From the garden to your plate

From the garden to your plate is something I like to do or at least try. Last year I grew peas in our pocket side garden (this is the space allocated for veggies). I had enough peas for two risottos made with fresh peas and saussage yum yum. MEC even started liking pea after helping me harvest them. Even the gopher enjoyed some too! This year I chose the "blast" or "sink or swim"approach or sink or swim. I also decided to increase the diversity of veggies.... After throwing a germed finger potatoes into the ground and getting these! Aren't they cute, eventhough my mom promised me 1lb of potato for every potota planted I'm not great at estimating weight but I'm pretty sure these don't weigh 1lb. I decided to plant 4 ot 5 bigger germed potatoes, then I threw some yellow squash seeds next to the fence, in hope that they will climb it and decorate it and feed us all in one swoop. Next I threw three different kind of tomato seeds and finally two rows of peas. Behind my herbs (oregano, thyme and sage) will go some swiss chard and probably something else... I will throw some arugula as well as butternut squash... In the meantime, using the herbs in my garden I prepared this pork loin

Here is the recipe:

• 1 pork tenderloin open in the middle (not cut through but more like butterflied)


• mushroom (white, or portobello or crimini)


• blue cheese


• bunch of oregano


• bunch of sage


• bunch of thyme


• bunch of rosemary


• 1 glass of white wine


• garlic choped.

Cut the tenderloin in the middle to open it NOT to cut it in half. Dice the mushrooms, then mix them with some blue cheese (you don't need much), the herb all chopped and the garlic. Put the herb mixture on top of he pork, add a bit of olive oil and a glass of wine and cook it in the oven until done (about 45min at 390)...

Serve with some roasted potatoes like the little one above cooked as such

Quarter the fingerling potatoes skin on, put in an ovenproof dish, sprinkle with coarse salt or normal salt and some olive oil and cook in the oven until crispy.

Enjoy with a glass of white wine or red.

Bone tired aka I hate daylight savings

I don't know what it is but since Sunday I have been bone tired. I skipped my run on sunday and not by sheer lazyness just because I was tired. Granted that MEC complained of an ear ache at midnight and that for some cosmic reason it was hurting in her bed but not in ours. Then her idea of sleeping in our bed meant lets hug mama while slowly shoving her out of the bed because of course her spot is the most comfortable in the whole bed.
I woke up cranky with a headache and that feeling lingered all day. Well along with the fear of an ear infection! I think she sensed that her parents wouldn't be able to cope with one more sickness! Luckily my parents are getting her in a few days so I'm sure we won't have a fever in the next month, but probably promply following their departure! Murphy's law
Monday I could simply not wake up. I managed to motivate to do a bike workout but my legs were so tired that it resulted in one of the most pathetic session in my training history!
The highlight of that evening was watching Serenity once more which was awesome if only the movie could have been shorter! We were in bed at 11:3opm and well 6:30 came only too fast.
Today wasn't as bad as yesterday but the energy level didn't quite reach the required quota to tackle a 6x0.5M interval on the treadmill. Instead I did a strength workout which left me unsatisfied will need to rework that routine.

I'm falling asleep as I'm writing this post so let me wrap it up with a recipe...
To get back on our healthier habit I decided that tonight would be soup night. Today's flavor Potato Leek soup and since I've been craving biscuit I decided to try to make cheesy biscuits. Tada I even have a picture today ;)

• 4 potatoes
• 3 leeks (if you like it more potatoy than leeky replace a leek by a potato)
• bacon (totally optional, it is how I get my husband to tolerate my vegetable soups). I get the thicker kind with the least amount of fat. I was very pleased with today's choice.
• 1 cube or packet of chicken bouillon
• 1 tbsp of butter.

• In a pot, saute de bacon until crispy
• Remove the liquid fat but leave the bits of crispy thingy
• Add the butter and Saute the sliced leek until tender (you can use olive oil instead of butter)
• Add the quatered/peeled potato
• Add the chicken bouillon
• Cover with water
• Let simmer until potatoes are tender
• Puree in a blender

For the biscuits since I haven't found Urban Solace Cheesy biscuit recipe I settled for Red Lobster one courtesy of the "Cooking Photographer".

I was a bit taken aback when I saw that instead of butter the recipe called for vegetable oil.

The result was pretty good not quite as decadent at the one served at either restaurant but quite delicious still.

On this note I will jump into bed fall into a blissful sleep and hope that tomorrow morning will find me more rested! one can hope.

What do I eat

When I'm alone!
Some people go for easy when they are alone well I'm the complete opposite. I like inventing new dishes when I'm alone. On Friday night I had a bike workout, so I decided to start cooking while the kids were watching a show. That way when I was done I could just cook the pasta add the sauce and eat at a decent hour. Well that was before I knew my bike workout would start at 9:10pm! Nonetheless it was perfect for the mood I was in when done.
Saussage Mushroom pasta with blue cheese.
(Excuse the lack of exact measurements)
Handful or more of white Mushrooms choped in small pieces
1-2 cloves of garlic chopped
1tbsp fennel seeds crushed
1 cup of white wine
chicken broth
1 italian saussage
1tbsp of heavy wipping cream
2tbsp blue cheese
pasta

Put some olive oil in a hot pan
Sautee your garlic
Add the fennel seeds and let it cook for bit
Add the crumbled saussage and cook for 5min
Add the mushroom cook for 5 min
Add the wine cook for a bit
Then add the chicken broth (not too much so that it isn't too soupy but enough so the sauce isn't too dry)
Let it cook so the flavor develop.
Add salt and pepper to taste.
You want a sauce not too dry not too watery.
Just before serving add the cream and the blue cheese. Serve with pasta.

Shrimp with Avocado

Shrimp deveined and peeled
Garlic chopped
Olive oil
Lemon
Cilantro
Avocado


Mix shrimp with some lemon juice, salt and pepper
Sautee the garlic in some olive oil, add the shrimps sautee until cook if it gets too dry add some lemon juice.
On a plate cut the avocado, drizzle lemon juice and add chopped cilantro.
Add the shrimp when cooked.

Bon appetit!

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!

Better

Ok so I weasled my way out of my bike workout. I was tired and hungry... I know lame excuse which means I'm doubling up tomorrow.
Anyways since yesterday was really good unhealthy dinner today we have a really good healty dinner.
I made some flank steak that I marinated with lemon juice, olive oil, a splash of balsamic vinegar, herbs from the garden (sage, thyme, oregano and rosemary) half a shallot and two garlic clove.
B bbqed the meat. With it we had some asparagus and some red quinoa.
Before that I made a salad with cherry tomatoes, black olives and mozarella!

I am far from being stuffed actually a bit hungry still but ready to go to bed...

Oops

OK so B went out tonight and usually eat good when I'm alone. Well I ate good but not good good.
It was delicious but really not that healthy and now I'm feeling stuffed and blah for the third night in a row... Not pleasant.

So I feasted on bacon/onion/blue cheese pasta... yes I dared and I will be mad if I'm 1lb heavier tomorrow duh! For dessert, I seared some fresh apricot in a bit of butter ( a real small bit), with a bit of maple syrup sprinkled some almond meal and served with a scoop of vanilla icecream.

Again I will be mad tomorrow when i realized that well tonights dinner added a pound to my weight!

So good night I need to digest ;)

Calories and Calories

I never believed in every calories are born equal. Hey I'm a food snob what do you expect?

So on the week end we workout quite a lot... Even though today I cut about 45min out of my workout but my legs are really really sore.

So this morning I made waffles and not your ole plain waffle... just the most mouthwatering melting in your mouth waffles...

Then we nibbled on some a bit of pita bread, some hummus... And dinner not healthy but the yum factor was off the chart, still decided if I'm gonna go for seconds. Here you go it isn't healthy but I am still firm believer in calories are not all born equal...

Cut some bacon (about 4/5 strips) choose the meatier ones because fat doesn't taste that good.

Slice 1/2 onion

saute until the bacon gets all crispy.

Add some fresh thyme, some sage...

Remove most of the fat come on lets not get carried away

Then either cook some gnocchies or some finger potatoes or maybe even some ole plain pasta...

If you chose the potatoes slice them and sautee, if you chose the gnocchies saute too... didn't try the pasta.

Once done sprinkle some blue cheese and voila serve that with a glass of red and enjoy!

Yum Yum.... Yesterday I totally binged on my rice balls (sorry bunny I was too busy eating and I forgot the pictures).

OK need to finish my dinner and watch "Burn Notice" hmmmm happiness ;)

Binge

Most people binge on ice cream, chocolate cake or something... I binged on brown rice balls, my favorite comfort food on a late Sunday night!
I think I posted the recipe before but hey here it is again:
Cook brown rice (1 1/4 cup)
Once cook add 2 eggs and some cheese (I usually use cheddar)
Form balls in your hand (a bit yucky) then roll the balls in bread crumbs
Saute in olive oil.

Serve it with a salad and enjoy with a glass of wine!

Mother's day

Yeah it is mother's day... I am not really into mother's day, valentine's day and others day. All I need is a happy mothers day from my kids and some quality time with the family and I'm happy.

On Valentines day a nice dinner with B is all I need.

This week end on the training front I had a 3H00 ride and 1:30 run with some hill repeat at the end.

We had some errands to run and it was pretty hot on saturday so I decided to go run that day and go bike on sunday morning. Happy mother's day to me ;)

After spending 3H00 at the mall, so that B can try every single tee shirt at JCrew, Banana Republic, Old Navy, Sun Diego, Hollister and Express. He is not picky but seriously there is nothing at all for a guy who like relaxed tee fairly thick. The tee shirt are either too narrow, too form fitting, too long, too thin etc.... His job is also super laid back with some kids that could seriously be his own they are 21! Identity crisis .... Anyways he found 2 tee shirts and a pair of shorts! The kids totally scored at Old Navy and I bought MEC three dresses and none of them are Pink or Purple!

I didn't find anything for myself but I wasn't really in the mood for shopping. We had lunch at CPK at 3:30pm, we got home at 4:30pm I dutifully put on my shorts and running shoes and head out the door for my run. First 45min were good slow but good. The first 4 2min hill repeats were strong too but the last 4 were tough and I started to come undone.

We had a late dinner now that I think of it it was the regular time at 9:30pm. I made some lentil salad with tomatoes, mozarella, prosciutto and arugula. Absolutely delicious.

This morning I woke at 8am and needed to get out the door for my bike ride. Yesterday the weather was gorgeous but today not so much.

I drank coffee and ate some toast and got on the road. Since I wasn't too keen on trying a new route by myself I settled on a big funky figure 8 between Carmel Valley and Rancho Santa Fe. I know the roads there so I feel pretty safe.... I started my longest ride to date! It is nothing exceptional but still 42M 3:15min and a few hills!

It was great ride. We then had lunch at the Beach Grass Cafe followed by grocery shopping, homework and an evening with friends.

Very very good week end.

Yum Yum

So when I run I usually crave juice cold fruits like Mango and greens especially when it is hot!
Today wasn't an exception. We had a really late lunch at CPK so of course we weren't hungry before like 9:30pm. Oh wait this is our usual dinner time ;)
Anyways I had to put together something quickly. The other requirement of that meal was healthy. I have been reading blogs after blogs of really good triathlete in great shape so I also want to shed a few pounds.
I bought a while back a pack of cooked lentils from Trader Joes. I didn't really know how it tasted so it can of stayed in the fridge for a while. Tonight I decided to take a shot at making a salad.

cherry tomatoes + mozarella balls + prosciutto + arugula + warmed olive oil with garlic + balsamic vinegar + lentils = The most delicious salad ever!

Great! We love lentils one of the 5 healthiest food great source of protein, iron and fiber...
But then we love steaks, wine, chocolate and ice cream!

Back from ....

I'm back from the mixed emotions I'm left with after my parents leave. I'm back from all the frustration at work or most of it... and most of all I'm back from my training hiatus!

So a month ago I attended my first braveheart brick session. They are famous because they are hard. I went there knowing I was going to work hard until I realized (after the first 15 minutes) that I was going to work very hard. I should have known when my coach said with a candid smile you won't need your heart rate monitor today.

Anyways since it is in Mission Bay at 5:45pm on thursday night they are hard to attend on a regular basis. But since my coach is thoughtful she started putting them in my weekly workouts.

Today I was able to do the whole session.... which is about as hard as you can for 5 min on the bike followed by 4 min as hard as you can (sprinting) running 2 min easy and do it again 2 more times!

Anyways after that I was hungry and nothing really sounded good nor was ready to be made. So after rummaging through the fridge a little bit and Bryan suggesting some bacon with gnocchi I decided to cook for myself gnocchi with a little bit of cream, bacon bits and spinach. I added some tomato/mozarella salad with some basil from the yard and some leftover jelly beans from Easter. Now that I think of it I should have gone to the yard and harvest some peas!

Now I'm ready for bed!

bean soup... think not

Tonight I was going to go back to our soup night tradition which completely disappeared by lack of motivations. I decided to go for a white bean soup. Don't ask me why but lately I have had cravings for the creamy white beans my grand mother used to make with leg of lamb. I soaked the beans overnight then started cooking the soup. I did my workout but oh boy a white bean soup didn't sound too appetizing and the beans weren't exactly creamy :( I decided to ditch the bean soup and go for gorgonzola cheese pasta :)
Nothing better than comfort pasta dish! Oh and did I mention the crispy bacon...

Out of this world

I find nothing more rewarding than a good meal... well actually maybe some other things are also close to the top!
Anyways today I decided to make shrimps. I browsed for a while the williams sonoma websites for some recipes. I was debating between the "Greek Shrimp with tomatoes and Feta cheese" and the "Shrimp with orange and tequila". Since I didn't have feta cheese and B hsn't been in the mood for tequila since he fought with Jose and lost I had to find something else. I stumbled upon the "Sizzling Shrimp with Garlic" recipe.
http://www.williams-sonoma.com/recipe/sizzling-shrimp-with-garlic-gambas-al-pil-pil.html

I served it with pearl coucous and I added a cup of spinach to my dish and of course since I never have everything I switched Vodka for Sherry. It was a tadd spicy since I didn't bother measure a teaspoon of red pepper flakes. We drank some pinot with it and oh boy was it yummy!
Tomorrow since B is going for his piano lesson and I have a bike workout I will start a white bean soup in the crockpot tonight. More food post to come but now let me tune to NCIS Los Angeles ;)

Heaven

Ahhhh a good home cooked meal is such a great therapy to a downed ego. On today's menu beef stew and mashed sweet potatoes. Sorry bunny no pictures I was too hungry ;)

I sauteed some carrots, celery, onion in some olive oil and a tad of butter.
Added the beef and some thyme, some oregano, some sage and rosemary from the garden
Covered with red wine, a beef bouillon.
Cover and put it in the oven -->Key to a tender beef stew if you don't have time to put it in the crockpot.
Cook for 1:00 at 300F then another 1:00 higher to reduce the sauce.

I finished the dinner with a few chocolate chips and marshmallows.
Soooo good.

Butterflies

This morning we went to pick up our race bibs for tomorrow's half marathon. I have the jitters, butterflies in my stomach. We drove up the turn around point and this "flat" half marathon is false advertisement. Yes it isn't La Jolla Half but it isn't flat either.

Anyways I am scared. It is going to be interesting as I will be running alone probably. B will be starting 1 or 2 waves ahead of me. I hope I will be strong mentally I hope I will get in my groove and just push through the miles. I hope to get into my sprint triathlon mindset.

Which is slow and steady on the swim, push on the bike since it is one of my good sport finally get in the groove in the run. We don't stop, we can slow down but we just keep going. The whole things only takes 1:30 or a little less which is less than the half marathon and it is more diverse but I'm hoping to be able to apply the same mental attitude.

I did train for this thing. Maybe not as hard as I should but I didn't slack off either so I should be able to have a decent/good race.

What else is going on. On Wednesday I had lunch with Bunny which was nice since we haven't been able to chat much since she moved in the other building and since we are both overloaded with work. On thursday I went out with my neighbor to dinner followed by a chick flick. We saw leap year which was really nice, exactly what I was in the mood for.

Yesterday evening we had some friends over for dinner. At lunch time I had literally 5 minutes to throw the meat, wine and some herbs in the crockpot and leave. When I got home I sauteed some onions, garlic, mushrooms then the meat and the wine. I threw everything in the oven on 350 and finished to cook it for about 1 hour or 2.

I was hungry for biscuits so I made some. They are really easy to make and it was so yummy. As a side dish I made mashed potato/sweet potato. It was such a great rainy day dinner.

Tonight the kids are going on their first sleepover so MEC woke up last night and cried on and off for about 2H00. She finally went back to bed and fell asleep at midnight. I hope she will be good tonight!

Work has been crazy but I delivered my application and I started on my other tasks. Now on to some relaxation since the kids are completely into the "I Spy" book. MAC reading and the both of them trying to find the items.

Comfort food

So my favorite comfort food lately has been brown rice croquettes and chicken burrito.
The Brown Rice Croquettes are from when I was growing up. It is super duper easy simple, fast and good.

Cook some about 1 cup brown rice
Strain the rice
Add an egg, some cheddar cheese, salt and pepper
Shape the rice mixture into balls
Roll them in bread crumbs so that they are covered.
Heat some olive oil in a non stick pan
Cook the balls until they nice and crispy.

Enjoy with a green salad.
This has been the perfect replacement for the pirogis since Trader Joes discontinued them. It is also quicker to make on the go.

Our second favorite comfort food has been chicken burritos, especially since I discovered this great chipotle cinnamon rub at Vons. I'm usually not too into buying ready made rubs, sauces and such but this one was a great find.
The recipe is just as follow:
- Slice an onion dice some breast tenders (I like them better than chicken breast)
- In a bowl, mix the onion, the chicken, some rub, olive oil and lemon juice.
- Saute in a pan
- Cook some white rice (sorry I'm partial to white rice)
- Mix some cut cilantro to the rice like they do at Chipotle (love that)
- Put your burrito together, some cheddar, some beans, some avocado, some chipotle sauce (made with cream, mayonnaise and chipotle chili).

Voila ready to enjoy. This is too good!

Besides home cooking what has been going on in my life. Since our 12M run and my once again hard recovery I have been toying with the idea of seeing a nutrition. The problem is that each time I read about healthy eating and losing weight etc... It is all about going gung ho organic, no beef etc... I mean I'm all about eat as little process food as possible and make things from scratch whenever possible but I am not ready to give up my food habit. I mean I want to enjoy my wine, my meat any type of meat, my unhealthy carbs (as in white pasta, white rice, white bread), my butter in my cakes, the touch of cream in my sauces etc... I will happily give up the twix bar (don't remember last time I went to the vending machine), I will happily stop raiding the cube next door for gummy candy etc... Hopefully in the process I will lose those last 10lbs!

So in the mean time I'll try to learn as much as I can on how to fuel my athletic endeavors to not crash hard. If I can learn a thing or two on balancing my meals a little better without giving up my food pyramid.
Besides that it is tapering time before the half marathon yeah! We had a 4x0.5M intervals on wednesday tomorrow a 3M tempo.
Work has been busy but good.
Now I'm famished it is 9:45pm and we haven't had dinner yet!

cooking

So as many of you know, I love to cook. I always try to create new things. They are nothing special. I pale in comparaison of great chefs. I am astounded by how they marry tastes that are sooo different from one another. I would love to be able to do so. I read in one of the latest cookbook I got for christmas a dessert made from chestnut cream, pinaple and pinacolada sorbet. Since the chef has a 3 star restaurant which is the best of the best in France I do trust her creation. I am very curious and will have to try though.
One of my dream would be to spend 3 month in the kitchen with all the spices, produces and meats I need without the pressure of feeding anyone.
Anyways many are the nights when B has to wait patiently for dinner at 9pm sometimes 10pm. My weakness is in the asian cuisine I have to admit most of my attempt at stir fry are failed always edible but never close to what I intended to make.
Tonight, I wanted something easy and healthy.
I cut some cherry tomatoes, sliced some onion, garlic, herbs, salt, pepper, added some kirin, balsamic vinegar and port wine. Stuck this in the oven at 405 until roasted. I then chopped kalamata black olives, a ball of fresh mozarella, put on the top of the tomatoes and cooked a little more. I cooked gnocchis then sauteed them with a little olive oil.
Finally, I put the gnocchis then put the tomato concoction on the top of it. It was really good sorry no pictures.

My other creation of the night was macarons. Those things are soooo good and fairly easy to make. I started with chocolate ones and oh boy are they good. I will now have fun and make them in all kindof flavors. Can't wait to get started : )

I think there will be more cooking posts coming stay tuned....
My mom gave me for christmas a great great cookbook. It is from one woman french chef who has a 3 stars restaurant (this is the best of the best).

Home cooking

If you have followed my blog you should know that I am very opiniated when it comes to food. First of all I'm french and I grew up in an environment where a home cooked meal was served every night. Hey I even had breakfast with my parents until I left home when I was 23!
I am fortunate in the sense that I learned how to cook and it is now part of who I am. Cooking does come naturally for me. As we are getting older the weight tends to stay on. B and I are very fond of good food but we also want to be lean. I am making an effort to shop for the whole week, plan my meals in advance because it is better that way and with 2 kids a full time job I just don't have time to go shopping more than once a week in more than one store. I rather save that time to play with the kids or go for a bike ride.
Naturally I have my low week when nothing sounds good, when everything is frozen and at 9pm I haven't started anything. In general we try to keep our restaurant outings to one during week night and probably one or twice during the week end for brunch/lunch or dinner.
Why did I start on that post, because I went to a triathlon meeting last friday about nutrition. The core of the business that hosted us very nicely bugs me. They offer custom meals nutritious and balanced delivered to you. They are catering to people who don't like/know how to cook and rather go eat out every night. They advertise their product as time savings because you take out the shopping for/preparing/and cleaning after the meal, calorie controlled and also probably better for you.
Remember cooking comes naturally for me, it is a way for me to unwind after a long day at work. I do take pleasure putting together something new, something tasty and present it nicely for just the two of us. Hey I even cook for myself homemade soups when B is on a business trip. I tend to forget that everyone is not like me nor they want to be. Eventhough it really pisses me off when people advertise cooking healthy as time consuming I do understand that some people like it. The only thing is that at the end of the day you still depend on someone else, that you still have to plan days in advance what you are going to eat and this time you cannot accomodate your ingredients differently. For instance when I buy my ingredient for the week (meat, vegetables) I usually can swap things out and if on Saturday asianish pork with baby bok choy sounded good on tuesday I may rather have something more like a slow cooked pork with Italian flavors and polenta. I truly believe that you don't need to cook elaborate meals to put something both tasty and healthy. The key to success is a well stocked pantry, freezer and fridge. My mom bought me this awsome cook book called "They will be there in an hour". This book is filled with recipe to put together a whole meal in an hour. It also tells you what you should have in your pantry. Now for those of you who aborre the kitchen yes please go ahead and order your custom meals online. But for those of you who don't cook because it seems so complicated and so time consuming there are a lot of recipes that can be put together in a small amount of time.

Musing of an aspiring triathlete

So so I have started to focus my training more and thought I was doing good. I adapted an training program for an Olympic distance triathlon to fit my busy schedule. A Sprint distance 0.25 miles swim, 9 miles bike ride and 3 miles run this takes anywhere between 50min-2:30hours I did my first one in 1h15 which is pretty average. Some sprint have a little longer swim and bike ride. An Olympic is usually 0.9M swim, 25M bike ride and 6.2M run, it takes about 3:30-4hoo to finish them. After that you have the half ironman also known as the 70.3 which consists of 1.2M swim, 56M bike ride and 13.2M run and finally the insane distance the full ironman 2.4M swim, 112M bike ride, and 26.2 M run.
Anyways eventhough I am only planning on doing sprint triathlon I like to push my training a little or so I thought until I started talking with fellow newbie triathlete. They are training 6-7 days a week and usually do 2 sports/day! I have no idea how they managed to do that because I certainly don't find the inner motivation to do so. I am impressed I have to admit.
So I keep training at my pace and as my precious free time permits. I have to say when I am training I am focused and usually push myself.
I went swimming 1M at the Cove on Friday night. I got seasick from the swell though or maybe it was the lack of sugar in my body. I was at the tail of the pack but didn't feel like I was falling too far behind. After that the family picked me up and we went to surfside sushi for a delicious dinner of sushi.
Saturday we got up, the hubby went surfing while I stayed with the kids, I then went grocery shopping, followed by a 4M run without kids, lunch at rubios, afternoon at the Wild Animal Park, and dinner with friends pffff. I managed to even start a laundry ;) We went to dino mountain and the kids were not too happy with the dinosaur who made noises and moved a little. I found that the exhibition was really well done.
Sunday I was planning on riding with some girls I met but bailed when the rides was scheduled at 7:30am and was going up the coast. I mean even for me 7:30am on sunday is too early especially when I had a fair amount of wine the night before and went to bed at midnight! I was sooo happy I cancelled when the kids woke up at 9am!!!!
We went to their swimming lesson, MEC with her cutest bathing suit ever, followed by a 25 miles bike ride on my own with hills and everything. It was a great ride until I hit the 56 bike path and was welcomed by very strong head wind arghhhh. As I was coming up a very small hill I closed my eyes focusing on the pedal stroke just to realize when I open my eyes that I was heading right into the fence bording the bike path. This of course was immediatly followed by a pretty rough fall. It did take me 5 minutes to feel Ok to finish the stupid ride with a bloody knee, a very bruised shoulder and a wounded ego.
We had a nice little lunch in the patio and finished the day at Moonlight Beach park. The kids are watching the "5th element" since we can't stand another little einstein.
Yesterday I adapted a warm tomato salad recipe that a friend of mine made for a previous dinner and it was an absolute success so here it is:
- put small cherry tomato in a dish that can go in the oven
- coat with olive oil
- crush a clove of garlic
- add a little bit of balsamic vinegar
- sprinkle some salt
- put in the oven 200F for maybe 10 minutes so that the tomatoes are just soft.
- pour the content of the dish in a salad bowl, adjust the seasonning, add some diced kalamata olives, a little bit of fresh mozarella and fresh minced basil.

Enjoy!

Wine: 1; Run:0

Today was supposed to be Bike workout in the morning and Run at lunch. I did get up at 6am to try my brand new trainer. I managed to complete a 40min workout but it wasn't really structured. I must have workout at a good pace since my heartbeat was through the roof most of the time and I was literally dripping sweat. I am still getting used to the trainer, I need to learn how to adjust the resistance.
At lunch I was supposed to go for a run but instead met B. to buy him an outfit for interview. We ended at UTC in the sun Yay finally, eating 2 rubios steak tacos and then chosing black slaks and french blue shirt. He looks great!
Tonight I was supposed to go for the missing run but when I left work at 5:30pm I knew it was compromised! Ah well I did workout, I guess this week no strength training and run instead. Unless I am very very good and I get up again at 6am tomorrow morning to go swim and then go for a run at lunch!
So instead of sweating and suffering I poured a little white wine which I am enjoying at the moment.
Tonight's meal semi-homemade pizza. Why semi you may ask because the dough is already made and bought at Trader Joes and the tomato sauce as well. I just have to add ham, black olives, green onions and fresh mozarella. Delish!