Tag Archives: duathlon

Sunday eats

Rest day today!  My legs really need it.  I was feeling a little bummed looking at last year’s stats for the duathlon.  It looks like I will likely come in last or close to it compared to last year’s times.  Of course, the reality is that I am not competing against anyone.  I keep telling myself it is okay, and I know it is, but it still bothers me a little.  Anyone know what I mean?  At least I have endurance even if I don’t have speed.  I know that athletes train for years to get good at their sports, and I have just started running about 1-1/2 years ago and serious biking for a couple years.

My body wanted carbs today! We drove to Panera instead of biking since I needed a rest day and we needed to grocery shop.  French toast bagel and coffee!

panera

Got to work right away.  My new account is full of files to do.  It was a little depressing as the chunk I have been working on most of the day is the neonatal intensive care unit.  Very sad.

Lunch break of Bumblebee tuna sensation.

tuna

This was quite good.

lunch

Plus an absolutely delicious Macintosh apple.  Ironic that the apples came from an apple orchard that we biked by yesterday!  Maybe that is why it tasted so good.  Wonderfully fresh.  Makes you realize how eating local really can make a difference!  We are hoping to go out apple picking soon.

I have already lost the football picks this week…. boooo!  That means I have to take John out to dinner again.  😛

I had a coupon for a Larabar, which I like but normally don’t buy because I can make them and they are a little spendy.  I tried a new flavor:

lara

Yummy!  Very clovey.  Wonderful paired with my latte.

My folks came over to watch the Broncos/Cowboys game.  Pixie says “Time to stop working, mommy!”

pix

She loves to lay on this footstool, no matter what is already on there!

John made a delicious chili for us to eat while I worked.  I love my hubby!  He used ground beef, white beans (no kidney beans thankyouverymuch), onions, crushed tomatoes and spices simmered in the crockpot all day.  I had mine with some pan sauteed brussel sprouts and strawberries.

din

After dinner, I had a tiny sliver of a fresh pumpkin pie that John also made (is he amazing, or what??).  I love fresh pumpkin.  Celebrating a Broncos victory!  (Sorry Dad!).

pie

Overall very pleased with how I ate today.  Sundays are very difficult for me, but maybe it was because I got my snacky day done on Friday 😛

New stage for NROLW tomorrow.  Eeeek!

Question:  Do you go apple picking?

Brick training day!

I actually slept until 7 a.m. this morning!  Yay!  It’s so hard for me to sleep that late, although I didn’t get to bed until after midnight.

It looked pretty cloudy this morning, so we weren’t sure if we were going to be able to ride or not.

Breakfast was so yummy:

chocoats2

  • 40 grams oats
  • 4 grams cocoa powder
  • 1 small banana
  • cinnamon
  • Topped with peanut butter and (oh no she didn’t!) a drizzle of chocolate sauce.

Yum!  After dinking around on the computer for a while and checking the radar, it seemed clear and I really wanted to check out the duathlon course since the road was all marked up for the race in 2 weeks (!!!!).  I actually was overdressed for this, as the closer we got to Albany, the warmer it was.  It was probably close to 60 and really humid.  Ugh!  I had on jogging pants and a long sleeve technical shirt.

We started on the bike route and first thing is a big hill, a steep hill!  Holy crow.  This is a tough course.  It is a beautiful course, though, I have to say.  It’s going to be awesome with fall colors in 2 weeks.

With the humidity, I just wasn’t feeling at my peak and was slow on the climbs.  John actually went ahead of me, which is pretty rare.  We stopped at mile 8 to have a snack (Balance bar).  I likely won’t do this on the actual race day, but I needed it since it had been several hours since breakfast.

snack

Then finished up that route.  After we got back I wanted to do the 2.2 mile run and John decided to go with me!  I about fell over.  Drank some coconut water and headed out.  After about 1/2 a mile, there was a hill…. a long hill…. a really long hill.  Probably 1/4 mile or so.  We managed to plod up and keep going.  This was the big reason I wanted to do the course ahead of time, because I didn’t want there to be any surprises, and now there aren’t.  I do have to say that I am a little scared though.  Remember that I have to do the run *twice* – once before the 16 mile bike ride and then at the end.

I think I can do it – does my face look scared? It is.

sweaty

This was after we did the run part.  I was drenched in sweat.  I just don’t do well in humidity.  GoWear fit said 658 calories burned for the bike/run. Sweet.

I think I scared the geese with my sweatiness – they are running away!

geese

It was time to eat then and we stopped at Pasta Factory:

pf

Ironically, neither of us got pasta 😀

I did have an awesome pear and gorgonzola salad with walnuts on a bed of spinach.  It was sooo good!

salad

Shopped for a while and looked at some fun Halloween stuff.  The mall had one of those giant costume stores that seem to pop up this time of year.

Then a stop for a latte!  Yum, yum.

latte

They made it all purty for me, too!

I am pretty beat.  I feel a mix of both being excited and nervous about the duathlon.  It is going to be tough, no 2 ways about it.

Throwback for dinner!

eiab

Eggs in a basket!  This was fun, since we actually had bread slices big enough to do this with (Nature’s Pride)

So – lucky you guys to have an early post from me tonight!  Tomorrow is back to work for me, and then football where my Broncos take on my dad’s favorite team the Cowboys (booooo!!!).  So we will be watching the game together.

Question:  Ever have eggs in a basket?

Mini duathlon and french toast!

* Final challenge check in tomorrow!!*

Thank you so much for the congratulations on our anniversary!  😀

I decided to try the full format for the duathlon today of run/bike/run.  The temperature was pretty much perfect outside – mid 50s, although a little wet.  I was not feeling very hungry this morning after dinner last night, but I thought I should have a little something before going out.  Mini wheat pita toasted with some peanut butter.  Yum!

pita

I did a 2-mile run first, and decided that Indian food is not a good precursor to having a good workout.  I was definitely feeling bloated and heavy this morning.  Not the best of energy.  I purposely did not wear a watch today knowing that I wasn’t at my best before I even left the house.  Got back home, quick put on the helmet, slugged some water, and hopped on the bike.  I then did a 4.5 mile circuit.  Got back in the driveway and drank from my water bottle.  I had given it a squeeze while drinking and felt a sudden gush of water on my front.  I had actually snapped off the entire top of the bottle where the lid screws on.  I don’t know how that happened!  (Must be the lifting LOL).  I almost went running again with my helmet on because I got distracted with the water bottle – that would have looked dorky around the neighborhood…  2nd run was another 2 miles.  I was feeling kind of tired by the end and slow.  The real deal will be plugging another 12 miles of biking into this!  At least I know what the transitions feel like all around.  Run to bike is not bad.  Bike to run, still not my favorite.  I need to keep my bike mileage up in the next couple weeks.

I got this bread from Nature’s Pride yesterday as part of FoodBuzz Featured Publisher program.

naturespride

I decided that a new breakfast was in order – French Toast!  Can you believe there is no oatmeal anywhere?  Well, I guess it is one of the grains, but who’s counting?

ft3

  • 1 egg
  • 2 tablespoons milk
  • nutmeg
  • 1/2 tsp vanilla
  • 2 slices of Nature’s Pride 12-grain bread.
  • Strawberries

This was delightful and oh so good!  This bread is hearty like many whole grain breads and didn’t get all soggy and fall apart when dipping into the batter.  That is usually the big problem with reduced calorie breads.  Each slice of this bread is 110 calories, but really worth it taste wise.  Although, the marketing of 14 grams of whole grains per slice irritates me.  That translates to 2 grams of fiber.

Good things – no preservatives and no HFCS!   Thank you Nature’s Pride!

Ever have those day’s where you just rock and roll?  I whipped through work today and finished just at dinner time.  6.5 hours and I did all my files.  Wish I had more days like that.

Someone who was not productive:

baby

I have never seen a cat that sleeps this much.

Now my evening is free!  I need to make sure I am productive and not wasting this free time.

I had a ginormous dinner:

din

One of my patented stir fries 😀  I had about 2.5 cups of cauliflower and broccoli in this with 3 ounces of chicken.  Very filling.  I needed it because this morning’s workout burned 600 calories!

Is this not the smallest clementine ever?  It’s about the size of a golf ball.

clem

The taste was pretty disappointing.  Kind of weak and bland.  Hope the other 3 pounds are better!

Question:  Do you live in an area where there is fall leaf color?

Brick and duathlon

Decided on another brick today, this time the bike/run. I planned out a fairly straight bike loop to take twice of a little over 13 miles and then a 2-mile run. I drank this before going out:
pom

I have decided that this is not good by itself for fuel before exercising.  It’s just straight juice without any protein and it lasted all of about 5 miles.  POM is much better as a refuel during.  Lesson learned.  The bike ride was not really enjoyable, as I stuck to the main roads and there was traffic, school busses, traffic lights, and garbage trucks (my mother is probably freaking out reading this – sorry Mom!).   With all that, I did the 13 miles in 1:03 and I figured I was probably averaging about 13 mph.  Not bad.  Stopped at home and had some coconut water and felt super energized.  Gosh I love this stuff.  Makes me wonder if Gatorade is any different.  I did a 2-mile loop in a little over 21 minutes.  I swear I was going faster because I had pace music on in the 170s, so don’t know what is up with that.  I forgot how it feels to run after biking!  Blargh.

I was ready to eat off my own arm when I got done, and cooked up some protein pancakes.  These take no more than 10 minutes from start to finish, which I love!

panc

The app is filled out for me to do a duathlon in October!  I have sort of been training for it before making up my mind and I just decided to go for it.

duatho

I am ready already, since I am in really good shape with all the work I have done since spring  (did I just say that??).  I’m am nervous and excited.  At least having done a triathlon, I know pretty much what to expect and there is no swimming involved!   Hope it doesn’t snow.  Have a couple 5K in October that we are thinking of doing as well.  Gotta cram in the outdoor stuff while we can.

Lunch was so, so good today:

csalad

Curry chicken salad:

  • 2.5 ounces cooked chicken, chopped
  • 7 grapes chopped
  • 1/2 small granny smith apple, chopped
  • matchstick carrots, probably 1/4 cup
  • 1 tablespoon light mayo
  • curry powder
  • 1 tablespoon slivered almonds

Mix the mayo and curry powder thoroughly.  Add all ingredients except almonds together and mix well.  Place mixture on top of a bed of lettuce and top with almonds.  Yum!

Zoomed through work today.  Software problems on their end, which is annoying, but didn’t slow me down too much.

Had another of my chewy granola bars as a snack with my latte.  For those that asked, the cinnamon chips are just little sweet bits of cinnamon.  Like chocolate chips, only not chocolate.  Hershey’s makes them and they are usually in the baking aisle with the chocolate chips, butterscotch chips and the like.  Addicting little buggers, too.  I can eat them out of hand easily.

Pixie is pretty much recovered from her declaw.  She won’t run around yet, but that might just be because she is the laziest cat in the world:

pixlazy

She loves laps!  She looks kind of annoyed that I took her picture, though LOL. I also heard from the rehabber that the little kitten is doing really well and has gotten medicine, vitamins and lots of food.  Hope he finds a good home when he gets a little older.

Quick and easy dinner – feta cheese omelet!

dinI love feta cheese.  It is one of my favorites along with gorgonzola and asiago.  Well, really I won’t turn any cheese down (except super stinky ones).

After dinner sweet:

werther

I am now free for the evening and John has twisted my arm into going out for coffee in a bit.  😀

September challengers – don’t forget to check in here!

Question:  What is your favorite cheese?