Company is coming!

I’m super excited because my mom and aunt are arriving tomorrow!  We are SO lucky that we have multiple visitors lined up over the next month.  I have not really met many new people down here in Atlanta yet (that is a hazard of working from home I guess) so it will be great to have some family and friends come and stay with us for awhile.

As far as training things are going well and actually align really nicely with my visitors.  Tomorrow I have an easy run which I can do in the morning before heading to the airport to pick them up.  Friday is a rest day and Satruday is just a 3 mile pace run so I should be able to cross that off the list early in the morning before we get started with our day.  Our last long run of the training cycle is  Sunday and is 12 miles.  I have to drop my mom and aunt at the airport late morning so we can do the run later in the day which actually will be good practice for the race since that will be 5:30pm start.

I honestly am getting kind of burnt out on the speed work, etc. and will be looking forward to some nice, easy miles in November! Remember – Pile on the miles – not the pounds!

Yes – it’s true!

OK – I made up a new healthy recipe.  I wish I would have taken pictures as I was assembling but wasn’t really think it was something  I’d post.  i was just playing with random stuff in my kitchen.  It turned out good though so here it is!

Eggplant/Quinoa Casserole

• 1 C Red Quinoa
• 2 Baby Eggplant, cut into about 1X1 inch pieces
• 2-3 mushrooms, Chopped
• Approx 1C tomato sauce
• Approx 1 C water
• 1 TBL Italian Seasoning
• 1teaspoon Sea Salt

Combine in mini crockpot on high for about 2 – 2/12 hours or until Quinoa is cooked and vegetables are soft.   Then eat and enjoy!  Super healthy, zero added fat, high in fiber and FABULOUS!

Eggplant Quinoa Casserole

 

 

Weekend Recap!

How is it Monday again?!  Luckily I had a great weekend to re-vigorate me for the work week!

As I had mentioned the other day we were going to the Asia concert Friday night.  It was actually really fun!  We headed down to the Variety Playhouse in the Little Five Points area of Atlanta.  it is a smaller venue and a great place to see a show.  We went down a little early so we could explore the area and eat.  After walking around a bit we decided on the Brewhouse Cafe.  It was great because we could eat outside.  I figured we could always get a salad and fries but we lucked out since all their burgers could be substituted with either a Black Bean Burger or a Veggie Patty – yay!  Still got the fries though…….

Brewhouse Cafe

Veggie Burger with mushrooms and fries!

The concert ended up being really fun.  They sounded great, there was a little bar, seating was good – overall a great time.  I wish this pic was better but you can see we had pretty good seats. This show was open seating and reminded me in size of a movie theater.

Saturday we did our usual round of grocery shopping which included a big haul from Costco. Being plant-based we really go through the produce so this is a great place for us to purchase it.  Additionally,  they have a decent amount of organic choices – this time they had both conventional and organic bananas.  We also got organic spinach and organic mixed greens – we use those like crazy with smoothies!

Love Costco!

We also had a pace run on Saturday which we waited until about 5pm to do.  In retrospect, since we had a longer run (9 miles) on Sunday and we did that at 9am, we should have done that pace run earlier.  Tony and I were both incredibly sore yesterday afternoon.  I did the pace run at 8:54 and the 9 miles at 9:25.  I KNOW we need to stretch more and probably should have taken at least 24 hours between the runs.  But, regardless, it’s done!

On a fun note, we got Athena’s room painted this weekend and I covered some cork boards for her.  Her room has gray and aqua so I wanted to accent with yellow and picked these fabrics.

I was happy with the final result – and more importantly so was she!  I also got some of her pictures hung up so the place is starting to feel more homey.  Next project – using the extra fabric to make some pillows for her bed……….if I can find (and remember how to use) my sewing machine!

Work in progress but almost done!

Lastly – I’m excited to share an interview with Bianca and Sara from The Friendly Fig this week.  Look for it Wednesday!

Lentil Soup and a good book!

I can’t believe it’s already Thursday – this week has been busy, busy, busy!

First off, we are in the middle of week 7 on the half marathon training plan.  This weekend’s long run will be 9 miles.  The weather looks great for it too!  I will say that my legs are a bit tired – likely due to the hard 6 miles on Sunday and then my “easy” 4.5 probably should have been easier then I did it.  Sometimes the darn Garmin makes me competitive with myself!  Anyhow, as a result of the Sunday run and pushing too hard Tuesday my speed work was extra difficult last night.  I got it done though  –  I just didn’t get the intervals as fast as I’d have liked.  My two take aways from this:  Easy runs should be easy – I’ve read numerous times that “most people don’t do their hard runs hard enough or their easy runs easy enough.”  Second take away – not every workout will be perfect.

On a different note – I made soup yesterday!  Not many dishes are as easy and nutritious as Lentil Soup.  Plus my whole family likes it – score!  Here’s the scoop on this one dish wonder:

This is all you need!

Lentil Soup Recipe

• 1 1/2 c Lentils  (I have an organic tri color lentil mix form Costco that I use but you can use all one type if you want)
• 8C water or veggie broth
• 3 carrots peeled and chopped
• 1-2 potatos peeled and chopped
• 3 cloves garlic minced
• 3 bay leaves
• 1-2 teaspoons of sea salt if you use water – broth will already be salted

Put all in crockpot and cook on high for 4 hours.  My soup was still a little watery so I added 1/2 c cracked wheat – I’ve also used rice in the past – switch to low and cook 1-2 more hours.

All done – let’s eat!

This soup is SO versatile.  I usually add an onion but was out, unfortunately.  It still tasted great! You can also use celery and or sweet potato.  Sometimes towards the end I’ll add some chopped spinach or you can do that when you are re-heating as well.  If you don’t want to add a grain at the end you can reduce water to 6 cups or so and it will be thick without the cracked wheat or rice!

In other news the eCornell class is AMAZING!  I so enjoy listening to T. Colin Campbell’s lectures and will likely buy his “China Study” book as well as “Whole”.  Some of the information is review but I’m learning a lot of new stuff as well.  It’s so funny how when something is interesting it’s actually easy to do the homework!

Personally – I am reading “Daring Greatly” by Brene Brown.  The book gives a lot of good insight in to shame, vulnerability and the like – great thinking points to ponder on.  I am reading this as part of the Fierce Forward Book Club – check it out if you are interested!   There will be a couple online discussions the month of October – I think he first is on the 15th so still time to get in on the action!

Finally – guess what I’m doing tomorrow???? Going to see ASIA in concert!

Tony scored some tickets from a colleague and we are children of the 80s (well technically children of the 60s who grew up in the 80s) so why not?  I’m looking forward to it and excited to check out a new area of Atlanta as well!

 

Where did the week go?

This week has been insanely busy!  I’m pretty sure that I use to think that people who work from home didn’t really do much.  NOT THE CASE!  Now that I’m doing that I find that although, yes, I have flexibility, I also find it difficult to step away from the desk.  On top of work stuff and my class starting this week (YAY – LOVE it so far!) Tony was traveling.  That just meant that I had to do all the kid-related stuff myself.  I am NOT complaining, and the girls are FAR from babies anymore, but there are still plenty of things that I do for them.  Make breakfast, make lunches, make their beds, straighten up their bathroom every morning after they leave for school.  Yes, I probably do more for them then I should.  The result is that they have failed to learn certain things – like how to replace the toilet paper:

But putting it on the roll is TOO HARDDDDDD…..

This is what I found in the bathroom.  I will take time this weekend to instruct them on how the TP holder works.

Runs have been on plan.  The day got away from me yesterday so I took that as a rest and did yesterday’s run today – basically just switched the two days.  Tomorrow is “easy run or rest” so I think I’ll actually get in the pool with Lexy.  It will be a good cross training workout and I have not been swimming since Puerto Rico 70.3 in April!

Oh, I tried to put together a collage of food pics for “What I Ate Wednesday” but that obviously didn’t happen so here are some eats from the week :

Note – hummus with Siracha is da BOMB!  Also, chic peas with sea salt as a snack are not bad at all 🙂  This week I have been trying to get through what is in the fridge – don’t want to waste anything!  We didn’t go through things as quickly as usual since we were down one person with Tony traveling but overall we did fairly well.  I hope to try a new recipe this weekend – one that I REALLY want to do is the Cinnamon Berry Fig Bars from Southern Blonde Vegan – they look AMAZE-BALLS and not too difficult.  Sarah’s food pictures are gorgeous – check out her blog or Instagram (be prepared to drool!)

Tonight – sushi date!  Minus the actual sushi……we will do veggie rolls and wine.  Should be fun!

Have a great weekend!

When the going gets tough…….

you gotta Just Do It.  Thanks Nike for that!  It’s kinda my go to thought when things are so busy/hard/overwhelming!

And OVERwhelmed is an UNDERstatement to how I feel lately……chicken with head cut off anyone?  Gross visual I know but it is the one that came to mind.

I obviously have been a little lazy about updating and when I did try the other day I had technical issues which was highly annoying! All seems to be working now so let’s get to it!

FUN STUFF RECAP –  I had a GREAT visit from my mom!  She came out and we did fun stuff like go to lunch, shop, get a pedicure and see a movie (American Hustle).   We also watched the Oscars in entirety which I have not done in ……….maybe forever.  It was a blast!

Amazing what a pedicure can do for runner’s feet!

The pedicure felt AMAZING – I had not had one in awhile and was really looking forward to it.  It was also timely since we are going on spring break and it will be nice to have somewhat pretty toes.

We also ate out for lunch a lot while mom was here – it’s what we do!  I actually didn’t find it too challenging to eat vegan.  I did a quick search before heading out once or twice and picked up some good ideas!  Someone somewhere online noted that Red Robin had Vegan patties and you could substitute that for chicken on the salad and omit cheese.  Did that and the result was so good I had to Instagram it!

We did some shopping at Pandora and a few other places in the mall.  Thought about these shoes but then I thought they might make me too tall……….

Thoughts? First one in my head was “ouch”

……..But maybe since mom is tall I could wear them when we go out together…….

Look – I’m short! Not really….mom is tall.

We just really enjoyed hanging out together.  I still managed to get my workouts in but tried to not get too caught up in other day to day stuff since we so rarely have this “girl time”.

Workouts have been almost 100% on!  I’ve been aiming to get one session in EARLY in the morning – like wake up at 5 early.  This really helps it seem like the training isn’t cutting too much in to other things.  When mom was here I did a few rides on the trainer while we watched TV together and chatted.  Gotta multi task!  I’ve also enjoyed being able to get some outdoor runs in.  I’m hoping we can ride outside on spring break as we are taking bikes with us.  I bought clip on Aero bars today and don’t think practicing with them while on the trainer will be overly helpful…….and as we all know I’m terribly klutzy and need to get familiar with those prior to racing.

Speaking of training/racing I don’t know how I will EVER be able to train for a full Ironman but it is still on my radar.  Maybe after the move when I’m not worrying about selling/buying a house it will be easier but I don’t know.  Plus how can anyone ride that long?  My rear hurts just thinking about it!

Speaking of moving look at the pretty faucets Tony installed this weekend.  HGTV has taught me that it is important to get rid of ugly brass fixtures.

My husband is so handy!

Well that’s all I got for now!  Actually, not really but I have to go pick up Athena from her horse lesson and go hit the pool for my swim……………..like I said, OVERwhelmed!     But I’m going to JUST DO IT!

 

Time flies when you have a lot to do

TGIF – but I can’t believe it’s Friday again already!  Time is marching sprinting by lately and, to be honest, it’s freaking me out.  I mean, how is tomorrow MARCH already?  I’m overwhelmed with so much to do (work, house stuff, training, details for triathlon like bike fit, shipping, blah blah blah) but trying to comfort myself with the fact that the important things always seem to get done.   I’m betting on that trend continuing.

Best thing about the time that has passed since Christmas?  MY MOM IS HERE!  She arrived today and I’m SO excited to have her visiting.  When I was in Michigan in December we booked her ticket and have been looking forward to this get together since then!  Lots of fun plans including pedicures, shopping at the Pandora Store for new charms, lunch, walking (and hot tub) at the gym, etc.  The girls are also excited to have Grandma here and so are the boys (Chester and Zeus).

Chester & Zeus

Grandma & Lexy

We had a great time catching up and talking until our jaws ached.  Mom was interested in Mexican so we went to Los Laureles where I grabbed some veggie fajitas and mom got a Taco Salad (and a Margarita of course!)

Veggie Fajita at Los Laureles

I asked if the re-fried beans were made with lard and the waitress said No, they used canola oil which was awesome for me since no animal product meant I could have some.  Yummy!  Between the chips and salsa, refried beans, veggies and guacamole I was definitely satiated.  Since going vegan I have found that it is EXTREMELY helpful to Google a cuisine or even specific restaurant to get an idea what dishes you might want to order.  This will definitely assist in reducing any anxiety around eating out which is important since dining out should be a pleasure, not a source of stress.

Training is going well!  This was a recovery week and speaking of time flying, I cannot believe that I’m am wrapping up week 12 of an 18 week plan.   Today was a 90 minute run which AGAIN was on the treadmill.  Tomorrow is a relatively easy 20 mile bike followed by a 1000 yard swim. I’m hoping to get up and get it done early so I can enjoy the rest of the day with my mom and daughters.

On the agenda tomorrow – a MUCH NEEDED pedicure and a visit to the Pandora store – I can’t wait!

So what are YOU doing this weekend?

Snow, Sarcasm and Soup

Guess what? It snowed AGAIN today!!!!  I was really happy since I had not seen a severe weather warning on my phone for a day or two and really thought something might be wrong.  I need not have worried – Mother Nature delivered with an inch or two of the white stuff this afternoon / evening!  I just knew she wouldn’t let us down!

And, as an ADDED BONUS, we are going to see temperatures go down to the teens and likely even lower his week – perhaps even BELOW zero.  I’ve already confirmed (several times this winter) that the temperature gauge in my car does, in fact, do negatives.  I will make sure it is still in working order later this week. Thank goodness since I am so NOT READY FOR WINTER TO BE OVER!

This past weekend saw some serious training.  Tony ran outside with me on Saturday and we did 10 miles which was nice.  There was some ice but we hop scotched around it and ended up getting it done!  On Sunday I had an EPIC (for me) indoor ride of 60 miles.  This was my longest indoor ride ever and took me 2 hours and 40 minutes.  Talk about building mental toughness – the monotony of these many miles to nowhere sure does that.  Luckily I had podcasts to keep me entertained.  While I know that my mileage and pace is faster biking indoors then it will be in a race, it does provide me the opportunity to spend a lot of time in the saddle and also to practice my nutrition to find out what works as far as fuel.  Once the ride was done I hit the water for an easy 20 minute swim which was a huge relief for my rear end!

Today begins a new week on the training schedule and it is somewhat of a recovery week. This works out GREAT since my mom is coming in Friday – yay!  I’m also going to move Saturday’s long run to Friday so I can get it done before I pick her up at the airport.  Once this recovery week is done we move in to a new block of training which entails “Quality” days of each discipline.  It will be interesting and fun!

So I’m still having SO MUCH FUN experimenting with recipes.  I made Lentil Soup for dinner which is super easy, inexpensive, healthy and YUMMY!  In addition, soup is the ideal food on a cold, snowy day.

Lentil Soup

This is a souper easy recipe (ha ha)!

Get a large pot and toss the following in:

• 8 cups water
• 2 cups lentils
• 1 veggie buillon cube
• 3 stalks celery, chopped
• 3 carrots, peeled and chopped
• 1 onion diced
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• You need 2 cups spinach too but don’t put it in yet

Bring to boil and then reduce to simmer – cook for 40 minutes or so.  Pull out bay leaves and then toss in 2 cups of chopped spinach – cook long enough to wilt.  Enjoy!

An Atlanta Adventure

So I went to Atlanta for a day!  I actually headed down Wednesday night, had a meeting Thursday and then came back Friday.  Basically I was there for one full day which was book-ended by two nights!

This was the first time I’ve been to Atlanta and I was excited to see part of it as well as to escape the crap Iowa weather for a bit.  Yes, you read that right – I’ve never been there and yes, I have already said we are going to relocate there.  Sound crazy?  It’s actually OK.  I had never been to Des Moines until we moved here and that worked out just fine!

Backdrop – we are moving to Atlanta due to Tony’s job.  We did get to pick our city – it just has to be in the Southeast part of the country.  Atlanta makes sense as he has a couple clients there and some of his colleagues are also in the area.  In addition, the company I just began working with is based there.  It’s all coming together and all signs are pointing us to Georgia!

Anyhow, I went down for a kickoff meeting and was able to meet everyone associated with my new company which was cool.  It was great to put faces with the names and now I feel less “alone” in my job!

I was determined to eat healthy (and of course vegan) while traveling and I also wanted to make sure my workouts got done.  I moved some things around on my schedule, worked out Wednesday before leaving and planned to bike and swim Friday when I returned as I was going to be back in Des Moines around lunch time.  That left me with a run on Thursday which I planned to do after our meeting.  I confirmed that the hotel had a treadmill and packed my running clothes and was ready to go!  I got it done on this retro treadmill – 6 (yes they were painful) miles – woo hoo!

Retro (Antique?) Treadmill

Keeping it clean with food wasn’t too hard.  I packed some Lara Bars and the great cookies from an Oh She Glows Recipe so I had some portable options.  I was also able to get a salad at lunch.  The only thing I had not thought about was dinner.  My hotel didn’t have a restaurant and I didn’t have a car.  I wasn’t quite sure what to do about that situation……. BUT lucky for me when I got back to my room after the run I had a menu stuck in my door!  And it was from a Chinese Restaurant that DELIVERED – thank goodness the food Gods had been watching over me!  I scanned it and found a couple vegan options.  I went with the steamed veggies / steamed rice and also ordered the broccoli / peas dish (there was a $10 minimum for delivery and one meal didn’t get me to the total!)  Everything ended up being super tasty and honestly , by that time I was dying for a large quantity of veggies since my lunch salad was not as substantial as I usually make for myself.  This was just what I needed although I couldn’t finish ALL of the food.

 

All my flights went really smoothly and left right on time.  The two cabs I took had friendly drivers and the staff at the hotel was super professional and friendly.  My only complaint was paying $5.28 for this water at the airport:

but I was VERY thirsty on my flight back – likely due to the soy sauce I put on the above veggies the previous evening!  Overall a great trip and I’m excited to visit Atlanta again.

 

Yoga – I need to do it

So I blab a lot about my triathlon training on the blog – lots of swimming, biking and running is happening.

One thing that isn’t happening?  Stretching and yoga.

I have Yoga Envy

I know it’s important for all kinds of reasons  but generally don’t take the time to do it.   Why? Because after working out for a couple hours I usually don’t have the time/energy/motivation to get myself to a class.  I really like PowerLife Yoga which is close to me and I even have a card with 7-8 sessions left but alas, still have difficulty making it happen.  I really think that part of the issue is that I’m not a huge fan of being on someone else’s schedule.  A friend had mentioned I should go to some group cycling classes as part of my triathlon training and I immediately dismissed the idea since I want to bike when I want to bike – not when the class is.  (I may or may not have control issues………first child syndrome anyone?)

OK back to yoga.  I need to do it.  and I WANT to do it.  I just want to do it on my terms. Solution?  YouTube!  My girlfriend was telling me how she was really starting to get in to Yoga but having problems with some of the postures.  She thought the issue might be her tight shoulders so she found some videos on YouTube which are suppose to help with “opening the shoulders:.  She RAVED about the exercises and how great she felt after.  Of course I had to check it out for myself!  Ekhart Yoga has a ton of videos on YouTube (well 475 videos – that’s close to a ton right?).  They also  have some free videos as well as a paid subscription on their site.  I really like that several of them are about 10-12 minutes in length.  I LOVE that I can do this on my terms – when and where I want – and that it isn’t a huge time commitment. Obviously if I have a chunk of open time I can go to a class or do a longer video (I enjoy this one).  However, if I only have 15-20 minutes between calls or before picking up a kid I can still get a quick Yoga fix.  Progress – not perfection!

I hope to use these videos to make Yoga a more regular  part of my routine.  I do really believe it’s important for physical and mental well being!

Do you do yoga?  Do you have a favorite yoga video?

Costco and Door Knobs

How about THAT for an awesome title?  Hey – it’s getting late and today has been busy………I am limited on creativity and figured “Costco and Door Knobs” just might work as it actually DOES pertain to what I did today!

Before we get to that let’s talk workouts.  Today I had a run and a swim.   Since the weather looked MUCH better then yesterday I text my running posse to see if they wanted to run this morning.  We decided to meet and 5:30am and do an hour.  I like getting something done early on days I have double workouts as it seems to “save” some of the day!   Anyhow, when I woke up my phone said it was 38 degrees and I was pretty dang excited to get going.  Unfortunately, after the snow-thaw-refreeze of yesterday the sidewalks were super icy – pretty much a skating rink.

Graceful Skater

I am very, VERY clumsy and have to be EXTREMELY careful on ice.  I know everyone has to be careful but ESPECIALLY me. I fall.  A lot.  See this post for proof and pictures!  Anyhow, after a pretty dicey 2 miles we turned on to a road with less traffic and decided to run in the street.  That was actually a lot better and the run got more relaxing after that.  I have been putting in a lot of time on the treadmill recently and it was nice to run outside and have someone to chat with!  My second workout today was a 2,500 yard swim.  No getting around it – there is never going to be anyone to talk to while swimming but I got it done!

Once the run was done I headed home, picked up Athena, drove her to school and then swung by Lowe’s.  I am on a mission to spruce up things before we list our house!  Of course what this really means is FINALLY getting around to doing all the things I’ve been wanting to do but never did.  (Maybe someday I will learn to do these things BEFORE we decide to move so we can actually enjoy the improvements!)  What’s the project you ask?  It’s Door Knobs!  Ours are brass.  They are ugly.  Door knobs are expensive.  We have a lot of doors – 6 just in the master suite.  What to do?  Enlist the aid of Google!  I found this little article and decided to give painting them a try!  Check it out:

Before – gosh this is embarrassing!

After – pretty amazing right?

I’m going to work my way through the house doing this.  I know I probably need to do hinges too, but hey, we will get there!

Now on to Costco!  I love shopping there.  Being plant based we go through a LOT of produce and everything at Costco is BIG.  That means BIG bags of spinach, BIG bags of carrots,  CASES of Oranges, etc.   You get the idea – it’s awesome!  So a couple weeks ago I posted about how I really like shopping at Costco but mentioned that not everything was organic – which is fine as I’m not an organic snob.  However, when given the option, I would prefer to buy organic if the option is available.  Well, the Costco Gods must have been reading my mind because they have increased the visibility of the organic options in the store by labeling them with green signs (the price signs for organic items are green where conventional items have a white sign).  Additionally they grouped a ton of organic items together!  Lastly, check out what they handed me when I walked in!

Coupon Book for Organic Items

I picked up my usual haul of spinach, power greens, dates, etc. and since the organic stuff was all together I ran through it and picked up a new box of cereal for the kids – Kashi Cinnamon Harvest Whole Wheat Biscuits.  Only 4 ingredients and full of fiber and whole grains.  I hope it’s a hit!