First Call 5k Race Recap/Chilly Willy Series Wrap Up

The First Call 5k is in the books - and so is the Chilly Willy Series since this was race number 6 of 6.

It started like any other race morning: curse cold temperatures, shower, add extra layers over running clothes, followed by the usual trinity of coffee, water, and a Clif bar (which I couldn't even bring myself to open) in the car.

Mr. R&R and I parked and made a quick stop at athlete check-in to switch ourselves from the half marathon to the 5k since a) neither of us was in any shape to run that distance and b) we both suspected we'd get a lot more series points by switching.  The switch was super easy and we headed back to the car to strip off our outer layers and do the usual warm up jog and strides before retreating to the warmth of the building to stretch and wait to be called to the start line - and to be honest, I would have been perfectly content to stay in that toasty building until spring decided to make an appearance!

About 5 minutes before the gun went off they herded us outside and Mr. R&R pushed his way to near the front and I seeded myself just a little further back and tried to psych myself up as a child counted us down to the start.

3...2...1...GO!!!!!!

Posted by Silver Circle Sports Events, LLC on Sunday, April 10, 2016

Can you spot me?

I took off a little too fast, but I got a clean start and after a short stretch we hopped a curb and onto the Glacial Drumlin Trail.  I settled into an uncomfortable, but manageable pace and my mind pretty much switched to auto-pilot mode as I mentally checked off landmarks on the way to the turnaround point.  Railroad tracks, rickety wooden bridge, graffiti-covered underpass, road-crossing #1, road-crossing #2, long stretch of nothingness.

Mile 1: 8:47

Somewhere around the 1.5 mile mark I started seeing the front-runners coming back at me.  The lead guy was so far out in front it was ridiculous.  He was flying and it looked effortless.  Eventually more front-runners came into view and I was shocked to see that 2nd place overall at that point was a female! Usually the first woman is about 5-6 people back from the lead male and tucked in with a pack of guys.  Not this woman. She had a pretty good gap on the pack behind her.  Go girl!

I made a nice, tight turn at the turnaround and happy to be rid of the slight headwind that had been in my face on the way out and I was amazed at how many people were still streaming along the path toward the turn.  I'm usually a solid middle/back of the middle of the pack runner, but I was starting to get the feeling that I might be doing a little better than that today.  It was motivation to keep pushing the pace even though I was starting to come off auto-pilot mode and hurting.

Back along the long stretch of nothingness.

Mile 2: 8:50

Then the pain started to break through the auto-pilot fog in a very real way.  I slowed a little on the way back to road crossing #2 and picked it back up on the way to road crossing #1.  That crossing screwed with me since the officer controlling traffic let a couple cars go at an inopportune moment, causing me to come to a complete stop.  So much for momentum. By the time I made it back to the graffiti underpass I was almost out of gas and my pace had slowed to a crawl and I couldn't seem to fix it.

I shifted from auto-pilot to damage control mode. I glanced over my right shoulder.  There was a couple maybe 100 yards behind me, but they didn't seem to be gaining on me so as long as I held my position, my pace disaster was somewhat less of an issue.

Back over the rickety wooden bridge and another look back to check on where the couple was.  They were still there, but a woman in a raspberry-colored jacket was gaining on them fast and I was pretty sure it was the woman I've been trading off 4th/5th place with in my age group for most of the series. Crap.  I channeled my favorite wizard and sped up marginally.

Mile 3: 9:40 (Abysmal and I'm still beating myself up over it)

A slight incline and a curve and I could see the finish line.  I checked my watch and saw that I was already at 3.1 miles.  The course was %&#@-ing long! Ugh.  Time to shut it down.

I kicked as hard as I could to that finish line and smiled for the camera while reaching for my watch the second my foot hit the timing mat.

I may be smiling, but I'm not particularly happy right now

I found Mr. R&R parked under a tree (waiting for the puke feeling to pass) and we hightailed it back to the car to put our layers back on and grab our coffee cups before going back inside to wait for results to post.  After milling around for about 20 minutes or so, the race director came in and told us that there had been a mishap with the timing system and that results weren't going to be available until later that night.  Ugh.  We dragged ourselves back to the car and headed home to await the posting.

Why was this such a big deal?  First, and foremost, both of us wanted to know how we fared against the rest of our age group.  Second, if Mr. R&R won his age group at this race, it was very likely that he'd end up being the top male finisher for the entire series. He was one point behind the leader - and from what we could tell, that guy hadn't shown up! Finally, I've been fighting like hell to reclaim 3rd place in the F35-39 age group and I wanted to know if I had pulled it off or not.

At last, the preliminary results were posted. It was 75% good news.  Mr. R&R had won his age group by over 4 minutes - which made him not only the winner of the M35-39 age group for the entire series (by a landslide), but also the top male finisher for the entire series!!!!  Me? I took 3rd in my age group for this race, but it wasn't enough.  I missed retaking 3rd place in the F35-39 age group for the entire series by 2 points. Really though, I can't complain.  I'm usually content to finish in the top half of my age group at any race, so the fact that over the course of 6 races I racked up 2 podium finishes, 2 additional top 5 finishes, and PR'd the 5k distance twice, is nothing short of incredible.

 Time: 28:37 (9:14/mile pace)*

Overall Place: 36/121

Gender Place: 15/77

Age Group Place: 3/13 (F35-39)

*The course was a bit long, so according to my Garmin it was more like 9:02/mile

It took another 36 hours for series standings to be updated and finally, at 9:30 this morning I had the answers I'd been waiting for.

Only 45 runners in total participated in enough races (four out of 6) to be eligible for series awards.  Here's how I fared:

Overall Place: 22/45

Gender Place: 11/27

Age Group Place: 4/7 (F35-39)*

*Females 35-39 were the largest age group of series participants!

Would I do this series again?  Probably.  The races themselves were fun and challenging and it was good to have a reason to run all winter.  The only things I wasn't a fan of were cotton t-shirts for 4 out of the 6 races and the inaccurate course distances, but those are things that the race director could improve on for next year.  I plan on running a few other events put on by this company over the summer.

And now the really big question: What's Next?  As of right now, I've got a small 5k on my calendar for next month and I've chosen my first triathlon of 2016. 10.5 weeks of training starts NOW!

Meal Prep and A Recipe

I didn't do much of note during my recovery week - or in the subsequent week since it was the sort of week where everything went wrong and workouts didn't really happen. Since I have no workouts/training to recap for you, I thought I'd talk a little bit about how I meal plan and food prep.

My meal preps usually include:

- 5 breakfasts : I eat breakfast at the office and Mr. R&R usually has a bowl of cereal or oatmeal at home. I usually have a yogurt mess or proatmeal.

- Lunch for both of us on Monday and Tuesday (see soup recipe below)

- Dinner for both of us on Monday and Tuesday (chicken, spanakorizo, and tzatziki sauce)

- Snacks for both of us on Monday and Tuesday (yogurt messes for Mr. R&R, hardboiled eggs, sliced apples, etc.)

Before I go to the grocery store I come up with a detailed list of every ingredient I'll need for the week (with the exception of really basic things like salt and pepper) and then I go through my cabinets/freezer/refrigerator and cross off the things I already have to eliminate buying more than I need or letting things go to waste.  I also try to make sure I'm not starving when I go shopping since it leads to me buying chips, cookies, or other things I really don't need.

I only do prep for the first two days of the week, but each week's plan includes lunches, dinners and snacks for the whole week.  The early part of the week is rigidly planned and Wednesday through Friday are more of a loose framework since they can't be prepped ahead of time; so we go with whatever option sounds the most appealing at the time; because let's face it, sometimes tacos sound better than pasta on any given night.

Lunches on Wednesday through Friday usually consist of a sandwich (turkey or pb&j are popular), a veggie burger, or a couple of scrambled eggs.  Dinners are all things that can be on the table in 30 minutes (pasta, chicken/potato/veggie, stir fry, etc.) or less since we don't eat until after our workouts and by that point it's usually after 9pm and we're both ravenous.

My favorite prepped lunch lately has been soup - particularly wonton soup.  The first time I made it, I spent a bunch of time on Pinterest looking at recipes, but most had entirely too many specialty ingredients.  The others sounded more like a couple of non-asian vegetables floating around in some bland broth.  Time to improvise.  I put a bunch of stuff together and Mr. R&R and I both got a little excited by the smells emanating from the kitchen while the soup was simmering.  Sadly, the first taste was a bit of a let down, but a few little tweaks later, we were both almost looking forward to Monday so we could eat it for lunch.  The next two times I made it, I employed the tweaks early on and had a delicious, flavor-packed soup in under an hour - and it's stupid easy to make.

Wonton Soup

The Stuff

The Stuff

- 2-3 cloves of garlic; minced

- 2-2 1/2 Tbsp freshly grated ginger - depending on how much you like ginger

- 2 Tbsp sesame oil

- 1 package sliced white (button) mushrooms

- 4 to 5 green onions; white and green parts - chopped

- 32oz container low sodium chicken broth

- 1/3 to 1/2 cup low sodium soy sauce*

- 1 bag Trader Joe's mini chicken and cilantro wontons

- 1 package baby bok choy (or 1 large one; washed and chopped into somewhat smaller pieces, but not too small)

*I would suggest starting with 1/3 cup of soy sauce and adjusting after the simmering stage based on your own taste.

Method (aka What to Do with the Stuff)

- Heat sesame oil in a heavy soup pot over medium high heat, then sautee the garlic and ginger; stirring constantly until fragrant.  

- Add the chicken broth, soy sauce, white part of onions, and the mushrooms; stir well to get the garlic and ginger off the bottom of the pot.

-Bring to a boil; then reduce heat to medium low, cover and let it simmer for 45 - 60 minutes.

- After simmering, taste your broth. Add more soy sauce and/or ginger according to your taste.  I like ginger a lot, so I like to make sure that flavor shines through.

- Add the still-frozen wontons to the pot along with the bok choy and continue simmering until the wontons are just cooked through and the bok choy is wilted.

- Remove from heat and cool a bit before ladling into four equal portions (I actually count the wontons as I'm adding them into the pot so we each get an equal amount) and garnishing with green onion.

I like to let the soup cool completely before covering it and throwing it in the fridge for later consumption.  I reheat by venting the lid and microwaving for 2 1/2 to 3 minutes on high.

Are you a meal planner/prepper? What are your go to dishes?

All Prepped And Ready To Go

Pi Day 5k Race Recap

I've really been enjoying my recovery week, but the Pi Day 5k at the end of it was never far from my mind.  This was the 5th of 6 races in the Chilly Willy run series - and my chance to redeem myself after my less-than-stellar performance at the Frosty 5k back in January.

The usual race morning rituals were observed with the exception of the Clif Bar.  I just couldn't stomach it today.  We got to the race site about 45 minutes early, picked up our bibs, and headed back to the car to chill out for a bit before doing warm up strides and stretching.  It's been 2 months since I've laced up my running shoes with the intention of actually racing, so I wasn't crystal clear about my expectations for this run.  As we waited, I ran through the positives and negatives in my head.

Positives:

- The weather was damn near perfect. Low 50's, overcast, very light wind.

- I've been working my ass off in the pool, on the bike, and on the treadmill, so my overall fitness level was pretty good coming into this race.

- My body was well rested, my sinuses were relatively clear after a week out of the pool, and my stomach felt fine.

Negatives:

- All the women I've been competing against in this series showed up this morning; which meant that the odds of retaking 3rd place in my age group were low.

- This course is not easy.  It's the same course as the Gobble Wobble 5k and it should probably just be renamed Lots and Lots of Hills.  Historically, I do not run well on hilly courses and this one has a very steep hill at the end.

- I haven't been running as much due to adding in swimming and biking, so I wasn't entirely sure that my run training was solid enough.

As we walked to the start line, I decided that as long as I didn't go out too fast and blow up after Mile 1, didn't let the bullshit voice get to me, and came in under 28 minutes (10 seconds better than Gobble Wobble), I'd be satisfied.

I wished Mr. R&R luck, pushed my way near the front, and waited for the countdown.

3...2...1... GO!

The first part of the course was downhill, so I wasn't too shocked to see 7:42 as my initial pace.  I knew that it would self-correct on the first big uphill.  I lost contact with the front pack on the first hill, but I was solidly at the front of the second pack. I was running pretty hard, but from experience, I knew that if there was a place to push on this course, Mile 1 was it.  I concentrated on taking deep, even breaths as the hills rolled by under my feet.

Just past Mile 1, we turned into a headwind and I started getting cold.  Right around that point I also fell into step with a guy who became a great pace rabbit - although that probably wasn't on his list of things to do that day!  I checked my watch and he was steadily running the exact pace I wanted to be at and he was tall, so I tucked myself in behind him to shield myself from the wind and spent the next mile and a half watching his back. 

The course sort of looks like a lasso, so as we headed into the "handle" for an out and back, I watched the leaders coming back at us and it provided a welcome distraction.  In this situation, I usually start counting dudes until I see Mr. R&R, but I was starting to hurt pretty bad and lost count after about 5 people.  We saw each other, did a sort of half-wave thing, and went back to our respective runs.  I hit the turnaround and it was only a matter of minutes before the Mt. Everest hill had to be tackled.

I ran most of the way up, dropped to a walk for about 20 seconds to catch my breathe, and then proceeded to catch back up to my pace rabbit.  I checked my watch and it clicked in my foggy brain that I was on pace for a PR. What?!!?!  That was unplanned, but it lit a wildfire under my ass.  As soon as we got up the hill I hit the gas, dropped my pace rabbit, and hauled ass to the finish line.

I stopped my watch, took a fraction of a second to let my new PR register in my brain, and then found a tree to lean against while the world stopped spinning.  Once I felt reasonable again, I found Mr. R&R and it turns out that we both turned in huge PRs.  

We meandered around waiting for official results to post - both a little shell shocked.  Mr. R&R's efforts were enough to win his age group (2nd place was six and a half minutes behind him).  Mine weren't enough to get on the podium - once again, I was a bridesmaid.  I was 3:07 behind 3rd place, which I can live with.  I was temporarily livid at myself for that walk break on the hill when I discovered that I was three tenths of a second behind 4th place.  Damn! I could have used that extra series point!  

Obviously I would have liked to have made the podium, but I really can't complain about a race that ends with a 50 second PR - and pie!!! 

 

Time: 26:30 (8:32/mile pace)*

Overall Place: 66/226

Gender Place: 32/154

Age Group Place: 5/23 (F35-39)

*Once again the course was a bit short, so I don't think that this average pace is accurate.

We stopped home long enough to change out of sweaty running clothes and then went out for a celebratory lunch at Bel Air Cantina - because dual PRs and an age group win requires something special.

Guava Margarita

Trio of House Salsas

Cactus, Korean Beef, and Ninja Pig Tacos

Up Next: More tri training and the final race of the Chilly Willy Series: First Call on April 10th.

Base Building: Round 2 - Week 4

I'm tired. So tired.  The last 8 weeks have been amazing in terms of building a good foundation; but they've also taken a bit of a toll and I think it all caught up to me this week.  Mr. R&R and I have jointly decided that we'll be taking a recovery week before plowing headlong into the build phase of training - but more on that another time.

Monday
My scheduled rest day became a workout day when I scheduled a desperately needed Wednesday night appointment with The Mane Wrangler.  I was already in a mood from work and when my ANT+ stick (the thing that communicates with my speed/cadence sensor and allows the program to make virtual power calculations) malfunctioned and then my Garmin decided it didn't want to cooperate.  I damn near threw in the towel and called it a lost cause but eventually I calmed down and got everything to work - after 3 false starts.  At least my power output was pretty!

Tuesday
Dear Mother Nature:

It is March 1st.  Dumping 4+ inches of snow on us is not acceptable - especially when I have to drive to bumble*%$@ nowhere in rush hour traffic.

Love,
Rabbits and Runs

Why was I driving to bumble*%$@ nowhere? Because I had an appointment to get my dress for Little Sister's wedding altered and rescheduling was out of the question.  30 minutes out, 40 minutes getting pinned into a dress that makes me look pregnant, 30 minutes home.  I took 20 minutes to decompress and then Mr. R&R and I headed for the pool. I think the sensory deprivation was just what I needed to regroup.

Wednesday:
Drinking wine with The Mane Wrangler while she made me feel pretty again was a fabulous way to spend an evening.

Thursday:
I love when my night to work late goes so well that I get home by 6:30 instead of 8:00!  Mr. R&R and I had our regular Thursday night gym date.  My weird abdominal problem from a few weeks ago cropped up again, but I really didn't want to solve it by digging my fingers into it - no. more. bruises.  I ended up slowing down a little when the pain was at its worst and then speeding up when it let up.  Somehow I still ended up with negative splits!  Afterward, we each squeezed in a short strength workout and then pointed ourselves straight to Trader Joe's for chips and guacamole - the only thing that sounded even remotely appealing to either of us.

Friday:
Last swim of Base Building!  My goggles stayed on my face and my body only sort of hated me for swimming blocks of 200 yards, and I made a concerted effort not to inhale pool water in hopes of avoiding another bout of sinus crud.  After 8 weeks of working at it, I finally feel like I'm really pulling myself through the water with each stroke rather than just thrashing up and down the lane.  I spent a lot of that swim wondering if/how much all this pool time is going to translate to open water.  I'm really hoping that I can get to a point of having enough confidence in my ability to swim the distance that I just have to focus on controlling my open water anxiety - and we all know how bad that anxiety fucks with my head.

We also took the boys upstairs after dinner for some music/reading/cuddle time and they both snuggled up so close to me that I ended up dozing off while petting them.  Bunny cuddles are the best!

You're getting sleeeeepy.

Saturday:
I made it to the gym in time to run a really fast warm up mile before enduring a 30 minute ass beating from my trainer.  By the time she was done with me my legs, abs and butt ached, my arms were shaking ,and I was convinced that I was never going to stop pouring sweat. I love having someone there to show me new things and to push me way outside my comfort zone - and the results are awesome. The lines down the center of my abs are starting to show again and I feel so much stronger.

After the gym, I made a quick pit stop at my mom's house and then headed home to discover that Mr. R&R had cleaned the entire kitchen and was in the process of doing all of Walter and Spot's laundry! I changed my clothes, made a quick list, and headed out to do a bunch of errands while he kept going on the laundry - because those rabbits really know how to make the laundry pile up.

Sunday:
Our recovery week started early when Mr. R&R and I decided to blow off the bike in favor of a long walk around the zoo.  It turns out that we picked the perfect day to go - there were very few people around and the animals were really active.

The Humboldt Penguins are right by the entrance and I made some crack about how they needed to quit moving around so much so I could get a picture - and then promptly cracked up when these little guys lined themselves up as though they were posing for me!

Other highlights included:

Baby Lowland Gorilla

Fennec Fox

Tafari: 6 Month Old Reticulated Giraffe

Seeing Tafari was particularly exciting for both of us since he's the animal we chose to sponsor this year (last year was the Red River Hog).  The four adult giraffes kept meandering aimlessly around their winter enclosure, but Tafari just hung out on the  ground, munching hay, and seemed to be completely unfazed by all the people staring at him.

Are you a zoo fan?  What's your favorite animal?

Base Building: Round 2 - Week 3

It finally happened. I missed a workout - but we'll get to that in a minute.

Monday:

Rest day!  As usual this was a much needed day off.  Mr. R&R and I made a mad dash across town after work to pick up Walter's medication refill from Dr. Beast's office and while we were on that side of town, we made a pit stop at Whole Foods to pick up greens for the boys.  Neither of us have been to Whole Foods in forever, so we grabbed a couple slices of pizza for dinner (I went with a slice of cheese-less veggie and a slice of vegan) and picked up hummus and baba ghanoush to go with our Tuesday and Wednesday night dinners.  When we got home, Mr. R&R got busy cleaning up Walter and Spot's cage and I hit the kitchen to make spanakorizo (this one's been on the menu a lot).  When the rice was done, I dumped it in a bowl and left it on the counter to cool a bit.  

Tuesday:

Guess what I forgot to put in the refrigerator last night?  If you said: the bowl of spanakorizo, you're right.  I. Was. Pissed.  Fortunately, I was able to come up with a reasonable alternate dinner plan when we got home from the pool, so the hummus and baba ghanoush didn't go to waste.  

Speaking of the pool, I think I may be developing some sort of weird chlorine allergy.  About 2-3 hours after I swim, I start sneezing uncontrollably, my nose simultaneously runs and stuffs up, and I'm all around miserable.  This has happened twice now, but I'm still hoping that maybe it's just some sort of weird cold thing that's exacerbated by the pool chemicals.

Wednesday:

I went another round with Ericcson and felt awesome. I think I'm definitely starting to get the hang of this whole 'training with virtual power' thing.

It's been something of a struggle to make myself get on the bike after a long day at work, but having a good action movie on in the background makes it a little more palatable.  In the past few weeks, we've watched all three Ironman movies, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, The Avengers, and X-Men: Days of Future Past.  This week we moved away from the Marvel universe and on to Pirates!

Thursday:

Some people celebrate their birthdays by throwing parties, going out, or taking a day off.  I celebrated the big 3-6 by working, going for a run on the treadmill, and making homemade margherita pizza with Mr. R&R - and polishing off half a box of Girl Scout cookies!

Friday:

New gear always makes working out more fun, so when my swimoutlet.com order showed up a day early, I was a little more willing to go to the pool.  I really love both of my Speedo suits, but those things are expensive and chlorine is murder on spandex.  I ordered a $23 Sporti suit and as long as it holds up, I may never buy another Speedo.  It didn't ride up. It didn't cut into my shoulders. It was so light that I practically felt like I was skinny dipping!  I also ordered a really cheap silicone swim cap because the two I have are starting to wear out and a new pair of goggles because I'm really tired of feeling like my eye sockets are bruised after 1000 yards!  The swim cap was another huge win.  I'm never paying $11 for a swim cap again.  The jury is still out on the goggles.  They didn't leak, but they still started to hurt after a while and the excess strap kept brushing my shoulder in the water.  I'm going to try a few things before making a final decision on them.

Saturday:
Sometimes you just need a day to do nothing and today was that day.  I slept like crap last night courtesy of another bout of post pool sneezing and sinus issues and woke up feeling like I couldn't really breathe through my nose.  The day was spent laying on the couch with a blanket and a good book.

Eventually I managed to drag myself to the shower and put on a dress before Mr. R&R and I met friends for dinner.  Our original plan was to hit the bikes when we got home, but dessert and a second glass of bordeaux won the day.

Sunday:

I really did not want to adult today.  Maybe that second glass of wine wasn't such a good idea?  Mr. R&R left for his run/training appointment and I dragged my ass out the door by 8:30AM to run errands.  My stops were: Stone Creek (2 lbs coffee beans + huge cup of coffee), Fresh Market (rabbit greens, berries, spinach), Trader Joes (groceries), and Target (a couple things I can't get at TJ's and household crap). 

My To Do list was ridiculous: food prep, a frightening amount of laundry, planning for next week (which is so jam packed that I felt like I was planning the invasion of Normandy), 3 miles to run, and yesterday's missed bike ride.  Ugh.  

Mr. R&R got started on the laundry while I hit the kitchen to do food prep.  Nothing new from the kitchen this week; just yogurt messes, spanakorizo, chicken, and another batch of wonton soup since last week's was a big hit with both of us.  2 1/2 hours later I emerged from the kitchen with a full refrigerator and we continued to work our way through the apocalyptic piles of laundry.  It was quickly becoming obvious that I was going to have to choose between the bike and the run since I was running out of hours in the day.  The bike won and my Perfect Week Streak came to an end.  I wasn't happy about the streak ending, but that's life.  Sometimes workouts get missed - I just have to make sure it's the exception, not the rule.

60 minutes of Carson was followed by our traditional Oscar Night nachos, folding more laundry, and bed.

Round 2: Week 3 Totals:

Swim: 2,675 yards (1.52 miles)

Bike: 21.6 miles

Run: 3.01 miles

Strength Training: 1 session

Total Miles: 26.13 miles

Total Time: 3 hours, 49 minutes

February Totals*:

Swim: 6,800 yards (5.1 miles)

Bike: 86.24 miles

Run: 22.46 miles

Strength Training: 6 sessions

Total Miles: 113.81 miles

Total Time: 17 hours, 19 minutes

*Since I'm publishing this post on February 29th, I'm including tonight's workout in my totals even though it's not accounted for in the weekly totals - yet!

Did you watch the Oscars?  What'd you think?

Base Building: Round 2 - Week 2

R2W2 was a weird one.  Nothing particularly horrible happened, but it was one of those weeks where a series of small things go wrong and after a while it really starts to mess with your head.  I think this happens at least once in every training cycle, so it's not completely foreign to me - just really &*$% annoying.

Monday:

My regularly scheduled rest day - and boy did I need it.  I was still really sore from Saturday's triple workout and I arrived at the office to discover (weird occurrence #1) that out of 16 people in the department: 3 had called in sick, 1 was so sick that I sent her home, 2 more left early because they felt so crummy, and 3 more were sick, but functional.  I spent my day feeling a bit like a kindergarten teacher; running around with Clorox wipes and a can of Lysol - and praying that I didn't catch whatever they all had! My lentil soup/stew was pretty good at lunchtime.  I didn't mind the 'stew-ish' texture, but I'm standing by the plan to add more balsamic vinegar next time.

By the end of the day all I wanted to do was go to bed.  Mr. R&R ended up having to attend a last minute business dinner, so I was on my own.  I contemplated picking up a sandwich from my favorite place, but I had all the stuff I'd spent time making on Sunday in the refrigerator, so I behaved myself and ate at home.  I scooped some of the mushroom rice into a bowl, stirred in some leftover crockpot chicken, added some freshly grated cheese, and threw the whole mess into the microwave.  I can't say it was the best thing I've ever eaten, but it did the job and let me spend most of the night on the couch with my Kindle.

Tuesday:

Mr. R&R and I hit the pool after work for 1000 yards and the series of weird occurrences continued.  My Garmin (the 920xt) decided it didn't want to record all my laps - and thus messed with my /100 average.  I noticed the issue, swam a little extra to try to make the watch show the right yardage, but it kept coming up short!  Grrr. On the ride home, I googled the problem and it sounds like I'm not the first person to experience this nonsense.  There are a couple of possible fixes: stronger push off the wall, using my right arm to take my first stroke (since I wear my watch on my left arm), and trying to glide off the wall as long as possible.  I'll be implementing those on Friday.  Dinner was leftover mushroom rice and chicken - again.  The combination isn't bad, but it's not earth shatteringly amazing either.  I think the rice recipe needs some tweaking if I make it again.

Wednesday
Whatever plague is going around has continued to ravage my office.  This week has been a nonstop parade of: sanitizing workspaces, covering for those who are out, and trying to do my own job.  I seriously considered skipping tonight's bike workout when Mr. R&R suddenly had another work dinner to attend.  Eventually I convinced myself to put my book down and dragged myself down to The Cave.  Tunnabora was, as expected, 45 minutes of leg-burning sweatiness - with American Beauty as background entertainment.

Afterward, I made myself some macaroni and cheese and threw a meatloaf in the oven to bake for dinners later in the week.

Thursday
Most of the office was back in today (with the exception of one who had to be sent home due to a positive strep test), so I was able to do more actual work, so that was good.  I got home later than planned and Mr. R&R and I packed ourselves off to the gym to run and lift. What a run - those splits made me beyond happy!  The whole thing was only 8 seconds off of PR pace.

Takeout was on the menu tonight - a stupid move - but a really tasty one.

Friday
I thought that perhaps the weird occurrences were done for the week. Nope. Friday morning started with a 5:30am text message from a sick minion, oversleeping, and then Mr. R&R broke the news: the coffee grinder had committed suicide.

My usual weekday morning routine looks something like this:

• pour coffee just before walking out door
• allow coffee to cool to drinkable temperature on the drive to work
• consume half of coffee while checking email/getting situated for the day
• consume remaining half of coffee over the course of the next hour

Obviously an emergency Starbucks run with my fellow coffee-addicted coworker (in windy, but unseasonably warm weather) was in order!  Once caffeinated, the rest of the day passed quickly and by 5pm I was on my way home. 

The initial plan was to lay on the couch with a book until Mr. R&R came home and we headed for the pool, but no sooner had I settled myself onto the couch, a text message had me hoofing up to the bar for a quick beer with Mr. R&R, Who-Ha, and another friend.  I can count on one hand the number of drinks I've had in the last 6 weeks, so I was careful to limit myself to one beer since I still needed to swim.  I'm not the most social creature on the planet, but it was nice to see people for a little while - the whole triathlon thing is kind of murder on your social life.

We got to the pool around 7:30pm and discovered that instead of the usual Rugrat Night in the exercise pool it was RUGRAT NIGHT ON STEROIDS. There was some sort of kid-related pool party going on and that meant that the locker room was a wasteland of puddles and dirty towels thrown everywhere.  The pool deck was overrun by kids and there was nowhere dry to put down our towels and keys.  Fortunately, there were no kids in the lap pool, so the workout was still able to happen.  My Garmin cooperated by registering all my laps, but my swim cap and googles decided to act up instead.  Within the first 100 yards, I could feel my cap creeping upward and trying to escape from my head.  Grr. I stopped, fixed it, put my goggles back on and continued my warm up.  Then my goggles started leaking.  I swam the last 50 of the warm up with my eyes closed.  It was all downhill from there.  Despite my best efforts, my googles continued to leak approximately every 50 yards (time to order new ones) and my calves decided that mid-drill was a great time to cramp.  The end of the workout could not come fast enough!  Despite a less-than-stellar performance, it wasn't a total loss. I attempted exactly one flip turn after I shut off my watch and it. was. perfect.  

We got home around 9pm, ate (read: inhaled) some meatloaf, gave Walter his weekly bath, and took both boys upstairs to snuggle and listen to music.  Bunny snuggles pretty much make everything right in the world. 

Saturday:

I awoke to a nose that was both stuffed up and runny. So much for avoiding the death plague entirely, but I'm hoping this is as bad as it gets.  I spent most of the day lounging on the couch with a blanket - moving only to do my bike ride and take a long, steamy shower.  I did manage to make more progress  on the book I'm reading and I watched the Imitation Game (if you haven't seen it, watch it), so I wasn't a total waste of carbon. Oh, and the replacement coffee grinder showed up on my doorstep so Mr. R&R/I don't have to make a coffee run in the morning and the world will be a slightly safer place on Monday morning.

Many thanks to my friend April for posting this on my Facebook page because it's true!

Sunday:
I had another appointment with my trainer today - and a run to do.  I got to the gym early and hit the treadmill. I've been bad about adding to my mileage and had plenty of time so I ran 4 miles - the most I've run in a while.  Good god I love negative splits - and I really love them when they're fast!

Post run I cleaned off my treadmill and promptly walked straight outside in an attempt to stop the torrents of sweat pouring out of me before I met up with my trainer.  When I met up with her (she needs a blog name - any ideas?), a 30 minute beating ensued.  There were squats, lunges, all manners of abdominal work, and oh yeah...shoulder touch push ups.  I was absolutely wasted by the time we were done - and I loved it.

I stopped in the locker room long enough to put on street clothes and jot down all the moves I just did while they were still fresh in my mind (otherwise I have no chance of remembering them so I can do them on my own) before dashing over to my mom's house to shimmy up a ladder and help her out with a little home repair.  I mentioned that I was planning to go to Trader Joe's afterward and she ended up coming along for the ride.  Holy crap that place was packed.  If my refrigerator hadn't been naked, I would have turned around and walked out. As it is, I still managed to forget one thing on my list so I'll have to make another trip at some point this week.

In need of replenishing

When I got home, Mr. R&R and I put the package of Italian sausages (second shelf down on the right) to good use.  We've had an unseasonable warm spell this weekend, so Mr. R&R fired up the grill and 45 minutes later we were feasting on sausages and veggies cooked in beer.  I can't wait until 'Use-The-Grill-All-The-Time' season arrives for real!

While the sausages were cooking, I started my meal prep for the week by making a pot of wonton soup.  I used a hybrid of a couple of recipes, so I'll reserve sharing until I've eaten the final product for lunch next week.  I probably should have done more prep, but there were some other chores that needed my attention more, so I'll make chicken and spanakorizo tomorrow night when I get home from work and I'll throw together some yogurt messes and proatmeal before bed tonight.  My lunch/dinner plans for the rest of the week involve using up stuff that's lurking in my freezer, so that should keep the work and maybe the dishes to a minimum.  I swear, the dishes will be the end of me.

Round 2: Week 2 Totals:
Swim: 2.125 yards (1.21 miles)
Bike: 18.48 miles
Run: 7.15 miles
Strength Training: 2 sessions
Total Miles: 26.84 miles
Total Time: 4 hours, 33 minutes

What'd you do this weekend? Seen any good movies/read any good books? Recommendations?

Base Building: Round 2 - Week 1

I'm going another round with base-building.  After 4 intense weeks, I feel really good, but there are some weak spots and I have the time before racing season, so I've decided to continue to build my foundation before I start constructing a house/tri season on it.  The workouts are essentially the same as Round 1, but I'm planning to add some yardage to my swims, a little distance to my runs (since there's less than a month until the next Chilly Willy Series race), and more consistent strength training - so don't be surprised if the numbers change a bit this round.

Monday:

Rest day? Hah!  Mr. R&R bundled up and headed out to shovel snow and I got to work on the last bit of my meal prep for the week: spanakorizo, Greek-seasoned chicken, and tzatiki sauce. After a false start (I grabbed 2 bunches of Walter and Spot's dandelion greens and started washing them instead of the 2 bunches of spinach) the spanakorizo simmered away on the stove, the chicken went into the oven, and I threw together the tzatziki sauce.  Total time in the kitchen: 1 hour.   Dinner: Awesome!

After dinner, we gave Walter his weekly bath and then took him and Spot upstairs to listen to music while Walter dried off.  All four of us were dozing off!

Tuesday:

It's cold and crappy outside.  Must be swim night!  The original workout called for 850 yards, but I tacked on another 100 yards because...well...goals.  Dinner (at 9pm - ugh) was identical to Monday's dinner and I was super excited about eating leftovers. If you want to try it for yourself, here' are the recipes for the  Spanakorizo and the Tzatziki  

Wednesday:

Bike assessment time. Tonight was all about seeing if the last 4 weeks of getting my ass kicked at high cadence/low speed and sweating buckets translated to an increase in my functional threshold power (FTP) - the power output I could theoretically maintain for an hour.  According to TrainerRoad, an increase of 2-3% is to be expected.  My increase in FTP, after a really friggin' brutal assessment, was on the low end: 2%.  Mr. R&R and I were both ravenous and big bowls of whole grain spaghetti, puttanesca sauce, and freshly grated parmesan cheese seemed like the quickest way to satisfy the raging hunger beast.

Thursday: 

It was my night to work late.  Fortunately things went quite a bit faster than usual and I was able to escape a little earlier than normal.  Mr. R&R and I hit the gym around 8:00pm for a 3 mile (treadmill) run and a brief strength training session.  The run sucked beyond suck.  Midway through Mile 1 I started getting a weird knot in the front of my abdominals.  This wasn't like a regular old side stitch - it was in the front, not the side.  Okay. Fine.  I dug my fingers into the knot in an attempt to release it and maintain my pace.  That didn't work.  Mile 2 was just an exercise in pain.  The knot basically felt like a someone was pinching the muscle and twisting it any time I tried to go much faster than walking pace.  I must have managed to dig my fingers into it just right because as much as it sucked, I was able to pick it up again a little for Mile 3.

Afterward, I dragged myself into the free weight area for some dumbbell rows and raises and then over to the mats for plank shoulder touches while Mr. R&R finished up in the weight room.  It was well after 9pm by the time we got out of there, so we listened to the Bernie/Hilary debate while picking up burgers for dinner.  Politics and burgers...makes me feel like I'm in college again!

Friday:

So, that nasty little knot from last night had lasting effects.  I actually had a tender spot on my stomach from how hard I dug my fingers into it.  In an unusual turn of events, I actually left work at 5pm, stopped at the grocery store that's on my route home to procure a whole chicken, and had time to lounge around and read for a while before Mr. R&R and I headed for the pool for our Friday night swim date.  The prescribed workout was 850 yards, but in the spirit of trying to add a little more distance this round, I ended up swimming 1050 - and at the fastest average pace I've swam yet!  Granted, I still inhale/swallow a gallon of pool every time I try to do a flip turn, but speed is slowly, but surely improving.  We came home, chowed down on some italian beef and mashed potatoes from my freezer stash, read a little more, and crashed.

Saturday:
I had grand plans of sleeping in today, but that went out the window when I woke up at 7:30am and couldn't get back to sleep.  I ended up having a good breakfast (egg tacos), drinking coffee, and lounging around with a book for most of the morning.  That was the calm before the storm because somewhere around 8am, I had hatched a plan.

My plans for the day had originally involved a training session, a bike session, and a bunch of errands.  I had planned on getting to the gym a little early to squeeze in a 1 mile warm up run before my training session because I didn't want to waste time/money on a supervised warm up - and then I got the bright idea that I'd go in even earlier, do Sunday's planned 3 miler, go to my training session, run the errands, hit the bike, and end up with two back to back rest days.  I was a little behind schedule, so I was only able to cram in 1.75 miles before I met with my trainer (who totally kicked my ass).  I debated calling off the whole plan, but the thought of two solid days off drew me back to the treadmill - and I'm really glad I did.  I ran a really awesome mile and a half!

I stopped off at my mom's to drop off some freezer jam and pick up a ladle I'd left there after a family holiday event, picked up two pounds of coffee from a local roaster, and then Mr. R&R and I made a trip to Trader Joes to pick up everything we needed for the coming week and a special treat - the makings of prosciutto and caramelized onion pizza.  Happy early V-Day to us!  Of course before the pizza could happen, the bike workout had to happen.  Let me tell you - getting on that bike did not sound like fun - and it wasn't. 45 really uncomfortable minutes later, Goddard was done, and it was time to eat!

Sunday:
I'm pretty sure that the first thing out of my mouth this morning was: $*%&ing OW!.  My abs and legs hurt!  I didn't really want to get off the couch, but when Mr. R&R left for his run and training session, I dragged myself out to the kitchen, put on a pot of coffee, and threw a chicken in the crock pot to do its thing for the rest of the day before retreating back to the couch to enjoy my coffee, a new book, and to temporarily silence my aching muscles.

My food prep/attempt to cook my way through my Pinterest boards for the coming week included:

- A whole chicken in the crockpot (9 hours on low and the thing practically carved itself)

- Damn Delicious' One Pot Mushroom Rice: Pretty decent, but not sure I'd make it again.

- Epicurious' French Lentil Soup: Turned out way more like a stew than a soup.  I think next time I'd add more liquid and a bit more balsamic vinegar.

Six servings? More like 5.

- Pastry Affair's Beer Bread: OMG. I will never buy a box mix for this stuff again.  6 ingredients, 5 minutes of prep, and so damned good!

I also threw together a few yogurt messes and mixed up the dry ingredients for proatmeal, so I'm all set for breakfast this week too.  My refrigerator is packed - and will be nearly naked by Friday night!

The chicken was still in the crockpot and took up the last of the available real estate

Round 2: Week 1 Totals:
Swim: 2000 yards (1.14 miles)
Bike: 21.07 miles
Run: 6.28 miles
Strength Training: 2 sessions
Total Miles: 28.49 miles
Total Time: 4 hours, 36 minutes

Do you ever cook any of the things you pin?  If so, what's the best thing you've made?