Pleasant Surprises

Friday has arrived—woohoo!  Any fun plans for the weekend?  One of my best friends from college is visiting today (hurry up and get here, Melissa!), so I’m super excited!  The next 24 hours will be filled with gossiping, wine drinking, and cupcake eating, which sounds like a perfect way to kickoff the weekend.  Anyway, as you can tell from this post’s title, I’ve had a series of pleasant surprises within the past day or so, which means it’s time for another list.

Surprise #1:  Getting new neon gear!

After publishing yesterday’s post, I received a package from my friends at Swim Bike Run New York City.  We go way back on Twitter.

Exhibit A:  Trying to get me to buy a tri bike.

Last week, we exchanged a few tweets …

Exhibit B:  Just being a #trigeek.

Which lead to this surprise—a cap that goes on your bike helmet during dark rides.

Neat, right?

Surprise #2:  Enjoying sweet potatoes.

I know, I know; obsessions with nut butter (guilty) and sweet potatoes are prerequisites for healthy living bloggers, but I’ve never been a fan of orange spuds—until last night’s dinner.

I tried a recipe from my Practical Paleo cookbook for sweet and savory potatoes, and holy yum, these tasted delicious!

They’re easy to make, too:  Peel and cut the potatoes; coat them with coconut oil; sprinkle on a mixture of onion powder, garlic powder, and cinnamon; roast them in the oven.

Surprise #3:  Swimming in the fast line wasn’t a one-time deal.

At this morning’s Full Throttle Endurance (FTE) swim workout, I returned to the fast line.  Honestly, I’m still shocked.  And the workout itself went well, too.  After warming up and completing the same technique drills as last week (back kick with rotation, alternating right/left kick, one-arm stroke, etc.), we chipped away at the main set that included 6×75 (steady effort) with 20 seconds rest, 6×100 (alternating steady and solid efforts) with 30 seconds rest, and 4×200 pulling with 20 seconds rest.  It was the final pulling set that got me; my arms will be sore tomorrow!

Surprise #4:  Getting more gear.

Remember how one of the best parts about playing sports was getting team gear like t-shirts, sweatshirts, and sweatpants? (Or maybe that was just me?) Even though I’ve been training with FTE for two weeks—and working with Andrew one-on-one for much longer—I feel “officially official” thanks to this team shirt.

Woohoo!  Have a fabulous Friday!

Do you like sweet potatoes?  How do you prepare them?  Did you play sports back in the day?  What was your favorite article of team clothing?

Miami, Here I Come!

Good morning, friends!  Guess what—I officially registered for the Nautica South Beach Triathlon, which will be my first race of the 2013 season!  I’m pumped!  Miami, here I come!

It isn’t until April 7, which means I have plenty of time to train (approximately 86 days, but who’s counting?).  For the past three years, Full Throttle Endurance has traveled to Florida for this triathlon, and signing up for a destination event (or a “race-cation”) is a great way to kick off the racing season.  Plus, I’ve never been to Miami, so it will be fun to explore, hang out at the beach, and celebrate post-race with my teammates.  In terms of the race itself, I signed up for the classic distance—0.5-mile ocean swim, 19-mile bike, and 4-mile out-and-back run.  Nautica SoBo also offers an Olympic-distance course, but since this will be my first event of the season—and not to mention my longest triathlon to date—I figured the shorter one would be a better decision.  And even though it’s still early in the training cycle (and even though I haven’t finalized my race schedule), I see this tri as a “C” race, meaning I’ll “train through” it; I still want to do well, obviously, but I won’t be “racing” it.  I’m so excited!

Dinner

A pizza craving hit me hard last night, so I made an individual Paleo pizza.

Toppings included sauce, cheese, spinach, and chopped orange peppers—yum!

Workout – Yoga

The weekly workout schedule I posted Sunday has totally changed—Andrew emailed our training group a plan after that evening—and today was a scheduled rest/free day.  It’s been a while since I practiced yoga—remember my yoga phase in October?—and I knew a Vinyasa class would be good for active recovery, so I went to Hilaria’s 7 a.m. session at Yoga Vida this morning.  It was just what I needed; I worked up a good sweat, stretched out, and even completed some ab work (which will be even more important now that I’ll be riding in aero).

Breakfast

No judging—during savasana, my mind wandered to breakfast.  In my defense, though, Hilaria told us to listen to what our bodies were saying, and mine seemed to be fixated on hunger—ha!  A cold meal sounded good after a sweaty class, so I whipped up a protein smoothie.

This mix included a frozen banana, frozen kale, frozen blueberries, chia seeds, almond milk, and one scoop of Jay Robb egg-white protein powder.  Plus my second cup of coffee.

Time to finish up some freelancing assignments.  Have a great day!

Have you signed up for a destination race, gone on a “race-cation,” or taken a trip solely devoted to doing something active?  Did you enjoy it?

Under the Weather

Happy Friday, everyone!  As you can tell, I’m feeling a little sick today.  ‘Tis the season, right?  Both my dad and one of my sisters were sick when I was home, and I’m trying to catch their coughs, sore throats, and congestion.  It probably didn’t help that I sat in a freezing train car for five and a half hours yesterday either.

Dinner

I didn’t feel great last night—I figured I was just tired from traveling—so I picked up some soup and sushi from Whole Foods.

The chicken noodle soup tasted delicious; I wish I went for a bigger container and left the spicy salmon roll!  Oh, and another sign I wasn’t up to par—I didn’t buy any fruit!  Sure, I loaded up on spinach, peppers, and carrots, but I forgot (maybe?) to get apples.  However, a package of Christmas cookies from my friend Connie picked my spirits up!

Gluten-free peanut butter cookies, red velvet chocolate crinkles, gingerbread bars, peanut butter pretzels dipped in chocolate, and mint chocolate chip cookies–mmmm!  Thanks again, Connie!

Workout – Swimming

Even though I didn’t sleep great and felt a little under the weather, I went to the pool this morning for my usual 45 minutes of drill work.  Thanks to my congestion, I had some trouble breathing at first, but it became easier as I warmed up.  Oh, and I was totally *that swimmer* who lost her kickboard during her pull sequence.  Whoops!

Breakfast

Another sign of sickness—I wasn’t starving after swimming.  What is going on?  I still made a spinach and egg-white breakfast sandwich.

I struggled to finish it, though.

After eating, I took care of some errands, and then parked myself on the couch.  I haven’t moved since, except to make lunch.

Lunch

It’s official—my appetite has disappeared.  Usually, I eat lunch between 12:30-1:30 p.m., but as 1:40 p.m. approached, I didn’t feel hungry at all.  I knew I needed to eat something, though, so I kept it simple.

Baked tofu with pepper, cumin, and red pepper flakes, plus some peas.

I have an indoor bike trainer ride scheduled for tonight, which I really need to do because I haven’t been in the saddle since last year (ha!), but I’m not sure if it’s a good idea.  Here’s to hoping this is a cold I can sweat (or swim) out!

Do your eating habits change when you’re sick?  Do you crave foods you don’t usually like?