Friday, July 30, 2010

Time to Rock'n'Roll...

Well over the past few weeks I've been getting in some very solid training. Long rides, long hard runs, longer rides, harder rides, and of course some swimming too. Many evenings left me looking like this:

Ironman is approaching, and what better way to get ready than with a race in my home-state. I've been wanting to get back here to race Steelhead70.3 for a few years. But this was the year to do it. After a 20hour+ day of airports and airplanes I arrived in MI. I got to see my friends little munchkin,

and get in a nice ride out to one of the parks where much of my training was done back when I was still living here


The weather here is perfect (warm + humidity), and everything is so green


The car is packed, and mom/dad are ready to make the trip out to the west side of the state with me. Here's to hoping for a fast, fun, and spirited race day tomorrow!
Oh, and hopefully I can follow the Newton philosophy...and

Cheers

Sunday, July 11, 2010

No excuses!

Ironman training, like race day, involves dealing with the unexpected. I wanted to do my favorite pre-ironman ride and thankfully Shannon jumped at the idea. I showed a bit of gratitude by making homemade fruit/nut bars for our journey (copying my favorite Clif bar ingredients).
--Grind walnuts and raw sliced almonds in the blender (amount-no clue. I never measure, but I'll guess here. prob 1.5cup of nuts). Set aside. Grind 20 unpitted dates, 1/2C dried cherries, 3/4C unsweetened coconut, 1/2 lime juiced, 3T apple juice. Fold fruit mixture with nuts until well mixed. Flatten into cookies and bake at 350 for 15mins (flipping half way through).
By 6am I was on the road in search of my favorite mountains. Shannon was waiting for my by the time I made it up and over the first. She informed me that she'd already suffered a bad puncture and had to boot her tire with a wrapper. We thought that was the worst of our bad luck! but boy were we wrong. 11 miles down the road I could have sworn some kids were letting off their left over fire works. Then I remembered you can't set off fireworks in SoCal, let alone east county! Nope, it was my tire. Huge puncture and hole in the side wall of my rear tire  (as in the one I just replaced last week). Tube replaced, and rolling again. OR NOT! POW.  We booted the wheel (thank you Clif bar wrapper), and tried to slowly inflate the wheel.
 We were screwed. No way would both of our tired hold for the next 90miles! Someone rolled by to tell us there was a bike shop 2 miles away. Thank you Hidden Valley Bicycle for saving our ride. $80 later we rolled on. I refused to let anything get in the way of completing this ride. Ironman is about dealing with the present, making the best of the future, and just finding a way to get 'er done!
Onward- Palomar bound. Then past my favorite street in San Diego County: (it's at the midway point on the climb). Every time I go by it I think of my Grandpa -Harold Lee, I love you!!! I think about how proud he'd be of his youngest granddaughter out touring the wilderness.
Besides our long pause to buy new tires we didn't stop rolling until we absolutely needed to fill the bottles. A quick fill and we were off in search of the next climb.
Shannon was a complete trouper to hang with me to this point, but had more on her days agenda than just riding. So when I approached the climb that makes this loop considerably more challenging I had to go it alone. Bye bye Shannon. YOU are my rockstar for the day-!
From there on it was up to me. It was an absolute perfect test of strength, endurance and mental stamina.
I became one with the mountains. It may have been cool on the coast, but the temps were soaring inland!
Thanks for keeping me company Bessie...and Mr. Ed
I eventually made my way back to the coast where friends were waiting to join me for an eating marathon...

It was an awesome ride! I'm feeling more fit than ever, and know I'm leaps and bounds ahead of where I was on this ride a year or two ago. Riding this looop means one thing to me: Ironman is fast approaching! Hell's ya =)
And the quote of the day courtesy of Shannon: "Well, if a ride costs $80 in rubbers, it had better be a good one!"

Thursday, July 8, 2010

Gloommy day bonus

The weather here in San Diego has been a bit depressing this week. It is no longer June! Hello, mother nature July is here, and that marine layer days that typically settles in during the month of June should be long gone. Both Monday and Wednesday's rides featured thick cloud cover and rain. Long sleeves in July, not cool (I came home dirty, cold and not so happy!!)
I seriously found myself wondering if I've been living in dream land, and thinking maybe it's still January. What can I say, it was a banana bread kind of day! I returned to a recipe I've tried a few times prior and think I'm getting closer to healthy perfection.
MMMM mmmmm GOOD! 
 1/2 cup brown sugar

2T honey
I added just less than 1/3C baking splenda
4 T yogurt butter
3 egg whites
1 1/2 cups mashed banana (3 large bananas)
1/3 cup fat free greek plain yogurt
1/3 cup applesauce (previously called for water)
 1t vanilla extract
1 1/2 cup oat flour + small handful rolled oats
4T flax seed
1 t baking soda
1/2 t baking powder
1/4 cup chopped walnuts
1/2C sliced raw almonds
1/2 t cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350° F. Coat a 1-pound loaf pan with cooking spray.
In a large bowl, beat sugar, honey and margarine until well combined. Add the eggs and mix well. Beat in bananas, yogurt, water (or apple sauce) and vanilla. Beat for 30 seconds. 
In a separate bowl combine flour, oats, flax seed, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and nuts. Add flour mixture to the wet ingredients, stirring by hand with a wooden spoon until the flour is just incorporated about 10 turns with a wooden spoon. Do not overmix.
Pour into loaf pan and bake about 45-50mins.

Let me know what you think. I want to experiment again and use some quinoa flour. 

Tasted even better after a solid 17mile trail run this morning!

To your health ;) and to my friends in Hawaii and out east please please send some sunny days this way!

Tuesday, July 6, 2010

Deposit Please

This weekend I 'made it count' and this afternoon made a stop off at the "Race Day Bank" to make a few deposits.
Deposit #1: Saturday I was up by 5am, and on the road before 6. I parked near a trail I've been wanting to run for months, and headed east to meet the clan. From there we went up. and up. and up. There were definitely moments when I wished my legs would just find a secret force to carry me up the next climb, or through the steady headwind.
Tati thought stealing the secret white powder from my pocket might give her the force she needed:
 We smiled from beginning to end! The weather was perfect, and we spent the day doing what we love! 
The guys bought a melon, and of course John (who previously saved me with his packed chain tool) had a knife to cut it up.
Deposit made: 125miles and approximately 8000ft of climbing  + a solid transition run that left my mind dreaming of those wishful race day goals I've set for myself.

Deposit #2: Sunday the alarm again went off at 5am. This time I was off to Coronado for the 4th of July 15k. The goal was to get in a 5mile warm-up, then run the 15k at a steady tempo, and add on a few more after. I executed the plan and with it another deposit was made. I spent the rest of the day eating...non-stop (which is why I don't have any pics from the day)! It wasn't easy to walk away from the party to get in my second run, but I got 'er done. I ran to the pool, cruised through a much needed recovery swim, and returned for another meal-or two (hmmmm, how do you count the number of meals you have in a day if you never stop eating?!?!?)

Deposit #3: This morning I had to make one final deposit before wrapping up the holiday weekend. I wasn't blazing any trails, but got the work done.

I hope you too had an awesome holiday weekend full of friends, food...and maybe a few deposits of your own.

Thursday, July 1, 2010

Look what I found

On my ride today I found exactly what I was looking for: blue skies! Can someone please tell mother nature that it is no longer June. Therefore this foggy, cloudy, June gloom that is sticking around the coast must go away. But travel just 2 miles inland and blue skies await. 
But the real treat came when I saw beauty to a whole different degree. As I was cruising down the coast I saw Paula; of course cradling her beautiful baby girl:
OH LUCY you are just ridiculously adorable. Patrick and Paula, you've done well ;) She woke up to say hi, and with each smile made my day. Daddy's girl?!?!?!?! No doubt!
All-in-all this recovery ride was exactly what I needed!