Saturday, September 5, 2009

Yay

Yay, lately the solution to my blah mood, my put everything I do in questions, feel blah flabby etc... well you get the picture has been going for a good sweat session.
Tonight hasn't failed... It is funny the more tired I am the less in the mood I am to go for run the better I feel afterwards. So today I was heading out for a solo run and I didn't feel really motivated besides the fact that I was determined to go out. So when BCC tried to get the kids motivated to go with us in the stroller and was welcome by whining I helped to get them going. I knew with BCC on my side no way I was going to slack off! After some bribing, digging out some old headphone we put them in the stroller and off we went for a shorter run 3-4M. As I started running I felt my legs unwind and so I try to keep a good pace since the Garmin died I would say we ran about 3.5-3.8M in about 33:31 which is a pace between 9:30-8:50 min/mile pace... Anyhow it was a great run and now off to feed the kids, feed ourselves and enhoy our evening!
Some of my doubts and dark clouds are still with me but at least I felt strong tonight as I felt strong yesterday on the bike which means that my work is starting to pay off a little ;)
Off to prepare our dinner: Extra-Crusty Baked Rigatoni with Beef Ragù and we are wondering why no matter what amount of exercize we are not losing the last 5lbs! To be honest with you if my fridge was offering more than leftovers I would gladly add to that meal a huge crunchy salad! But alas my last bit of salad was quite nasty looking ;(

Life doubts

Pfff I don't know how much longer I can keep up with this blog.
First of all MAC started kindergarten this past monday!!! He was doing quite well, his filled with excitment in the prospect of a new school, new friends learning new things but also apprehension. The one who didn't react very well was MEC. She didn't like the fact that her brother would now go to a different school. We are all adjusting to the new schedule and I must say it makes life a little crazy right now... Wait you will say really right now ; )
Yeah yeah well a little more than usual. As a true daycare kid the first thing he said to me was why all my friend are not staying with me all day! Yeah he has to learn that everyone doesn't get dropped off at school at 8 and picked up at 5:45pm! The joy of being a fulltime working mom in the US!
So yes I won't hide hide I have a hard time adjusting to the fact that out of 60 kindergartners only 15% are staying in after care program after 2:30pm and I only have met 3-4 when I have been picking MAC up!
This choice was always clear to me. I love what I do for a living. I don't do it by necessity I actually love and embrace the challenge. I believe that I am a better mom because of it. I do reserve my evenings and my week ends to them we mostly do things as a family. Anyways lets try to leave the self doubt behind...
So since a demanding full time job as a software engineer, two young kids wasn't enough lets talk about my training. I have to say that this helps me keep the stress level down and I am very grateful for this time I take for myself.
Last week end my training went on pause because of life and family activities. On tuesday I went on a run with BCC and let him chose the route. I knew that it wouldn't be easy since we were going for 4M he wanted to work hard and thus this meant hills! So off we go South on Carmel Country Road towards and I knew this would be brutal because I use this hill as a training for my bike hill training. It was still quite sticky and we started at a decent pace. As we started the hill we saw someone walking up ahead and this person didn't get closer fast enough.... I was huffing and puffing trying to keep my breathing under control but not slow down at a slug pace more like a turtle pace ;) So of course BCC to say come on we can't let this guy arrive at the top of the hill before us... I snapped promply at him because 1) I did see the dam walker and did realize how slow I was going and I was pissed off and 2) I was honestly doing the better I could... It was a great 4M run though. On wednesday I did a trainer session about 45min and I started at 8pm! Thursday was a quick swim (30min) during which I focus on wipping the water and try to get more speed. Finally friday since I was off and that a friend really really nicely took care of MEC I was able to go biking with another friend and we did almost 30M at about 14.5mph.
Now I'm off for a longish run (5-6M) we will see. I feel rather tired and sluggish right now I hope I will get more motivated as I start. It is going to be hard though since I'm alone.
Tomorrow I'm planning on swimming. If I can make the TCSD group swim at 8am in del mar it would be great otherwise I will go to the pool. Monday I'll try to go biking again!.
OK off to put my running clothes and run my doubts away and hopefully come back with a big grin.

Life is a little crazy right now... Really just right now ;) yeah well a little more than usual I guess or it's
Anyways, training has been doing pretty well. I had a 4 day break last week not because I wanted to but more because life got in the way. I had to let it go. Two weeks ago I did a couple session on the spinning bike we have at the work gym and oh boy these workouts are tough. However it gave me good ideas on how to train at home on my trainer.

Sunday, August 23, 2009

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.

Thursday, August 20, 2009

runner's high

So last week I had an awsome run with my friend. I have the cooler temperature in the evening are so welcomed by me. I am definitely a cooler weather runner. This week I diligently went back to my training. I decreased the load though because I honestly cannot get up at 6am when going to bed at 11:30pm. I can't go to bed earlier when the kids are in bed at 8:30 and we don't have dinner until 9pm.
So I decided instead to spread it out therefore I have something to do every day and if I'm courageous well I can always to a double day. So Monday I went back to the pool after a 4 weeks stop. I think the Solana Beach triathlon and the awfully hard swim somewhat scared me and I have been avoiding the water. I think I was low on sugar eventhough I had a small (tiny some may say) before going. When I got out of the water I was seriously nauseous. I managed to swim 1200 yards in 30min.
Tuesday I was planning on going for a run with JE. She bailed on me and Pawel invited me to celebrate his birthday at his favorite mexican place with other coworkers. Since I'm usually totally asocial by lack of time I decided to postpone my run to thursday and do a trainer workout that evening instead. So here I am eating like a pig instead of working out but it was really nice. I couldn't believe that place though, they serve california burrito the size of someones head! I settled for one carne asada taco a little bit of bean.
That evening I was only able to put in 35min of my planned 45min session but my heart beat was in the 90% Heart rate zone most of the time.
In the meantime I got convinced to sign up for an aquathlon on thursday night. An aquathlon consists of 1000 meter swim at La Jolla Shores followed by a 3Mile run. I didn't feel like going but I know that in order for me to get better I need to get out there. Force myself out of my comfort zone. On the bright side I was going to be with some of my trigirls friend. Since thursday was going to be a swim and a run I decided to take the day off especially because I was going to have lunch with my friend D. Unfortunately she cancelled on me and I was going to go to the gym for a strength session when Bunny walked in my cube and invited me to lunch. Since she moved out of the "guetto building" I have barely talked to her so I eagerly accepted the evite and had a great sushi lunch! Late last night Mec woke up with a fever so I knew my aquathlon was jeapordized since I would have to share the day with B. I ended up working from home the whole day. B wanted to go for a run so we decided that we would go together and he would push the double stroller. Then we decided that it was time for Mac to bike while we run. So the caravan started B in the front with Mec in the stroller. Mac followed on his bike chattering away and I closed the procession. We started at a good pace of 9:15-9:30 min/miles. We ended up running 3.5M at probably 9:30-9:45 min/miles pace. It was awsome not only I didn't feel that tired but it was so awsome to be with the whole family. I think we are going to make that a weekly routine! Did I mention that today I really didn't want to go for a run, I was really tired and sluggish. I don't know what kind of day tomorrow will be since I don't think Mec will be ready to go back to school all I know is that I will make the time to do something for 30-60 minutes ;)
On another note, a friend of mine from work gave me a set of wheels for my bike and since I rather have an extra back wheel to use on my trainer. I bought a rear cassette which arrived on monday. Of course I don't know anything about bikes I needed tools to be able to install the darn thing on the wheels and then the wheels on the bike. I think I'm going to bring the whole thing to a bike store and have the guy show me and teach me a little bit more. In the mean time I'm going to have to fix my first flat before this week end bike ride. I will also try to make an appointment to look into putting aerobars on my bike!
All in all my training is puttering along. I'm keeping the consistency trying to add volume when I can but foremost I try to enjoy myself while pushing myself a little and live that busy life of ours in harmony. All I can say is that when I feel tired, cranky, depressed it usually happens the day I haven't worked out and it means I need to go do something anything!

Sunday, August 16, 2009

Sunday night already!!!

Friday I had a swimm planned! I was going to try to hook up some of my trigirls friend. However the stars didn't aligned. First they had a crazy 2m swim planned. Let's face it I wasn't feeling a 2miler at the cove. My last swim was the solana beach tri!!! I wanted only to do a 1m swim. Then I had a lot of work todo since Thursday night was spent mostly sleeping off a light stomach bug!
To top it off B had an evening meeting and I was therefor on picking up duty. I was going to go to the pool when my friend JE told me she was planning a 7M run that evening! after some Im exchange we decided to meet up that evening for a7m run in my neighborhood followed by dinner! At 6:30pm that night we slowly got started! It was great because she forced me to keep a slow pace 10:30 min/miles. As a result I felt great and eventhough we opted for a shorter run we did push ourselves and did a nasty hill! This was my first longish run 6m in a long time and it felt good! this also helped me shake off all my frustration!
We had a great evening with friends we had a little wine, simle food and finished the evening by watching Daniel Tosh!
Saturday morning we woke up a little groggy from the late might. We then headed to UTC to grab a bagel some coffee and my new sunglasses. Our next stop of the day was our friends D&B in Encinitas to celebrate J 5th birthday!
The kids had a blast on the big inflatable water slide that was in the yard. After some pizza, cake we headed back home. The boys went for a long bike ride they got lost in the bushes. I was planning on riding myself but since B didn't get home before 6pm and that at that time stomach was growling we settled for dinner at Fidels. We had a great evening.
The next day was Mec's birthday party. We know that the kids love it but we hate the whole organization of the event and the fact that a 2 hour party is taking our whole day! selfish I know. Anyways the party was nice i made cupcakes using my usual chocolate lava cake recipe. I then put some premade icing on it with tons of sprinkles of all kinds.
Then to get rid of the tension the day brought I went for a very quick ride. Then we kicked back and relaxed for the rest of the day....

Thursday, August 13, 2009

Frustration

I know this post is petty but I need to vent.
So if you remember a previous post, I lost my prescription sunglasses the week end of my last triathlon. I had a frustrating trip to Lenscrafters (see previous post) when I found the perfect pair of sunglasses but I had to pay the polarized lenses eventhough I wasn't going to use them. Anyhow, after a few weeks not using sunglasses I finally decided to go back to lenscrafters and buy the darn sunglasses. Well here I am with my prescription credit card in hand but of course now the model I chose is too curved (wrapped around) and thus can't be used with my prescription.
I had to spend 270$ on a frame that I only marginally liked arghhhh.
Since I have been trying to look at the bright side, I didn't spend as much money as I expected and they were ready in an hour.

My other frustrating experience is when I realized that I won't be able to go to both my company picnic party and my son's best friend birthday. One being held in mission beach with no reserved parking from 10-3pm and the other one taking place in Encinitas from 11-2pm.
We had to write a 25$ deposit check to cover the loss in case of a no show. Since I had to cancel pretty late I was expecting to lose that deposit and I was OK with that. As I was going to go pick up my tee shirts since I lost my deposit I was told that since I cancelled I couldn't get my tee shirts. Curious I asked more questions, and I was told that the tee shirts would be given to another family that was on the waiting list. So basically, they found someone to take my spot, so my early cancellation notification prevented any money loss, yet I still lost my 25$ deposit. I know it is only 25$ but on principle I don't find it fair. I shouldn't have lost the 25$ if someone is going to take my spot!

To cap it all off, I went to Von's to do a few errands. Of course I put a bottle of wine and some beers in my cart. Eventhough I will be soon celebrate my 35th birthday I get carded all the time. Of course this time wasn't an exception and I gave my ID. What I didn't expect though is because my drivers license is expired it isn't a valid ID and so my beer and wine went under the counter. I was pissed this is ridiculous it's not like I'm even close of not being 21! The cashier told me that they were open until 1AM to which I answered I wasn't that desperate ;) I know they are just doing their job but come on! I barely have time to work, do my errands, workout and do all the things that I have to do on a daily basis without having to waste 4H00 at the DMV. I did make an appointment but it isn't before like the end of this month! So what I'm going to have to send B do the grocery shopping so that I don't have to go twice!
I know I should not be affected by such petty things. Sometimes when I am tired I have a harder time to shrug things off. This week is one of those week. I do need to keep looking at the bright things because in the end it isn't worth getting depressed/sad over this.

Wednesday, August 12, 2009

Family

I don't even remember when I last blogged. But I am sure I can safely start at my training. I have spent so much time figuring out the balance of my week. How I should train, how many time I should train what etc... to finally just put it all in the trash because 1- these days I just can't get up in the morning 2- Since I'm not putting so much volume I can safely train every day and the recovery week I can give myself one or two days off.
My weekly training will look like that: Monday swim 1500yds min, Tuesday run 4-5 M, Wednesday strength training, Thursday bike 45min or 60M, Friday swim 2000yds, Saturday bike 120 min or 90 min, Sunday run 6-7M.
Every 4 weeks I will have a recovery week where I decrease all activities.
After brain stormin torturing my brain on how to improve speed, talking to people to death about that I realized that in the early stage of triathlon or any other endurance sport what matters is the best. Just get your miles in even at a slower pace and improvement will follow.
Besides that, B's brother, his girlfriend and their lab puppy came to visit us. We had a blast I love watching the kids interact with their uncle/aunt/grandparents. They also had a blast with the dog. She was the cutest thing.
B's cousin was also in town and the cousin living in San Diego spent most of the week ends with us. In short we ate a lot, drank a lot and had a great time. I did manage to get a 2H00 bike ride with a trigirl. I had an absolute blast. It was fun we chatted a lot of the way but still managed to get a good workout.
On Sunday we went surfing and after 11 years living in San Diego and multiple surfing experiments I stood up on my board. In the white water but still. B bought a new long board for the family and us and it was really fun.
Monday I went for a run with B 3.5M at 9:30 min/mile pace. I always have that 2 min where I give up on the run about half way through. This is what I have to work on.
On tuesday everyone left so we were back to our little unite and it was nice. Of course I have a ton of work and MEC was sick this afternoon. She seems to be doing OK right now but who knows how long that is going to last.
BTW I haven't been able to go swim since Solana....