Random Things

Random things and events from the past week.

1. Received this in the mail because my oldest son took my old road bike and trainer to the city with him after Christmas.  My old trainer was a magnetic trainer.  This fluid trainer is very different.



2. Visited with the oldest son in the city last weekend and roaring river runner and I went for a long run along the river path.  Beautiful morning -10 Celcius and great scenery.





3. Oldest son couldn't wait for breakfast and raided the grocery bag.



4. Yummy brunch of oatmeal with fruit, scrambled eggs, sausages and fruit.  I had to remind myself to stop and breath.



5. Going to the watch a movie tonight being shown by the school my daughter goes to.  Can't remember the title- something to do with cloudy and a chance of meatballs?  I'm not as up on my movies as I would like to be.  There are a couple movies that have perked my attention and I have made a note of when they are (March) but for the life of me, I can't remember what they are called.

6.  Made 2 amazing recipes the past couple of day.  The first one was a coconut macaroon granola which doesn't exactly taste like real macaroons yet (but will) but tastes  more like a coconut cookie.  It is gluten free and sugar free and is totally amazing on yogurt.  I seriously need to hide it or I will need to pull the maternity pants with the elastic front panel out of storage. (lol)  Reminds me of my favourite episode of "Friends" at Thanksgiving when Joey is committed to eating the whole turkey and wears Phoebe's maternity pants.  It is totally my favourite. The second recipe was a spinach pesto chicken pizza.  It is a gluten free crust spread with pesto then topped with cherry tomatoes, sliced mushrooms, chopped chicken, spinach and shredded cheese.  So yummy.  I also made coconut butter for the first time in my food processor.  It was unbelievable in my morning oatmeal.

7.  My next food experiment (hopefully tomorrow) will be to make "chips" in my dehydrator with the pulp from my juicer.  I have booked myself as math tutor tomorrow to both kids so hopefully can squeeze in a bit of time.  I am also booked for a long bike ride of 40 miles tomorrow with the roaring runner on the trainers.  I still need to pick out my movie entertainment for the close to 3 hours my butt will be on the bike.

Will keep you posted!  Have a great weekend.

p.s Anyone have any advice with the dehydrator and great recipes?

Are you a Friend's fan and if so what is your favourite episode?

The Thin Line of Contentment

Morning.  I am so excited it is Friday!  Nothing special happening in my day but Friday's are always good.  My brother and his family are leaving for Jamaica today- that would be really exciting.  My sister-in-law and niece are heading to Mexico today- I would be pumped. My mom and stepdad are enjoying the warm sun in Texas- that would be blissful.  My dad is in the hospital right now- not so great.  My middle 2 kids start their semester final exams today- not so exciting.  No matter how you look at things, life has its ups and downs.

It seems everywhere around me lately is talk of contentment. I think it is more than coincidental that riding the heels of the new year are the soul searching thoughts of what is really important in life. Some of us (I will speak for myself) don't really make any resolutions for the beginning of a new year but that doesn't mean that I don't think hard about what direction I want to be in.

Yesterday's devotional was really inspiring and mind changing.

 



Embrace challenges?  Be eager for them? Anxiety is growth? Don't waste energy with regret? Ok, maybe I know these things but reading and thinking brings them back in the front line.  Do I DO this becomes the question.

So, back to contentment.  I am so glad I am not content to live with things in a certain way.  I'm not happy running a 10 mile pace forever, nor bike a 5 min mile forever, or live with chronic inflammation forever.  I want to learn more, get better, remove the kinks, live happier, gain knowledge (and muscle).  Usually, this journey may have brief plateaus and may have a bit of frustration but usually has a whole load full of confidence and improved self-esteem.  It's all good right?  Well, somewhere along there I cross to the other side and I don't know it until I am so far into the Land of Ugly that I am not sure of my way back.  Where is the line?  When do I cross the line of something good and make it something bad?

The flip the coin of contentment/discontentment happens quickly and sneakily and we find ourselves unhappy with our lot in life because someone has more, or gets to go places or is faster.  This always results in us feeling BAD about ourselves, unmotivated, unhappy, and especially with negative self-talk.  All of a sudden we can't do ANYTHING, nothing is EVER going to get better and basically life SUCKS.  I think being discontent can bring healing and joy but discontent brings comparison and dissatisfaction.

Discontentment works into our finances, wardrobes, jobs, toys, vehicles, food, health, and free time.  We are a nation of unhappy people.

We are a society that spend more money than we should on really nothing because we think we will be happier and satisfied if we do.  We live in houses and drive vehicles we really can't afford.  We eat out so much and buy clothes and toys non-stop.  We spend countless hours keeping up with the tec world making sure we know what everyone is doing.  We have a "favorite" show on tv every night of the week we need to watch.

When is wanting more ever enough?

STOP! What is really important in your life?  What do you really need?  If things were taken away from you one by one- what is the absolute last thing to go?

Ok, please don't slam me, I mean no disrespect nor am I judging.  This is me and my friends and acquaintances, in my world I am seeing this.  If this makes you mad or you want to blow it off, maybe a nerve has been hit.

• We need to be discontent with things that are not right, and take action to correct them.


• We need to keep true to the things in life that mean the most.


• We need to be people of change that can build on bad to turn things into good.

However, we should not hurt ourselves and those around us in this process.  Me listening to the voice in my head that's telling me I am fat and will never get faster as a runner, biker, swimmer is NOT productive.  I need to be content with the present;  I currently have digestive issues and yes it sucks and yes I get bloated more than I want to and yes it drives me batty and I acknowledge this is my life right now.  I may not be able to achieve things 100% but I can do things 100% with a less than 100% body and be thankful and grateful for what I can accomplish.  And trust that it too will pass (like the diaper phase) and I will be stronger and able to reach out and help someone who is also walking in the same shoes I once wore.

I need to be content with the snow and crazy cold weather, content with teenage kids who think I know nothing, content with less in my wardrobe, content with life.  And willing to work at improving, to ironing out the kinks and getting better; keeping my values and motives at the forefront all the time.

I think that we will find contentment only by accepting where we are in life right now.

 Acknowledging and accepting the good and bad in our lives, the challenges and pitfalls, is the start to opening up opportunities for those challenges to turned into wonderful thing!

I thought I was just going to post a short pick me up encouraging post about staying positive but I guess my fingers had another plan for me today.  I do know that after reading so many posts from other blogs, lots of time what we write about is what we need so today, I needed a good dose of reality.  Thanks for hanging in.

I wish you a great day today and hope that you are encouraged.

p.s. When do YOU know you have crossed the line?

How do you get back on track?

 

 

 

 

Something "New"

No big New Year's posts from me as I am not much into formal resolutions.  I do have goals for myself and things I want to do to challenge myself physically, spiritually, intellectually and mentally. With that said, I hope you all had a great New Year's and this week has been great. It has certainly had its challenges getting everyone back in the swing of school and routine.  The morning are sure the biggest challenge.

With the theme of "new", I thought I would share some things that I love to encourage you to start something new.

I am starting with my 3 favourite juice recipes.  If you missed my post about my new Breville Fountain Crush, check it out here.  I absolutely LOVE my juicer.  We had a houseful of friends over just a few days prior to Christmas and if they didn't think we were strange before, they do now.  We spent quite some time talking about juicing, sampling it, testing it on a refractometer (don't ask, I don't quite understand it yet myself).  Everyone went home with literally food for thought.  The crazy things you do.  Anyway, my 3 favs!

Mean Green (from Reboot with Joe)

2 cucumbers

8 celery stalks

4 green apples

10-12 kale leaves

1 lemon

 1 1/2 inches of ginger root

This makes about 2 quart sealers of juice.  I mix it all together in a large juice pitcher then pour into my jars so it is very full.  Store in the fridge.  It serves my husband and myself for about 2 days (drinking about 2X each per day)

Blazing Beets (from Juicing Bible second edition)*

3 beets

1/2 inch piece of ginger root

2 green apples

2-3 cloves of garlic

2 celery stalks

3-4 handfuls of spinach

Blend together and pour into a juice pitcher to mix, then divide into jars.  Will fill a quart jar and a pint jar.  Store in the fridge.  Tastes super good cold just after a hard run!

*I have made some adaptation from the original recipe

Purple Power ( Juicing Bible second edition)

2 pitted plums

1 cup purple grapes

1 cup blackberries

1 tsp cod liver oil

Juice the fruit then whisk in the cod liver oil.

Hope you enjoy and happy juicing!

Christmas Greetings and Updates

Hey, Merry Christmas to you all!  Hope you have had lots of laughter and love through the holiday season.  The past 10 days in my house have been crazy (probably the norm in most homes) and though the time has gone by rather quickly, we have done so much.  We have attended 3 separate Christmases, hosted Christmas Eve supper with the turkey and works, hosted a huge party for friends, attend 2 Christmas programs, curled in a boxing day bonspiel, helped some friends move to another house, had coffee with other friends, toured the town looking at Christmas lights, tried to watch as many Christmas movies as possible together.  There are so many great movies to watch this time of year.  We love the Home Alone movies, the Santa Claus movies, I'll Be Home for Christmas, The Search for Santa Paws, Christmas with the Kranks and of course National Lampoons Christmas Vacation.  I recorded the Sound of Music and am looking forward to watching it during a long ride on the bike.

This is the great cake my aunt made for our Christmas Eve supper.  It was beautiful and delicious!



We also built gingerbread houses.  We had a 3-way contest; my 2 boys vs my oldest daughter and niece vs my youngest daughter and husband. Here is proof of their hard work.







(I did take pictures of my youngest daughter and husband building their house but only when I looked back at the pictures did I see that she has a breath right nasal strip still on her nose.  We decorated them around lunch time and I guess it was a slow morning for her.  I know she would not appreciate the picture going public.  It is funny though.)

It is a tradition in our house and no matter how old the kids get, it never gets old.  Especially when there is candy and chocolate involved.

Yesterday, my daughter tried out her new cupcake maker and made gingerbread cupcakes.  They were just the right size and so yummy.



Now that the hustle and bustle is kinda over- it is time to recoup and relax.  Usually that occurs at the lake cottage where we are usually heading to as quickly after Christmas as possible.  So why aren't we there yet?  One reason and only one- COLD.  Now not just cold but blistering cold.  Today the high was -28 Celcius and with the windchill, it was -44 Celcius which is close to -50 F.  This is what how the next few days look;


Now, not trying to come across whinny, but it sucks when you can't get outside.  We are usually cross country skiing or tobagganning or skidooing through the holidays.  So hard to do a lot of that with these temperatures.  So, short bursts of activity outside before coming back in to warm up.  Lots of games, dancing with the Wii, reading and bike trainer/treadmill workouts.  There are many great aspects of living where I do, but this isn't really one of them.  Oh well.

Speaking of reading, I got some great books for Christmas.  One is a cookbook called The Feedzone Cookbook so I am so excited to try some new dishes.  Another is a devotional which I have dived into.  So many great books to read right now!



I am currently reading Triathlon for Every Woman by Meredith Atwood and am enjoying her humourous storytelling and advice based on her experiences with triathlon.  The book is filled with answers to many questions that those new to triathlon want to know but don't ask.  And because she has participated in every triathlon distance from sprint to ironman, her advice concerning the small things is invaluable.  The next book on my list is A Life Without Limits by Chrissie Wellington.  My husband has already read it and has great raves so excited to get to it.

And finally, a training update.  This is an athletic blog right?  Training has been going so good.  There has been a lot of base training with no speedwork at all.  I have run on the treadmill at an incline but have run slowly.  I am still embracing the Mafetone training routine right now, going by heart rate with all my workouts reflecting this by maintaining my heart rate below a certain level.  I will be kicking it up into base 1 next week which will include tempo and speedwork to both the running and cycling.  I have had issues with my right knee and IT band but have had huge improvements in the past 3 weeks.  I have 3 exercises that I have been doing not just a couple times a week but a couple times a day.  This is the key to the success I think.  I have been foam rolling like crazy as well.  It has taken a lot of consistency but it has made my glutes so much stronger!  The only thing that still seems to aggravate it is squats.  Hopefully, if the glutes are stronger and the knee is less irritated, the ability to perform squats without problem will also come.

I have been trying to run shorter distances more frequently right now and building up my bike mileage.  I have run so many half marathons that I know I can manage the distance.  I am entered to run a half the beginning of March so running that distance is in the near future.  It is a planned run but not a competitive run.  I have no concerns about my time.  I have not biked much past 30 miles though and want to increase that right now.  I am so proud of myself for getting in so many longer rides.  In December, most of my training rides are between 10-25 miles on any given day but I have done 5 rides that have exceeded 25 miles.  In the month of January, I have plans to see the other side of 40.  My goal is to stay healthy and injury free so I am trying to build distance but also to be smart about it.

One of my goals in the next week is to get my training plan all worked out so I have things structured a bit more.  I like the impulsiveness of training on feeling, but also know that I need structure within the training to give me guidance and balance.  I need to see the big picture, work backwards and plan according.  I also want to start registering in some events so I need to see the year ahead and how these various events work together to register for some and hold off on others for another year.  I have read about the priortizing the A, B and C events but this is the first year I have really been proactive about it.  I am not the typical triathlon personality which is sometimes seen as the "A" type that has the stats, data and their yearly plan at their fingertips.  I like being a bit unstructured and especially to be mindful of why I am pursuing the hobby of triathlon. With that said, it will be nice having some structure to my training.  That is the great part (I think) about having a coach.  You get structure, expertise and knowledge without figuring it all out yourself.  I'm just not ready to jump into that yet.

Well, Happy New Year to you all!  I will be at the lake enjoying the fireworks with my kids and maybe getting in a midnight cross country ski with headlights and a million stars!

ps

My husband's side of the family had a group picture taken at Thanksgiving (Canadian Thanksgiving in October) and I have seen the proof and ordered my pictures.  I think they turned out so well and wanted to show you the group photo.



 

 

 

Juicing

Hello.  Couldn't wait to show you this bad boy that came to my mailbox recently.



I am a juicing virgin.  I  drink water, almond milk and the occasional herbal tea and really nothing else. Until now that is.

A couple months ago I was listening to a podcast with special guest Dr.Junger talking about his book Clean Gut.  The podcast got me checking out his website, reading and learning as much as I could.  I have tried many recipes but I have not read the book yet (it is on my Christmas list!).  The information Dr. Junger gives is so radically different in the sense that he wants to find the source of inflammation and disease and not just treat the symptoms and conditions with band aids.

Then a few weeks later, I watched the documentary "Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead" which is the powerful story of Joe Cross and his quest for health.  This then led to the reboot with joe website containing a wealth of information and recipes.

Shortly after, I watched another documentary called "Hungry for Change" (gotta love netflix).  This documentary is jam packed full of knowledge from a huge panel of experts.  It is a must see.

So, after tons of research on which kind of juicer to purchase (centrifugal or masticating) I ordered the Breville Fountain Crush masticating juicer.  I have used it many times now and it has performed beyond my expectations.  I also ordered a book called "The Juicing Bible" which is full of recipes and much more.

I have tried many different juices, mostly vegetable, but occasionally the kids want to help and we make some awesome fruit juices.  I will continue to experiment  but so far have found a routine of "green", "orange" and "red" juices.  My 2 most favourite juices are the Mean Green (from the Reboot With Joe) and the Beetalicious (from the Juice Bible).  So yummy!

My juicing is in addition to my regular diet as I am not wanting to do a complete juice cleanse at this time.  With that said, I often have just juice for supper though.  It is just better for me.



Now, I'll get to the good part!  The introduction to vegetable juice has made significant changes in me.  My complexion is way better, the plumbing is always very regular, I have more energy; not missing the mid-day lull one bit.  I am content with less food.  To a friend, this made no sense and all I could say was that sometimes having less of something really good is better than having lots of nothing.  My body actually craves the greens.  It does smell like "garden, hay patch, something green" though and when my mom tasted it, her face really contorted unhappily.  She said she thought it would just take a few times of getting used to.  The truth or not?  Don't know but I do know the first taste for me was blissful.



From a training point of view, the juicing has been very beneficial.  I usually drink juice right after running or biking and I feel my recovery improves significantly!  My muscles recovery much easier, though they still get tight on occasion and need to be stretched.  I guess the juice can only do sooo much!  I have been working slowly on heart rate base training so nothing fast yet.  Will update you with the effects of juice when speed work comes into play in the next month.  Got big plans for 2014!! So excited. I will post about it soon but (it involves me, my guy, a pier and a few miles).

As far as time goes, I usually plan to make 2 or 3 recipes at one juicing.  I wash and peel/chop ingredients for each recipe (which I usually double) and put each recipe into a separate ice cream pail.  When one recipe is complete, I do the same for the other(s) and then when I start juicing, I have all my pails ready to go.  I start with the green juice, move to orange then end with red/purple.  I usually cut the produce into smaller pieces as I am feeding them into the chute and I rotate through the veggies.  I use an apple slicer, don't know what it is really called but divides apples into 8 sections and removes the core. Usually, a double recipe makes enough for my husband and I to each have a large glass of juice and the rest I pour into a glass quart sealer jar.  Fill right to the top and get the lid on and store in the fridge for later or tomorrow.  Not as much oxygen with little headspace so the juice doesn't oxidize quickly.  So, if I make 3 recipes, double of each, then I end up with at least 6 jar fulls of juice for the rest of the day and tomorrow.  If I make juice each evening then I am good for the two of us for that evening and tomorrow and sometimes left over to start the next day.  Depends on how much we drink.  I like to drink the green (green apples, kale, ginger, celery, cucumbers) or orange (carrots, oranges, green apples, parsley) in the morning, the opposite at lunch and then the red/purple (beets, celery, garlic, spinach, ginger) juice for supper.

Clean up isn't hard at all.  I put a bag in the pulp bin ( I compost pulp) and take apart the other pieces, rinse under hot water and let air dry.  There is one component that requires some extra effort with small brush (is included) but it doesn't take long.  Making 2 or 3 recipes, double of each with prep and clean up is max 1 hour.  Probably more like 45 min.

So, if you were thinking of giving juicing a try, want to fill your body with the micronutrients it needs, want an edge with your workouts or looking to detox- I encourage you to get yourself a juicer and give it a try.  I would not trade it for anything.  The only problem is figuring how to take the juicer with me when I travel.

 

 

 

Bring on the Fat!

Hey

I am trying really hard to limit the amounts of carbohydrates I am consuming.  I know this goes against almost everything in the "athletic" world as carbs are what fuels us.  There is no gluten problems (though I did have a score of 9 in the IgA test) but I feel soo much better with limited carbs.  So, no bread, which was no big deal though I do miss a mean pb and j sometimes.  And no pasta or mini wheats and the most difficult is no oatmeal.  But I have come up with some awesome alternative.

I can't lie and tell you it hasn't been difficult.  It's different, it's not the way I have known.  Our traditional eating has revolved around the meat and carbs with a little veggie thrown in.  Cutting back on carbs and sugar started out as a forced issue (thoughts of a bacterial imbalance in the gut) and the truth be told I was a bad a@@ rebel.  Very unhappy, grouchy and bitter.  I missed my carbs!  But as time has gone on, I see so many other people who are EMBRACING this lifestyle.  Hello, Attitude?  We need to make some major changes.  Stop with the mopey, grouchy, life is so tough routine.  Let's get on board this train!

The biggest issue I have struggled with is not feeling full and needing something more.  I am sure that is the soothing nature of carbs- comfort food.  Veggies and lean meats have been my staple and they don't seem to have those special powers of contentment, not like carbs.  I have also removed most fruit consumption right now with plans to bring it all back again.  So the challenge has been to bring the comfort and sweetness of carbs to the veggie/meat diet.  Hello FAT- the good kind.  Experiments with avocado, coconut oil and nuts have proved to be sucessful.  I made a chocolate mousse with avocado and ate almost the whole thing that night.  Serious self control to make it last 2 days!  And chia pudding with almond milk, with the chocolate mousse, now I am talking out of this world.  My granola was replaced with a seed and nut combination that makes me forget what I had before, what did I have before?

The moral of the story?  Embrace the good fats.  They do not disappoint.  I cannot vouch yet as for how this change of diet will impact heavy training or exercise.  I am still in the "off season" of hit and miss/ whenever I feel like something training.  I am anxious to see how regular training and the lack of carbs will roll together but I am confident it will be fine.

I am looking forward to experimenting with new recipes and creating some of my own.  Wishing you a great week of nutritious eats!

 

Motivation

Morning!

It is hump day, yaaa!  Who doesn't get excited about that?  Today's post is all  about motivation. We all struggle at times to keep our head above water and sometimes we just need a pull.  I'm hoping you read and feel refreshed.

I heard something funny the other day.  We just got a light brushing of snow in my part of the country and it came without expectation and my friend said that meteorologists (aka: weather people) are the only job where you can be wrong a lot of the time and still keep your job.  lol.

Well, we all make mistakes, it's true.  I like to remind myself that it's not the mistake that is the issue but whether I pick myself up after it and go on instead of staying in the dreaded, you know it- RUT.  I really dislike the same old thing day after day.  That's what our relationships can become, our work lives our home lives and certainly our athletic pursuits.

In my last post, I gave my thoughts on things needing to be in sync to get the best performance.  SO much of performance is outcome based.  It is very difficult then to go against the norms of today's society and feel GOOD about what you do, even when the results don't show it.  I have listened to Miranda Cafrae's You Tube post IM win in Kona and she said that it was a good day, good swim, good bike and great run and at times it seemed effortless.  Isn't that what we all want?  I think the truth is that those days are probably not the norm.  What then keeps us motivated during the rest of the time?

I recently replied to a blog post(that I follow) concerning the subject of overthinking and having rough days.  I am very much an overthinker; a passionate person who feels so strongly and has deep connections within myself.  I don't hide much; you see what I feel, how I care and what moves me.  This is truly an amazing way to live but does have drawbacks; the most prevalent is being hard on myself.  It can become fear of failure, retreat to my comfort zone (which is exactly not how I like to be) and a joy stealer.   I have certainly improved in the past few years.  For example, when I started seriously training, I did on occasion stop a run and go home because my ponytail was too tight or loose and my hair flopping around bugged me.  I have also packed it in once when my ear buds wouldn't stay in my ears.  (Had to go back the next day and dig the ear buds out of the ditch) Pretty junior high of me I know.  I just can't explain how it happens but a small thing can easily become a mountain with overthinkers.  I am trying to look beyond the mole hills so I can reach the mountains.

I gave my most favourite advice on the blog post (indicated above) because it is ALWAYS what I need.

 “It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.” Theodore Roosevelt

This advice reminds me that I need to engage, get myself in the arena and not be timid or fearful and if I am IN the arena to remember that I WILL get my butt kicked sometimes, I WILL sweat and bleed but no MATTER the outcome- I am a competitor who dared greatly!!

I encourage you all to continue to dare greatly, knowing it won't always be easy but persevering and remembering that you are a gladiator, a challenger and it is a worthy cause.

Wishing you a great week!