My speedy new ride!

I am so excited to race on my new bike!  I got it a couple weeks ago and was able to do my pre-ironman 7-hour ride on it.  It. Is. Aaaawesome!

Then there are these guys:

Their image will be burned onto your retina!

Not only are they super-comfy and light, but they’re also NEON!  It may not be sunny on Sunday, but I’d wear my shades if I were you!

Last and littlest, but certainly not least, my new Garmin:

Go-go gadget watch!

I loved my 305, but after 3 years of solid service her inability to accurately read HR required that  she be forced into retirement.  This younger buddy-on-a-wrist-band will be keeping me company throughout the race on Sunday.

More important than all of these treats, I am in a great spot physically and mentally.  I’m seeing the best numbers I’ve ever seen in training, and my body composition is exactly where we want it 2 weeks out from IM.  So excited for these next two races – RI70.3 on Sunday, IMLP in two weeks!

Thank you to every single person who has ever sacrificed for our freedom.  You are truly appreciated, and never forgotten.

Saturday Post-Race:

• consumed pizza & hot chocolate in the finish area
• raided a convenient store (Sun Chips, chocolate chip cookies, donuts, peanut butter)
• dined at Denny’s (chocolate milk shake, nachos, pancakes w/peanut butter & syrup, eggs, toast w/jelly)

Sunday – Wednesday:

• cereal party (attendees bring a box of cereal and a topping, then mix, match, and go nuts!)

Dont' worry - they're all fortified with calcium and vitamin D!

• awards ceremony (really good gnocchi!)
• VEGAS!!  (left straight from the awards)
• a bit of gambling

"You're a math teacher! You should know those odds suck!"

• a lot of eating:  dinner at the Encore, the Wynn Buffet (twice), chocolate-topped banana-filled crepes, breakfast at New York New York, sundaes with deep-fried oreos, candy…

Home!!

• Love  (Cirque du Soleil)
• more ice cream
• flew home

Thursday:

• lunch with Mikaela, mom, and gram
• dinner with Chrissie and Trish
• ice cream at JP Licks with Chrissie and Trish

Friday:

• corn muffin and hot chocolate on the way into work with Tim
• lunch with coach JJK
• a stop at Sundae School on the way down to Chatham  (banana split, baby!)
• saltwater taffy sampling

Only 30 flavors? Can't we get some variety around here??

• check in at the Chatham Bars Inn (Christmas gift from the Snows – thank you!!!)
• nachos and chicken sandwiches at the Red Nun
• ice cream from Cumby’s

Saturday:

• omelettes, french toast, home fries, and hot chocolate at Sandi’s
• the beach

He really is having a good time!

• P-Town
• 4 different flavors of fudge, a chocolate-covered mound of coconut, and this thing:

chocolate-covered peanut-butter-&-marshmallow-between-peanut-butter-cookies sandwich topped with Reese's Pieces

• dinner at Kream and Kone (not sure why they use K’s…)

Sunday:

• breakfast at Dunkin Donuts (1 munchkin and a small hot chocolate… I was getting full.)
• home
• dinner and the Celtics game at the Snow’s
• ice cream sundaes at the Snow’s  (one final hoorah!)

Now that’s a week off!!

On another, less calorie-dense note, I’ve started Tweeting!  You can follow my random, not-quite-blog-worthy thoughts and doings at Cait_Snow – you’re so excited!!     Along with this, I’ll be shutting off the “comment” option here (you can still contact me through my “contact” page) to stop all of the spam that has begun flowing into my account (no, I don’t want to buy prescription drugs or any enlarging devices, thank you!).  Feel free to “friend” me on Facebook, though, and comment away!

At my first race...

Mom, me, Mikaela - a tight trio!

She's happy to see me so happy.

Still supporting me all these years later...

Love you, mom!

The race was amazing!  The course was as advertised: pretty challenging with views more spectacular than you could imagine.

Just past the highest point on the bike course...

I had a tough swim, a strong ride, and a solid run, finishing in 3rd but missing a Kona spot.  Maaaaaan! The revised schedule now includes Lake Placid.  Love it!

We’re in Vegas until tomorrow (that’ll need it’s own post), home for a couple days, and then Tim and I head down to Chatham for our un-athletic, vacation-without-a-race weekend.  Fun!!

Cait,

I would love to hear some suggestions/ recommendations on how to beat the indoor training blues. I believe your winter has been as bad as ours. I generally like to spend some time on the mountain bike, or trail running. However this winter has proven tough with the snow and slop.
What are some of the tips you use to ‘break up’ time spent on the trainer or treadmill?

Keith

Again, I apologize for the delayed response, but, if your seasons are anything like New England’s, there’s a good chance you could still see another snow storm before the 4th of July!  To keep the motivation up when indoor sessions get long and repetitive we like to hold trainer parties.  Everyone brings a trainer and his/her bike, we set up in someone’s basement or at the local bike shop, and enjoy the misery together.  This winter we did nearly every one of our long Saturday rides in the CompuTrainer studio at Fast Splits.

It's amazing what a difference a few good friends and a little music can make!

When it comes to the treadmill, although I only had to do a handful of runs indoors this winter thanks to Saucony’s sweet training gear (I know, cheap plug, but it’s true!), I have done a few longer, 2+ hour sessions on those mind-numb-ers.  While people watching is a great way to take your mind off of the fact that you are putting one foot in front of the other but getting nowhere (in this case, literally, not figuratively), giggling at Mr. Top-heavy-in-a-baby-tee checking himself out in the mirror only does so much.  Along with this, I like to break the run into segments.  Here’s an example (use 130-140 as the desired HR zone):

• 15 min keeping HR 130-133
• 15 min keeping HR 132-136
• 15 min keeping HR 134-138
• 15 min keeping HR 136-140

If the run is longer than 60 minutes I usually take a bathroom/water break about 3/5ths of the way through.  I like to be beyond half-way done the first time I step off – makes getting back on that much easier.

What is the 6&60 workout ?

The 6&60 is an adventure of a workout consisting of a 6-hour bike and a 60-minute transition run.  The adventurous part is not so much in the duration but what can happen over that duration.  This past weekend a few of us had ourselves one such experience while putting in the final big weekend of training before St. George.  We had grown somewhat accustomed to the 75+º weather we’d been having for about a week, and largely ignored the forecast that called for a high of 50º with a 70% chance of showers.  That is, all of us except for Molly.  Smart girl!  I thought my wind vest, arm warmers, hat, thin gloves, socks (don’t usually wear them as my shoes are pretty snug), and toe covers (not full booties) would be plenty.  Actually, I thought I’ll throw the hat and socks on – I can always take ‘em off and stuff ‘em in my pockets if need be. What a dunce!  So we’re riding along, getting drizzled on, but feeling ok.  About an hour and a half in, Jesse and I find that we’ve pulled a bit ahead of the group, so we make a quick pit stop and head back to find the others.  When we hook back up with Molly she informs us that the other three have turned back.  They were too cold, and would finish up on the trainers.  Well!  Let the trash talk begin!  Jesse and I are going on and on about how great we feel, that we thought it was going to be significantly worse, and we can’t imagine going back to get on the trainers and finish the ride indoors.  Pause.  ”We should probably shut up – we’re less than 2 hours into a 7 hour ride.  Haha, a lot can go wrong in 5 hours!”, I say.  ”Yeah, good call,” Jesse agrees.  Molly just laughs at us.  Fast-forward 20 minutes: no one is talking.  I can’t feel my hands, my face, my feet, my lower legs.  It’s ok – no matter what, you will survive this…  You could possibly not survive this! We rolled into Lincoln about 15 minutes later.  Ski country.  Perfect!  Jesse bought a hat and some gloves.  I bought some big-ass ski gloves, a thick jacket/shirt thing, and some men’s large winter socks.  Once the toes were cut off, the socks made for some quite lovely ankle and lower-leg warmers.  Again, Molly just laughed us.  From the ski shop we rolled over to Dunkin’ Donuts for some green tea to warm the soul and the core.  Much better! Next stop:

The top of the Kancamagus Highway!

What you see there, on the sides of the road, is some not-so white snow.  The banks were about 3 feet high!  It hit 90º last week!!  Well, anyway, we could hardly see 10 feet in front of us as we crested the “hill”, but we’d certainly warmed up.  The rest of the ride was, luckily, pretty uneventful, and we made it home in decent time.  It’s a box of chocolates out there, folks, and you don’t get to use a tooth pick!

Cait,
I wanted to get with you about wet suits. I really only have enough to purchase one kind. I don’t plan on doing cold water swims, but I do want flotation. What do you wear?
Thanks so much!
-Wendy

Oh, this is an easy one!  BlueSeventy’s Helix.  Love it!

Warm, buoyant, and flexible!

I didn’t have a chance to legitimately try mine out this year before our first race (unless you count the 100 yards I swam in it to make sure it fit well), so I was concerned that I was going to blowup mid-swim due to the restriction that these things usually cause.  Nope!  This is the most comfortable wetsuit that I have ever swam in.  Seriously!  It’s at least worth a try-on!

Thank you all for reading, and keep the questions coming!

Ingredients:

• 8oz ground turkey
• 2c frozen mixed vegetables
• large sweet potato
• 1c reduced sodium chicken broth
• 1/2 can cannellini beans

Directions:

1. wrap sweet potato in aluminum foil and cook at 350º for ~90 min or until soft to the touch
2. spray skillet with canola oil; cook ground turkey over medium heat until just about brown all the way through
3. add mixed vegetables, place cover on top, continue to cook over medium heat while preparing “gravy”
4. in blender, combine ~1c chicken broth and 1/2 can cannellini beans (~30 seconds)
5. add broth/beans to turkey and vegis; all to simmer for 10 min
6. mash sweet potato in separate bowl
7. pour turkey/vegi/broth mixture into baking pan, and top with mashed sweet potato
8. broil on high for 25 min
9. Let cool for at least 10 minutes.  The inside is very hot!!
10. ENJOY!

It was love at first sight!

The sweet new kicks showed up the other day, and I took ‘em for a jaunt on Wednesday.  I love ‘em!  They are so light (size 8.5 is about 6.8oz), with no bulk (the heel is only mm’s higher then the forefoot), and there is so much flexion.  They’re neon pink slippers with traction!  I’m so excited to race in them next weekend!

We head over to CA Thursday, eat and chill Friday, race Saturday morning (woop woop!), hit Cold Stone Saturday afternoon, and fly home Sunday morning.  Yes, we are “weekending” in California.  What a life!

Off for the first outdoor 6&60 of the season (supposed to hit 70 today!).  Let the adventure begin!

Motivation

We need to remember why we are eating healthy and sticking to the Core Diet.  Hopefully there are a few reasons.  In my case, these include health, performance, and treat enhancement.  The first one is pretty self-explanatory: a nutrient dense diet that is low in preservatives and additives will reduce health-related issues.  I like this goofy little saying: “If you don’t take care of your body, where will you live?”  (Tim rolls his eyes every time I say it. )

The second reason probably has the most immediate impact and gets my head back in the game the quickest.  I know, through both research and personal experience, that body composition directly affects performance.  That piece of pizza, scoop of ice cream, bag of chips, plate of fries, stack of pancakes, bowl of cocoa puffs, king-size candy bar – you get the picture – will only taste good for as long as it takes me to eat it, but the pride that comes from meeting my potential and pushing my body to the limit will last for as long as I can remember it.  I may be a slow eater, but I certainly have a longer memory.

Treat enhancement – how good does that chocolate ice cream (substitute with your treat of choice) taste when you haven’t had it in a long time?  Does it taste as good when you have it every day?  To me, it does not.  Not that I don’t enjoy eating every day during the off-season, ’cause I do, but the first scoop tastes that much better!

Variety

Keeping things interesting at meal time makes eating healthy much easier.  Grilled chicken and steamed broccoli day in and day out can make some people (me!) hostile.  Finding new recipes and experimenting in the kitchen has helped me keep my sanity while sticking to the Core.  I posted a few recipes the other day, and will post more in the future.  I’d also love for you guys to share any recipes that you have!

Treat Night

I find that having one “cheat” meal a week also helps keep my head in the game.  We tend to make this a carb-heavy dinner on Fridays so that it doubles as a mini carb-load for our long Saturday training sessions.  This is when we have our pizza, ice cream, pasta, etc. that we haven’t had all week.  Without this meal I would most likely snap and gorge myself on any number of things that can be found on ThisIsWhyYoureFat.com.

Thanks for the question, Phoenix!  Hope this helps!

I’ve got a bit of writers block at the moment.  Anything you guys want to hear about?