Bowl of Berries

I did it! I really can’t believe I can check another thing off of my list!  This was not something I thought I would ever do.  Being such a terrible swimmer and not being super comfortable on the bike, I really proved to myself that I can do whatever I work hard to do.

The morning started VERY early, just before 5am actually.  I did not want to be rushed for the race and I knew parking would be limited so I urged Scottie to just get up and out in the morning.  We prepped our bags, drinks and bikes the night before which helped the morning go much smoother.  Once the dogs were taken out and fed, PBJs were made as well as the ever important coffee we were off in the darkness of the morning.

It was a 25 minutes ride to Wake Forest and once we got closer we could see many more SUVs and trucks with bikes.  We immediately parked on the side of the road and got our bags and bikes. We were familiar with the transition area as it was being set up the night before during the race meeting.  Scottie and I were 10 numbers apart and were stationed to the same rack so we took our time squeezing our bikes in and setting things up.  I started on my PBJ breakfast and we went to get “marked.” With massive industrial strength markers we were markedwith our numbers and our age. I became strangely obsessed with looking at people’s ages, I only hope to look as good as some of those ladies look when I am older!  We got our timing chips and strapped them to our ankles. The start of the tri was much more relaxed then any running race I had been in. Many people were chatting and getting to know each other. We met up with a guy from a tri board we frequent and it was nice to talk to someone who had raced a couple times.

A little before7am, we made our way into the pool area.  Each swimmer was assigned a time based on the 100m time that each racer submitted at registration.   I was set to go off at 7:33, Scottie would be about a minute and a half behind me. The wait was horrible, it was nice to see people complete their swims but I started to really freak about swimming and being able to complete it. I got in the water and waited my turn. There would be a minute wait before I went to ease up some of the bottlenecks, so I would be leading that pack.  Luckily, we only had to swim each lane once so there would be plenty of room for others to pass me.  I anticipated being passed and I was ok with that.  When I was told to goI pushed off the wall and immediately could not find my rythym.  Great. Thiswas going to be a long swim.  But I swam right by Scottie and suddenly my breathing became regular and I got my rythym.  I didn’t think about anything else but staying relaxed and keeping my breathes regular. I ended up getting passed by about 4 or 5 people, I was tapped a couple timesbut one person jammed their fingers with my toes, they probably hurt more then I did.  Then I was upon the last lane, I was so excited I made it!  I hoised myself up and out of the pool and almost cheered when I started running towards the transition.

I made sure to relax during the transition so as to not forget anything. I rolled up my socks, threw on my shoes, helmet and sunglasses and I was off.  Actually mounting the bike was less then graceful but I made it on.  There was almost an immediate uphill and the roads through the neighborhood were littered with road humps which were a pain in the rear, literally, but  once we got out of the neighborhood and onto the country roads I was able to keep my speed.  I was so proud of my bike, I kept up great speed and was able to power up most of the hills without issues.  I couldn’t believe when I was at the turn around at mile 6, I gingerly turned around so as to not eat it in front of everyone.  The next 6 miles flew by and before I knew it I was back at the transition area. I had another less then gracefu ldismount and almost lost the bike up a curb but I literally threw it on the bike rack and fiddled with my helmet for an embarrassing amount of time. Threw on my ECU visor and put on some chapstick and I was off.

The legs were a bit heavy but I tried to not think about it as I had heard this was a hilly run and I needed to focus on that. I was shuffling along and the heaviness worked out of my legs and I actually started feeling pretty good.  The course was hilly but nothing I couldn’t handle. There were lots of people walking and I was thankful for my running endurance at this point.  One thing I loved about the race was all of the encouragement from the community and other racers.  I got lots of “good jobs” and “keep it ups” from random strangers, it was really awesome.  Before I knew it I was climbing the last hill to the finish line. I can’t say I had my usual kick at the end but I did finish strong and with a smile on my face. I grabbed a cold water and found Scottie who finished about10 minutes ahead of me.  We chatted with a few racers, found our final times and grabbed a few snacks. Since neither of us were winning any awards we decided to head out for some more coffee.

I think we now know, for the most part, what to expect in two weeks.  The swim will be quite different, 3 times as long and in open water, but since we road the bike route already that won’t be a surprise and the run is usually just a matter of survival and keeping your head in the game.  I do know that I am addicted to this!  I loved this new type of racing and I do see myself doing many more of these, especially when their aren’t as many running races during the summer.

I had planned to make Black Bean Burritos for dinner last night but Scottie said he was sick of Mexican food.  How dare he! Nothing beats the carbs, spice, and cheesiness of Mexican food.  So I threw the ball in his court and he said he would make crab cakes since we had a can in the fridge.  I didn’t complain.  I LOVE his crabcakes, and I love that I don’t know how to make them well so when he wants them he has to make them himself..heehee.  I decided to make a pasta/veggie all in one dish to accompany the patties of crab goodness.

I found a recipe for Roasted Vegetable Orzo on All recipes and took the main ideas and made it my own based on what we already had.  I have not been to the grocery store all week which makes me so happy!  Just a Papa Spud’s delivery on Wednesday for some produce.  I am going to try and shop only every two weeks, we will see how that works!

This dish is so yummy!  The ingredients are super simple and it is rather light so you don’t have to feel guilty about eating it!  I would rather have used a whole wheat pasta/orzo but we still have some white pasta that I am trying to use up.  Again, add whatever veggies you have, I would love to add mushrooms as I think the nuttiness of the whole wheat pasta and the earthiness of the mushrooms work so well together.

And the leftover pasta will be mixed with some salmon salad for lunch today!

Roasted Vegetable Orzo

1 zucchini, chopped
1 yellow squash, chopped
1/2 lb. green beans
salt and pepper
pinch of sugar
1 cup peas
4 cloves garlic, sliced
1 cup orzo
1/4 cup white wine
2 cups water
2 chicken bouillon cubes
zest of one lemon
grated parmesan cheese

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.  In a baking dish combine zucchini, yellow squash, green beans, and garlic, drizzle with EVOO or spray with PAM.  Season with S&P and pinch of sugar. Allow to roast for 20-25 minutes, until the veggies begin to brown.

2.  In a medium saucepan, combine water, wine and boullion and bring to a boil.  Add orzo and allow to cook for 8-10 minutes until soft.  Add more water if it begins to dry out.  Once orzo is soft and creamy, add roasted veggies, peas, lemon zest and cheese to taste.  Adjust S&P to your liking. Serve warm.

I am not going to lie, I have been way stressed about about this whole swimming in a race thing.  I started to get even more nervous yesterday when I realized I am 3 days away from my first triathlon.  I don’t think you understand how horrible I am at swimming.  Granted it is only a 250 meter pool swim but I started to think about swimming too slow and holding people up or running into people as I was swimming, or worse, totally gassing and having to backstroke the entire race.  So that combined with a really busy and draining day at work lead to me being in a not so pleasant mood last night.

I decided to do a short run and busted out 3 miles in the heat and humidity, that helped a bit.  But I knew I needed to get in the water.  Scottie said I needed to swim in front of people as it is totally different from swimming alone at 6am.  Our community pool is always swarming with people after work, especially now that school is out.  So I delayed the swim until after I prepped most of dinner.  Finally at 8:30 I thought it would be safe and there would not be many people in the pool.  We pulled into the parking lot and there were a TON of cars.  I started to get nervous.  Then once we walked to the pool I noticed that hardly anyone was actually in the pool, some were playing tennis, some were watching kids at the kiddie pool and some were in the gym.  So I swallowed my pride and pushed away my anxiety and jumped in.

The goal was to swim 500 meters without any rest.  That would be 10×50 m, which sounds so much better then 20×25 m.  The water was insanely warm but I think that helped calm me as well, that and there was a couple breaststroking in the lanes next to us.  So in I went and started off very slowly.  I had struggled with breathing during my swim session on Tuesday so I was concentrating on rotating completely to one side as I inhaled.  I also took insanely long strokes which felt like I was crawling through the water but I was using my legs less and found myself less tired. Before I knew it 500 meters was done, so I told Scottie I was going to keep going.  In my head I was calculating how many more laps I needed to complete to reach 750 m, the total length of our big race in July.  5 more sets.  I could totally do this!  I felt great and kept telling myself to “just keep swimming, just keep swimming.” Scottie wanted me to pick up the pace but I was just concerned with finishing this distance.  Sure enough I was able to complete 750 in about 18 minutes!  It felt awesome!  I wasn’t tired or out of breath and I probably could have continued but I was super happy with what I had just accomplished.  Suddenly all of the anxiety of swimming was gone.  I KNEW I could complete both of these races and be just fine, I won’t win any awards but finishing would be enough for me!

So I was beaming from ear to ear all night.  I had planned on this awesome salmon dinner but it is too blasted hot for anything heavy so I made a simple salmon salad (think tuna salad) spread on some fresh multigrain bread and a juicy tomato, roasted some green beans and a sliced peach.  MMMM  I LOVE summer dinners like this.

For those that don’t know, a Brick is a workout in which you transition between 2 or 3 of the traditional tri sports.  It is called a brick because you feel like a brick when starting a new exercise.  Scottie did a brick on Saturday morning while I decided to be smart and run 8 miles in 95 degree heat, yeah not my brightest idea but I did survive it!  So Sunday morning it was much cooler outside, thank goodness.  The water wasn’t quite like bath water :)  We decided on a 300 m.  swim (the race next week has a 250 m pool swim) and a 6 mile bike ride, then I decided I would take on a 15 minute run just to know what my legs would feel like.

The swim was actually not that bad!  I finally broke down and bought a Timex Ironman watch which has a handy lap counter so I didn’t have to worry about losing count of my laps, plus I was able to time laps, which proved to be interesting.   I wasn’t nearly as tired as I thought I would be and I was really able to relax and focus on my stroke.  After our 300, we hopped out and we practiced drying off, peeling off swim caps and putting on shoes.  I actually think I did ok with this as Scottie told me he read about rolling your socks, from the ankle to the toe,  therefore you just stick your toes in and roll them up.  Worked perfectly!  My sports bra soaked in quite a bit of water but I tried not to focus on the fact that I was dripping from all areas.  We then practiced running with our bikes out of the parking lot and hopped on the bikes for the ride.

We did a fairly easy bike ride, it was a tad hilly but I didn’t mind too much.  I am becoming much more comfortable changing gears and drinking from the water bottle while riding, I know these may seem minor but this is HUGE for me!  We finished the ride with one monster hill at the end, then slowly made it back to the car.  Scottie decided not to run so I left him with my bike and trotted around the neighborhood.  My legs certainly felt like bricks!  I felt like I was shuffling long.  The sun was starting to get hotter and I was wishing I had taken a gel on the bike ride.  I took as many downhill turns as I could but that caught up to me when I turned around and now had to go uphill.  Luckily, Scottie drove by with some water which I happily gulped away though it was nice and warm.  The second half of the run was much easier then the first half as my legs started to loosen up.  I will need to remember to re-fuel on the bike, especially for the race in July, because I think I was tapped out of energy more then incapable of running.

It was nice to get an hour workout out of the way before 10am.  I showered, threw on some comfy clothes and lounged for about 4 hours.  It was GLORIOUS!  We  made his and her breakfast around 11:30 (I have scrambled eggs with broccoli and feta over pita and Scottie has scrambled eggs with hot dogs) and then proceeded to watch Keeping up with the Kardashians until it was time to head to Sanford.  Overall a fantastic first half of the day which I would love to do more often!

How cute is he!

I think I can consider this meatloaf a success!  At the last minute I posted a request for meatloaf recipes on one of the forums I frequent and the first response was the recipe I used.  It sounded so good!  I tweaked it just a bit but for the most part I followed it as is.  It was super easy to throw together then bake while I went on a short run.  When I came back I whipped up a small portion of mashed potatoes for Scottie, and I put some green beans in the oven to roast.

Let me tell you, roasting green beans is the way to go!  I have never been a fan of water logged veggies (who is!?) which I probably why green beans were never my favorite.  However I had them from the Papa Spud’s delivery and did not want them to go to waste.  I simply washed them, Scottie snapped off the ends, then I tossed them in a baking dish, sprayed them in PAM then tossed with salt and pepper.  They roasted for about 10 minutes at 350 degrees (the meatloaf temp) and then increased it to 425 degrees for another 10 minutes or so until they looked a tad crispy.  The beans hold their shape, their flavor intensifies and they are overall FANTASTIC!  I will be roasted green beans from now on.

I baked the meatloaf on a sheet pan covered in foil but you could bake it in the traditional loaf pan.  The thought of all of that grease re-absorbing back into the loaf kinda grosses me out.  Though I know for some the thought of meatloaf grosses them out to begin with.  Eh, I only had one slice, a ton of green beans and a dollop of mashers (too full for my baked sweet potato) and I was completely satisfied.

Steakhouse Meatloaf

1 lb ground beef
1 T olive oil
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 yellow onion, chopped
about 3 T of steak sauce
1/2 Cups Bread crumbs (plain)
2 T Worcestershire sauce
1 egg, beaten slightly
1/2 T Basil
1/2 T Oregano
1/2 T black pepper
1-2 tsp salt
1/2 T Steak seasoning
pinch cayenne pepper
1 tsp Chili powder
1 tsp Cumin
1 tsp. Horseradish
Ketchup

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a sauce pan, heat olive oil (or PAM.) Add garlic and onion and cook on medium heat until the onions become soft and slightly caramelized.

Meanwhile, in a large bowl, combine ground beef, steak sauce, breadcrumbs, egg, Worcestshire, and all the seasonings. Mix together. Then add the cooked onion mixture to the bowl and incorporate it all together.

Spread into a greased loaf pan or form into a loaf on a foil lined baking sheet. Dot the Horseradish over the top, and spread out.

Drizzle the ketchup over the top.

Bake for 50-55 minutes.  Let rest for about 5-7 minutes.

I came downstairs this morning to this!  One of my favorite breakfasts…2 eggs over easy/medium over whole wheat toast, fruit, coffee, and the morning paper!  I love the little surprises of life :)  I also love the fact that Scottie and I have time in the morning to sit and have breakfast together just about every morning.  With all of the craziness of training and work and social events I feel like that is really “our” time to talk and start the day off right.

We got up a bit earlier this morning as we were increasing our swim distance, we did 400 meters consistently (or so we think, we kinda lost count of our laps!)  We then did a few 100’s then a bunch of 50’s and finished with 4- 25’s.  I felt so good this morning, not as tired as I have been after other swims.  I have been tweaking my stroke and breathing and I think I have found a good groove.

In other news we signed up for another tri, this one is in two weeks!  The swim and bike distance are much shorter then the “big” tri in July so we are going to use this one as our “training” race.  It is a pool swim as opposed to the open water swim of the one in July and it should mimic the one we watched a couple weeks ago.  I am so excited and I feel like it will really ease my nerves when the big race comes in 25 days!

Also, I am taking Scottie to Boston for his birthday weekend!  He is a HUGE fan of Boston and of the Red Sox (which pains me as a Yankees fan) so I saw they were playing that weekend and I bought tickets, found a great hotel (at a great price!) and just booked the plane tickets today!  I wanted to wait until the tickets were delivered on Monday but I ended up telling him last Thursday at dinner…I couldn’t contain it any longer I was too excited!  So now I will begin researching things to see and places to eat, we will be doing a nice seafood dinner on Saturday night and then the game on Sunday afternoon (his actual birthday.)  It’s wont be quite as research intensive as the CA trip since Scottie spent many years in the Boston area growing up, but I am still looking forward to coming up with our itinerary

Meatloaf is on the menu for tonight, and not the healthy kind I have been making so it shall be interesting!

I know what you are thinking,soup in June…it’s melting hot outside and you are making soup. Yes I made soup, but only because I am on produce overload and needed to find a way to incorporate a ton of zucchini, cabbage, and peppers into a dish without killing myself from the fiber or chewing forever.  So I did some perusing on the internet and found a recipe for a roasted vegetable soup that was taken after the Weight Watchers popular “Zero Point” soup.  Though I don’t need help losing weight right now (thankfully) the recipe incorporated a lot of the veggies I had on hand and because it made so much I figured it would be perfect to freeze for future lunches.  While I was at the farmer’s market I picked up some items I was missing and thought the name Farmer’sMarket soup was fitting since you can walk up and down the aisle and customze this soup to whatever is in season.

I chose to roast up 2 zucchini, 1 yellow squash, a green pepper, 2 carrots, 4 cloves of garlic, 1 head of cabbage, and about 8 ounces of muchrooms. You could also add a onion, some jalenpenos for heat, even an eggplant. Though I am not liking eggplant at the moment,we have a love hate relationship.  Once everything is chopped, spray with Pam or some EVOO, sprinkle with S&P and put in a 425 oven for about 20 minutes or so.  Once things start to char a bit, throw everything into a dutch oven or soup pot and add a quart of chicken stock, a quart of water and a can of tomatoes (I actually used a jar of homemade salsa my Grandma gave me, love cleaning out the pantry!)  Once brought up to a boil, I reduced the heat and let it simmer for about a half an hour.   I turned off the heat and added in a handful of fresh basil. Then I brought out the trusty boat motor and carefully blended everything until smooth.

I then started adding spices; more S&P, some cumin and a smokey red pepper blend I found while cleaning out the spice pantry (more on that to come!)  You can really customize this however you like, I went the smokey route but you could add more spice or keep it mellow.

I got this fantastic loaf of multigrain bread from the market as well ( from La Farm.)

So I sliced the loaf up, added a chunk of swiss cheese and a small glass of chardonnay and it was lunch!  Quite European. Plus Scottie was playing the guitar on the couch so I felt like I was in a cute Parisian cafe, ah one day I will really be there!

This morning Scottie and I ran in the Komen Race for the Cure 5k.  I was really excited about this race because not only is it the largest running race in NC but we had not run this distance race since February and I was eager to see what our times would be. Not to mention it is for a fantastic cause AND they have a TON of goodies after the race.

We always run the competitive race, which starts at 7am, just because it is a tad smaller (though not by much) then the other races and it helps us avoid getting stuck in the lines for buses.  Because the race is held at Meredith College in downtown Raleigh there is zero parking for 25k people so we park at the nearby RBC center and take buses over. Last year the lines were horrendous so I am always happy to get there early and get running. Plus, the NC summer is upon us and it is so hot and muggy even that early so it only gets hotter and more miserable as the day goes on.   We woke up way too early for a Saturday, got dressed and made our way. We were met with tons of traffic trying to get into the parking lot but it moved pretty swiftly and we were early so I wasn’t stressing. I should mention at this point that I thought the race was at 7:30, so I thought we had over an hour to get to the start line,glad I didn’t know the real time or I would have freaked out!!! We parked found a plethora of buses waiting and made out way to Meredith.  We walked straight to the start line and stretched out while waiting.

The start was pretty forgettable ( I remember last year there being a speech or something at the start) but after about a minute we made our way to the official start.  I always forget how many people are in this race and spent much of the first mile dodging people and moving my way up.  I was feeling great, which surprised me since we went to the Duck and Dumpling for dinner the night before with Scottie’s Dad.  I was a little worried I would be seeing the dumplings again this morning. But all was good with the digestive system so I kept on trucking. This course is moderatly hilly and I saw people left and right gassing, I felt bad because I have been there before. But I was stoked at how strong I felt. I thought back to the race last year and how I thought I was going to die. I made it through that race without stopping but it was by no means a great feeling.  I was consistent and smooth through this race. I bypassed the water stations as I was worried about cramping. And before I knew it I was on Hillsborough Street and sprinting to the end.

Scottie ended up finishing about 2 minutes ahead of me, I finished in 25:56.82, and shaved over 2 minutes off my time from February! Afterward we met up with Scottie’s Mom and walked around all of the festivities,picking up some yummy Skinny Cow ice cream, granola and Larabars. Like 8 of them.  I know we were only suppose to take 2 per person, but oh I love them so, especially the coconut cream pie flavor!

After filling up on samples we made our way to the car and to breakfast, The Flying Biscuit, the new post race eating place!  Overall, it was  a fantastic race and it is wonderful to see so many people out for such a great cause!

Scottie likes to remind me when I go a day without posting.  To tell you the truth, I am so tired that I just can’t come up with anything witty to say.  Not to say I am super witty to begin with.  I can’t wait until tomorrow because not only is it Friday but it is also a day off from any type of workout or training.  I can’t wait.  My body is tired, I feel like I literally drag into work and I have threatened to sleep in one of the vacant offices at work on more then one occasion.  I am not ashamed to bring in a sleeping bag for a 45 minutes lunch time power nap.  Needless to say, triathlon training is kicking my butt but as my co-worker John puts it, “No Pain No Gain.”  Thanks for the reminder buddy

I have been sticking to the menu pretty well this week.  I have been cooking up lots of veggies as I bought a boatload this weekend and then forgot to hold my Papa Spud’s delivery this week so we have lots of zucchini, yellow squash and a very large head of cabbage.  Scottie is thrilled.  And once I saw Polly’s fridge I was set out on a mission to clean out the packed fridge and pantry.  Scottie doesn’t think I can do it but I can at least thin it out a bit

So since nothing I have cooked has been particularly newsworthy I thought I would show you what Scottie made for dinner on Tuesday.  This pasta was SO GOOD!  Not at all healthy and you better believe since Scottie made it, it had extra cheese in it.  But I only had a small portion since it is a bit heavier then I am used to eating, but I savored every bite.  I loved the artichokes in this and definitely think the frozen ones were the key.  Thank goodness for Trader Joe’s!  This also make a ton of pasta so next time I think we should have people over for dinner to help eat it all!  The recipe was from one of her cookbooks but I found the recipe online here.  This recipe has asparagus in it, and I don’t think the original called for it but you could certainly add it, or some peas for some extra veg.

Lately the weekends have started with a workout of sorts on both Saturday and Sunday morning.  I am ok with this as I am not much of a night owl nor am I terribly interested in staying out late.  This Saturday we woke up waaaay too early (6:15) and biked 14 miles to a housing development to watch a triathlon.  We had considered racing this one but decided on one a little later in the summer.  So we took the opportunity to see how a tri is conducted.  This one had a shorter pool swim and a 12 mile bike portion that was 4 laps around the development.  We have an open water swim that is 3 times longer and a  17 mile bike ride that is one large loop, so they are a bit different but it was nice to see how the transitions are set up.  It also made me feel a bit better about my swimming ability as there were people doing the backstroke and pausing to catch their breathe so I felt a bit better as I may be one of those people! By the time we left I was wishing we had signed up for this one as it would have been a great intro to the sport, but I was even more eager to get to our race ( in just over a month no less!)

The bike there was uneventful as it was again, very early on a Saturday and no one in their right mind was up.  On the way back there was considerably more traffic which made me super axious as I am always worried I am going to be side swiped by a car.  But we made it unscathed home and even stopped for a coffee and a muffin at Great Harvest.  After the bike ride we stopped by the running store because I needed a black sports bra for the race.  I decided after viewing this tri that I want to minimize the clothing changing so I figured I would swim in my tri shorts and a sports bra but obviously I would prefer a black one.  I had a style in mind and ofcourse there didn’t have the one I was looking for.  So I went to the clearance section and low and behold there was ONE black sports bra left!  I checked the size and it seemed it would fit but I tried it on to be sure and I swear the angels from heaven were singing because it fit and was 40% off!  SAWEET!  I also got another pair of my favorite Nike running shorts in hot pink, also 40% off.  I was practically skipping out of the store I was so happy.  I really need to stop buying athletic stuff, I am enjoying it more then regular clothes shopping!

We went to a BBQ Saturday night but between getting up very early and planning a long run the next morning we were home by 9:30. Still had a great time but just don’t have the energy for late nights anymore.

Sunday morning we slept in till 8am- woohoo! Rebels I tell ya.  I intended for a 9 mile run and Scottie suggested we run downtown for a change in scenery.  We kinda created our own route and ended up doing 8.5 miles, which I was fine with.  The marathon is 5 months away so we have a bit of time but I wanted to still keep the distance up so that we can take our time and hopefully avoid injury.  It was overcast, which I prefer to run in as it keeps the blazing sun off my skin (thought I remembered sunblock just in case!) I felt pretty good through the whole run.  I also found my new favorite yummy gummies, they are called Honey Stingers Chews and they are organic and they taste fab!  They don’t stick to your teeth like the ShotBloks and were a pleasure to eat.  They are also the “gel” of the month at REI so they are 79 cents, normally $1.85!  So I bought 6 more packs while at lunch and may buy more tomorrow!

Overall a fantastic weekend.  And thought I was still exhausted from this wekeend, we rolled out of bed this morning at 6:15 to do a swim. I am following this plan and did the first week without problems so tomorrow I move onto week two!  I am excited about how comfortable I feel in the water- I would have never guessed after my first pool swim of the season!