I'm on 'the other side' I don't even feel like we went through all of that.. and believe me WE DID! It was a long hard road to get where we are, but it's like it was all erased from my memory when Jason and Lily joined our family. If you know anyone going through this infertility business. Give them a big hug, an ear and a shoulder. That's really all the need. Well, not all, but you get it.

I am working on simplifying some things.. all things.. in preparation for a big training year. Part of that is cleaning things out and letting go of the 'unnecessary' things (which lead me to purge the aforementioned paperwork) and streamlining our finances (aka squeezing out any extra cash I can to support my crazy triathlon habit). I can't remember where I found it, but I stumbled upon Zen Habits. I am really loving this site. It's got all kinds of info about creating your 'zen'.. from ridding yourself of extra stuff (aka baggage) to simplifying your finances. I'm just gobbling up this site (and a lot of time.. not so zen or simplified, but we'll get there).

Are you in need of some simplifying and cleaning out of things? What do you do to keep it simple stupid? I'm excited to get rid of the unnecessary stuff to allow more room for the good stuff, brain space for more creativity and less of that bogged down feeling from all the 'stuff' I've got to manage.

PS. Hot tip from a friend of mine. If you donate stuff to Goodwill they have a brochure that helps you give value to the things you donate. This brochure gives way more value to things than I had given in the past. If you itemize on your taxes this is very cool. You have to list every item, but it might be worth the extra work.

Balancing the lifestyle...

As I was trying to fall asleep last night I thought about Trimommy's post about Visualization and how she uses it before race day and it works so she should try using it in the realm of parenthood. (how's that working trimommy?)... as I lay there I was also thinking about what was on deck for my workouts for the next day. I always do this.

I'm not sure about all the other moms of young kids out there, but one of my main struggles in motherhood is REALLY connecting with my kids on a daily basis. YES, it's true. I spend almost EVERY waking moment with my kids and it's not uncommon for me to go to bed at night and not be able to think of one moment in the day where I really stopped the chaos and madness of motherhood/house caring to connect with my children as opposed to just responding to their needs and shuffling them around for school and errands. And this is not a new problem...

I've tried a number of times to figure out how to fix this problem. To be more scheduled about our day... but really it's not my style. So then I was thinking... okay every day I have at least one (sometimes two) workouts planned each day. I am non-negotiable about this and it gets done every day.. barring any unforeseen circumstances ... normally related to the aforementioned spawn. So why not do the same thing for the kids and I. I could plan an activity or something for every day that is 'non-negotiable'. It doesn't need to be elaborate because frankly they just don't care they just want my undivided attention. And really is that too much to ask of your mother!? It could be reading books or coloring.. and I mean coloring as in me coloring too not them coloring while I'm on the computer!

So today's activity is going to be a hike w/ Leo dog, then a trip to the library to return the Halloween books and movies (and pay for the movie that Jason broke before we even got to watch it.. ugh) in exchange for some Thanksgiving stuff. That's as far as I've gotten right now.

Another area that I'm struggling with is the 2011 goals and image board. I'm all set in the world of endurance sports, but struggle with adding things around the family goals. There's just ONE big one... other than that I'm stumped. What's wrong with me? Clearly the undivided attention goal is a good one, but other than that??? I guess this is one reason why I love triathlon... it gives me a schedule and goals. Mostly I feel like there is a schedule to get the training done and the rest just happens. I know I need to make it so that the rest has purpose and intention as well, but I get so overwhelmed with it.

How do you do this ladies/gents? How do you make sure to spend that quality time with your kids? I feel absolutely ridiculous asking this question, but I know I can't be alone in this. I never thought that as a stay at home mom this would be an issue, but it's easy to get distracted by all the mundane things that 'need' to get done to run a household.. and frankly playing trains bores me! :)

My swim feedback...

I sent the link to my SWIM VIDEO to coach John (tri coach) and coach Rich (masters swim coach) and got similar advice from both.

1. Press the chest/swim down hill
2. Head neutral / make small movement to take a breath
3. Catch: square the elbows (do finger tip / high elbow drill and catch up drill)
4. Drive from the hips
5. Kick in the bucket

I wrote the 5 things above on a note card I can put in a baggie and take to the pull with me to remind myself of the things I need to work on.

Here is a video I found helpful... how it should be done! The catch.

Swim video.. you be the judge.

Okay FIRST ignore the sweet swimmers mullet I'm rockin'. Geez. Why didn't anyone tell me my hair was hanging out? That's like not telling someone they've got a snot snake hanging out of their nose! I'll address that with my swim peeps.

Here's some quick video of my stroke.
(Edited to say: Oops. Loaded the wrong video. I'll leave it here in case you guys want to see what a goof ball my kid is and learn about Dark..er Darth.. Vador)

The first things I notice are:
1. What the hell am I looking at? My feet? My head is BURIED in the water.
2. (as coach mentions) my feet. You would think I would have noticed that since I'm clearly watching them.
3. Do I catch early enough. Geez. I told you I had no glide.

I'm glad I took this video. For starters I think my stroke looks a lot better than I thought it did and now I can see for myself the things I am reminded about over and over again and I can take follow up video later to see my progress.

This was my first week swimming three times a week and, dare say, I liked it. It had felt like the Thursday to Tuesday break was too long to go without swimming. There were only 4 of us today and I was able to complete almost the entire workout with the 'sharks'.. no slow lane today. I was only 100 short. Woo hoo!

So here I open up the comments. Give me some feedback folks! What do I need to work on? :)

Ironman Access my 2 cents

Would I be remiss as a triathlete if I did not comment on this?

The WTC (as you ALL already know) dropped the IRONMAN Access program this week only to rescind a few days later in response to the SOCIAL media BLOWING up over it. It's been so interesting to hear all the remarks. Thusfar I've only found one or two that did not totally trash WTC and IM for being greedy money grubbers.

No one fessed up to purchasing this $1k gem.. though people did because it was stated that it was FULL only days later. Of course FULL has not been qualified as it was never announced how many slots were available. And who knows if that wasn't announced just to 'stop the presses' while they made their little video about rescinding.

I'd love to give the WTC the benefit of the doubt ... thinking that they really did have the athletes in mind, but it is a hard pill to swallow. I think they made a good move in rescinding in response to all the negative comments. And I really don't think it was 'too late'. They made a blunder.. yes. People were pissed.. yes. Does Ironman (the brand) still stand for a HUGE thing in people's minds.. yes. Ironman is representative of the 140.6... I think it will take a long time for people to truly get past that. Not to mention the whole qualifying for Kona thing.. the triathlon of all triathlons.

I think David of Chicago Now makes some interesting statements about the whole thing. While I don't agree that people "thumbed their noses at the other race directors and let them know, "you are an after thought Rev3 or Silverman, a cute diversion after we do the Ironman."" I do believe that people have/had a certain respect for the long standing Ironman brand and are sad to see that tarnished by the goal of being a mega money maker instead of a dream creator and are a little afraid that they won't be able to get to the race they want .. so they can get to the THE RACE they WANT.. Kona. Many people get into this sport after seeing KONA on TV. So there's SERIOUS brand awareness.

I do think that a lot of Ironman money is now going to go to the non-IM races such as REV3 , the Great Floridian and Silverman... for a lot of reasons. It creates variety. These races bring a different feel to them. REV3 is growing like wildfire.. who knows what they are going to have to offer their athletes over the years. People are starting to believe and realize that it does not matter whether your 140.6 was branded IM.. it's STILL 140.6! It's STILL a huge accomplishment.. YOUR accomplishment.

I love Run Faster Mommy's open letter to the WTC. It says so much about where Triathlon is going. People are seeing the accomplishment not the brand. Things are changing. It's going to take a while, but they are.

You've got to check out the sweet video at Swim Bike Live. HYSTERICAL!

What do you think? Did the WTC just shoot itself in the foot and we are going to just watch them bleed out or are they redeemed?

Now get off the computer and stop obsessing over the BS and get your work out in folks. It might be the off-season, but there is still work to be done!

Veggie Korma

I'm no longer vegan/vegetarian, but I still eat a high fruit/veggie diet and am in the process of finding a core group of recipes to pull from each week when I plan our meals. So as I try new stuff and approve it for the list I will share them with you. This is a nice hearty meal to fuel a lot of work. You could add meat if you want, but I don't feel it's necessary. You could also serve it with Quinoa instead of rice.

Vegetarian Korma
Serves 4

Ingredients

* 1 1/2 tablespoons vegetable oil
* 1 small onion, diced
* 1 teaspoon minced fresh ginger root
* 4 cloves garlic, minced
* 2 potatoes, cubed
* 4 carrots, cubed
* 1 fresh jalapeno pepper, seeded and sliced
* 3 tablespoons ground unsalted cashews
* 1 (4 ounce) can tomato sauce
* 2 teaspoons salt
* 1 1/2 tablespoons curry powder
* 1 cup frozen green peas
* 1/2 green bell pepper, chopped
* 1/2 red bell pepper, chopped
* 1 can (approx 2c) Coconut Milk
* 1 bunch fresh cilantro for garnish

Directions

1. Heat the oil in a skillet over medium heat. Stir in the onion, and cook until tender. Mix in ginger and garlic, and continue cooking 1 minute. Mix potatoes, carrots, jalapeno, cashews, and tomato sauce. Season with salt and curry powder. Cook and stir 10 minutes, or until potatoes are tender.
2. Stir peas, green bell pepper, red bell pepper, and cream into the skillet. Reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer 10 minutes. Garnish with cilantro to serve.

Inspiration!

Here is another post to provide you with some triathlon inspiration.

Kathleen Calkins ran her first race (an ironman) as a pro at Rev3 Cedar Point at the age of 35. YES 35! How awesome is that!? AND she took 3rd!

I'm still struggling a bit w/ this whole getting older thing. Ever since spending time at the care center (aka old folks home) with my grandmother I feel hyper aware of my age and the future. It's so great to see an athlete taking it to the next level at a stage of life that many feel their best years are behind them. Clearly not for Kathleen!!! :)

Read her race report HERE. And you can check out video coverage of her during the race below.

Kathleen Calkins Highlights - REV3:Cedar Point 2010 from REVOLUTION3 Triathlon on Vimeo.

It just so happens that she is a member of Team Trakkers. I really didn't know that when I first discovered her.

Kathleen started her triathlon career way back in 2001 at a local sprint race. She had gone down to watch her husband participate in the swim portion of a relay and they both went out the next day to purchase bikes and never looked back. How many of us have gotten into the sport in much the same way?

She rocked that tri of course and continued to compete in both sprint and olympic before moving up to the 70.3 a few years later and then Ironman. Would you believe she went to Kona and had a rough time only to find out FIVE DAYS later she was pregnant. So baby went to Kona with Mama.. thus starting a long partnership. He continued to accompany her on runs after he was born. Apparently anything UNDER 18 miles. I have pushed my fair share of joggers in my life, but I think I maxed out at 6 miles. (well I did and so did the kids) That's amazing to push a stroller that long. She says it made her stronger.. no doubt!

Age grouper Kathleen Calkins broke the overall female age group record in Kona, Hawaii with her 9:46:27 finish at the 2009 Ford Ironman World Championships. With that great time she also managed to be the 12th overall female.

In 2009 Kathleen broke the overall female age group record at the Ford Ironman World Championships in Kona with a time of 9:46:27!!! AND finished 12th overall female.

So 2010 was her first year as a pro and she is rockin and rollin! I love this sport! I love the inspiration you get from this sport. I love how REAL the people are in this sport!

Who's your favorite triathlete? Keep an eye on this lady!

Austin MARATHON

Yes you read that right! I will be doing the Austin MARATHON! The FULL!

Some of you might remember MY POST about whether or not to do the full marathon in February and shoot for the BQ...

Some of the responses to that question were:

EMZ: BQ Baby

Melanie: All depends on where your heart is. If you miss Maratahon training and can give it your all then go for a BQ, if not, focus your attention and heart on what is currenlty peaking your interest.

AM-Goals for the Week: I'm probably buzzkill over here..but work your way up and be STOKED with the progress along the way!!

Kovas Palubinskas: I'd train for the tris and if the BQ happens, it happens.

Velma: You can answer this question - you know what you want to do :)

Thank you all so much for your feedback. As I thought about it I was really feeling like I wanted to give it another shot. I was really thinking a lot about running long and wanting to be out there. I had at one point decided I was definitely doing the marathon.

Then on the day I was supposed to have my first talk with John (I need to come up with a better / cooler name for John... is there a nick name I'm missing? Something about a shovel.) I went out for a run and convinced myself that I wanted to get faster faster faster and didn't think that marathon training was conducive to that and that I was worried about taking time off to recover from a marathon before starting in on triathlon. So I told John.. nah, screw Boston for now.

Hmm.. he had other ideas. He proceeded to tell me that he thought the marathon was in a great spot because it kept me running (and working on my base which is all part of the plan), kept me motivated over winter and kind of FORCED me to take a needed break before breaking into hard core triathlon training.

He then said that I could just train for the marathon and run that half. WHAT!? Put all those miles in and prepare for a marathon then NOT RUN THE MARATHON! Leave the opportunity for a BQ on the table. That is not how I roll.

So thanks Coach!!! This is why I hired someone who is all knowledgeable and stuff! So I swim now for 6 weeks... The SWIM Cycle. Then at the end of that 6 weeks we start ramping up the running. Take a little break post Marathon and then bring it all together for a rockin' tri season!!!

Coaching is awesome already! How has your coach guided and directed you in directions you may not have gone had you not had a coach?

Would you like a side of swimming with your swimming?

I had an awesome talk with MY coach. Yes, it makes me feel special to say that! :) We talked about my need to swim swim swim... I got my first 6 week cycle... The "SWIM Cycle" this weekend. Damn it's hard to coordinate swimming. :) Running.. no problemo strap on some shoes put on a good sports bra (well, and a few other non-essential items.. unless it's uber cold then they become essential) and you are out the door. Swimming.. not so much. I was really hopeful that I would find that with my program membership at the Y I would be able to hit the pool during open swim. Uh, not so much. PROGRAM means ONLY program lady. You might think you are SPECIAL because you got a coach and what not, but here at the Y you are JUST a PROGRAM member. Blasted! Not wanting to pony up for the full membership for that extra 45 mins of swimming right now.

So @j_hirsch has me all ready to do Masters 3 days a week (I'm currently doing two) at 90 mins a session and then one day at 45 mins a session. Awesome. I can do that.. except that I HAVE to go to masters to get in the pool and EACH session is 90 mins and the schedule is such that to get 4 days in I have to do three of them BACK TO BACK TO BACK. Will three days straight of swimming for 90 mins blow me up? (FYI my shoulders are feeling better, but I haven't swam (or is it swum?) since Thursday). Tuesday is a non-coached session (and would be day three of three in a row) so I could do that as my 45 mins drill focused session and just get out of the water when I'm done.

Wow this is off/early season and I'm already having trouble figuring it out! Not being one to shy away from a challenge I'm sure I'll get it worked out. This week I add ONE day .. Sunday. Then in a couple of weeks I'll tackle the three days in a row challenge.

I get to run and spin too so that's all well and good.

Do you find it difficult to coordinate swims? Do you swim three days a week w/o ill effects? Six weeks.. I can swim three days in a row for a measly six weeks right? Which I guess would really just be 4 or 5 weeks. Do what ya gotta do.

Coaching by John Hirsch

So I posed the question and got lots of answers.. and took the plunge myself!

I am now own board as one of the CREW with John Hirsch. I'm SO excited!

I had some great email conversations with him, but today's phone call was AWESOME! His energy is great and his philosophy's make sense!!!! First up swim swim swim like a fish.. or until I swim like a fish. I really should have seen that coming. Then we'll up up up the running as I run my way to the Austin Marathon on 2/20/11.

Then a little mini break and we start TEARING into tri season. That is still a bit up in the air. We have a plan but the GREEN thing is to be determined. Once I know which way that is going we can get the plan together. Thankfully we've got some time!

I am beyond excited. I'm excited to see what this body/mind can do and to see what it does w/ a coach to guide me instead of just some piece of paper holding all my dreams!

Let's go COACH take me to the finish line(s).

Top 10 reasons why athletes should eat QUINOA!

Have you heard of Quinoa!?

It's an ancient Peruvian Seed with a mild nutty flavor, high protein content and loads and loads of Good stuff like all the essential amino acids and lots of minerals.

Here are the nutrition facts:


And check out THIS link for more info than you could ever handle about any food you could ever consider eating. Awesome site!

Top 10 reasons why YOU - the athlete - should eat this grain!

1. Essential Amino Acids - it contains all the essential amino acids and is high in LYSINE - which is important for tissue growth and repair.
2. Magnesium - it is high in magnesium which relaxes blood vessels and prevents constriction and dilation - bringing that oxygenated blood to all your muscles
3. Riboflavin (Vitamin B2) - it has lots of of B2 which produces energy with in the cells and has been shown to improve energy metabolism within the brain and muscle cells
4. Manganese and copper - yep lots of this too! These mineral are co-factors for the super oxide dismutase which helps protect cells from damage from free radicals (we make lots of those w/ all this crazy exercise business.)
5. It's Gluten Free!! I know there are a lot of us out here with the gluten problem. And even if you don't have a gluten problem it does tend to cause inflammation in those of us without a gluten problem. So if you can decrease gluten.. a good thing!
6. Rich source of dietary fiber! We all know why that's important so I'll spare you the details. If you don't know why that's important give a shout out and I'll give you the 411.
7. High in Omega 3s - They are necessary for human health but the body can' t make them. Nuff said.
8. High in complex carbs. As athletes - particular the endurance variety - we are always looking for good complex carbs to refuel the lost glycogen. Carbo load anyone? How about some Quinoa instead of gluteny lacking in nutrients PASTA!
9. Low in fat. It contains healthy fats, but not too much. So feel free to add olive oil and/or some almonds to your dishes.
10. It's SUPER easy to prepare and can be used in lots of ways.

So how do you add these little nutty nuggets of nutrition to your diet. Well you can use them as a replacement for rice. You can add them to soups and stews. I like to put them in my salad. You could even toss them in your smoothie (cook them first). There are a pluthera of Quinoa salad recipes on the net. I'll add some that I enjoy at a later date.

I like to make them into a porridge for breakfast or post work out.

I rinse then soak my Quinoa overnight before I cook it. It makes it a bit easier to digest and it comes out nice and fluffy every time.

Basic Quinoa Recipe
Ingredients:

* 1 cup quinoa
* 1 1/2 cups cold water
* Optional: 1/2 tsp salt

Quinoa Cooking Directions:

1. Rinse: Stir the quinoa with your hand, and carefully pour off the rinsing water,
using a fine mesh strainer at the last
2. Drain quinoa well in the strainer, transfer to the cooking pot, add 1 1/2 cups
water & 1/2 tsp salt if desired
3. Bring to a boil, cover with a tight fitting lid, and turn the heat down to simmer
4. Cook for 15 minutes
5. Remove quinoa from heat and allow to sit five minutes with the lid on
6. Fluff quinoa gently with a fork and serve


Quinoa Porridge
You can start with the recipe above or use quinoa that is stored in the fridge.
1. blend 1/2 to 1c of cooked Quinoa with milk of your choice to consistency of your liking. (I use nut milk)
2. Place in pan to warm.
3. Add your 'sides'. I like cinnamon, maple syrup and raisins.
4. Remove from heat throw in bowl and enjoy.

Optional toppings:
another splash of milk/cream
ground flax seeds
Wheat Germ
Chia Seeds
Nut butter

Have you had Qunioa before? How do you like to eat it? Have you tried it for breakfast before?

Rethinking that cup of Joe

Again, Really. Yes, I'm still trying to get my mind in the right spot. Well, I guess my mind is there gotta get my heart to follow. I've already covered my LOVE of coffee so I won't revisit here.

The real irony of this is that I am sitting in a COFFEE SHOP while I write this.

Before I dive into this I want to say that caffeine affects people differently. For example: it's stated by "THEM" (you know the proverbial THEY) that someone that is high strung by nature will likely become anxious with caffeine consumption (and the amount of that consumption is highly personal) while someone who is normally quite calm won't be affected at all. Let me tell you folks this is TRUE! My husband is so SO chill that I sometimes have to check him for a pulse. He could drink a pot of coffee and be totally normal (no anxiety) and sail off to sleep at night with zero problems. I, on the other hand, fall in the high strung category and a pot of coffee would make me a batshit crazy raging witch (there's a rule.. only one swear word per sentence) and keep me up all night. (My own personal highly scientific research.. brought to you for free. You're welcome.)

My point being (yes there is one) is that you need to pay attention to your own personal response. And if you are the type that can enjoy as much coffee as you want and continue to be normal well... :P (that's me sticking my tongue out at you)

Physiologically caffeine stimulates the central nervous system by blocking adenosine which is the neurotransmitter that causes a calming effect. This in turn causes the adrenal glands to release adrenaline - the fight or flight hormone. The heart rate increases, pupils dilate, muscles tighten and glucose is released into the blood stream. Caffeine also increases dopamine which activates the pleasure part of the brain. That explains a lot. I did say I LOVE me some coffee!!!!

The upside of all of this is that this can potentially make you more alert and productive in the short term. Athletically it's been shown to extend endurance when taken prior to moderately strenuous activity. Though it's been more productive in the form of capsules than it has in the form of my beloved coffee.

The downside is that it stimulates the central nervous system and can cause restlessness, headaches and irritability (hmm I definitely suffer this side effect), elevates heart rate and blood pressure and it requires your pancreas to over-work. A later effect can be excessive and chronic tiredness, even on waking in the morning.

Essentially if you drink coffee throughout the day it is constantly wreaking havoc on your hormones and stimulating your central nervous system. NO BUENO!

And man this stuff stays in your body! It's half life is about 6 hours. If you have a nice big 300mg caffeine cup of coffee at 4pm your body breaks it down to 100 mg by 10pm and 50mg by 4am. So you still have some caffeine in your system when you wake up THE NEXT DAY!!!! And this has been the time your body is supposed to be repairing itself not breaking down caffeine and having a chat with your central nervous system to JUST CHILL already!

For reference here are some breakdowns:
Starbucks Grande Coffee (16 oz) 330 (almost 2x the amt in 'other' coffee)
Coffee, Drip 115-175
Starbucks Grande Latte (16 oz) 150
Coffee, Brewed 80-135
Coffee, Espresso (2 ounces) 100
Coffee, Instant 65-100
Tea, iced 47
Tea, brewed, imported (avg.) 60
Tea, brewed, U.S. brands (avg.) 40
Tea, green 15
Hot cocoa 14
Starbucks Grande Decaf Latte (16 oz) 13
Coffee, Decaf, brewed 3-4

"They" say that generally 2 cups a day is 'ok'. Like I said it effects people differently. Caffeine at varying doses, depending on person, can prevent clear thinking, cause nervousness, sweating, tenseness, upset stomach, anxiety and insomnia. Sounds GOOD to me!

So you wanna quit now? Well, coffee (caffeine) is ADDICTIVE. In case you hadn't noticed. 18 - 24 hours post QUIT time you may have a headache, feel fatigued, irritable (hmm just like when you were drinking coffee so that's nothing new), depressed and unable to concentrate. These feelings should peak in about 24 to 48 hours and should decrease over the course of a week. Reduce your intake slowly instead of quitting cold turkey. It's also been reported that high doses of Vitamin C can help with these symptoms. (I do this.)

For those that are dying to know how my battle with the demon is going I would say well. I'm down to 1.5 cups (of half caff) now.. from 3 to 4. And I gotta say I'm feeling better. I've suffered with fatigue in the past and I should know better than to dance with the demon. I am not delusional enough to think I will 100% abstain from coffee because I do love and enjoy it, but I won't make a daily habit of it... not permanently anyway. It's better for my kids, my work outs... My dear sweet husband and anyone else that comes in contact with me really!

So what about you? Are you a full on addict? Does your coffee/caffeine (cause it's in lots of stuff) affect you in any of the ways mentioned above?

Up next Sugar. YES you can go ahead and call me the FUN KILLER.

Rev3 Triathlon is going to my alma mater!

Well Team Trakkers HAS to accept me now! Rev3 is going to my alma mater!

Rev3 will be hosting both an olympic and a half iron distance trialthon on October 8th and 9th, 2011 in Anderson, SC. This is just a few miles down the road from Clemson University where I went a million and one years ago!!! I worked at a sweet wings place in Anderson for a year or so! I haven't been back since around 2001 or so. It would be a treat to venture down for a 'reunion' and jump in Lake Hartwell for old times sake!

Come on Trakkers... you can't say no to that!

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Fall Goodness!

Fall his hit hard here! Everything is blazing and beautiful. The wind is brisk and whipping leaves all around!

It makes me want to run and eat root veggies.. oh and coffee. Dang it! (I'm down to two cups a day and am currently working through a nice caffeine withdrawal headache, but can already tell my mood is improved).

Anyway back to the fall goodness.

I recently stumbled onto some cool cooking blogs and, of course, they are all about the fall and pumpkin too! Hubs deserved a treat so I whipped up some Peas and Thank You Pumpkin Scones!!! YUM!


FYI. coffee is for him. Yes, baked fresh out of the oven w/ a coffee made at home delivered to his office by me! Lucky guy, eh?

These only needed a measly 1/2 c of pumpkin so I had a bunch left over. I decided to go ahead and use it up by making some Pumpkin Butter (hoping my kids will eat it, but alas they are not fans of it).

We got some squash in our last CSA - I LOVE roasted squash and LOVE squash soup (Roasted, blended squash) so I found a decent looking Roasted Squash Soup recipe on Allrecipes. I made it without the cream because I don't do dairy. It is DELICIOUS!!! I can't wait to tear into it for dinner.

And on a side note I LOVE coconut oil, but it is rather spendy. I found THIS post recently about MAKING YOUR OWN COCONUT OIL! Wow! AWESOMENESS! It's not as creamy and good as the real deal, but it's a fraction of the cost. Just buy a bag of shredded (full fat organic) coconut and put it in the food processor! I might try putting it in the vitamix after the FP next time to see if I can get it NICE AND SMOOTH! I like to mix the coconut butter with cocoa/carob powder a bit of salt and some raisins and put it in the freezer... single serving sugar free chocolate-ish dessert to satisfy my craving without the sugar!

New training partners.

Today's long run was interesting. I ran with a woman I had never previously met. I met her husband at Masters swim. We spend most of our time with our heads in the water and/or talking about swimming, but on my way out of the parking lot I stopped and chatted with him. He was telling me about his wife's training for the New York Marathon. She had her big 20 miler this weekend and was trying to figure out where to run it that wasn't too freakishly hilly. I told him 1. I'm not sure that kind of (flat) terrain exists around here and 2. to give her my email address and tell her that I'll run with her. Not the full 20, but whatever I can manage depending on the pace.

As I thought about it more I thought that running your LONG run with a complete stranger might not be all that appealing so I wasn't sure I would hear from her, but I did and we coordinated to run loops around Lake Waramaug. I had never been there so I thought it would be a nice change and doing loops would allow me to hang with her longer.



She told me she wanted to run a 9min pace. A-okay. And off we went. As we were warming up (at 8:45 min/mile) I asked her what her plan was.. she said she needed to do 4 x 3miles at 9min pace after a warm up. Uh, we're going faster than your 'pace' times in warm up. Perhaps we should slow down. We played this game the entire 15 miles I ran with her.



It was great running a new place and with someone. I would have otherwise run by myself. It was also an interesting perspective. This is her first marathon, this was her first 20 miler. In the past (prior to her marathon training) she had laced up randomly and would just go run 16 miles for the heck of it. She would just run whenever and however far she wanted. I found this to be interesting. Prior to my training there is NO way I would have knocked out 16 miles. (it actually ended up being 17 because she got home at 16.5 and figured she may as well round up)

She was a trooper! We held an 8:40 pace the entire time and she was feeling great! The running community is so awesome. We were able to come together with this one thing in common and share our morning all because we are runners. It was great to be able to support her and to have support for my run!

When was the last time you ran with someone new? How did it go? It was so easy to run with this woman. We weren't nervous about pace or anything. We just enjoyed the nice fall morning!