Bowl of Berries

That’s what we have been  doing this weekend, bumming at the beach. The dogs love the beach and will therefore sleep for days afterwards yey!

I have much to write about but not much time, stay tuned for June’s training schedule, a new eating plan and oh yeah…a bit of a bike accident this weekend- everyone is ok though!

You were just a wee one when we got you 2 years ago.

Now you tower above Bella and smoosh her face against the couch.  So nice of you.

To celebrate, we are going to your favorite place in the world.  No, not the dog park.  The beach!

Have a safe and Happy Memorial Day.  And don’t forget why we have the day off

I forgot how much I liked this recipe.  Actually it’s  tad different as I added tomatoes, reduced the pasta and added some leftover shrimp so I am calling it a new recipe.  I was going to make this a hot pasta dish but it was over 90 degrees today and I just didn’t want anything hot tonight.  Scottie didn’t seem thrilled about it initially but I happened to see him down quite a few spoonfuls in the kitchen.  There is just enough left to take in the car for our drive to the beach tomorrow!

Shrimp and Tomato Pasta

1/2 pound pasta, I used medium shells
1 pint of tomatoes, cut in half
8 basil leaves, cut into chiffonade
1 lemon, juiced
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 teaspoons salt
1 lb. cooked shrimp, cut in half

Fill a large pot 3/4 of the way with water and place over high heat. Add plenty of salt and bring to a boil. Add the pasta and cook 8 to 10 minutes, until al dente. Drain the pasta and rinse under cold water to cool down.

Put the pasta in a large serving bowl and add the tomatoes, shrimp, basil, lemon juice, olive oil and salt. Toss well and garnish with fresh basil leaves.

I LOVE Mediterranean food.  I could most certainly eat it everyday.  My cravings are easily satisfied now that I work within a 5 mile radius of 2 Mediterranean restaurants. I swear this office keeps at least one of them in business :)  I have often wondered how the two compare when it comes to the vegetarian platter so I decided to do a highly un-scientific comparison of the two and report on my findings.

I got comparable platters from each establishment, noting the differences below. Sorry in advance for the Blackberry pictures

Greek Fiesta
Mixed Veggie Platter- $6.99
Hummus, Tabouli, 3 grape leaves, tzatziki (which they call cucumber sauce) and 2 full pieces of grilled pita

Pros:
-Right across the street from my office
-2 FULL pieces of soft, warm pita
-Creamy and delicious hummus
-3 large stuffed grape leaves

Cons:
-No olives?  I could probably ask for some though
-Tabouli portion isn’t huge and the flavor is lacking some acidity
-No baba ghanouj on the menu

Neomonde
Neomonde Platter- $7.99
Hummus, tabouli, 2 grape leaves, baba ghanouj, 1/2 pita, kalamata olives, labneh (A tart, concentrated yogurt with extra virgin olive oil and a touch of salt)

*Note I was actually  half way through the tabouli before I realized I   needed to take a picture!

Pros:
-Lemony, smooth hummus (but then again I like a lemony hummus)
-AMAZING tabouli, nice and chunky with lots of lemon/vinegar plus they give you a ton of it!
-Distinctly homemade grape leaves, they are a bit small but they serve them slightly warm
-Love the olives and small container of labnah (which is great smeared on a pita and topped with tabouli)
-Can easily make 2 meals from it

Cons:
-2 measly slices of pita, equating to only half a pita, while it is made in house you only get HALF a piece!?
-A slightly longer drive
-$1 more but honestly the portions warrant the extra $1

I really like both of these places for different reasons.  Greek Fiesta has numerous locations and their convenient, across the street location makes it a go to place for office lunches.  The people are nice and the food is fast. They “Americanize” things a bit calling tzatziki “cucumber sauce” and things like that but the flavors are there for the most part.  I always thought this place was way cheap but when I compared prices it’s not much cheaper then Neomonde but still very reasonable.  I typically get the Fiesta Veggie platter which includes everything on the Mixed Veggie platter except tzatziki, oh wait “cucumber sauce,” but I wanted to try to equal things out as best as possible.  The Fiesta Veggie platter is $6.49.

Neomonde is just plain awesome, worth the extra 7 minute drive to get there and the typical line to place your order.  I usually buy some day old pita bread for $2 to supplement the lack of pita included in the meal (have I mentioned how annoying this is?!) and I will make pita chips with the rest of the day old bread.  Another con is that Scottie isn’t a huge fan of Neomonde, maybe because he can get fries with his chicken wrap from Greek Fiesta but not at Neomonde?  Regardless, if he is buying I will go where he wants.

Overall, I think Neomonde is actually the better deal and therefore my #1 go to Mediterranean vegetarian platter option. Even though I usually spend $10 there for both the platter and the day old pita, I can easily make 2 lunches out of it and later make a big bag of homemade pita chips. I also think the quality is just a touch better, the tabouli made me like parsley and the baba ghanouj opened up my world to eggplant. Greek Fiesta is still a fast and convenient option though and Scottie can get something there as well.  Go to each for yourself and let me know your thoughts!

I finally got a tri bike!  After White Lake and the uncomfortable bike leg I decided I needed to start looking for a bike of my own that fit me.  I actually have been riding hand me down bikes, the Cannondale being Scottie’s brother’s bike that we threw some aero bars on.  I always felt the bike was a bit big for me and having never had a bike fitting, I didn’t think it was positioned correctly for me.

So I started scouring eBay, Craiglist and tri forums looking for a used bike.  It was sorta bad timing as many bike shops have sales at the end of the year and that’s when most people upgrade.  After contacting a couple people and not being happy with the prices they wanted, Scottie mentioned a bike that he had looked to buy but the guy didn’t want to budge much on the price.  It had been a few months since that negotiation so I thought I would try and contact him.  After telling him about my race and my desire to have a bike of my own I offered him a slightly lower price and he accepted!

We was racing that weekend so it was a few days before he got it packed up and shipped but I finally got it last Friday.  She is in pristine condition!  I immediately knew I needed pink bar tape and I picked some up on Saturday.  Yep I am making this bike as girlie as possible, including a new pink race outfit for me.   I am sure Scottie is rolling his eyes right now!

Sunday after racing a half marathon, Scottie and I drove to the Durham side of the ATT to take her for a spin.  The difference in a road bike and a tri bike are obvious from the start.  The bike is much lighter and therefore it’s a bit “twitchy” I had to adjust my weight when I had to scratch my nose.  I also have to learn to balance a bit when I am not in aero but need to change gears since the shifters are on the aero bars.  But it only took a couple of miles for me to get in my groove and feel comfortable.

Now all I want to do is ride!  I want to get as much riding in this summer as I can so I can kill it on the Augusta course.  The course will be hilly (nothing terrible) but I would love to shave time from my White Lake time.

This is a picture Scottie took of his medal, mine looks the same :)

We got up at 2:15am this after I finally asleep at midnight.  IWe went to bed around 10 I think but I just couldn’t calm down and get to sleep, then my stomach started rumbling so I said to myself, screw it, I’m getting up.  I went downstairs and had some cereal, played on the computer then went into the guest room to watch an hour of Food TV. Finally I relaxed enough to fall asleep.  Luckily Scottie packed up my car with the bikes and our bags so we just had to let the dogs out, pack up our food and go.  We still took about 30 minutes to get out the door which was about 3am.

Scottie let me sleep since he knew I didn’t get any rest.he made record time, probably due to it being 3am or because I was asleep :)  When we got there the gates weren’t even open! It was 4:40am and the police had to move their cars so we could park. But we got a prime spot! I sat in the car and ate my PBJ and drank my iced coffee then visited the porta potty before we unloaded and set up transition. Since we were so friggin early we really took our time and walked around, chatted with people, checked out the lake (beautiful!) before grabbing our stuff to head back to the lake for the start.

Me, Scottie, Janelle, Jon and Carol before the swim

Scottie’s wave was just two before mine, so I got in the water to get acclimated which I thought would help reduce my anxiety that I occurred before the Pinehurst tri. The waves were like 5 minutes apart, which worked so there weren’t so many people in at once.  I was strangely calm before my wave.  I was more excited then anything which is really weird because I was getting nervous just looking at the race details on Wednesday!

I felt great at the start of the swim, I had no nerves and I was feeling great, then all of a sudden I start hyperventilated like at Pinehurst, wtf! After about 5 minutes of trying to calm my breath I try to close my eyes when my face is in the water (I do this when I practice because I do NOT want to see what’s in the water at Jordan lake) and sure enough I am able to control my breathing. Maybe seeing underwater was throwing me off? Who knows but I need to work on this! The rest of the swim was cake. My arms did get a bit tired but nothing I couldn’t push through.  The sight bouys were so out of line, so I started using the kayaks as guides because the turn bouys were so far away.  I didn’t get hit in the head which is always nice, just touches a couple time on the feet by people coming up on me.  I think had I not freaked at the beginning I would have shaved a good 5 minutes off my time.

Once I climbed out of the water I was super happy!  What am I saying, I am always super happy finishing the swim! I started getting the top of my wetsuit off but the sleeves would not come off my wrists, then I saw the photographer and I didn’t want a stupid picture with my arm stuck in the suit so I quickly whipped it off at the last minute and smiled for the camera. I ran to transition and rinsed of my feet, the grass would have driven me nuts the whole race!  I threw on my helmet, sunglasses and bikes shoes and I was off!

I finally feel like I am getting better on the bike. I need to keep up whatever I am doing because I felt awesome today!  This bike course is super flat which means it can alsot be super windy!  I am so thankful we biked the course beforehand so I knew what to expect and I can see how that really helped my performance.  I stayed happy and positive through the ride, even smiling big for the camera (I can’t wait to see the pictures, I know I was hamming it up during this race!)  It was windy but I didn’t let it get to me, I just kept pedaling, trying to keep my speed between 16.5 and 18 mph.  It was slightly overcast for the first 2/3 of the bike which really helped out, and by the time the sun was out I knew I was almost done so I didn’t let it get to me.  One thing that kinda sucked during the bike is that I could not get comfortable on the seat.  The girlie bits were not happy so I think I either need another seat or a professional bike fit (or maybe a tri bike!) I don’t know if it had to do with the fact that I was in aero for 90% of the ride and I am used to climbing hills so I sit upright more? I will say my energy level stayed way up.  This may have to do with my perpetuem cocktail; orange vanilla perp, 2 orange hammer gels and 10 servings of endurolyte, every 5 miles I took 2 sips and chased with water.  This lasted until around mile 45 when I ran out of the mix, so then I just ate some PB pretzels and continued with the water. Worked perfect!

I made the last turn with just 3 or so miles to go and I was pumped!  I made sure to stop completly to dismount.  then a took a second to get my legs under me, then I was off to transition where I dumped everything, threw my race belt and visor on and sprinted out.

I always say that once I get to the run I am golden, well today was a bit different.  The sun was out in full force, it was around 11:30am and the heat was upon us, it must have been well over 90 degrees and I was soon going to find out this run route had zero shade!  Talk about oppressive!

My quads felt tight for the first couple miles but loosened up. Thank goodness for the port potties at each mile or I would have died. Pee break at the first mile and then I had some GI issues that I think were just heat related so I visited a couple more times. After mile 5 I felt better, I still felt like I was shuffling but at least I didn’t feel the need to stop. I took water and a cold towel at each stop. About midway through I broke into my Fig Newtons I stashed in my top, I pretty much ran with it open for 2 miles just taking bites off as I could. I could not fathom the idea of having a gel with that heat, plus every time I thought to grab one I only saw banana and chocolate flavors..gag! The newtons saved me again!  Around mile 5.5 I saw Scottie, he was run/walking and I knew something was wrong,  I prayed it wasn’t his knees.  I stopped next to him and asked if he was ok.  He said he had a cramp in his back and he wasn’t able to take full breaths so he couldn’t run or he felt like he was going to pass out.  Not good!  He said he was going to quit at the 6.5 turn around point but I said there was no way he was going to quit!  I told him to continue with the walk/run and do what he could, then I took off.  When I passed him again I said I Loved Him and hoped that he wasn’t in too much pain.

The last two miles of the run were the toughest for me, I was mentally breaking down even though I only had at most 20 minutes left of this race. I had to muster every bit of energy and willpower to not walk during those last 2 miles. At the last aid station I looked for any food item that would give me some sort of energy and went with pretzels of all things, which totally did not work because I already had cotton mouth-duh! Finally, the light at the end of the tunnel, someone said I had only 2 blocks left! Somehow I was able to get myself together and make a decent effort at a finish. I saw our friends Janelle and Jon and then I saw the finish…oh sweet, glorious finish line! I had a huge smile on my face…no jazz hands because I didn’t even see the photographer, but have no fear I did break them out during one of the (early) run photos.

When I stopped for a volunteer to get my chip I felt a little woozy, I have been going for over 6 hours! I got my medal and then went off to find food! I grabbed a bottle of water and a bag of cookies because I knew I was going to feel very sick otherwise.The drinks were in big pools of ice and it took all of my willpower to NOT sit in those pools and soak my poor legs! Instead, I walked back to see Janelle and Jon, we chatted a bit then I went to transition to change shoes and use the porta potty again. I started feeling off so I walked back to the food area, grabbed another bottle of water and some Doritos, maybe I needed salt not sugar? I inhaled the chips and sat in the shade for the bit, I had a good spot so I could see people coming in and I was hoping Scottie wasn’t far behind. I thought about jumping in the lake (something I was dreaming about on the run) but I was getting cold, probably due to dehydrated and the sunburn on my back I later discovered. Sitting here typing, I wish I would have stretched more because I am already really tight!  I saw Scottie come into the chute so I jumped up and greeted him.  He looked so hot and tired but I was so glad he finished!

We walked around a bit, grabbed him a water then met up with Janelle and Jon.  we had planned to go out to eat afterwards but they were waiting for a friend to finish so we packed up out transition areas and loaded the car.  By then I was so sick of being in the sun it was literally making me feel sick.  I changed out of my wet clothes (I was dumping water over my head during the run which lead to everything including my shoes getting soaked) and we sat and chatted with our friends a bit.  After some logistical planning we were finally off for the mexican we had planned on.  To tell you the truth I am glad we waited a bit to eat because the last thing I wanted when I finished racing was mexican food but 2 hours later I was ready for some beans and cheese!

Happy to be done!

It was really nice to decompress with friends that “get” what we do.  Janelle and Jon are training for a full Ironman in Idaho, they are veterans though having done full Ironman races before so it was nice to pick their brain about this race and others they have done.

As crappy as I felt after the race and as sore as I am today I am still thinking about a full Ironman!  I know my Mom does not want to read that but I am amazed at what I can do and I want to experience the full thing!  But that won’t be for another year, I have a few more races including another half Ironman in Augusta and maybe a Boston Qualifying marathon in November!