Kinetic Half

After watching Brian race Rev3 Knoxville last weekend, I was itching for my turn at Kinetic. This is a local half run by Setup events but has been fairly competitive the last few years. I knew it would be a great race to gear up for the big ones coming up this year. We stayed at a house on the lake with some friends that were also racing and brought along our pup Gunther for his first race weekend. I used to think that I needed to be really serious going into a race, but quite a few friends have shown me that race weekends can be really fun and lighthearted. We had a really fun weekend in Knoxville and this weekend at Lake Anna was also a really good time.

After making sure I had my Zoot prophet wetsuit on just right, I headed down to the swim with my Zoot Ultra team mate Kendra. I met Kendra on the plane to Kona last year before she was part of the Zoot team and we saw each other quite a bit during the bike. I was really excited when I found out she was going to be on the team this year because she is such a positive, fun (and fast) person. We chatted a little and then lined up for the start. I actually had a really good start to the swim for me. I was able to get a feel for who was around me and I broke away from the main group pretty quickly with a few other girls. I was swimming right next to a girl and once she pulled ahead a little I got right on her feet and she was the perfect set of feet for me to be on. I was feeling pretty good about actually catching a good pair of feet until we caught up to another wave and I lost her trying to get around everyone. I just settled into my own rhythm, tried to focus on form and breathing and kept going. The current was a little tricky, it almost felt like it should take me in the right direction but I did have to fight it a little. I was feeling like I was having a solid swim until I came out of the water and glanced at my watch. I thought "what the heck, my swimming has gotten so much better!" Not a great swim time for me, but talking to people after it sounds like it was slower for most. I pushed it out of my mind and concentrated on getting on my bike.

Brian has always been great at transitioning and I've always been a little envious. I got my stuff together quickly in T1 though and I think even passed a couple girls in transition.

The first mile or so on the bike was uphill so I didn't hammer out of transition. Instead I drank a few sips of my favorite race and training drink GU Brew 2X sodium (blueberry pomegranate) and tried to figure out why my watch wouldn't take me to my bike screen. Turns out I never hit lap coming out of transition, but I figured it out eventually. I love the GU Brew because I tend to be a high volume, high sodium sweater so it's an easy way for me to get a little extra sodium and it has some calories as well. I also took in some of the new lemon GU chomps that taste just like lemon bars, yummmmm. I got into a groove quickly on the bike, I am starting to get a better feel for how hard to go on the bike, and I felt like I was flying through the first half of the race. It rained a little in the first hour and was overcast but my Spy Screw sunglasses with rose lenses were perfect. I got up to our friend Mike around 40 min in and he paced off me for awhile. He eventually came around me to tell me we were coming up on a fast part and he took off. I took off after him and pushed it through the fast section, and then got back into my rhythm once the hills started up again. The course was rolling hills which I love, and I only got into a lull for a little bit somewhere in the middle to end. I knew there was at least one girl still ahead and I kept looking for her thinking "where the heck is this girl?" I thought maybe Mike and I would get off the bike close to each other but he had taken off and I was happy that he wasn't holding back. 

Coming down the hill I could see a girl in a pink top running up the hill to start the run. Coming into transition I heard the announcer say "and our second female, Rachel Jastrebsky, has just entered transition. The first female has a 6 minute lead, let's see if Rachel can get through transition quickly and chase her down on the run." Well you better believe that after hearing she had a 6 minute lead I moved through transition quickly! I got out on the run course and settled into a good pace. The run course was three loops. The loops started with about a mile long hill, had some gentler ups and downs in the middle and finished with a fairly steep third of a mile downhill. On the first two laps I never really thought that I couldn't catch the first girl, I just kept a fairly consistent pace and tried to reel her in slowly. Finishing the first lap, I ran by Brian and he yelled out that I had gained three minutes on her. There were a ton of people giving me splits, and being really encouraging that I could make up the time. The second time I came through Brian yelled that I had gained another minute and a half and she was around 1:15 up. The first two times up the big hill I was feeling pretty good, I kept my cadence up and tried to keep my effort even. The last time up the hill was much tougher but I managed to reach the top no worse for wear.

On the back side of each loop, I saw my team mate Kendra. She was very encouraging and kept telling me how close the 1st girl was and let me know I could still catch her. I try to respond to all this encouragement during races but many times it just comes out as a huff "thanks, you too!" or a thumbs up.

It wasn't until the last loop that I started to think gosh, where is this girl? Am I going to catch her? I was worried I was going to run out of pavement. I finally saw her on the little lollipop section with about 2 miles left. She kept looking back at me and I knew I was going to be able to catch her. I came by and said, great work girl, because she was really making me work for it! After that I never looked back. I was worried she was going to have some crazy kick so I pushed it as much as I could in those last two miles. I had started to develop a blister on lap 2 and by lap 3 it was a full blown large open blister on the ball of my foot. I ignored it as much as I could but it slowed me down a little on the downhills. I was wearing the Zoot Kiawe 2.0s, which I love. There are very lightweight and responsive. I've worn them in a half marathon without socks before and was fine, but it rained during the bike and since the shoes were really wet and my feet were really wet, it was just a little too much for my skin. I love the shoes and I'll wear them at Rev3 Williamsburg but will most likely throw a pair of socks on underneath, just in case. It was also pretty cool having the guy bike in front of me and radio into the finish line where I was. 

I finished up with a 4:38, which is a big PR for me. My previous PR was from Ironman 70.3 Providence in 2011. The swim and run were a little slower than I had wanted but given the slower swim and the tougher than I expected run course, I was really happy with it. It also gave me a really good idea of what I can do better at Rev3 Williamsburg in a month or so. That will be my first pro race, and this race made me realize that I am ready. My team mate Kendra finished as third women so Zoot was all over the podium. Side note, we got ready to go up on the podium and she looked awesome! Her hair looked like she had just showered and blow dried! She said its all about dumping water on your head at each aid station. I mistook a cup of Heed for water so it didn't exactly have the same effect... Super fun racing with her, and I hope to see her and other team mates at other races this year.

Setup events gave us some cool swag for the top three women, including two bottles of local red wine. However, the trophies were a bit big... so I put mine to some good use later that night...

A bunch of friends were racing the Kinetic sprint the next day so after getting an hour of my 3 hour recovery spin done before the race, Gunther and I headed over to watch them.

Our friends managed very well and it looked like everyone had a really fun day. It was fun to cheer them on. Several of the Fat Frogs team were out there, and they were pretty easy to spot in their green frog kits. We also ran into our friend Beth Ann who is just such a wonderful and positive person, I'm always so happy to get a chance to catch up with her. If you have a minute, read her story, it's pretty incredible (http://www.teambt.org/). Here are some pictures of our friends racing the half (Mike, Paul, Jon, Sarah) and the sprint (Jessika, Deb, Mary, Megan, Peggy, Greg, Dixie, Joe).

Mike

Greg

Peggy

Jon and Sarah

Jessika

Megan

Peggy, Greg, Dixie

Mary

Joe

Deb

Jon

Paul

Dixie

And of course, super spectator puppy Gunther, who was very well behaved for his first race weekend. He was super exhausted from a long weekend of attention, playing and watching us all run around. And thank you to my wonderful husband Brian, for putting aside his own training for a bit so that he could be a fantastic sherpa and give me great splits and encouragement. I love our life together!

Rev3 Knoxville

Rev3 Knoxville Race Report

So it was the first race weekend of the season. A much anticipated weekend that has had a lot of winter training and miles put in to get there. I was really looking forward to seeing how Rev3 does things and let me say now that I was pleasantly surprised and they put on really great events. Super fun filled weekend and definitely family friendly were all ups sides to their weekend.

Rachel and I left home Thursday night and made it out to Roanoke. Our good friend Caldwell Clarke met us there Friday morning from his drive down from D.C. so we had breakfast and finished out the drive. Knoxville seems to be a great city, just up from the hotel was a market square with restaurants and such and most everything is walker friendly. There was a pretty cool farmers market in the square on Saturday. We spent most of Friday just putting around checking things out then Caldwell and his Wattie ink teammates met up for the Rev3 glow run at night. Cool little 5k that went to support a Tennessee Swimmer that was injured in the Boston bombing. I’m pretty sure they had more people show up for the 5k then the triathlons on Sunday. We had great weather Friday and Saturday for the start of the weekend but that was soon to change come Sunday and race time. Saturday involved race prep, a couple ez workouts, bike check in, and a pretty awesome ugly wetsuit contest which Caldwell won. We were all kinda the highlight of the weekend. I don’t know if I have every laughed so much leading up to a race.

Well on to Sunday. The water temps were taken at 58degrees and it was calling for pouring rain all day. We got everything the weather predicted. The day started with a nice cold swim, who needs an ice bath when you have an entire river. I was pleasantly surprised that I could still swim 30mins given the conditions. I hit t1 feeling pretty good and that may be about where it ended.(I was ill prepared with gear given the conditions) I tried to take extra time to get my arm warmers on but couldn’t so I flew without them thinking I could make it. About 10miles into the bike my teeth started chattering and didn’t stop until the run. With the exception of the rain all day the bike course there is great with a little city and then some farmland roads. I had a little miss hap on the bike somewhere around mile 40-45ish where the half and oly course comes back together. A car was pushed through and when I came around the corner and got back to speed I found the car slowing fast on the left side of an oly cyclist I had nowhere to go but in the middle of the road and pass, the car then decides to turn into a drive way. I got on both brakes and just followed the car luckily I had just enough space to squeeze into the gravel driveway, I lost a lot of momentum in the drive way and just went down in the gravel. I thought it was going to end worse than it did. I wasn’t hurt but it definitely shook me up for the rest of the bike ride. I finished the ride out and hit the run. With thoughts of not going out for the run I knew what I was there to do and a DNF wasn’t it. I laced up the shoes and went. Not the run I was hoping for but it was all I had on the given day. I dug myself into a hole early on with how cold I stayed on the bike. It continued to rain the entire run and the little creeks were pretty high causing some places on the course to be washed over. When you’re 4miles into a run and hit shin deep water knowing that 5miles later you will see it again it’s not the greatest feeling. The couple people off the front of the race that I saw on the out and back I give credit to them for putting together a solid day. I was kinda in survival mode and was happy to run even and finish the race. I ended up 6^th overall on the day and really no worse for wear. I have some things to think about and Eagle man is just a short 4weeks away and we can try it again.

I had the oppturnity to meet one of the new Zoot Ultra team members Danielle Baker and congrats to her on first overall women. Also the guys at Wattie ink have some great members on their team and it was good to share fun time with them this weekend as well. Big thinks to Rachel Jastrebsky for being an awesome Sherpa for me and Caldwell this weekend. It’s a good wife that gets up at 4:30 and heads to transition with you.

All In all awesome weekend and rev3 had a great event I look forward to being at the Williamsburg venue this year also.

3 races and 1 giant exam

3 races in 3 weeks followed by probably the biggest exam of my career so far... it's been quite the month.

Conquer the Canal TT

First up was a 12 mile TT on the Dismal Swamp Canal trail. This was actually my first TT (without swimming first and biking after). Since I don't really do cycling races, I would be racing as a Cat4. I set my trainer up near some good friends and did some spinning with them prior to the race. Given the temps, I probably should have warmed up a little longer but was terrified of missing my starting time. Rolling up to the line I made the guy promise not to let me fall if I clipped both feet in. He assured me I wouldn't and I was off. My friend Jen (a great Cat2 cyclist) had been chatting with me the day before and gave me some excellent advice: "if you ever feel comfortable, then you're not going hard enough." I took this to heart and kept asking myself "can I go harder?" I did slow down quite a bit at the turn around because I figured wiping out would probably cost me a bit more time. It was a nice little break but had to get right back going after the turn. Ended up with the fastest overall women's time which made me feel pretty darn good about how much my cycling has come along. Just a couple years ago I was getting dropped from the B pace ride, and was known as "the girl that can't turn." Some of the Cat4 results were mixed up so they called all Cat4s to the results booth. I was a little surprised that a girl was contesting my time! She had never heard of me (since I don't do cycling races) and exclaimed that she didn't believe that I actually did the time. I took it as a compliment and offered to show her my Garmin file. Several of the Cat 2s and 3s are good friends and were all excited for me, they have always been incredibly supportive and it was great to finally race with them. We went for a 90 min cool down after and I really enjoyed catching up with everyone, and I'm really hoping to see more of them out on the roads (or get togethers) now that its warmer.





Virginia Duathlon

I had done this race with my friend Jen (mentioned in the above paragraph) 2 years ago as a relay and had always wanted to come back to do the whole thing. I believe our team name 2 years ago was the Wingnuts, can't remember how we came up with it. I was also super excited to receive my Zoot Ultra Team gear the day before the race! The kit (especially the womens fit one) fits much nicer than last year and it looks super awesome with the neon and black. These early season races have been more or less "training races". I feel like calling them that can be misleading though, so this is how I see "training races": when you do a race you are always going to go as hard as you can on that given day, but there are differences in how you taper and recover. For these races I haven't been tapering very much and I haven't been fully recovering. I still wanted to go hard though and had the permission from Coach T to do so. At first I was thinking I would just stay with the lead women on the first 5K and then hammer the bike and the 2nd 5K. But then I thought no, coach T said to go hard, I want to go hard so no holding back! Took the first 5K out at a good pace and was almost immediately on my own. They started the race in waves so I just thought, alright looks like I'm going to try and chase down some guys. There were a couple decent hills on the runs but my strength training has really come along and I was able to power up them. Quick transition onto the bike and I was pedaling away. I just wanted to make sure I was maintaining a good effort and focus on the bike. My only hiccup was a suspected flat about halfway through when I hit a big rock, but I let it go and just kept on. The second run was just slightly slower than the first. My legs felt more jelly-like than usual off the bike but I was able to hold a decent pace and they came back after a mile. Chugged up the hills and finished strong. Hit a time of 1:40:59 for the 5K/23mi/5K course and was 8th overall and 1st female. I raced in my new Zoot Kiawe 2.0s that will be available in the fall. I really love these shoes, awesome color, lightweight and they fit so snugly but still have room in the forefoot to spread. This race is so cool because they give out handcarved decoys for awards, I got a duck. There were quite a few people we know doing the race, and I really enjoyed seeing how well everyone did, as well as a little friendly competition with our friend Mike. It was so much fun to have so many friends out racing, and congratulations to all of them on a job well done.




It was cool to finish 1, 2 with a good friend, Courtney!


Courtney, Bill and I. Courtney was 2nd female and Bill won his age group.


Everyone did awesome!

Dismal Swamp Stomp Half Marathon

This race was on a Saturday morning, and Friday evening I started to question if I made the right decision deciding to do it. Usually the night before a race I like to eat an early dinner and then just kick back and relax, watch a movie or read. This evening I was cramming in some studying until around 10pm and I was feeling pretty fried. Saturday I got up and decided to not think about the exam until I returned home. I parked at the race site a few minutes before eight. I figured I would have plenty of time to check things out and then get in my 30 min warm up. I was strolling over to the start area when I saw a few people run past me. I thought hmmm this doesn't look good, and quickly stashed my warm up clothes and ran to where the race was supposed to start. Turns out the race started at 8am instead of 9am. Luckily for me, they were running a few minutes late and I had time to get in a few striders. Not my 30 min warm up, but it would have to do. I went out a little fast in the first mile but quickly reined myself in and kept a steady pace. Around mile 2 I felt my calf seize up, and I thought oh great, this is what I get for not warming up. I've never dropped out of a race, but it did cross my mind. I was worried about injuring myself for much more important races later in the season. I decided it would be fine and kept going at the same pace. I was picking people off and feeling great (minus the calf). A mile before the turnaround I was coming up behind our friend Vince and I thought hmmm what should I say to help motivate him? As I came by I decided on "Hey Vince, you're not going to let a girl in pigtails chick you, are you?" I think it worked :)

I came around the turnaround and a few strides later realized why the way out had seemed so effortless... we had had a wicked tailwind. I had my eyes on a girl a little ahead of me though so I focused on her back instead of the wind. I slid into 4th and saw my friend Yoko ahead. Yoko is a very speedy, friendly runner, and I get a big kick out of watching her and Meghan pass people while pushing their little ones in strollers. She was sans stroller today and she was kicking butt. For a few miles on the way back I had a guy running right behind me. I don't think he was getting much of a draft off me but I kept thinking c'mon man you take a turn! My absolute favorite part of the race was coming by Rebecca Rollick, a 10 year old hand cyclist doing her first half marathon. Rebecca just announced a sponsorship with the same shop that supports Brian and I,Fat Frogs Chesapeake. I ran by and said "Good work Rebecca," and she exclaimed "everyone knows my name!" Huge congratulations to her for last weekend. I finished and had done exactly the pace/time I had wanted to do and was stoked for a 3 minute PR. I kept thinking alright, if I can do that when the situation is not exactly ideal, I know I can do even better. I did my 30 min cool down with some lovely ladies that I met after the finish. It helped my calf ease up at the time, but then it came back even worse later. Thankfully, the guys at Ghent Chiropractic got it worked out for me on Monday. This race, and the Virginia Duathlon were both by Mettle Events, and they did a great job. The race organizer came by and said hi when I was lined up for the start and then chatted with me for a bit after the finish. Plus they have the best trophies, hand carved decoys.

The exam...

This was probably the biggest exam of my career thus far...and its not over yet. It is called the comprehensive exam or candidacy exam or qualifying exam. It consists of two parts for PhD students, the writtens and the orals. I was trying to explain this to some of my students because just calling it an exam doesn't do it justice. The written portion is a week long. I have 5 members on my committee (they are the ones that will decide if I get my PhD or not), 3 members from ODU and 2 outside members. Their areas of expertise are: ecology/stats, ecology/inverts, cephalopod systematics, fluid mechanics, physiology and biomechanics. Each day I got a list of questions from one committee member, and I had up to 8 hours to answer them (mostly in essay form, the fluid mechanics ones were problems). Most of the days were 6ish hours.


Multi-tasking at its finest

I had to laugh when my advisor came into the lab the week before the exam to talk to me about my training. He said, you know you can't leave the exam because you have to go for a long run right? I reassured him that I had already told my coach about it. He got worried for a second and said "but you should still run! just maybe run in the morning or something." I'm lucky to have an advisor that supports my other endeavors. His family may even come up for my debut race.

I made it through the exam, but it was pretty exhausting and I was having trouble stringing words together on the last day. I'm still not sure I spelled my name right on the problem set I turned in. I did workouts in the early morning and they definitely helped keep me sane. Each day when I got home I took Gunther for a long walk so I could take a break. Then it was right back to studying for the next day. I won't find out if I passed until the end of next week. If I pass, then I schedule my orals. All 5 committee members assemble for those and grill you for however long they deem fit. I've heard once students start to forget their name, they come to a stop. I genuinely do appreciate the challenge, and I do feel like these have really made me realize where my gaps in knowledge are so that I have the opportunity to make sure I understand every aspect that relates to my project. I am taking a little break this weekend and getting in some solid training, watching mind-numbing tv, getting the house back in order and getting some cooking done. I also went out with some of my favorite ladies to a new winery in Norfolk, Mermaid Winery, owned by the sister of a cycling friend. It was exactly what I needed: good wine, good food and excellent company.


My study buddies, Taz and Gunther


Now this is how you recovery from a long exam

This is a little long, but I was just so excited about all these early season races. They were great opportunities to get a hard effort in, as well as get a chance to race with friends. I really feel like I've come a long way this winter. I know these races are small potatoes compared to what is in store, but they were so much fun and a good indicator of my fitness in the early season. My goal this year is simple: race to my potential.

Awaiting a break....

So i was gonna write a blog last week and never got to it. I wanted to talk about the pick up in training, the change in weather with spring just around the corner and just a little about how the year is coming around. But one of those threw a wrench in the plans. The dumb groundhog is getting old and must not be seeing real well. The set back in weather didn't cause any changes in training though. The second day of spring and a nice week day ride in the snow was in store for me this past week.

Training has been exponentially better than this time last year. We chose to sit out on an early season marathon and instead focus on the base training for the upcoming triathlon season. Its showing in the way I feel week to week with this past build. Really looking forward to seeing how the year unfolds. The first test will be May 5th at Rev 3 Knoxville.

So back to riding its been a little chilly starting out on morning rides but i found a special little spot in North Carolina called bell cross bakery. The ladies there make an awesome sweet potato pecan roll and its definitely motivation to get out the door and have a mid ride snack. I've been a little behind some days and they tend to sell out so they have been saving one for me lately. Hopefully as spring and summer come around they will come out with something a little lighter to fit the weather. Maybe strawberry short cake or something.

Had a little set back in running this past week but nothing we cant work through everyone's got something that will come up time to time. There has been some strength training incorporated this year throughout winter and the benefits are showing. Recovery has gotten better and injures are almost non existent.

I get asked a lot what the goals are for the year and I will tell yal first that it is to stay injury free and have a successful season. Second is to go fast. As far as time goes I tell everyone I keep that to myself because that is what keeps me honest with myself every time I go out the door whether it be to run, swim or bike.

Racing and Pacing

A few weeks ago I had my first race of the year, the Colonial Half Marathon. It had been awhile since my last stand alone running race so I actually had to ask my coach (Tara Norton) how to warm up... annnnd had a 5K PR by a second during the race (haven't run a 5K in a loooong time..) We were treating it like a really hard training day but that didn't stop me from trying to chase down girls. Even though I was pre-warned, the course was tougher than I expected. I was really happy with my effort though and how my training has come along. A 3 minute PR and 8th female was also pretty nice, my previous PR was off the bike at Muskoka 70.3. I also got to wear my awesome new Kalani's and active compression socks from Zoot. I mean its most important to look good right? I'm loving the neon this year. I haven't ever worn compression during a race so was skeptical, but my calves felt awesome the next day so there must be something to it.

This past weekend we shifted gears a little and paced our friend Brenda Carawan for the Graveyard 100K. We paced Brenda last year when she finished first overall (male and female) in an incredible time of 16:33 which puts her at the 5th fastest female 100 time in the country.

Pictures from last years 100mi:

We get a little goofy sometimes....

(all the pictures were taken by her husband Russ Carawan)

We met Brenda through her husband Russ at a few cycling rides. He asked Brian to pace her for the Rock n Roll half marathon. Best part of that race was when Brenda exclaimed "oh no the bridge" and Brian said "the bridge? You just did 8,000 ft of climbing over 135 miles at Badwater and you're worried about a bridge?!" and she replied "actually it was 14,000 ft of climbing..." After that race I started running with Brenda and we hit it off. We both have coaches so there was a mutual understanding that we had to do what our coaches had given us and if we were able to make our runs coincide then awesome. We had some great conversations and I was definitely sad when she moved to Texas.

Brian and Brenda after Rock n Roll VB

I had some tightness in my foot flare up on Friday so I had to actually tell her that I didn't know if I was going to be able to run 5 miles much less the 22-26 (broken up) that we had originally planned. She was so fine with it, and wanted to make sure I wasn't doing anything stupid, so we decided to play it by ear with her friend (and crew) Jon ready to step in if I had to stop running. The guys at Ghent Chiropractic always come through for me and did some ART as well as cold laser therapy. It was feeling good on Saturday so I decided to run and stop if it bugged me.

Cold laser therapy

I ended up running with Brenda from mi 17 to mi 37 with no issues so that was a relief. Jon was ready at each aid station to step in though and he ended up running a few miles after me and then Brian brought her in for the last 18 miles.

Brenda was using this as a long training run since she has some bigger races coming up later in the year. Last year we had to pull her along a little more. This year it was all about holding her back. I can't even tell you how many times I had to be like "Brenda, you're doing it again, slow down there buckaroo." We also had the task of reminding her (tricking her into) about nutrition/hydration. I accidentally brought her through some high water instead of taking a detour so we had to do a quick shoe change that involved teaching Jon how to tie a double knot. She also got an ovation when she ducked into a restaurant to use the bathroom. She was good and only asked where 2nd place was a couple times since this was just training. That being said we lost track of 2nd place around 20 miles in and they ended up wayyyy back. Brian had to deal with bigger issues, like Brenda losing her eyesight around mile 50? when her eyes got too cold but they handled it expertly.

Brenda running on her own in the first 17 miles and the water I accidentally led her through... it was dark...

















The crew (Frank, Jon, Brian and I) had way too much fun. It was a good thing Brenda didn't end up eating everything she packed the van with because we managed to get into the pringles and cookies...then Frank accidentally ate her sub... so dinner after the race consisted of scrounging at the 7-Eleven. We were driving a huge Expedition that Frank renamed the Sexpedition. And there was also the in depth discussion of throwing pancakes at runners to round off the evening. Jon suggested it, and Frank agreed that they would appreciate the carbs.

Our renamed crew vehicle and the whole crew: Frank, me, Brenda, Brian and Jon

Brian decided to ride back from the Outer Banks the next day to get his long ride in. He got a flat and Brenda and Jon were driving by around the same time and stopped to help and give him extra cookies. Our other great training buddies/friends Meghan and Clint were nice enough to watch our pup so I picked him up (I don't think he wanted to leave, it was like a puppy vacation) and then did my long ride in the afternoon (beautiful day for it too!).

Brenda is incredible, and a really valuable friend, confidant, advisor, training partner etc. This being just a training run, I can't wait to see what she does the rest of the year.

                                                  Brenda with her overall winner medal :)

Hungry Triathletes

I've been thinking a lot about food recently. Plus we get asked about our diet quite a bit so thought I'd write my thoughts down. Since the weather hasn't been the greatest, we have been stuck on the trainer quite a bit. I came home from the gym one day to find Brian on the trainer watching a documentary called Hungry for Change. My next trainer workout, I decided to also give it a view. I actually found it pretty well done. I liked how it talked about why we crave certain things. It also talked a lot about evolving your diet over time, instead of trying major changes very quickly. After we had both watched it, we talked a little about trying to cut out more processed foods. We didn't eat a whole lot of processed foods in the first place but we decided to be more careful. We decided that we would buy something "processed" if we recognized all the ingredients as something we would keep in our own pantry. For example, one of my favorite snacks are brown rice cakes (with nut butter, honey and cinnamon). The ingredients are brown rice so I was excited to not have to give up my favorite snack. We also didn't want to give up all grains, but we opt for "better" grains like brown rice, quinoa, etc. The hardest thing for me has been cereal, because I looooove cold cereal and soy milk as a snack.

Around the same time I saw this documentary, I also read an article in Triathlete Magazine (which I now can't find). It started off talking about how so and so top elite triathlete uses the paleo diet so that must be the right one....but then again so and so other top elite triathlete uses a gluten free diet, and then this other one uses a vegan diet and so on. So which diet is best? The article stated that there are benefits to all of these but it really just depends on the needs/wants of the individual as to which diet will be best. It also talked about how the best diet is one that you really believe you can stick with. I am pretty sure I have no chance of making my hunter husband into a vegan....so that was out. However, I cook vegan/vegetarian once a week for dinner, and usually we only eat meat for dinner on the other days. I didn't want to do the paleo diet, because, as mentioned earlier, I didn't want to give up stuff that was processed but I felt was still ok because I could technically make it myself (ex. rice cakes). Plus, we really didn't want to eliminate all grains. However, I incorporate paleo meals/recipes into our diets. I also have some meals/recipes that are gluten free or raw, etc. etc.

Looking back, our diet has evolved really gradually. We will be eating one thing, and then we will find something similar and we will switch to eating that instead. We gradually incorporate "better" stuff into our diets and then there just isn't room for the "bad" stuff. We have recently added in some super foods like spirulina, chia seeds and nutritional yeast. I've also started throwing fresh beets into my smoothies a few times a week. I plan our dinners out at the beginning of the week so that we aren't scrounging for stuff to make a healthy dinner with. I try to plan it so we have at least one vegan/vegetarian meal, fish meal, venison meal etc. We do Mexican Mondays, and pizza on Fridays. I always did pizza night with my family on Fridays growing up so I started it with the two of us, however our pizza night is a little different. We use a whole wheat or cauliflower crust and load it up with veggies. Instead of chips or fries, we pop popcorn on the stove with just a little peanut oil and put a movie in to enjoy a nice night together.

Here is a picture of our fridge at the beginning of the week after our one big grocery shopping trip:

And this is our fridge before our shopping trip the following Sunday...minus the fruit in the bottom drawer

This particular week wasn't too bad actually, but usually we spend close to $200 a week just for the two of us and we are scraping the cupboards and drawers come Saturday. And that beer has been in there for a really really long time....

One of the hardest things to find non-processed alternatives for is snacks. Three meals isn't quite enough for us... and Brian was already taking almost 5 pieces of fruit a day. I started making our own hummus (favorite flavor so far is chipotle) and introduced Brian to jicama for dipping in the hummus. He was a little sick of so many veggies (we both eat a big salad for lunch and lots of veggies in the evening plus veggies in our morning smoothies), but jicama has a cool flavor, almost like a hybrid apple and veggie. I also bought a book called Artisan Bread in five minutes a day and have been making our own bread. I'm still learning but they are turning out better and better. Once we can get the dry blade for our Vitamix (best thing ever invented), we may start grinding our own flour. Other snacks we have are homemade pickles, rice cakes with nut butter/honey, fruit, dried nuts/dried fruit and homemade granola bars (Brian's kitchen sink bars, he just throws whatever is in our pantry as far as dried fruit, nuts, nut butter, oats etc. and they are always awesome).

This is my typical bag of food for the work day (Brian takes something similar but almost double the amount):

Leftover veggie frittata with some homemade bread, small salad (since I actually had leftovers), grape fruit, apple, dried fruit/nuts, jicama and hummus and a homemade granola bar.

Side note: you can sort of see a bit of the Feed Zone Cookbook. It's awesome, fast and easy recipes to make with ingredients that aren't impossible to find, that taste awesome and are tailored to endurance athletes. Other cookbooks we use are recipes from Scott Jurek's Eat and Run book, Skinny Bitch, Ultimate Guide to Everday Cooking (Vegan) and Cooking Light magazines (although a recipe for 4 usually just feeds us....with no leftovers...), and then there is Pinterest, which is a great way to find new recipes and ideas.

Typical breakfasts before workouts are hot cereal or steel cut oats with dried fruit, nuts, agave etc.

After I swim I usually either have a fruit/veggie/greek yogurt smoothie or a egg/veggie wrap.

Dinners vary a lot, I love cooking new stuff, but they all usually involve whole grains or sweet potatoes (I love these little purple potatoes I get at whole foods too), veggies and lean protein (venison, fish, tempeh, tofu - yep Brian eats tofu, chicken etc.).

A lot of people tell us, well you're really fit so you don't need to be careful about your diet. What many people don't understand is that it has more to do with how we feel then how we look. Plus getting that perfect balance in weight for racing/training also has its advantages. I used to actually track what I ate. It had its positive side, I learned I needed to be better about my sodium and potassium ratios. However, I stopped tracking when I became too concerned about calorie intake. Now we both eat to our hunger. If I'm hungry I eat. I actually give in to some of my cravings too. Sometimes when you are really craving something, its your body trying to tell you something...within reason. I usually give in more after longer/harder workouts. Believe it or not, in the summer I crave vegetable juice after a long, hot ride (maybe the sodium?). Or you just make your cravings more healthy. We have gotten better at making healthy junk food. I make zuchinni fries and bake them, or Brian will make baked chicken nuggets with an oat breading etc. etc. Brian loves popsicles but the ones in the store have additives so I got him a Zoku. We received an ice cream maker for our wedding so Brian made green tea soy ice cream. The possibilities are endless. Healthy eating doesn't have to be boring, we love incorporating different diets and trying new things. One thing I'll never give up is chocolate, but I've limited myself to a square of quality dark chocolate after dinner. 

Anyway, sorry this was so long, I've been thinking about all this quite a bit lately. I've been pretty happy with the recent changes to our diet but I'm always on the lookout for new ideas. And also, I'm not saying our approach to diet is the best for everyone, we just get asked about it a lot so thought I'd put it out there :)