Sunday Funday: Pictures & Numbers

It's a pictures and numbers kind of post today because I'm lazy and it's Sunday and that's just what I feel like doing :)

10 trail miles run.

89 degrees by the conclusion of the run.

0 rolled ankles! Just dirty, scuffed up legs from me kicking myself while running.

16 oz G2 (I used the powder mix- easier to control the sweetness)
12 oz H2O

12 oz Nuun (tropical fruit flavor is my fav)
2 bowl's of TJ's Veggie & Quinoa Mellange (w/ a dusting of parm, of course)

 And now that I'm refueled and rehydrated...

12 more ounces :)

How much do you drink before, during and after your runs? Today was definitely a max for me, and just for 10 miles! Can't wait for it to cool off.

What have you been up to on your Sunday?

Conversations With My Pre-Fitness Self

Something I missed while working this weekend: This video. Have you seen it? Of course you have, over four million people have viewed it so far.

This guy had me cracking up. We can obviously say our younger selves were pretty ridiculous. That isn't bad, it's just to say that there are many goofy/silly/stupid things I did as a kid, as I'm sure you did too. But then I think back to that less-inhibited self, and I imagine she'd look at me right now and also think I'm also pretty ridiculous.

I mean, let's start with the fact that I run long distances for fun. I used to dread meets in Cross Country and Track & Field. Now I actually pay to run in an event.

The vegetables I used to pick off my plate and hide in the napkin on my lap- I actually buy them, cook them, and eat them, without being threatened with a grounding or no dessert. Hell, I've even PLANTED some veggies to have something a little more local!

bell peppers, per the Little Miss' request

garden peas and wax beans, if I can manage not to kill them.

When I was younger I thought I'd be a cool grown up who stays up late and goes to concerts, movies, and awesome restaurants all the time. I stay up late, but it's because I can't wind down immediately after work. It didn't take me too long to realize all that other stuff costs too much money.

I vaguely recall proclaiming that I would shoot myself if I ever owned a pair of mom jeans. Then, the tapered leg came back into fashion via the Skinny Jean. And I have two pairs.

These are just a few things that have changed about my tastes and habits over the years. While my childhood self probably wouldn't have ever believed I'd give up sports of a lifestyle of drinking and lethargy, that unhealthy, lethargic self wouldn't have believed I'd ever turn around and get back into shape and then some. All of my PR's and more insane ambitious races have taken place well into adulthood, when the younger me used to dread hard workouts.

Me then:

I know, I don't look too bad. Wait for it....

Pasty, no clavicle definition, and good lord I needed better bras. It still gets better...

Before Instagram, there were disposable cameras. And double chins.

(These photos have been brought to you courtesy of cheese, gelato shops, beer, Nutella, and Kinderschokolade.)

Me now:

even with watermarks all over my face, still a nicer picture, I think!
(I still run on beer, though)

I'd like to think that if given the chance, I'd lay everything out for my younger, unfit self to prepare her for the life she had ahead of her. But then again... wouldn't that alter how things actually turned out? If I recall nothing else from how I was as a child and teenager, I know I was painfully stubborn. I think if the older me showed up to read me the riot act back then, I'd have rebelled even further!


Let's say I could just tell myself one thing- I think it would be not to waste the gift of fitness. It took me a long time to realize that I could ever enjoy running, let alone get kind of good at it. I think if I had pushed myself harder earlier on, knowing I could then better capitalized on the fitness gains that seemed to come naturally from pregnancy and early parenthood (yay extra blood cells!), I might be even faster now.

But, I have time, so I'm not going to obsess over what was or what could have been. I'm pretty damned proud of myself. And if you've gone through any fitness transformation - no matter how large or small - you should be, too. It can be very easy to sit around, regretting not making certain decisions or changes sooner, but you can't see what's in store for you if you're only ever looking in the rear view mirror.

Head up. Eyes forward. Just. Keep. Pushing.

If you could take a trip back to the past, what age would you visit yourself at, and what would you tell yourself?

Tuesday Night Spin - Happy Fourth!

Before we get to the new playlist, some mundane details about my life :)

This weekend, the regret of having bought a mattress online without actually trying it - a problem that has amounted to about 6 months of poor sleep - finally caught up with my husband in the form of me completely refusing to allow him to spoon with me. We had gone to the biggest moneypit ever Ikea the previous week to test out some new beds, but with the intention of waiting to see how we weathered a few months of preschool before making a purchase. Yet come Sunday, the hubby decided to work his way out of the doghouse and give me a new mattress to sleep on that very night:

easier to sleep on than it is to pronounce

It's a good thing I sometimes live in blissful ignorance of the state of our bank account, as it turns out we were better able than I had thought to spring for the new mattress. Get it? Spring? Oh.... sorry, couldn't resist. I'm really glad we/he went for it, even if I wasn't sure we should spend the money. Sleep is so important. I've been reading a lot of articles about it lately, like this one from the Huffington Post. While I sometimes joke that I pride myself on my ability to go on 5 hours of sleep, several nights in a row, it's really nothing to brag about.

Today I started of pretty well-rested and well-fed. I had my usual bowl of cereal with Silk Vanilla Almond, but I've been working on shrinking the amount of cereal and increasing the amount of fruit on my plate. I think this is easier in the summertime, when ripe, juicy, too-sweet-to-be-good-for-you fruit is in abundance just about everywhere.

I needed to make sure we both started off on full tummies because I hate when we set out on our morning trips only to wind up starving and eating cookies or froyo by 11:00AM. While I did have to cave and let her have samples at Whole Foods as we were there looking for MSM and chia seeds*, I managed to tame the beasts in both of our bellies to get us home to eat the food in our fridge.

*I've been reading a lot of bloggers proclaiming the benefits of chia and decided that for $13, I'd grab a bag of it and start throwing handfuls of the stuff on my cereal and in my yogurt to see what all the fuss is about. Of course, I don't really pay attention to my mental or physical state other than to double-check that my eyes are open and I have a pulse, so we'll see.

From the best web know-it-alls ever, wikipedia:

In a one-ounce (28 g) sample, dried chia seeds contain 9% of the Daily Value for protein (4g), 13% fat (9g) (57% of which is ALA) [<- that's alpha linolenic acid, or "good" fat] and 42% dietary fiber (11g), based on a daily intake of 2000 calories. The seeds also contain the essential minerals phosphorus, manganese, calcium, potassium and sodium in amounts comparable to other edible seeds, such as flax or sesame.

I'm thinking chia seeds in conjunction with the MSM and base-chain proteins I already take for muscle and joint maintenance and repair, I should be more than good to go as I get ready to start on my fall marathon training cycle.

Do you do the chia?

Switching gears now - HA! Gears! I'm on a roll today... how about some spinning music? Amazon.com had a bunch of new music for $.25/single so I figured it was time to load up on some fresh songs. All of my playlists from June through September definitely keep with a summer theme, but this one I made a little more party-worthy with the Fourth of July in mind. I couldn't find any sufficiently rockin' patriotic songs, though. I considered Hendrix's "Star Spangled Banner" but it doesn't lend itself very well to any cycling drill, really. Maybe I'll just keep it for my own listening pleasure.

Blister in the Sun - 4th of July Mix

1. "The Sound of Sunshine" Micheal Franti - Warm up, flat road, alternate lead legs.
2. "Party Rock Anthem" LMFAO - Add a gear, do some moderate spin-ups on the chorus, going up about 10 rpm from your warm-up pace on each run.
3. "Sweet Emotion" Aerosmith - Add another gear and start your first hill in the seat. About a minute in, add another gear and take it up to position 3, keeping a strong cadence. Alternate 1 min. aggressive climb with 30s. seated recovery.
4. "Beverly Hills" Weezer - One more gear, getting to that "pedaling in the mud" point. Sit and climb on the verse, take it up to 3 and try to pick it up on the chorus.
5. "Block Rockin' Beats" Chemical Brother - Flat road, recover 30s. Take it back up to a moderate pace (75% effort) for 30s. then gradually add a hair of resistance back in every 10s until you reach the max you can maintain your cadence at. Hold it there for 1 min. Recover + repeat.
6. "Wild Ones" Flo Rida feat. Sia - Sustained run, light resistance (1-2 gears up from your flat road) to start. First run from the start through the 1st verse, recover on the chorus. Add a gear and do the second run in position 3.
7. "Sunshine" Matisyahu - Jumps at light resistance: 45s on each count, 8/4/2, cycling through twice. Try 1-counts at the end if you're feeling extra jumpy :)
8. "We Are Young" Fun. feat. Janelle Monae - Add resistance to start at medium resistance or higher. Add another gear every min. of the song, or until you're fighting to keep going at 60rpm, or until you reach your max resistance you can pedal smoothly at. Stand if you wish.
9. "Blister in the Sun" Violent Femmes - Flat road flush out. Recover!
10. "Mercy" Duffy - Add 3-4 gears, keeping a relatively easy cadence. Before each chorus transition to position 3, then slide your rear back over your saddle to "hover", focusing on using those hamstrings to draw your knees up toward your chest.
11. "Uprising" Muse - Last aggressive climb. Keep your resistance where it's at to start. Add a gear and climb in position 3 on the chorus, picking it up any amount that you can. Take it off when you sit for the verse. Add 2 gears for the 2nd chorus, 3 for the 3rd, etc. Even if you can't pick up the pace, don't slow down!
12. "Bright Lights" Matchbox 20 - Take it back to medium resistance as we start our down climb. Start in position 3, then take a gear off and pick up the pace in the seat for each chorus until back at a flat road. Spin it out to the finish!
13. "Starlight" Muse - Cool down
14. "I'm Yours" Jason Mraz - Stretch

Happy 4th to everyone! Hope you get in some good races, runs and/or rides!

Day Eight - The Drive

Thursday, June 21st

Wernersville, PA to Tigerville, SC: 626 miles, drive time 10 hours, 37 minutes.
Potty Breaks: 4; Gummies: Just one more, man; Tears: none (yes, nearly 11 hours in the car and hardly a tear - I have the best kid on the planet); Exercise: plyometrics, push-ups & crunches @ 10:00PM.



For all intents and purposes, Thursday marked the last day of our journey together. I could not be a happier or prouder Mama that my little girl put up with me, the car, and a different bed almost every night. I knew I was a little crazy to embark on this road trip with her, and I worried about half-way through as she sleepily told me one night, "I don't want the hotel! I wanna go HOME!" that I was doing a number on my child. But when she woke up the next day, eager as ever to eat waffles and fruit loops (you gotta let some things slide when you're traveling), I knew she'd be OK.

We started off our day with our last taste of Pennsylvania. I'm pretty sure the blueberries were not actually local, but I know the black cherries were. I forgot how much I love them... and how much they stain my fingers when I try to cut out the pit for my daughter!

This plus a cup of coffee had me brimming with antioxidants and ready to go. (Not pictured: the cider donut I wolfed down before even sitting at the kitchen table).

We slowed down for a couple more pictures of the beautiful PA-Dutch landscapes we'd be leaving behind; another reason why I know I want to drive back.

Sadly, we did not actually see any Amish people in carriages, but the signs to watch out for them crossing or traveling the road were everywhere.

Onward, down through Virginia for what felt like years. This is by far the longest stretch that anyone traveling north to south or vice-versa must endure. Interstate 81 can be quick enough (the speed limit is 70mph), but it's also just two lanes in either direction, meaning if you get stuck by a truck driver who thinks he's going fast enough to pass another truck, but then they both hit a hill and slow to a crawl at 45mph... you're gonna be there for a while. And when you can finally pass, you have to make sure the cops don't catch you flooring it as you impatiently try to get by.

Finally, our first sign of the south:

I've never actually eaten in a Shoney's, have you?

By this point, the head index was well over 100, I imagined, so we pulled off at a gas station thinking we could find a spot in the shop to sit down and eat yogurt and Goldfish. Their two dingy booths were covered with boxes and trash... classy. So it was time for another car picnic, only this time, with the engine running and the AC on. I hate to do that, and I hate when I see other people do it, but if you've ever tried to drink milk on a really hot day, you'd understand why we hid in my car with the sun shades up.

After what felt like eons on the road, we finally crossed the Virginia border into Tennessee and were promptly greeted with rain squalls. This was a welcome relief from the heat, as well as a nice little bath to clean off the bug graveyard that the grill and hood of my car had become.

Around 6:00 PM I started to look out for a place to stop for dinner. This would be the one stop of our whole trip that I was going to eat - and allow my daughter to eat - whatever we wanted with no regard to sugar, fat, or staying within the recommended food groups. Of course, there are some compromises I will not make, but the only signs I saw for restaurants near the highway were for McDonald's or Cracker Barrel. McD's is absolute crap and I won't eat anything from there, no matter what. While I've eaten at Cracker Barrel before, I never enjoyed anything I've eaten there and was not in the mood to try to get a toddler through the gift shop without breaking anything or accidentally shop-lifting.

So I found the next best thing, given the area we were in:

What can I say? I love pork. And while BBQ is not something I typically gravitate toward or even crave, this place smelled AWESOME coming off the interstate. We pulled up not even 15 minutes before they closed, so I took our good timing as a sign that this was the place to eat. And I have to say, since this was probably the least healthy meal we had all week, we still didn't do half-bad with smoked pulled pork (protein), baked beans (fiber) and macaroni salad (uh... I think I saw one piece of diced bell pepper in there somewhere...) Whatever, I don't have to justify myself. We were in Tennessee!

And most importantly, someone else loved it.

The last leg of our trip took us through the breathtaking scenery of the Cherokee National Forest and then down through the Blue Ridge Mountains that run from North Carolina down into South Carolina. I wished I could have snapped more pictures, but there was that whole driving thing I was supposed to be paying attention to.

I was able to get one good shot, though, which my camera does not give justice too, but it was beautiful, regardless. We were coming down I26 toward Asheville when I just had to slow down to try to capture this:

We had a beautiful, scenic, and most importantly happy and tantrum-free ride for the entire day. I can't wait to do it again.

Thanks, little travel buddy. You're the best!

Total Travel Distance & Time:

2,268 mi, 40 hours

Ok.... maybe next time we'll just fly!

Day Seven - The Treck Back

Wednesday, June 20th
 
Albany, NY to Wernersville, PA: 255 miles, drive time of 4 hours and 30 minutes.
Potty breaks: 1; Gummies: breaking the habit; Tears: a few shed over "angry birds"; Exercise: push-ups, crunches, planks and plyometrics.

For the return trip, I was going to drive further on Wednesday to make it half-way back to South Carolina, so that Thursday's trip time would be shorter and I could be back in Atlanta on Thursday evening. As I thought about it more, though, I wanted one more evening at my Gram's house and I knew my girl wouldn't mind stopping one more time to play with all of those vintage toys.

By this point in our week, the too-good temperatures were starting to give way to the uglier side of June. It was not even the first day of summer, yet the thermometer steadily rose to the point where you just want to hide inside with the AC blasting and all of the curtains drawn. I knew there would be no run for me this evening.

Fortunately, we were able to take a break along the way back down to PA where we could enjoy our "picnic" indoors. We had a fairly healthy - and most importantly cool and refreshing - snack of yogurt (Chobani for me), Mixed Berry Nutragrain, and our summer staple, lemonade.

"Wait, Mommy! You need a picture of me, too!"

Silly girl's already getting the hang of picture-blogging.

Once we reached Gram's, we were both a little stir-crazy but not wanting to risk a heat-stroke or sun burn, we remained indoors. I did a quick circuit of basic body-weight exercises, including high knee step-ups on the unusually tall stairs in the 120-yr-old house (give or take a decade or two), and this cool leg + oblique exercise from BexLife (the first exercise of this video) that combines a squat with a side leg/knee lift. It's kind of like doing a sumo wrestler stomp... or that's what my daughter does, when she tries to exercise along with me. She also tried to help me with my crunches by laying across my belly, which didn't really work, so I turned over to let her crawl on my back as I attempted to do a couple push-ups with the extra resistance.

I can do exactly TWO, push-ups with her, by the way... and they have to be modified. Youch!

Time for dinner.

My Gram was a Locavore before it was cool. While the area she lives in has had its fair share of suburban sprawl over the past ten years, there are still farms galore and tons of roadside stands where she gets a lot of her produce. And having such deep German roots in the area, the European mentality of shopping nearby and often to get what's available and fresh - vs. doing a huge shopping trip of packaged goods once a week - is prevalent. I enjoy shopping this way too, as I feel I'm more likely to use the produce I buy before it goes bad if I only buy a few of something at a time.

For our meal tonight, we had asparagus, red potatoes, cucumber and tomato salad, berries, and Italian-seasoned wings.

The best part of this meal? My girl tried everything, and actually ate all of her asparagus first. While her love of veggies and fruit has more to do with her tastes than anything else, I can't help but feel like I've done something right when my daughter dives into the greens on her plate first.

I wished I could have stayed in Wernersville for a whole week and actually take my daughter to the farms and markets myself. After the success of this trip, though, I know I'll be back. I was happily reminded of how nice it is to just sit around my Gram's house and I can't wait to drive back up and spend more time there.

Does your area have good local produce? Do you travel anywhere where the local food can't be beat?

Day Four - "Homeward Bound"

Sunday, June 17th


State College, PA to Albany, NY: 316 miles, drive time of 5 hours and 43 minutes.

Potty breaks: 2; "Gummies": cutting back to a small handful; Exercise: Flying around like a Butterfly Fairy (more her than me); Tears: minimal.


Something about coming up over I88 and descending into the Hudson Valley makes me warmly nostalgic every time.



The drive up from State College almost the entire way to the New York border was through rural, Amish farmland on two-lane state and US routes. It was a welcome break from the monotony of highway driving and stale car air conditioning, as we bumped up and down hilly roads and twisted around windy corners with all the windows completely down. Something I'm glad I was able to enjoy, as I watched today's heat indexes rise into the 100's.

We arrived in Albany just in time for some delicious steak, shrimp, corn, beans and potatoes prepared by our awesome friends. I wish I had snapped a picture of their plentiful bounty but a certain toddler was tired of hummus and yogurt and needed to dive right into some real food.

Then, it was dress up time.



I mean, what else do you do when you've kept a kid locked up in a vehicle for nearly 24 hours in the past four days? You give her wings and let her fly.



While I didn't run around nearly as much as she did, we did do a few of those spin maneuvers, when you lock arms and the one person starts revolving, lifting the other (smaller) person into the air. That fired up my deltoids REAL fast, getting her 33-lb. butt into the air!

When we reached the hotel, it was time to collapse and treat myself for all of the hard hours clocked burning rubber through seven states and counting. If I were to find the energy to press onward and share my favorite places in my home town with my little girl, I was going to need some fuel of my own...



Let's ignore the fact that I'm a wanna-be health professional for the moment. If you can't tell from the glare, this is "Chocolate Therapy" from Ben & Jerry's. I mean... how could I pass that up on the shelf. And even if I didn't have a freezer to put it in and it would go to mush in our cooler, forcing me to eat 3/4 of it then regretfully throw the rest away so I wouldn't hate myself in the morning... it was therapeutic, and totally worth it!

Tomorrow: What happens when you're a little too frugal, and why you shouldn't go with the cheapest hotel in town...

Have you had "Chocolate Therapy"? Is it not the best ice cream ever?

How hot was your heat index today? Did you grin and bear it in the heat or move indoors? Did you eat ice cream afterwards?

I Admit, I'm a Bad Blogger/Tweeter

A few things have been keeping me a little busy, and away from the Blogosphere...

Prepping for our trip, which included mega loads of laundry and meal planning. Yes, meal planning. I have a big cooler that with enough ice packs stays cold for about two days. For me, nothing is worse than having to rely on lord-knows-what chain restaurants or worse, gas station convenience stores, for sustenance on a journey. Don't get me wrong, if it were just me, I'd be fine with beef jerky and Muddy Buddies.

Nom nom nom
[source]

But I have my Mini Me with me, and for her, I want to make sure that we aren't limited to fried chicken bi-product or greasy fries. Not including PB&J sandwiches (which are a must, if you want to get a toddler to do anything, especially sit in a car for ten hours), here's a sample of our spread:

Fruit, fruit squeezes, coffee (duh), Odwalla smoothies (already dug into the Super Green)
carrots, celery, hummus and yogurt.

Of course, we do need to save room for just a little indulgence...

I have also been busy just keeping up with housework, work work, and trying to read even just a page of my ACE text at a time. It's been a challenge, especially with having to vacuum literally every other day. We have animals. Animals get fleas. I don't really wanna talk about it. Sometimes, I feel guilty "only" getting on the bike for 45 minutes, but then I think about the countless loads of laundry I've lugged across our complex and the vacuum cleaner I've had to carry up and down the stairs 100 times in the past week and figure, I've been working out enough!

In fact, I foolishly signed on to the "Plank A Day" campaign on Twitter, and now the "Plank Police" are after me. See, I forgot that I really don't like to Tweet that much. Nothing wrong with tweeting, and I think it's great that we've taken to social media to get everyone involved in talking about fitness, but I sometimes feel like if I tried to keep up with everyone else, I'd spend more time on the computer talking about fitness than actually going out there to move and stay fit! Anyway, I HAVE been planking (and running, and spinning, and lifting, and crunching). The proof is in the pudding, if not in the actual tweeting:

Rawr. Chuck Norris, watch out.

We still have a bit of work to do before I feel ready to hit the road tomorrow. Packing is probably one of my most-loathed activities of all time because I will undoubtedly forget something. Not a big deal, considering I can always stop at a store for something along the way, but it always makes me a bit agitated to spend money on something I know I already have. Case in point, the make up back I thought I lost, so along with the groceries for our trip, I got some replacement makeup items. Last night, the hubby emerges from our linen closet, missing makeup bag in hand. Oh well... at least I have a fabulous new lip stain.

After packing, comes giving the car a once-over to make sure it's highway ready.

Or, ya know, sending the hubby out there to make sure it's highway ready.

For today, it's off to work for a double, which I will hopefully be able to get cut short. If it's slow, I may get a jump on other blog entries for the week, but I'm open to suggestions. My next post will be from the road and I will try to enlist in the help of some friends for a comprehensive picture post of my living room/hotel room workout, as I'm sure that will be something I will rely on heavily to maintain some shape this upcoming week!


How do you prepare for eating on the go? Any go-to healthy snacks you always keep on you to avoid the fast food trap?

Have you been planking? 

And I mean this:

[source]

Not this:

[source]

Recipe of the Week: Mango Pork Tenderloin

Remember the dish I taunted you with earlier this week? It's definitely a "make ahead" kind of meal but what's great is that I prepped everything and go it in the oven, then had plenty of time to run while it cooked. Here it is:

Step One - toast your spices. 1 tsp coriander seeds, 1 tsp annatto seeds (aka achiote), 1 tsp black peppercorns, and 2 tsp (more, because they're larger) Jamaican allspice seeds. Toast over low heat 'til the kitchen smells awesome.

No Smell-a-Vision here, but trust me, toasting = best flavor ever.

Once nice and toasted, grind your spices in your coffee grinder. Alton Brown will tell you to use separate grinders for beans and for spices, but I have a metal grinder that doesn't leave a lingering aroma between uses so long as I wash it well. Combine ground spices with 1 TBSP each honey and olive oil and 1 tsp. each of  molasses and lime juice. Last, add a generous pinch of salt (about 1 tsp). This should form a nice gooey paste.

Next, we deal with the meat.

Preheat an oven safe nonstick skillet over medium heat and add 1-2 TBSP olive oil. Take a 1.5-2lb cut of pork tenderloin and cover it entirely with your seasoned paste. Get into it- make sure your seasoning gets into all the little cracks and crevices. This will feel dirty, but maybe you can do it when no one is looking. Once coated, dust the tenderloin with flour until completely covered. Place (carefully!) in hot pan and allow to sit for a couple minutes on all sides until completely browned, like this:

Not as dirty as it looks, I swear.

Remove your meat and set aside, loosely wrapped in foil while you start the fresh ingredients. To your hot pan, add 1 diced onion (Spanish is best, as it will get nice and sweet). Add a dash of salt to season and cook until most or all of the onion is translucent or lightly golden in color. Next, add chopped bell pepper and mango. Stir frequently to keep mango from sticking and cook until you notice your fruit and veggies starting to brown.

Sweet + Savory = YUM

Make space in the middle of your oven-safe skillet to place the pork back in the pan. Add one 14.5oz can of diced tomatoes, one clove of garlic, minced (I used Hunt's fire-roasted tomatoes with garlic to save a step), one 14.5oz can of black beans (rinsed and drained) and 1 cup of low-sodium chicken or vegetable stock. Bring the juices up to a simmer then cover tightly with a lid or foil and place your skillet in the oven for 2-3 hours.

Check for doneness by pulling at the pork with two forks. Comes apart easily? You're done! At the shorter end of this cooking range, you'll still have a touch of pink in the middle of your tenderloin.

You can enjoy this as is - just slice your pork and spoon the mango-y onion-y goodness over top, or serve it up with some warm tortillas or over some rice.

I get zero points for presentation here, I realize, but I should get at least a thousand points for taste.

Someday, I'll get a real camera and make you really want to make this food :)

Ingredient shopping list
One 1.5-2lb pork tenderloin
Whole coriander
Whole peppercorns
Whole Annato/Achiote
Whole Jamaican Allspice
Salt
Flour
Honey
Molasses
Olive Oil
Onion
Mango
Bell Pepper
One 14.5oz can tomatoes
One 14.5oz can black beans
Chicken stock
-optional-
rice or tortillas to serve

Suggested wine pairing: Alamos Torrontes.



Suggested beer paring: Shiner Ruby Redbird.


This meal is best consumed post-exercise, as it will make you want to recline to digest for the rest of the evening. It is especially good following a strenuous trail run. Enjoy!

Friday Blurbs

Happy Friday! Well, it's more like Hump-day for me, but I'm going to ignore that fact for now because I actually have a daytime shift today and will get to enjoy a Friday night date like a normal person.

First, my "breakfast of champions": Puffins (cereal, not the actual bird) & bananas w/ almond milk, coffee (of course), OJ, and a little vitamin cocktail.

I'm not a huge fan of pill-popping or supplementing with fortified bars, shakes or powders. However, I am also a mom and a mere mortal who has not figured out how to clone herself, which is to say that I can't always put together a full meal with everything I need to eat.

I think most people are wasting their money with those jugs of mega-protein energy powders, and I tend to shy away from people who suggest a new pill for each new ailment. But I do make an exception for a few supplements:

• Daily multi-vitamin: I prefer a low-dose multi, one that I could take two in a day if I wanted to, but one is usually sufficient. It supplies me with lots of essentials that I know I won't get enough of in diet alone, like iron, B-vitamins, and vitamin D.
• Base chain amino acids: Specifically, L-lysine, although there are several amino acids you can find in vitamin form. These amino acids will combine with others that I will consume in my diet to form complete proteins to repair and rebuild tissue (muscle).
• MSM: Methylsulfonylmethane, a sulfur compound that also aids in building and repairing tissue, including muscle, joints, and skin. 

Now, I am not a doctor, so I would not tell anyone else to take these without first getting a degree in nutrition, but I can tell you what works for me. And I can tell you that whenever considering supplementation, I generally feel the simpler the better. If you don't recognize the components in a particular supplement as vitamins or nutrients you might otherwise be able to get from whole food sources, it might be best to skip it!

Are you a pill-popper? Any vitamins you swear by?

Switching gears entirely to the news, did you hear about the students who were sent home for riding their bikes to school? The principle has since apologized and admitted her reaction to this senior "prank" was severe, but it came a little late, as she had already sent the students home, making them miss their last day of school and the "senior walk-through".

What's sad to me about this story is that of all the pranks seniors pull, this was probably the coolest, and hardly a prank at all as they notified local officials they would be on the roads and even had a police escort. I understand that we live in a fear-based society and, let's be blunt, bad things DO happen, but it's sad to think that trying to do something fun and healthy together would be as heavily reprimanded as if they had graffitied their school.

I hope this changes with my and my daughter's generation. I hope we can get back to a place where we form a community with our neighbors instead of secluding ourselves because it's not safe out there. What makes a place safe are the people who take ownership of it, so that our kids CAN ride their bikes to school and play outside.

What's your reaction to this story? Would you let your kids bike to school?

3 Things: Eating On a (Weird) Schedule

It's going to be a super-quick post today, as I'm busy pretending to be all productive and stuff.

I'm a little nuts (of course) and so is my schedule. For several years now, I often don't eat dinner until 10PM or later at least half of the week. On those days, I have to be especially careful how I eat from the time I wake up until when I leave for work, especially if I need to work out in that timeframe, too. So today, I figure my "Three Things" could be what I've had to eat so far today.

This morning started off with a great spin class. Of course, to make it great I had to make sure I had energy and to do that, I had to get some quick, easy-to-digest calories. I don't like to eat a huge meal, so I instead break my breakfast into two parts:

1) Breakfast I.

What: Six oz. Silk Almond Milk and half of a peanut butter pretzel Clif Mojo bar.
Why: Easy-to-digest yet filling carbs via oats and pretzels in the bar, protein and antioxidants in the almond milk.
When: Half and hour to 45 minutes before my workout (8:30), then the other half of my Mojo bar immediately following the gym (11:00) to refuel after an hour of spin and 30 minutes of upper body and core resistance.

2) Breakfast II.

What: Handful each of raspberries, blueberries, and sliced strawberries with about six oz. Greek yogurt. I just tried this Greek Gods yogurt and it's delicious but the strawberry honey flavor does contain full-fat yogurt, so watch out for that. I'd suggest opting for fat-free plain and adding your own honey.

For good measure, I added some manganese with some toasted pine nuts (which, as I've already shared, I love on everything!)

Why: Protein from the yogurt, vitamins and nutrients from the fruit.
When: Post-gym, pre-dog walk (11:30).


3) Lunch

What: Grilled turkey, egg and cheese on Arnold Health-full 10 Grain Bread. For a little zip, I used some chipotle Gouda. Hot spice is a great way to add variety to your plate without a ton of extra calories.
Why: Protein (again!) + complex carbs to tide me over until whenever I might eat again, which is I-don't-know-when.
When: As late as I can get away with eating it and still have time to brush my teeth before work (3:00PM)

The name of the game for me is to reach satiation without feeling like I need to curl up and take a nap. My meals and snacks almost always consist of protein and complex carbs for the sustained energy they provide. And of course, I'm drinking water throughout the day because if I DO get hungry later (very likely), I don't want to be dehydrated on top of it.

What's on your plate when you have a full plate?

Tuesday Night Spin: Sweat & Salt

As I sent him off to work, I told my husband since I have to focus on putting together tonight's playlist and brushing up on my exercise physiology, he's in charge of dinner. He's not exactly the apron-wearing, beurre blanc-making type, and honestly we've both learned a lot from trial and error in the kitchen. But that's not to say I wouldn't enjoy seeing him sampling sauce while comparing it to to the flavor profile of the bottle of wine he picked out.

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Actually, there's a lot I needed to learn when it comes to cooking. The ghosts of dried out chicken and overdone steaks still haunt me every time I fire up a burner. Many a main dish has gone cold on my counter because I forgot to start the rice. And seasoning! It took me forever to learn how to make food taste good!

One thing I discovered, much to many a health professionals' chagrin, is that everything needs salt. The pasta water needs salt. Chicken needs salt. Veggies need salt. Even desserts need a dash of salt. Fleur de sel caramel? Yes, please!

But if you're concerned about sodium and hypertension, here are a few tips, based on information in Exercise Physiology: 6th Addition (Powers, Scott K. and Howley, Edward T.):

•  Reduction of sodium in the diet can help lower blood pressure in individuals sensitive to excess sodium. This can be as easy as not eating fast food and cutting out processed meats. This does not mean you can't season while you cook. In fact, I'd say the best way to reduce sodium is to cook at home, where you can control what goes in to what you eat.
• Reduction of sodium is not THE one solution to eliminating hypertension. Above reducing sodium in the list of recommendations for lowering blood pressure is to lose weight, limit alcohol intake, and exercise moderately 30 minutes a day, 5 days a week.
• Any exercise is good, but cardiovascular exercise that focuses on increasing VO2 max (simply put, trains your body and heart to learn to work harder for longer), such as interval work or maintaining a "comfortably hard" effort for a few workouts a week, is especially effective in lowering blood pressure.

The flip side of sodium intake is when you don't get enough. As a profuse sweater - seriously, you can see the salt streaking my face after a run - I know I have to make sure that I get my electrolytes. We know they are vital for extended duration of exercise, but why? And how much? Again, I turn to my text books (see, I'm already studying like a good girl).

• Most Americans take in enough salt at mealtimes, but those new to moderate to intense exercise will sweat more salt than an acclimated individual. So it is important when embarking on a new exercise regimen, not to eliminate all sodium from the diet at the same time.
•  Exercise lasting less than an hour requires .5L to 1L of water consumption during exercise. Carbohydrates and electrolytes are not required for efforts lasting less than an hour. If you plan on running in the heat or sweating a lot (like coming to my class), however, and are concerned about electrolytes but maybe don't want the extra calories, an electrolyte-enhanced water is a perfect option. Smart Water and Victory H2O are great, and Trader Joe's even makes one, too!
• Exercise lasting one to three hours (for us mere mortals, say a half marathon) requires .5L to 1L of fluids per hour containing 6%-8% carbohydrates (by volume) and 10-20 mEq (don't worry about that unit) of Na+ (sodium) and Cl- (chlorine). What this means for those of us who don't like numbers and math is that a basic sports beverage is more than sufficient. For a half, I usually like to alternate taking water and sports beverage every other aid station starting after 5 or 6 miles. On a less supported course, you might consider wearing a belt with one bottle of water and the other with Gatorade or Powerade.
• Exercise lasting longer than three hours is a bit beyond my territory. Save for the occasional marathon, I don't typically run for this long. Additional nourishment containing carbs and electrolytes might be necessary beyond fluid consumption. I might take a gel every hour in addition to alternating between water and a sports drink. Ultramarathon territory is a completely different game. There's where you'll read about runners drinking pickle juice and eating salted pretzels.

As with everything else, it's about moderation. I salt my food, I cook with butter, and I enjoy chocolate. That is because I run and spin like a crazy mother. I can tell you what I don't do: I don't eat McDonald's or Burger King. I don't always clean my plate. I don't eat fried candy bars or butter (*barf*). In a nation of excess, it's easy for us to want to believe something as simple as not salting our food will be the answer to our waistline woes. I'm here to tell you that it's not. Show restraint and caution before putting food in our mouths? Yes! Live a dull, bland, tasteless life? Absolutely not!

Alright, now let's get sweaty.

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Hot Spin #2 (click here for Hot Spin #1 and other hydration tips)

1) "Mr G" (original mix) Deadmau5 - Warm up, flat road, alternate lead legs and spend a little time in all 3 positions. Add a gear half-way through song.

2) "Sweat" Snoop Dogg vs. David Guetta - Add another gear. Seated steady pace with bursts in position three (no added resistance, just pick up the pace)

3) "All Along the Watchtower" Jimi Hendrix - Hill #1: Sit and climb for the burst, add a gear and take it up to 3 for the chorus. This time, leave it on when you sit.

4) "The Boys of Summer" The Ataris - Runs on a flat road (or light resistance) on the chorus.

5) "Hot in Herre" Nelly - Jumps! Add a gear and jump on an 8-count, 4-count, 2-count, then repeat for 2nd half of the song with an added gear.

6) "Firestarter" Prodigy - Hold steady drill: Starting with light resistance, try to match your cadence to the beat (we're looking for 70-80bpm, not double-time, which would be too fast at 140). Starting at 40s in, add a gear and hold your pace. Add another gear every minute and don't slow down!

7) "Santa Monica" Everclear - Hill #2: Seated, heavy climb. Don't dip below 60rpm, but crank that resistance until it feels challenging to do so. If your legs aren't aching by half-way through, add a gear.

8) "Cupid Shuffle" Cupid - Back to a flat road for a second to recover, then add a gear or two (for the safety of your knees). We're going dance a little and go through all 3 riding positions. Starting at 15s in, we'll start in position 1 for 20s, then 2 for 20s, then 3. Then we'll cycle through each stance for 15s. each. Then 10s, then 5... etc. Work your way down til shifting every 4 beats

9) "We Will Rock You" Queen - Hill #3: start at medium resistance and add a gear and take it out to 3 every time they sing "we will rock you!"

10) "We Are the Champions" Queen - From where you left off, sit (if you can pedal smoothly - if not, take off a gear or two 'til you can) and grind it out to get to the top.

11) "Lonely Boy" The Black Keys - Take a couple gears off and start in position 2 at a nice jogging pace. We'll pick it up a little in position 3, taking 1 gear off at a time as we recover.

12) "Sandstorm" Darude - Freestyle runs - these 2 sets of runs are your last 2 chances to get that cadence up, push yourself to your limit, and give it all you got!

13) "Mad Season" Matchbox 20 - cool down

14) "Traffic in the Sky" Jack Johnson - stretch

Happy Sweating!