Wisdom and Youth

Bet you can’t tell which is which :-)

With the completion of a long swim this morning, rest week is ov-ah!  And not a moment too soon – I feel like crap on light weeks.  Bring on more big work!

The Not-So-Green Green Smoothie, In Photos

I got a lot of funny comments on Facebook the other day when I excitedly posted about how much spinach I could cram into a smoothie that still tasted good.  Or perhaps disbelief is a better word :-)  And so, I give you…the smoothie making process.  This thing packs a whole lot of fiber!

Start with basic cheap blender

Ingredients: Almond milk, 1 banana, frozen berries, spinach

Start with as much spinach as you want.  I used 4 cups here.

Add 1 cup plain almond milk.  (You could probably use regular milk if you wanted but I like almond milk for the lower calories and mild flavor)

Add 1 banana.

Add frozen berries (I used 3/4 cup).

Blend. 

Keep blending, and mashing things down, until liquified. 

The end result is a not-green-colored berry-flavor-dominated smoothie that gives you a ton of veggie servings as well!

Yum!

Full Contact Masters

We had some space/boundary issues at masters this morning and as a result my hand and wrist took a beating! 

I still did over 3600 yards though :-)

Keep On Keepin’ On

Life and training continue on as usual here.  Last night the beardies had their first agility class in 6 weeks – finally not rained out!  My at-home practice with Stanley (see video below) is clearly paying off as he was much more focused and drivey, and he made all his weave pole entrances!  Max was wonderful as always in class – I’m working his contacts closer to the way I taught Stanley and it’s a noticable difference of driving to the contact zone instead of his old hesitation.  We finished his class up with a sort of relay race that was hilarious!

I wrapped up a big 3 week training build on Sunday with a swim and a hilly run, then kicked off rest week on Monday with another swim (500s – ooooh boy).  I suppose it was no wonder then that I spent the rest of the day with deep aches in my arms.  Somehow I never really feel the burden of all the training – other than of course tired muscles – until rest week, then it hits me all at once! 

Yesterday I loaded myself up with Advil and chocolate as painkillers for a deep tissue massage.  My massage therapist spent a lot more time on my arms, back and shoulders than usual but they felt wooooonderful when she was done.  Even better, the compression calf sleeves I’ve been wearing when biking and running for the last month are clearly working because my calves were significantly less tight and problematic (read: painful to release) than my December visit.  *deep sigh of relief* 

The exciting workout today was a new strength routine.  I have been working so hard on the strength training this year because I know how much it pays off later.  Every time Coach gives me a new routine, I love it.  I get to see where I’m already strong and where I am weak I’m going to get stronger.  The core work showed me that I’m doing well but can do even more, like start pushing to hold my planks longer! 

Tomorrow marks 10 months till IM AZ – so much time and yet I remember from last time how fast it flies by.  It’ll be here before we know it!

A Few of My Favorite Things – Sunshine and Moo Cows

It was the rare Saturday in January where it did NOT rain.  Not only that, the weather gods smiled upon us and the temperatures are topping out in the 60s today.  It was truly a beautiful day for riding!

Photo fail but I liked it anyway

I was forced to peel down the arm-warmers relatively early, as the boys put up a brisk pace for the warmup (they were all freezing)

We headed into the south valley, where all the pretty ranches and farms are

I could not pass up an opportunity to moo at the cows

The guys went on to hammer the climb while I spun along.  Before too long I’d caught up with them again!

Headwind and all, it was still a glorious day to be out on the quiet roads!

It was also nice to finish up the ride feeling wonderful, while all my fast-guy riding buddies complained of dead legs and tight backs.  *giggle*  Consistent training – or doing any training in the past few months – does make a difference!

Consistency

This title clearly does not apply to my blogging lately!  I don’t know how another week flew by without comment, so I have to play catch-up again. 

My training, however, has been very consistent!  I’m 3 days from wrapping up a big training block and looking forward to my rest week.  I’ve really been tested with some tough workouts but I’m happy to say that I gave them my all and have been fairly successful.  I’m even pushing myself to average more yards at masters.  So far, all my focus on nutrition and sleep and recovery practices is paying off and I’ve felt great.  A wee bit sore but that’s because I finally conquered the pike pushup on the ball!  Oh I have been trying to do this for weeks…

The beardies and I went to an agility trial in Southern CA over the weekend.  Max picked up his 20th QQ for his MACH2; now he just needs 400ish points.  Given our (lack of) trialing schedule this year with me racing, that will take a while.  We also got to hang out with Max’s little brother Stix and his owner!

Saturday night in the hotel room, yin and yang tired dogs

While the boys were getting their snooze on, I was doing my 2 hour brick in the very same hotel room! 

I’m embarrassed to admit it, but my bike trainer workouts this year have been done while watching Keeping Up with the Kardashians.  *hides in shame*  I’ve just finished Season 2 so I have a while still to go but…knowing all the big workouts I have ahead this year, what trash TV shows should I look to next (that are available for live streaming on Netflix) to ensure maximum performance on the bike?

In other good news, Jeff came home from Arizona after 5+ weeks away!  Max was so happy to see him that he sat on him and would have spent 2 hours cleaning his ears in joy.

And so, the training goes on and I don’t have much else to report!  I’m looking forward to biking OUTSIDE in 67 degree sunshine this weekend.  For once this winter the rain is holding off on the weekend so I will get out there and enjoy it!  I’m entered in an agility trial about 90 minutes away but we’ve done a lot of travel lately (like, oh, a month straight), so I’m going to stay home and just train and relax and try to remember what normal people do with all those wide open weekend hours.

I hope you guys are all enjoying the Recovery e21 samples – you wiped me out!  I will post again when I have more to share. 

Catching Up

• I’ve been cracking up reading everyone’s New Year blog posts and it seems like the vast majority start with “I don’t really do new years resolutions.”  Well, me either.  This must be something inherent about us as triathletes.  We spend all year trying to improve ourselves and by the time New Years has come around, we’ve already got goals that we are dedicated to for the next year!
• On our last full day in Arizona (December 30th), it snowed (click photo to enlarge).  OK, so it didn’t stick and it only snowed for 5 minutes, but it’s something.  It was very cold (by Arizona standards) our last couple days there.  That meant my last ride and run were CHILLY, especially since you don’t tend to pack the needed cold weather workout gear when you go to the desert.  Layers.  I was a big fan of layers.

• At 3am on the 31st, the beardies and I hit the road for home.  We got back to San Jose a little after noon, unloaded the car, saw my parents for a quick New Years dinner, and slept like bricks.  Except when the assholes tried to blow the neighborhood up around midnight, of course – then I had one dog shaking on my feet and one sitting on my head for an hour.
• I went to one of the free New Years yoga classes at our studio.  I got high in class off my yoga mat. Seriously.  Jeff bought me a new yoga mat for Christmas and I bought a new mat towel to go with it.  I used them fresh out of the packaging so they hadn’t exactly aired out yet and WOOEEEE there were some good chemical fumes in my face for that hour and a half.
• I got a full weekend of rain at home to get used to normal Northern California winter again.  As long as they still get to run on the field on the dark mornings, the dogs don’t care.

• Of course now it’s sunny with all sun on the forecast horizon.  Still cold though…35 as I dashed across the pool deck to dive in at masters this morning!
• Training has been going well!  The volume is getting up there again and I’m getting some tough workouts, but my body is handling it nicely.  Speaking of which…
• I got an awesome care package from Recovery e21 and I now have samples available for those who were interested.  I’ve already mailed some out to those I remembered wanting some but if I missed you just send me a message!