Barley, Beets and Banana Peppers

Remember the whole "clean eating" resolution? Well, not really resolution, but either way... I have been sticking with it for the last two months. I feel great, I dropped some serious weight, my pants fit better again and my training is going well.

I implemented several changes in the last couple of months and will eventually write a whole big post about it to explain the how's and the why's. But today, I just wanna talk about the change, that I believe made the biggest impact:

Take my lunch to work.

Yesterday's creation:
Chicken, beets, artichokes, barley and
2 table spoons of Italian dressing

I know this is not great news. Every weightloss blog and podcast talks about it, every nutritionist recommends it, but I just didn't do it. I was too lazy. Heck, I lost 60lbs a couple of years ago and still when out for lunch every day during the week.

But for whatever reason, this time around, I wanted to have more control of what I am putting into my body... While calories in vs out is the determining factor if you are losing, gaining or maintaining weight, I wanted to start improving the quality of the calories that I am taking in.

Since I am not a great cook and mostly prepare my meals for the next day between getting home, walking the dog, unpacking my bags from that day's workout and repacking my bags for the next day of workouts, I developed "go-to" meals pretty fast. My two standards are some sort of salad creation (see above) and some sort of wrap creation.

In order to no get too bored about this, I switch the ingredients around every day. And when just switching stuff around wasn't quite enough, I added new (to me) foods that I have not used in the past, like barley, beets, banana peppers and artichokes... It would sound better, if they were called "bartichokes"... I know, not funny!

Actually, I started to cook a whole box of quinoa one night and just keep it in the fridge and then we just throw it into anything we can think of e.g. salads, scrambled eggs, cottage cheese. A couple of months ago I bought a box of barley, but haven't cooked it until earlier this week and I see barley being utilized by us the same way we use quinoa.

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In other news:

Since daylight savings started, Terry and I are taking the dog for a walk for at least 2 miles every night. So far, we got lucky with the weather and haven't gotten rained out yet. We only don't walk her, if I have an evening workout and it's already dark by the time I get home. Then Terry usually takes her for a shorter walk by himself.

It keeps the dog's energy level in check and she's not bouncing around the house like crazy.

Here are some pictures from a recent walk... Spring is here indeed:

Stalking the Weather Forecast

When the forecast is bad for a day with a ride after work, I am stalking the weather.com hourly forecast basically all day... refresh, refresh, refresh... you get the idea. Lucky me, today the forecast got better the closer it got to 5pm. It was still calling for some chilly temps, but at least the chance of rain went down continuously. SWEET!

Yes, that 47 degrees at the end of March in South Carolina. It's not unheard of, but it sure is unusual. On top of the temps, it was also pretty cloudy, so I tried out a little light combination to make myself visible to others, but also see better in the case, I don't make it make to the car on time.

This is my running headlamp, but with loosening the straps, I was able to pull it over the helmet.... It worked like a charm. I also had a red blinking light clipped in the back.

And since it was pretty cold and all my cycling capris were in the laundry, I used the Smartwool tube socks. This is no compression, the point was to stay warm.... And they are fun!

 I am fully aware that I look like a goof, but at least I was visible and since I was riding alone and didn't have any "safety in numbers" advantage, it's totally worth dressing up like this... Especially in those dreary conditions.

The ride itself was a lot of fun, I just had a couple of dogs chasing me this time around. I rode some of this loop the last two weeks, but every time I am out there, new dogs seem come out of the woodwork. I did quite some yelling.... I am sure it was fun to watch.

You know it's getting warm....

.... when the dog is too tired to yank off your arm, when going for a walk. And on top of it, she even let me stop every now and then to snap a picture or two:

I didn't get out for my run until 5pm, but that turned out to be pretty good timing, because some clouds came rolling in and it certainly felt much better, without the sun burning down.

The run was so so... I certainly felt the distance from yesterday in my legs. But it's all about getting it done.

Do You Know, What Time It Is?

TOOL TIME! Well, it's non stop tool time in our household since last December, but like with the wedding planning, we finally seemed to be able to see the end of the tunnel. Which is good, because my parents are flying in this coming Friday. YIKES! I already warned my mom, that we might have to resort to cold breakfast and eating out... Let's hope that is not going to happen!

Do you the other time it is, too? CRAPPY RUN TIME! YAY!

I was planning on doing 10 miles again, but it felt labored right from the start. It maybe was the bike ride from yesterday or the crap food I ate all day after the ride. I also overdressed and got hot during my first mile, so I got rid of the jacket, then I start fussing with my cap (I only wear a cap when I expect it to rain during my run)... I was just irritated... MEH! And then my stomach was bothering me on and off... As I said.... Crappy run and every couple of months it's just going to happen. So I cut the run short (6.65 miles) and moved on. Next time will be better - I know it!


That was me right after my run, when the weather was still kinda nice. And you can also see on this photo the reason, why I normally don't wear caps...


This was a little after my run when I took the doggy for a quick walk. The sky already looks darker, but I really enjoy the blooming trees everywhere.


Maybe an hour after my walk with the dog, all hell broke loose. Thunderstorm galore plus tons of hail. I haven't seen that much hail in one spot in my whole life!

Nuf said! ;-)

Spring Riding!

The weather forecast said it is going to be in the 70s. Heck... Of course I am on my bike. And it seems like my bike legs are slowly but surely returning also... Just like the color green outside. SWEET!

I have no pics of the ride itself, but I tried to get from the house over back roads to Pumpkintown Road based on gut navigation... That didn't quite happen, but I found tons of new roads to ride on and next time, I might just use a cue sheet alright!


This was at the turn around point. As you might already noticed, yes I dropped my chain again. What's up with this? Fairly good cadence and nice average pace.


Done! Cadence improved, pace dropped a little.... I make the head wind responsible for that! ;-)


After running several errands, I also took the doggy for a walk and look what I saw.... Spring, spring, spring!!!


And yes... It's just March.... But that is NOT an excuse for not using sunscreen. First cycle jersey tan line... Fortunately it's not too bad and it doesn't hurt. So I'll make sure that this will be the one and only sunburn of this season.

Training Duathlon and Girl's Ride Out

Can you believe it? It's MARCH! Two months of 2010 are already done and over. Daylight saving time starts in two weeks and I can't wait. Spring is not quite here, but ALMOST. See what I discovered on my walk with the doggy on Saturday.



Well, as I am typing this and look at the picture, I completely ignore the weather forecast that calls for 6 inches of snow tomorrow... Think happy thoughts... think happy thoughts.

Training Duathlon

On Saturday, the Upstate Tri Club organized a training duathlon out on the Furman campus. The duathlon consisted of a 5K run, 13.5 mile bike and another 5K run. Around 30 people showed and several brought along family, so we were quite a crowd.

The whole thing was scheduled to start at 1PM. I took it easy in the morning, slept in and then just stayed in bed for a little while longer, then ran some errands and got back to the house at around 12PM. The whole morning I forgot to drink and by the time I got back in I was thirsty... Once you are thirsty, you are already way too dehydrated. Great job, Kathrin! :-( So while I was trying to get my crap together, I sipped on some water to at least put something back in my system. I was at the transition area a little after 12.30pm and then I noticed that I forgot my bike shoes. Fortunately I live just around the corner and was able to make it back on time. Still... That's what you get if you prepare at the last minute.

I started off running at the very back of the group and took it easy, but actually felt pretty good. Maybe half a mile into the 5K I started picking up people and I did that for the whole distance. I can't remember being passed at all. At 5K, I hit the lap button on my Garmin and saw that I had a time of 28:13 mins. This is the lowest 5K time I had in a while and I wasn't even pushing it. Once I passed the 5K mark, I kept on running easy and made a little pit stop before returning to the transition area. This was training after all, so no need to go all crazy here.

Going on the bike felt good and I was glad that I put on a windbreaker in the transition area, since I was sweaty and the wind was really cold. The bike route started out on a familiar route for me, but 3 miles into it, I was on new terrain. On hilly terrain that is... Later I saw on the computer that the we did over 1,000 feet of climbing over 13.5 miles. There were a couple of hills that really hurt. Of course it didn't help that I started feeling the effects of my little water consumption earlier that day... I started cramping in my back and it was especially bad on the hills. Even though I started downing water like a crazy person once I got on the bike, it was just too late to catch up. My bike split had an average speed of 14.4 mph and I was disappointed about that, but I guess that was all I had in me that day.

By the time I was back at the transition area, I already decided that I am not going to do the second 5K... Maybe just a little one mile cool down jog or something, but once I got off the bike, I didn't even feel a cool down jog. Instead I had something to eat and a lot to drink and socialized a little.

When I got back home from the duathlon, I took the doggy on a long walk... That made my back feel better and made the doggy happy.... WIN WIN!


Girl's Ride Out

I am painfully aware of the fact, that my bike fitness is nowhere near I was end of last season. The ride during the duathlon was witness of this fact too, even though other factors sure also played into my performance... Like hydration! DUH!!!

Trainer rides can only do so much, especially if none of your trainer rides exceeded one hour in over two months. The ultimate cure for bad bike fitness is getting out there on the bike and ride it. So of course I was in, when Katie (not coach Katie) asked me if I was up for a ride. We decided to do the Donaldson Country Loop which I never did before... Just follow the light blue/ green arrows! ;-) The sun was shining, but it was still chilly, so we had on several layers. I can't wait for the days, when I don't have to think about how many layers I need. On the bottom I dressed quite light, I didn't even have booties or toasty toes, but I had three thin layers on on top and that worked quite good. The country ride is a nice loop with lots of rolling hills on back country roads and only very little traffic. Katie dropped me a lot which just made me push harder, so it was certainly good training for me. Over 31 miles, we did 1,500 feet of climbing with an 15.6 mph average for the ride... Not bad...

When daylight saving time is finally here, I will definitely take my bike to work at least once a week and join one of the evening rides that start just a little down the road... I think I can't hide it.... I am itching for SPRING!

So long! ;-)