Final workout of 2009

The year in review, unoriginal. I know :-)  I have had a pretty fantastic year workout wise!  I have made it through without injury, oh sure, I have had my fair share of aches and pains and one or two bike crashes, but no significant injuries, I will now knock on wood as I know that I should not have said anything.

I did decide to set some New Year's Resolutions, they are more goals than resolutions. I track my workouts and the time and distance spent and I am pretty pleased with how things turned out.  I originally set my goal at 175 hours, thinking this would be a stretch but better to stretch than to set my sights short, right?  As it turns out on 12/29 I have 215.7 hours, I should have gone for 225 but I didn't,I could have cheated a little and put in the hours and miles that I tracked with my Garmin (I know I am a dork) while at Disneyland in early December but decided not to, so I will mention here that we walked 48 miles in 4 days!!  Here is what the breakdown looks like: 

Bike     1,112 miles - 69.8 hours
Run         385 miles - 72.5 hours
Swim 45,695 yards - 24.3 hours
Various other (P90X) - 49.1 hours

I think I will set my goal for next year at 225 hours, I hope to ride 1,500 miles, run 500 and swim 100,000 yards.  Yikes!  When I write it out like that it seems really scary but I think it is attainable, the worst that can happen is that I don't make my goal, better to go big!!  2010 is going to be a good year, I am really looking forward to it, I am stronger and healthier than I have been in a long time, maybe ever!

I am going to resolve to get a pair of Lululemon pants this year, they are too cute to pass up and from all the reviews I have gathered they are totally worth the money, perhaps a birthday present to myself, yeah, I really like that idea!


Happy New Year!!

Training week 5 - Brick!

I actually love brick workouts now, I feel so strong on my runs after a good bike workout!  I ran a 9:56 pace today, not too shabby but it was only for 15 minutes...

My great friend and training partner signed up for the Boise 70.3 in June, she sent me an official email this morning.  That race is so fun I can't wait to go and cheer her on!  It will be strange being a spectator rather than a participant, I will get a great idea of what my husband is going through when he supports me on long races.  Hopefully the weather will be kinder than it was last year, rain and 58 degrees, burrrrr!

We were supposed to get a big dumping of snow last night and it never came, I was so excited to go sledding with the kiddos, maybe tomorrow...I will be very disappointed if we go an entire Christmas vacation and never go sledding, it just wouldn't be right!

Finally, we went to a party to watch a football bowl game today, I brought hummus and veggies, the hummus got great reviews so I thought I would share the recipe.

1 can garbanzo beans with half the liquid
1 clove of garlic
4 Tbsp. lemon juice
2 Tbsp. tahini
salt and pepper to taste

mix it all up in a blender or food processor until smooth, you could add a table spoon or two of plain yougrt for added creaminess.  Serve with veggies and a little olive oil on top.  Enjoy!

Harry Potter, New Year's Resolutions and Purging my house...

I am officially in week 5 of my Ironman training, and I am feeling surprisingly good, not run down (probably because I am coming off a taper week) and still excited about it all!  I ran for 45 minutes today and got in 4.35 miles, I am slow I know that but I am not too slow, if I was running 14 minute miles I would be concerned!  A snow storm is on it's way so the temperatures have come up a bit but now it is just going to be snowy and icy and I will still not be able to run outside, that is okay though because I am passing my time by watching the entire Harry Potter movie series, I know I am a huge nerd but I don't care I LOVE those books and movies!

I don't typically make a New Year's resolution but I am considering it this year, I have already started on a project where I take a picture of the kids everyday, but what else?  I have considered donating/throwing something away everyday for a year, I think I might do this, I need to simplify!  We have been working to simplify for the past year and it feels so good, I want to keep going and simplify even more!  It is amazing how much you gain by eliminating things from your life, but that is a discussion for another day.  I would really like to make a fitness/weight loss resolution but I feel that I would set myself up for failure if I did that, if I say I am on a diet, I pretty much want to eat everything!  I will have to come back to this one.

Finally, my dad called me tonight (again)o about getting a bike, we are going to visit them for New Year's and he wants to take me into the shop where he buys, ay carumba!  I guess it can't hurt t get measured, right?!?!  We will see, it is a long time between now and June, the economy might pick up and a bike might be in order, I doubt it, but we will see...

I officially did not gain weight over the holidays!

Hallelujah!  I am not really one to weigh myself all that often but I do weigh myself often enough to know if I have gained a significant amount of weight, and this fall I gained 6 pounds.  Here is the crazy part, I decided to do the P90X workouts as a way to get in better shape, to get prepped for "official" training when it started in early December, well I promptly gained 6 pounds!  You can say it is muscle (it wasn't) and all that other bull but at the end of the day I was 6 pounds heavier and I am still going to have to haul that extra 6 pounds up every hill on every bike ride and every run and therefore I need to drop it!  So I am being sensible and working to slowly drop the ugly 6 pounds (I am down 2,) and hopefully drop a few more, I would like to race at 135 or 136; we will see if 14 pounds is in the cards, I suspect it is not, my hips seem to really like their cushion :-)  My sister in law who is in town for the holiday's looks fabulous and she told me that she and her husband had been doing Isagenix (?) since October, I am not willing to go to that extreme (or spend the money for that mater) but it did inspire me, not enough to to keep me from eating a movie sized box of Good-n-Plenty over the past two days however, curses!!

I have been trying to sell my daughter's bunk beds, they were an impulse purchase that really didn't work out the way that I imagined.  We thought we had them sold and I was going to use the money to purchase a new camera, the deal fell through because the people who were going to buy it thought the mattresses were included.  Am I insane that I wasn't including the mattresses?  I cannot imagine wanting to purchase a used mattress, maybe it is just me...it doesn't really matter because the beds are still here and so are the mattresses.

On that topic (sort of) I have decided it is time for a new camera.  I bought one a few years back that had all of the features that I wanted, unfortunately, it is the most un-user friendly camera I have ever used, so I am back to the drawing board.  I am considering a Canon Rebel XS 1000 or something like that, my mother in law has one and I think it might be nice to have the same camera for learning and teaching each other things.  I will probably have to think about this one for the next year or so, apparently I only buy bunk beds quickly :-)

Gotta go clean the bathrooms and make a salad, tonight is the last night with the family from out of town so it could be a late one!!

Christmas is over, and I mean OVER!

The tree is down, the decorations are down and packed away and I feel very peaceful, very, very peaceful! I absolutely love the holiday season, we break out our decorations and have the entire house decorated the weekend after Thanksgiving, you could say that we maximize the season, but when it is over, it is OVER! My husband and I have actually taken the tree down on Christmas night before, but that was before kids and we realized it was a bit extreme!

Tonight is a good night, the kids are already nestled, all snug in their beds (uh oh, Christmas reference, sorry about that) and I am finishing the laundry, trying to sort through what to keep and what to donated prior to the end of 2009. We have had family in town since the 21st so it really feels great to be hanging out with just my family in my own home. The kids have not been to bed before 9:30 PM in 8 days, they are exhausted and I am exhausted from all of the whining that I had to endure this morning while getting them ready to take a picture with all of their cousins; fortunately they were on their best behavior once we left the house. I love the people who are visiting but we just need to get some rest!

I was very spoiled on Christmas this year, we don't go over the top but we do okay, I got a big 9-quart canner and Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, awesome, great for riding on the trainer! I got my husband some compression running tights from 2XU and I am a bit jealous of them, he says they are FABULOUS! He had lots of trouble with leg and muscle cramping last year so I really hope these will help him.

Finally, I did not miss a single workout this week, it felt awesome, even with the holiday, I managed to get the miles in. I am already sick of riding on the trainer in the basement but I just gotta do it since it was 21 degrees here today. I tell you what though, my lady bits are a bit angry with me, my seat and I are not good friends right now. I gotta figure out what is going on and soon because the 3, 4 and 5 hours ride I have ahead of me are going to be torture!

Of course now that the holiday is over and I have the basement biking to look forward to, I want a power meter for my bike. I sound like a bit of a nut with this one but I think it would be really interesting to see if I could match the power output when I am outside to what I am doing when I am inside, or vice a versa. This is kind of funny coming from somebody who just hopes to finish my big race with a goal finish time of 16:59:59 :-)

Well the dryer just let me know it is time for me to get back at it. I hope everybody out there had a wonderful Christmas filled with Peace, Love and Happiness!

Christmas vacation!!!!

Yahoo, it is Christmas Vacation!!! I had a long day, didn't leave the office until 6:30 but got everything done to completely enjoy no work until next year!! I have metrics that I need to meet for the year and before I left I checked to see where I was and 6 months in to the fiscal year I am spot on with where I need to be, I poured it on in October and November and today I realized it was totally worth it! The kids are with their dad, grandparents and cousins so I am all by myself finishing up some sewing, trying to finish before they all come home. I made each of the kids and their cousins a fleece blanket (picture to the left) with their name on it, it was a lot of work but they turned out so cute, it was worth it! I seriously considered buying them each a Snuggie or a Slanket but I just couldn't do it, these turned out way better, anyway, I am just a bit tired of sewing them after 9 blankets!

I had a good workout this morning, only had to go for 30 minutes so I pushed myself a bit. I would LOVE to get faster but two good friends who have ended up sidelined with injury told me that slow isn't a bad thing if you are never injured, I think I might agree with them, what is worse a 2:15 half-marathon or not being able to participate? I'll take the slow time, thanks Nicole and Anne, your words of wisdom were heard!

I have to tell anybody who reads this about the soup I made the other night, I already mentioned it but I have to put the recipe out here for all to enjoy, I had leftovers for dinner tonight and it was even BETTER!

Vegetable and Bean Soup (I made mine with organic ingredients and I added up the cost under $10 for a double batch!)
1 eggplant (sliced in 1/2 inch rings then cut into 4 pieces)
2 large tomatoes diced
1 potato peeled and diced
1 carrot cut into 1-inch sticks
1 leek cut into rings (white and light green portion only)
15oz can cannellini beans
3 3/4 cup vegetable broth
2 tsp dried basil
1 Tbsp dried porcini mushrooms soaked in hot water (only enough to cover)
1/4 cup dried pasta (I used bowties)
3 Tbsp pesto (store bought or recipe below)

Place the beans and their liquid in a large pan, add the vegetables and vegetable broth, bring to boil over medium heat, reduce heat and simmer 15 minutes.

Add the basil, mushrooms (with soaking liquid) and past simmer until pasta is done (approx. 10 minutes). Remove from heat, stir in pesto and serve with freshly grated Parmesan cheese if you wish. Delicious!!

294 calories; 2g sugar; 11g protein; 30g carbohydrates; 16g fat

I can't believe it is almost Christmas!!

Well, I am pretty much done with shopping and now I am doing a little baking, that is not going very well, I don't know what the deal is but, and I know this sounds crazy, it's as if my flour isn't working, I have needed to use about an extra cup to each of the last two recipes I have made, it's crazy!

My mom and dad came to visit last night, my dad is signed up to do Ironman with me in June so we always have LOTS to talk about. A lot of the discussion lately has been my bike, and last night was no different. My dad feels strongly that I should get a new bike, my bike is not nice, it is a bottom of the line Specialized men's road bike but it works for me, I added pink tape to the handlebars and it looks quite cute! I am not that finely tuned (on somethings, on other things however, I would venture to say I am VERY finely tuned). He has a very nice carbon fiber bike and tells me how great it feels to ride, which is why I have never tried one, carbon fiber is really not in my price range right now, a new bike for that matter is not on my radar. A quick a side note; seeing the bikes that people were riding at the world championship gave me a bit of bike envy then I got over it. I am sure the bike saga has not ended but for now discussions have stopped...

I get the day off from working out today, there is a part of me that wants to do something but I have to remind myself that days off serve a purpose they are not just for being lazy, they are for recovery and if I want to get through an injury free season I need to remind myself to follow the prescribed plan! Perhaps just a good stretching session would be beneficial.

Alright, now I have to go clean the bathrooms, they have been neglected for far too long!

Quick recipe note, I made a bean and vegetable soup last night that as I was making it I was a bit skeptical about, it turned out amazing, super hearty and everyone at the table ate it, inconceivable!