Thanksgiving week end

After a big meeting at work I decided to take my afternoon off. My original intent was to do some grocery shopping but instead after hitting the gym I decided to get started on MEC's Christmas dress.
That night I whipped out a pretty nice little dinner pork loin and pasta and to bed we went.
Thanksgiving day started by a 5:30am wake up call arghhh to go run a 10K. Picked up a friend, dropped off two very tired little kids and off running we went. From our group of 3 I of course was last to cross the finish line. Almost stopped after the first loop felt quite nauseous the whole race but managed to pull a 56:58min 10K which was 6.4m instead of 6.2.
Somewhere along the course decided that I could not excel at everything and that well even being a slow runner but going out as often as I do counts to something ;)

Back at the house, showered and cooked some waffles. We then went back to our friends house for a bit and crashed hard for a long nap. Woke up as everyone was finishing dinner and started cooking. B concocted some nice little lemon drops.
Dinner was very quiet as it was just the 4 of us. We had turkey, mash potatoes, apple shallot dressing, apple pie some nice wine.

Everything was quite good my apple pie was a bit dry but with some ice cream it was all good.

Friday was quite got up late and went to Oceanside to check out the pier. Followed by dinner with friends at our house. Lasagna was on the menu that night, some more lemon drops and wine.

This morning we had a baby sitter for a couple of hours while I tried to mountain bike. Again my bike even though named through me on the ground multiple time. I just realized that I'm not super comfortable on narrow trail and tight turns.... You will probably find me practicing this in the park behind my house. After 2H00 of fun and falls we came back home, at brunch/lunch at the coffee cup in La Jolla followed by a stroll along the water....
I don't know what will be for dinner, the kids want waffle....

Learning to ride again

I had no idea that mountain biking would require me to learn how to bike all over again. That a mountain bike is actual alive and very much like a stallion tends to throw me on the ground on if I'm not smooth enough.

Last sunday we had a baby sitter watch the kids for a couple of hours and went on a ride with B. I know some couples go on a date our idea of a date is an 11M run or a 2H00 mountain biking ride.

So this time B ampted the challenge a bit and well "Black beauty" deemed me unworthy of riding on her many times on that ride. I have the bruises and scratches to prove it.

I always wonder why I have this desire to get humbled again and again and again. I liked riding on the road, I love the smoothness of pedaling as fast as possible the numbness of it all. After the pounding of the run it is like floating on the asphalt.

I love the challenge of mountain biking. I totally and utterly suck at it but what is new. It is a lot about control, smooth riding, and a equilibrium between speed and control... Yanking a bit too much on the handle bar and you are thrown on the ground. Go too slow and you end up in the bushes.... So much to learn so many more bruises and scratches to come. It would appear I only dream about scratches and bruises even though I am pretty scared of hurting myself.

Luckily I wear jeans more than skirts. However I will wear some wrist guard to protect my bones! I will bite the dirt many more times and hopefully my fear will subside slightly and I will feel more comfortable.

B out of solidarity ate shit big time that day trying to hop over some rocks in front of 10 people. He has a more impressive battle scare although I do win on the sheer number of scratches and bruises on my lower legs.

Besides that well, MAC has been sick for the past few days. Low grade fever that doesn't go anywhere. I also am sick which is really unfortunate since I was looking forward to getting back to my training.

Hopefully back to normal tomorrow and back to work. If I stay home too much I'll get funny ideas of working part time and all....

Yum Yum

So it is recovery week so well I don't have many workouts and well I just ditched today's.... Well life caught up, Von's trip after picking up the kids from school, cleaning up the house so I can find my inner peace in a clean kitchen. (Don't ask) A dire need of a glass of wine didn't really helped my motivation. So there went the bike workout oops.

What else, well I've been hit or miss when it comes to cooking. I don't want to cook and then I creat something new.

Anyways tonight B told me he was getting sick and that he wanted something tasty, and comfort food like. Bacon, pasta came to mind, I came accross a potato, bacon green onion tart recipe on Williams Sonoma with one of my favorite cheese (Roblochon). I'm sure you probably know by now why I still have 5lbs to lose eventhough I work out like a lot.

So anyways I skimmed over a pasta recipe that sounded interested and this is what I made:

- 1 tsp fennel seed

- 1 big clove of garlic

- a few chili flakes

- 2 bratwurst saussages without casing

- two tomatoes grated

- 1/4 cup port wine

- 1/2 cup heavy cream

- Pasta

- 1/2 - 1 cup of mushrom

Crush the fennel seeds and add the clove garlic, add the chili flakes.

In a pan add a glub of olive oil and sautee the garlic/fennel mixture

Add the saussage crumbled

Dice the mushrooms and add it to the mixture

Cook a bit and let the water evaporate

Add the port wine (it gives the rich sweet taste)

Grate the tomatoes add to the mixture

Cook for a bit

Add the cream.

Sprinkle some blue cheese if wanted.

Enjoy!

All the gear and no idea aka "Black Beauty"

WTF is that all about... Well this saturday I splurged big time! Thanks to our stock and an early birthday/christmas present combo I am the proud owner of a super duper cool mountain bike!
I never named my bike I already thought it was a bit weird thing to do but I don't know when I saw it I knew that it would have a name and it will be black beauty! Cheesy cheesy but here it is ....

I love the mat black with hot pink accent! Very like me... just the right amount of girliness ;)

Anyways I took it out for a spin with B in the Penasquitos/Del Mar Mesa area. I won't lie to you I wanted to be riding my road bike to get to the trail. There are some steep hills to get there. Once on the trail though it was love at first sight. I loved the fact that just behind suburbia you have a piece of nature heaven. I went down my first steep steep hill, learned how the bike handles what to do etc... Then we did some pretty easy single track stuff. Took some steep turns and I made some very girly sounds and of course fell in the bushes. Well I didn't know that when you start pedaling and you pull a bit on the handle bar the whole bike would do a wheely! Heck I've never been able to do a wheely in my entire life!

So a scratched knee later and bruised ego we finished my first outing!

I can't wait to go out again! Can Software engineer be called off work so they go out an play ;) Oops no we'll have to wait until the week end.

While out on the trails I also decided that trail running sounded darn good and so I started looking into putting a small group of girls to go trail running!

To get the kids into biking we took them on the 56 bike path. MEC wasn't crying as much as on her first outing and she actually had a great time. Her little legs were pumping happily until she started complaining that her legs were too tired... MAC was running circles around us. It was great fun and we will be going out soon again!

After a trip to "In-n-out" burgers to get the kids out of the house while B worked for a bit, I went for my 2H00 run. My stomach behaved considering the double and double I wolfed down an hour before.

Like a turtle I slowly but steadily I managed to run 9.5M while keeping my HR at a decent zone.

Today was the first day of my recovery week. Eventhough I took two days off last week because of extreme soreness I am embracing this recovery week.

Got my legs back

Well almost but at least good enough to consider running! For the past two days I have been walking like a grandma robot, barely keeping up, choosing the elevator instead of the stairs. The last time that happened I was 8 months pregnant with MEC and about 5% of my lungs capacity.
Pretty pathetic, but hey I've learned that a) obviously I do need a strength training program, b) what to expect and c) next time I'll need to go to my own pace! In the process I'll try to toughen up and be more stoic ;)

So one more hard week end and a recovery week ;) Maybe some mountain biking also this week.... stay tuned

Can I have some cheese with that whine?

And I thought I was getting in OK shape and I was pretty tough until I met Lesley Paterson my coach. I know I'm going to be in pain when I go to one of her workout session but oh boy It is always about 10 times worse! Today I went to tri-strength training at rehab united where I got my arse handed to me on a platter in a BIG way! Two hours later I can barely move! Not only you have to remember a succession of move, try to not think about the pain in your limb but count your rep! Let me tell you I made a total fool of myself on all three accounts!
It is never pleasant when your coach tells you if they are doing it you can do it too!

Anyways once more I have been humbled... It seems to be a recurrent theme since I have started working with her, but then again what doesn't kill you will make you stronger!

On a more interesting note I believe I'm going to try to get into Mountain Biking.If only I could find a slower crazy girl to come trail run with me and mountain biking. B wants me to go with him but then we have to find someone to watch the kids!

More on that later and maybe a new cool bike in my future....