My Whole Foods Leap - You Can Do It Too!

Our free range chickens

Well, I did it. I made the leap into cooking from whole foods. We all know it is good for us but we feel time strapped. I DO NOT like to cook and I am a one pot girl, but I have a husband, myself, and three hungry children to feed, so I finally made that big step! I now meal plan two weeks in advance and only go to the grocery store once in a two week period. I like to cook a healthy one pot meal that will last for two days so I don't have to cook EVERY day. It's nice coming home some days with everything all ready to eat!

I have found I can make most anything by keeping the following ingredients in the house:

1. Flour - my favorite is spelt from a whole foods store

2. Butter - real butter

3. Milk - whole, organic, produced locally

4. Onions

5. Potatoes - organic (potatoes are on the top 12 eat organic list)

6. Assorted Fresh Vegetables

7. Eggs

8. Rice

9. Beans - beans you cook, not from cans
10. Fresh Fruit

I am lucky in that we have a small farm so we get fresh eggs on a daily basis and I have herbs that I have continued to use through the winter. As you can see from my list I'm not a big meat eater. I'm not a vegetarian, I just prefer vegetables and beans over meat most of the time. 

My free range chickens cute nest they made from bailing twine in the barn!

I do not claim to be a cook by any means but I make a different soup every week. Soup is so easy, takes little effort, and you can throw together leftovers and make something of it! To make a soup you can cut up vegetables or potatoes and put them in a big pot with some type of liquid. Water with herbs, Chicken Broth, Vegetable Broth, Water with bouillon cubes, or coconut milk. I use whatever I happen to have at the time. You want that liquid to not quite cover your soup contents so the nutrients that cook out stay within that liquid. Add whatever spice you want (curry, italian seasoning, etc.) and cover to boil. Boil until your soup contents are soft. At the end consider adding fresh herbs like cilantro or cut up green onions to add. You can also look around the house and see what you have. You can add milk, tomato puree, tomato paste, pre-cooked beans or rice, or tomatoes at the end as well. I just experiment and end up making something different each time I make a soup!

Here is a soup I made this week with some ingredients I had on hand. What I had:

cauliflower - a large head 

small red potatoes - a bag

green onions - 2 chopped

curry powder

turmeric powder

chicken broth

milk

fresh cilantro - chopped

1. Cut up the small potatoes in fours and put them in the pan

2. Cut up the cauliflower and add it to the pan

3. Pour in a box (about 4 cups) of broth to just cover the contents

4. Add more water if you need to in order to barely cover the potatoes and cauliflower 

5. Mix in a couple of teaspoons of curry powder and one teaspoon  of turmeric

** I also added 4-5 drops of Sambal Oelek*** It makes everything taste GOOD! I add it to ALL the soups I make!

6. Bring to a boil with the pot covered

7. Once the cauliflower and potatoes are soft, add the cilantro and green onions. I admit I add the whiter parts of the green onions sooner because I like my onions "dead"

8. Add a half a cup to a cup of milk, and then simmer for a couple of minutes

Now I have a big pot for several days! Take the step towards whole food cooking. It is easy and actually quite inexpensive. Happy Fresh Eating with what you had left over in your refrigerator!  

Swim Progression: A Simple Catch-Up Drill

Bath County Sprint 2012

Today I’m pretty excited because I made some progress in the pool. I’m a fairly new adult swimmer and it has been a challenge to figure out this thing called swimming. In one of my blogs I had mentioned what drills had helped me the most since I started with an amazing swim instructor Eva Steib from the Carter Athletic Center in Roanoke, Virginia:

http://adventuresin-tri-mom-athlon.blogspot.com/2012/11/swimming-progression-and-drills-to.html

However, I still have not grasped an understanding of the rate of rotation and when to pull but today I made some progress! I watched one of the amazing swimmers in our group swim class this morning. I have been pulling while breathing when in actuality you are supposed to turn your head while one arm is extended and then pull. Today I finally did it!

So, for anybody else out there who is foggy about swimming:

1. Reach out far with your right arm;

2. Turn your head to the left to breathe;

3. Bring your left arm up out of the water in recovery ready to reach out WHILE your right arm is extended;

4. Make sure your hips are rotated up while your right arm is extended out and while you are breathing;

5. Reach your left arm out far while pulling with the right and putting your head back in the water; and

6. Repeat for the other side and don’t forget to KEEP kicking while breathing too.

This is a totally different feel and different rhythm then what I have been doing. It really made a huge improvement in the “feel” of the water and how I was moving through the water. I was so excited to better understand when to reach out, when to pull, and when to breathe!

A drill to help you with keeping your arm extended, turning your head, and having your arm ready in recovery is a simple “catch-up” drill as follows:

1. Kick for six kicks with your head in the water and both arms extended;

2. Pull back with your right arm while your left is still extended;

3. Remember to rotate your hips and turn your head to breathe;

4. Return your hand to the center so both arms are extended;

5. Kick for six kicks with your head in the water; and

6. Repeat with the other side.

Age Group Sprint National Championship, Burlington, VT, 2012

This simple catch up drill is a great drill to practice putting everything together! So new adult swimmers, keep plugging along – eventually it must come together! Here is thinking happy thoughts towards the swim for next season!!

How To Work It All In

Do you find yourself wondering how you will ever get your workout in for the day? As a stay at home and homeschooling mom of three children ages 7, 5, and 2, it can be quite challenging. I am NOT a morning person but I have found that I LOVE to get up early in the morning and be done with any workouts by 7:30 AM. Then I feel great, feel like I accomplished something, had some time for me, and nothing has interfered with the time I get with my children. 

However, we have had one broken down car for the past week. That means there isn't enough time in the morning to wisp myself away into exercise land before my husband has to bike to get to work on time. So for the last week I have been fitting in workouts throughout the day WITH my kids. I don't like how it interferes with my time with my kids but I like to follow a schedule and get it all done. 

I had to skip my swim for the first time since I have taken up a new swim coach because I just couldn't fit it all in today and I had to be creative with getting in a run. Usually I get the time to run in the morning but with the new broken down car schedule I have the option of going to our local YMCA where they watch my kids and they let me go outside in a cemetery across the street to run. It gets boring running there but it is better than nothing. The options are so limited with little kids. Today I couldn't get to the Y before their Child Watch closed at 2 PM so I thought I would find a quiet rural park with some running options where I could run circles around the playground. This is yet another defying feat of a desperate time strapped athlete and mom. 

Luckily NOBODY was at the park. This way I didn't have to worry about any drama with any other kids and any parents wondering why this crazy mother was running circles around her children. You have to admit this is slightly ridiculous. The park had a lovely limestone dusted meandering path around the playground. Bigger than a track with natural curves and gradual inclines and descents. It was a beautiful run, something different, and I could see and hear my children. Not a bad option for the day. I will say my GPS wouldn't read here. It said I was running a whopping 32 per minute mile. I don't think I could do that if I tried, ha ha!

Well, I made it about 42 minutes before the littlest threw up in the tunnel. Probably too many cookies from the party we had just left! So, at least I got a run in and the kids got some time to play. It can be crazy but it's nice to get it all in!

Nutrition for Athletes

Now this is one debated topic and a topic of mystery and intrigue for most of us! The most enlightening book I have read on nutrition for athletes is Sports Nutrition for Endurance Athletes by Monique Ryan. This book is well written and a very interesting read. It is specific about what you need nutritionally based on the sport you are doing including triathlon, aquathlon, duathlon, winter triathlon, road cycling, mountain biking, track cycling, cyclo-cross, distance running, swimming, rowing, and adventure racing. It is also distance specific based on the triathlon you are doing (sprint, olympic, half ironman, or full ironman). The book also discusses your diet from your daily performance to training to race day and is age specific such as aging and the master’s athlete to osteoporosis in men.

I really love how they list the glycemic index (a measure of how quickly levels of blood glucose rise after eating a particular type of food) of foods and tell you the recommended carbohydrates to protein based on your size and sport as well as your fluid and mineral requirements. They also tell you at what times you should be eating what. For example, should you eat before that early morning workout or after? What should you consume the morning of the race? What should you eat the night before the race? What should you consume during the race? What is best to eat for recovery and when? What can you do to prevent muscle cramps? With all of this they also offer meal plans and sample menus.

I went through a period before I was being coached where I was just not recovering. I was sore and worn out all of the time. Having a coach would have helped immensely but it really came down to nutrition. I even started asking some other coaches what I could do and they said to back off. After reading this book I realized I was not getting enough carbohydrates to recover. I changed my diet according to what this book suggested and it made a huge difference in my training ability because my body had the fuel it needed to recover. Sports Nutrition for Endurance Athletes really helped take the mystery out of sports eating!

Different people choose different systems of eating. Not one system is right for everyone. Some choose the Paleo Diet, some choose a low carb diet, some choose a higher protein, and some choose a vegan diet, and so on and so forth. The January 2013 edition of triathlete Magazine showcases an ultra triathlete with a vegan diet and that works for him. Different things work for different people. The ultra athlete in the latest edition of triathlete Magazine suggests trying a diet for at least thirty days and sticking with it to see if you benefit from it.  

Some of the articles on nutrition I read this week were:

1.  Five Strategies for Optimal Recovery from active.com:

http://www.active.com/running/Articles/5-Strategies-for-Optimal-Recovery.htm?cmp=291&memberid=108544818&lyrisid=37577307&email=kimberlynadine@yahoo.com; and

2.  The TriAdventure Facebook page has been adding many nice posts recently. Here is one I read this week on nutrition called – “Winter Weight Gain – The Healthy Kind”:

http://www.triadventure.com/article-of-the-week/?SSScrollPosition=112.

So, take the mystery out of what you are eating for training, racing, and recovering. Sports Nutrition for Endurance Athletes by Monique Ryan is very interesting and worth the read. You can order one from Amazon.com for $14.93. Happy Eating, Training, and Recovering! 

Fresh Food On the Go - Like on the Bike!

Looking to eat “clean” and carry fresh food on your next bike ride? The Feed Zone Cookbook: Fast and Flavorful Food for Athletes, offers many fresh food ideas for the bike but here is one I use and love from my great friend Sherry. These granola bars are a great option! Sometimes I eat these for breakfast and sometimes after a workout. I use this as a dessert when I’m seeking something sweet too! And I can handle the cooking part of this! It’s mostly just mixing! You could really cut this recipe in half and have plenty!

Shown here without heating the ingredients and
without chocolate - one of the options in making this

No-Fuss, No-Bake Granola Bars

Ingredients:

½ cup Tahini – (paste made from ground sesame seeds) - you can buy this fresh in a refrigerated case or in a jar (you can buy a smaller portion refrigerated and it will cost less)

½ cup sunflower seed butter (or almond butter or natural peanut butter)

2 tsp vanilla extract

¾ cup honey (wild flower)

¾ bar of 85% Green and Black Organic Dark Chocolate (sometimes I make it without this so it is not necessary – I still think it tastes GREAT without the chocolate believe it or not!); or chocolate chips

1 cup currants

¼ teaspoon salt

4 cups puffed rice or whole wheat puffed cereal

1 cup toasted or untoasted pumpkin seeds (tastes fine if you don’t toast them)

1 cup unsweetened shredded coconut

Grocery stores like Krogers have most of these ingredients. You can also visit a whole foods store like the Roanoke Natural Foods Co-Op where you will find the currants and pumpkin seeds in the bulk foods section.

While this seems like an overwhelming number of ingredients, what you buy should be enough to use several times.

Use a 9 x 13 glass dish or several smaller glass dishes (round or square) and swipe with butter.

In a saucepan over low heat:

Combine the tahini, butter, vanilla, honey, chocolate (separate the pieces of the bar), salt, and currants. Heat until the chocolate melts.

Wet Ingredients to be heated 

In a separate large mixing bowl:

Stir together the cereal, pumpkin seeds, and 2/3 cup of coconut.

Mix the wet and dry ingredients together in a large mixing bowl. 

Mix of dry and wet ingredients

Spread in your dish(es) and sprinkle with coconut.

And, yes, I admit it. I have tried this without heating up the ingredients (when I do not add chocolate) and it tasted fine and stuck together! So, hey, if it is a time saver - I am all for it! I'm betting you could stir in some chocolate chips without heating the ingredients and it would stick and be fine! Below I have the "microwave recipe" which is even quicker!!

Place in the refrigerator for one hour. Voila! Cut them and wrap them for on the go! No baking involved! Happy Biking and Eating!
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Time strapped and not anti-microwave?? Put the wet ingredient mix into a microwavable bowl and heat for about a minute.

Wet Ingredients - Shown here with the chocolate

Heated up SUPER QUICK in the microwave!

Mix your wet ingredients with the dry ones.

Showing the wet and dry mixed together - with chocolate

Pour into a bowl and cool in the refrigerator for one hour.

VOILA! 

A bit of early morning Triathlon Humor

It was actually a beautiful full moon this morning! I should have taken a picture!
This is a picture I took from the morning of  a race I did in South Carolina where I took an overall win!

I got up early like usual this morning so I could get my run and swim in. It takes me about thirty minutes to get to the gym where I swim. About five minutes from the gym at a quarter until six I had a flat tire! Luckily I saw a parking lot on the left and pulled over. 5:45 AM. It was dark. My husband and kids were in bed. My husband is so supportive that he will drop the kids off at the gym to me at 7:30 AM and we switch cars so he can go to work. I really thought it was much too early to call him and get the kids out of bed. And it was ridiculous to just sit in the car for the next hour and forty five minutes. There were quite a few trucks parked in the parking lot with more trucks pulling in. So I approached a guy in his truck to tell him I had a flat and if there was any way he could give me a ride. He said he had to be at work in 20 minutes and wanted to know how far it was. I said it was just down the road. He and the other guys in the parking lot were all construction workers about to start work on a building across the street. Another guy who had just pulled in said he was a nice guy and their boss was nice so it should be fine if he didn’t get back in time. So, this very nice construction worker and stranger gave me a ride to the gym this morning! Very thoughtful of him! He said he could tell I was on a mission!! But, yes, I REALLY needed to get that run and swim in!! However, I am not saying go up to any stranger and bum a ride to the gym to get a workout in. I was lucky I got a flat where I did early this morning.

So, here is my early morning humor. You know you are a triathlete when:

1. You bum a ride from a stranger in a pick-up truck at 5:45 AM so you can get your 

     workout in;

2.  You get to scrape the frost off your windows before everyone else gets out of bed;

3.  You get to see how bright and beautiful the moon and stars are on your run;

4.  You get to see the mist coming up off the ponds you pass by early in the morning;

      AND

5.  You get to see your breathe with every stride in the cold and darkness!

Have fun training and remember to thank the construction workers in life who are happy to help out a desperate triathlete! 

Finding Local Bike Routes

It’s off season now so every Sunday I have been going on a long group bike ride with a different route every weekend that we have organized ourselves. What’s even more fun is we have been ending our ride with beer at a local restaurant that just opened called the Wasena City Tap Room.  It’s in an ideal location right off of our Roanoke Valley Greenway, which is our no traffic route for biking, walking, running, or skating.  And, boy is that some good beer with a great selection after a long ride! The only problem is then biking up hill to get home after such great beer! My favorite beer on tap from there is the Foothills Hoppyum IPA.  A really smooth session Indian Pale Ale and oh so good after many miles on the road!

Wasena City Tap Room

Foothills Session IPA

We have found routes through friends and just by exploring but here are a few of many places you can find some routes:

1. www.mapmyride.com

2. http://www.traillink.com/ - for biking on trails

3. http://bike.meetup.com/ - groups with routes all over the world

4. http://www.active.com/cycling - lists all sorts of group rides and races

5. Your local bike shop might organize group rides. Here is a list of bike rides and sources listed from our local bike shop, East Coasters, website: http://eastcoasters.com/tips/cycling-links-pg20.htm

6. Your local bike group(s) such as The Blue Ridge Bike Club in Roanoke, VA which has a ride calendar and maps and The Roanoke Cycling Organization. 

The Blue Ridge Bike Club has an amazing list of resources and bike routes! Definitely my go-to if I’m searching for a local ride!

7. Your local triathlon club – such as the Roanoke Valley Triathlon Club in Roanoke, VA.

I am lucky in that I have some pretty amazing training grounds close by. I can bike 4 miles on country roads to get to our Greenway or I can bike half a mile and jump on the Parkway. Some of my favorite local rides are below. Many of these are well known, established routes. This is just a sampler of some of my favorites! Some of the routes listed are from one place to the next without the return mileage.

1. Climbing the Mill Mountain back road followed by the Roanoke Mountain Loop – http://www.mapmyride.com/routes/view/155910331 - From Walnut Avenue in Roanoke which you can access from the Greenway, take a right onto Sylvan Road and keep climbing to the top of Mill Mountain. A pretty easy climb up and there is no vehicular traffic except for one residence so this is great! Once you leave Mill Mountain, take a right on the Parkway and a left at the next stop sign where you will see the Roanoke Mountain loop on your right. A fun steep climb with some breaks in steepness in-between. 

My friend Natalie and I at the Roanoke Star Overlook

Me, husband Rob, Uncle David
at the Roanoke Star Overlook after the first climb

Uncle David, Friend Natalie, me, husband Rob at the Roanoke Star 

My friend Natalie and I at the top of the Roanoke Mountain Loop (second climb)

2. Three Peaks - http://ridewithgps.com/routes/1652156  - WOW – looking for a challenge? Try going up the Salem side of Twelve O’Clock Knob road on a tri-bike! This is a fun route with lots of climbing and quite a challenging and long climb on the Salem side of Twelve O’Clock knob road!

Me and friends Natalie and Beth

My husband Rob and I

3. Slings Gap – http://www.mapmyride.com/routes/view/155912551 - You can jump on the Parkway anywhere in Roanoke, including from the Greenway and head south on the Parkway and if you keep riding you will end up at Slings Gap. It’s an easy climb to get there and beautiful views!

Slings Gap

4. The James River to the Peaks of Otter – http://www.mapmyride.com/routes/view/155919849 - Park at the James River Visitor Center and head up towards the Peaks of Otter. This is one beautiful and easy climb. The views and peace on the road are totally worth it!

View on the way up to the Peaks of Otter from the James River Visitor Center

5. The Peaks of Otter over the Parkway from around Explore Park-

http://www.mapmyride.com/routes/view/155918177 - This has some steeper but shorter climbs and some rolling hills to land you at the Peaks of Otter. Sadly the restaurant just closed but they have a nice Parkway Visitor Center and you could always take a hike around the lake once you arrive if you haven’t had enough on the bike yet!

Views on the way to the Peaks of Otter from Explore Park

Views on the way to the Peaks of Otter

Peaks of Otter

6. The Yellow Mountain, Bandy Road Loop –

http://www.mapmyride.com/routes/view/155916219 - this is a scenic low-traffic ride in town which you can access right off of the Greenway. From Jefferson Street which you can jump on from the Greenway, take a left onto Yellow Mountain Road. Follow Yellow Mountain Road all the way to Bandy Road where you will take a left. Bandy will end at Garden City Boulevard where you will take a right. Once you get to the stoplight you can easily jump back on the Greenway from the adjacent IGA Supermarket parking lot.

Post Ride Stop at the Wasena City Tap Room with friends Liz and Beth

7. Following the Greenway – You can follow the newest section of the Greenway next to the sewage treatment plant, come back, jump on at the sewage treatment plant, and follow the Roanoke side of the Greenway as far as it goes. Then you will need to ride on a busy traffic road for about four miles before you can connect with the Salem side of the Greenway. Once the Roanoke side ends, take a left onto Bridge Street, a right onto Mountain View Terrance, right onto Memorial, bear left onto Edgewood, right onto Brandon (high traffic road), and once you cross the River past the 419 intersection you can get onto the Salem Greenway. You would be surprised that this ride turned into a 42 mile bike ride! This we had not expected! It was fun to go out and explore this route!

Stop off at the Wasena City Tap Room after our Greenway Exploration
with husband Rob, friend Bruce, and Uncle David

Husband Rob and I after a long bike ride this last Sunday
 which took us from around Explore Park to a well known local
route on Harborwood and Wildwood in Salem (not listed
above but can be found on the Blue Ridge Bike Club website)

So while it is offseason – or even in-season, get out there and explore some local routes and think about stopping at a fun eatery or tap room like the Wasena City Tap Room where you can enjoy the comfort of a good ride, good friends, and a good beer – or just a cup of soup or hot cocoa if beer isn’t your thing.  Happy Riding!