wounded ego and sore legs...

I haven't posted in a very long time. So what happened in my oh so glamorous life in the past week. I have started to train with a purpose since I am pretty sure (90%) that I will participate in the Spring Sprint Triathlon May 3rd. I am still not too sure about my ability to complete this event to my satisfaction. I'm hoping I am not raising the bar too high we will see. I have yet to register.
I have also switched my workout schedule around a little and decided to try to work out 3 days a week early. Unfortunately this means that I am going to have some painful runs since I am really sluggish in the morning. I hope it isn't going to take too long to get used to.
However as much as running in the morning is hard, swimming is a pleasure. At 6:45am, the pool is empty, the cool temperature outside made the pool surface foggy. Loved it!
Today I went for a long bike ride, well long to my standards 27 miles. I got lost several times in Rancho Santa Fe. It was really nice but now my legs are really tired. Running tomorrow is going to be interesting. That is for the tired legs part of the title. The wounded ego is due to the fact that I wasn't able to unclip my pedals fast enough and ended up falling of course in front of several cars. I hate when this happens ;)

Surf stud

B went surfing today like every day and got lucky to have his picture taken by a professional photographer.

Since I'm always yapping about my athletic prouesse or what I think are prouesses here are some pictures. I am so proud of him.

On another note I posted a question on my gotribal (the women triathletes group I just joined) forum asking whether or not I should participate to the Spring Sprint triathlon in early May or postpone to another one taking place end of June. The answer was an overwhelming do it now. Now I have no other way out than doing the one in May. I want to make sure though that my training doesn't soak up my time with my family.

Dear god I will never dare posting should I do an Ironman?

One of the members answered do both, which I would admit I thought about, and she said that she did two ironmen back to back and 3 other ironmen the following month. Then she added that she wasn't an athlete. Lady news break someone who can finish an ironman is an athlete ;)

Today I ran 3.1 miles outside. First time I was able to not walk but it was still very hot. Next week I will start moving some of my workouts early morning to avoid the heat get things out of the way.

Where did the good resolutions go?

I'm talking about my long todo list to finish before guest arrive! Hahahah we stopped a while back and the guest bedroom is a mess of miscelleanous items, the garage not better, the faucets not changed because I'm the one who says there will always been next week.
Instead what have we done this week end. On friday, in between two lines of code I joined a group of women triathlete. For those of you who know me I am what is called an introvert which means I really don't like group especially group of people that I don't know. But since they have this mentor/mentee relationship I thought I could get some good advice and make the whole thing a little less intimidating. That night I went to the meeting and it was really nice. I met several people and hopefully will be able to schedule some workouts with them. I also got convinced to participate to the spring sprint triathlon in May.
On saturday we went to a store selling really nice guitars. B is turning 40 and has shown some interested in getting a new guitar. We took the kids to the store and we saw sooo many cool stuff, electric guitar, ukulele of all shape, mandoline, banjos etc.... The kids had a blast. Then we went to the beach grass cafe for breakfast.
After that we came back home and while the kids went down for a nap I put my new pedals and shoes and went for a short 9 miles bike to be followed by a 3 miles run.
Hey if I'm going to do a triathlon in May I wanted to see what it feels like to run after a bike ride. Well it is really really hard. I started, stopped went back to the house compained and went out the door again and ran 1.7miles. This means that I'm gonna have to start running after biking to get use to the transition.
Sunday was crazy, I had to go in to work at 7:30am for 2 hours. We took the kids to their swimming lesson. MEC loves to jump in the water it's too funny to see herself launch. MAC had the teacher for himself since the other kids were gone. Then we went to a little birthday party. We had friends over for dinner and I made filet mignon with red wine sauce, mash potatoes, salad and a pear upside down cake.
Today since I didn't feel like running, my legs are still sore from saturday, I went for a 40 minutes swim and I managed to finish 1500yards. I still have to be a faster biker and swimmer.
I'll try to do my first open water swim either this week end or next week. Depending on the feeling I have I will sign up for a sprint end of june.
Now I'm going to bed cuz I'm really really sleepy

Who am I kidding?

Today my dear B picked up my new triathlon wetsuit. Well second hand but new to me. I tried today and it is soooo tough to put on. I have no idea how I am going to take the darn thing off in a timely fashion if I am ever to compete.
The guy who sold it to us told me his wife didn't really like the cold water and being kicked! Just great.
I spent an hour watching clips on how to transitionned from swimming to biking and then some more clips about ironman. The latter is pure madness and I will say without shame I am NOT interested in doing one EVER! However I am secretly toying with the idea of a half ironman. I know it won't be for a long time since you need time to train for those things and time is hard to come by these days!
Today I did go swimming. I have to admit I don't know how many laps I did since my small brain has a real hard time keeping count. I would say probably around 1100 yards in 30 minutes.
On the girlie front I did receive my Frye flats and they are adorable. I am really happy to have chosen them over the boot. I know already that I will wear them a lot. Now I need to actually slap the return label on the box, fill out the return slip and send the boots back!
Tomorrow is running. Given the temperature at lunch I may go for a late afternoon run which is probably going to collide with B's evening run. I need to rework my work
out schedule a little.
I hope to get my new bike shoes before the end of the week so I can try them on this week end. I also absolutely have to learn how to do basic fixes on my bike... I'm still asking B to pump my tires Lame!
On the home front I have to confess that my laundry skills suck big big time!.
I hate it I hate it I hate it I hate it... Do you think that if I repeat that sentence enough time it will magically get folded and put away on its own. Lets hope lets just hope.

Thoughts

I have been back on the motivation train to at least train as if I was going to compete in triathlon any time soon. I have had a little cash and bought new bike shoes with the cleats and pedals to go with them, I joined the triathlon club of San Diego and found a wetsuit second hand to try to motivate and push me to go swim in the Cove.
I hate wasting money so I will either resale that stupid wetsuit or actually start swimming in the ocean.
This week was the week I was getting back in my training routine. I did run a very painful 3 miles yesterday and was planning on swimming today. Unfortunately my poor son was sick. He came to our bedroom crying this morning at 6:30pm and asking when it will be morning time. He couldn't sleep because of a headache! He was diagnosed with a sinus infection thus B and I shared the day. I went to work in the morning and worked from home in the afternoon and he did the other shift.
I hope the antibiotic work pronto pronto so that he can go back to school. I know I sound like a bad mom but balancing work and sick kids is really tough!
Besides that yesterday I cooked some tritip that I marinated in olive oil, balsamic vinegar, lemon juice and garlic. Unfortunately the meat was smelly and ended up in the trash! B made asparagus to go with that and I made a black olive, tomato,mozarella salad.
We ended up eating the veggies and some chicken wontons from TJ.
At lunch since I wasn't going to exercize I cooked myself the easiest bestest soup which is zuchini soup. Boil some water add some zuchini (either the green kind or the yellow squash). Cook until tender. Remove the water. Blend it until smooth add a little cream and salt.
All the benefits of eating soup for lunch were nullified by the vanilla cake (or should I say butter cake) I made with MAC this afternoon. I had to lick the batter and try a little piece. Yum Yum....
Tonight we have homemade pizza. Tomorrow hopefully I'll make it to swimming pool and release that extra tension that I tend to accumulate.
On the shopping front, I decided to embrace my modern chic style or should I say Audrey Hepburnish. I have to resolve myself to the fact that I am not office sexy trotting on 7 inch heels (do they even exists) type of woman. I am confortable in pants, heels and most of the time flats. I'm also not the classic slightly boring look and thus decided to trade the pair of camper boots against a pair of ballet flat.
I still need to find a few pairs of slim fitting pants for the summer and I will be all set!

So a week ago I finally decided to spend some of my "bonus" money to buy myself a pair of Camper's boot. The fact that they were on sale helped too. I was super excited but when I put them on I felt bleh. They are nice and all but I don't really wear skirt, I live in a place where it is hot most of the time. So I decided to return them. I saw a pair of cute flats a while back but of course my husband pointed out to me that I already have a bunch of flats thus it isn't a great choice.
On top of it he likes heels better. Unfortunately I am in a more down to earth kind of mood lately and I am trying to embrace my modern chic style as would put it Bunny and flats sound much more apealing then heels.
I am going to return the boots ;( and will hang on to the money until I find something really nice to spend it on. I suspect that I will buy that pair of FRYE flat I have been eyeing for a while or maybe something else.
My second purchase from that bonus money was a new pair of bike shoes, cleats and pedals. Since I'm a little on the cheap side I voted no for the 120$ pair of shoes and opted for the 85$ on sale for 35$. Those will stay with me though.
On the exercize front I have decided to get back to my 4 days a week routine and kicked it off by a short but somewhat intense (by my standard) bike ride. I felt my legs all sunday. Today I went for a 3 mile run at lunch which left me very very comatose all afternoon. I know it will get better I just know I have to do it more!
Tomorrow I go swimming, wednesday running then thursday swimming.

Cooking spree

Yesterday I had craving for new foods so I decided to try to make a Chicken Pad Thai. I have not been able to win the asian food recipe. I am decent at the dumplings, we did make some sushi at home that were good, I can do some currys and simple asian. I however suck at stir fry and thai food in general.
I found a recipe on the williams sonoma website which seemed fairly simple. It was good a little dry. In other word I wouldn't trade the spices thai one for mine!

I think we will have a japanese evening soon at the coon a) because I want to drink sake and b) because I found some very very tempting recipe. I will have to be good and write down the exact ingredient.

Yesterday I prepped some pork to make carnitas. For once I used my slow cooker, and let this huge pork shoulder simmer all night long in mexican lager, orange juice and lime juice. Since I have a ton of meat I decided to invite my neighbors to share this mexican dinner with us.
I have some fresh tortillas, avocado to make fresh guacamole, some chipotle to make a creamy chipotle sauce and some rice with some cilantro like at chipotle. I will make a salad to get some green.
Stay tune for some more cooking adventures.

Craving new foods and new cocktail

I know weird title, but I am craving new foods. Meaning food that I haven't cooked in a loooong time. Two christmases ago my husband gave me a cookbook titled simply japanese and I never once made a recipe.
At Ralph today I almost picked up a bottle of sake and decided to look at that book again. So many recipes looked good that I decided I will make a japanese dinner very soon.
Tonight however I just finished the kids meal, rice, edamame, and teriaky chicken. I settled on chicken pad thai for us. I will serve that with a side of raab asian style and cucumber salad for me (I think). I never succeeded at Pad Thai noodle so I will let you know how it went.
Tomorrow night we are having carnitas tacos.
Friday we are having friends over and the menu is up in the air!!! All I know is that I'd like to try to asian pear mojito from PF Changs. I found the recipe online and I'm very eager to try it.
No workout to speak of this week as all my errands/life is getting in the way of my workout schedule. I am hoping to resume this saturday.

So tired soooo tired....

But why really I should be wide awake, when the only thing I want to do is crawl in bed. This post will thus be a brief one.
On Friday we went to a classical concert in La Jolla to listen a french pianist Helene Grimaud perform a series of Bach pieces. It was amazing. I have heard CDs of her before but I think seeing her hands on the piano was just from another world.
The concert was preceded by a really nice chilly dinner at the "top of the cove" where I had a cocktail and a glass of wine in 45 minutes. This contributed to me nodding off several time to my dismay during the concert. The audience's average age was 65 and I surely didn't look the age but felt it :)

This week end we dove into the reality of economical crisis. We left "yuppy hell" on Saturday morning to drive to Palmdale which is East of LA. This town which 40 years ago had all the mystery associated with cool stealth military technology with Lockheed Martin is now for the part I saw run down town with gang and criminal activity. Beyond the scary part you see who is touched by the economy downturn. People in our neighborhood who are getting foreclosed on are usually people who bought beyond their means. I truly believe that people who foreclosed in the neighborhood we went to are just trying to put a roof over their families head.
It was still good to see family. MEC was running after B's auntie little white dog which renamed Brownie instead of Frannie. MAC had a great time with legos and transformers all residual toys from his second cousin T.
We were glad to be back to San Diego since we travelled two week ends in a row.

Tonight I was faced by a wasteland of a fridge. Not wanting to pull the frozen dinner (potstickers, pirogis, raviolis or tamales), two nights in a row I had to improvize. I perfected one of my easy pasta discovery:

- Pancetta, prosciutto or bacon
- 2 Onions
- White wine
- Thyme
- Sour cream
- Pasta

Saute the pancetta/prosciutto/bacon
Remove the fat and the put on the side
Add a little olive oil
Saute the onions
Add thyme sprig
Cook until tender
Add cup of white wine
Let simmer for a little bit, add the sour cream (1tbsp), and the bacon
Add to the pasta
Sprinkle some parmesan cheese.

My other one which is not of my creation but is super easy and good is Tuna pasta

- 2 cans of tuna
- 1 lemon
- Olive oil
- Fusili pasta
- Basil, cilantro if wanted

Squeeze lemon juice in a serving bowl
Add olive oil just enough so that the sauce isn't too lemony
Add the tuna
Cook pasta and add to the sauce when done.
Add cut herbs if wanted.

Again I truly believe that a healthy weight comes with regular excercize, balanced diet. This means eating a little of everything and first and foremost cooking from scracth as mush as possible, eating as little processed food as possible and drink as little soda as possible even the diet, zero calorie kind! Sorry I needed to add my little propaganda in this email!

Sorry Bunny I really really suck at posting pictures but I hope you enjoy the recipes eventhough I haven't been good at delivering the weekly meals!

All alone...

I feel all alone in this world of blogs.... Again my friends have abandonned me and I am lonely as I typed those meaningless words on the keyboard. This blog has really become a dump of all things that go through my brain and I have to admit that 99% is really meaningless. But hey it keeps me entertain ahahaha.

So today I have decided that I am not ready to compete in a triathlon. Mostly I am not ready to tackle open water swimming. I have decided to follow a training for a triathlon as closely as time permits. Speaking of time playing tricks on me, I had a run all planned out today. I was early at work for an 8am meeting and was mentally preparing myself for a good run when paf, a meeting was scheduled from 11-12pm and it dragged until 12:30pm!!!! Arghhh with a meeting at 1:30pm no time for a run. After that I wanted to get stuff done and although I had a really productive day my run went out the window.
Tomorrow morning I'm going for kindergarten orientation in the morning but will scoot out of the office for a short run.
MAC is starting kindergarten next year and juggling drop off and pick up at 2 different schools, homework and all the other things is going to be interesting and challenging. This is why I decided to just train. Get better, run faster, swim faster and bike more. Speaking of running faster I am going to brag a little and report that since the half marathon although I didn't run more than 6 miles at a time I managed to keep my pace below 10 min/miles! Yay!
I am lucky the training process is what I enjoy, seeing those number get better, have satisfying runs pushing my limits.
A group of guys is going to start biking at lunch like I'm gonna follow ahahah at least it will motivate me to get out the door!
To my dismay I was looking at my back in the mirror yesterday looking for any hint of toning.... Muscles were absent however a tan line for my really sexy swimsuit showed up after only two swimming sesssion. Dude it takes me weeks of exposure at the beach to get any decent tan!
Now I'm gonna have to put sunscreen on my back!
Tomorrow we are going on a date to a classical piano concert. I hope to have time to grab a bite to eat before hand. In the meantime my bed is calling my name. So here you are with a whole page of random meaningless little facts about my life. Interesting huh

Why and When...

Why on earth am I interested and motivated to do a triathlon? Because honestly I don't really have the time. I think I'm going to continue with my current workout schedule and try to replace one run by a swim and go bike at work every other week!
I think I am going to try to do an All Women sprint triathlon in october. I may even try to raise money for Ovarian Cancer research.
I have a little money to buy myself a wetsuit to tackle the open water swim but I'm scared. I feel like when I wanted to run a half-marathon but wasn't sure I could...

I did go for a swim workout at lunch and start pushing a little. I did 1400 yards in 35 minutes and I can feel my arms. Hey maybe I'll get definition in my arms and maybe some abs out of all this non-sense.
New workout regimen:
Mon off, tuesday short swim, wednesday run, thursday long swim, friday off/short bike, saturday long run,sunday long bike
I will keep you posted on the progress of my training.

On friday I am going to Kindergarten orientation for my son!!! What happen... I am not ready for this... Really really not. I should have a newborn not a 5 year old ;( Makes me feel old in a way eventhough I know I am not.

We are still utterly stoked with our new floors! Why on earth didn't we do that sooner! The crappy/destroyed carpet doesn't even look that bad. Well it does but hey it will have to wait.
Tonight I am going to cook some filet mignon with a a red wine blue cheese sauce and mashed potatoes. Yummmmm I am starving. After I run I am usually not that hungry but boy after I swim I am starved.
Also I have been craving Basil Martini... The very same thing I got sooo drunk of at our chow cow. I also found the recipe of the Asian Pear Mojito from PF Changs which doesn't contain any asian pear hmmmm interesting.
To be tried very soon.

News news....

We just came back from Montana and we landed on thursday night on a snow covered runway. A little impressive I have to say. We picked up our car and manage to find our way to Bryan's stepdad house. Everything was covered in snow. It was beautiful.

The kids got all excited with the labs and we all went to bed quite early. The next day after some visit to the grandma we made it to the family ski resort. We managed to rent some skis gear and go down a few slopes! We had to take turns though since "la pitchoune" wasn't too sold on the idea of bein abandonned for an hour to someone she didn't know doing something strange. Big MAC however loved the idea of learning how to make "French fries" and "pizza".

The next day was spent walking in the snow and taking B's mom out to lunch and shopping a little. We flew back on sunday. La pitchoune was so excited and overly tired when we landed in SD that she was running screeching "We are in San Diego, We found it!, We found it!!!" too funny. The second she was in her seat buckled she passed out!.

During that time we had our floors redone. We finally decided that since we weren't gonna move anytime soon might as well cash a little money and get rid of the stupid tile and pergo and put some nice engineer wood.

Since they had to do a lot of demo and grinding to level the floors there was a think layer of dust covering everything. We also moved all our furniture in the kitchen and only moved a few items when we got back to San Diego. My angel of a housekeeper took the initiative to move all the furniture back from the garage, the kitchen and cleaned everything up!
Tomorrow we are back to our exercize routine and I will either run or swim since this week end we are going to Palmdale visit the other side of the family!