Update: T-minus 1 Month to the Houston Marathon

Well things have been a bit crazy around here, out of town almost every weekend or with visitors! With more holidays coming up it isn't likely to calm down for a few weeks, but I will get some much wanted R&R and get to ride around my old stomping grounds in Denver followed by a ski trip in Tahoe.

I am about a month away from my first big race of the season, the Houston Marathon. Two weeks later I will be running the Surfside Marathon, which is ran down the beach and will present different types of challenges. Registration is still open for the Surfside race, and if you register by January 2nd you'll get a personalized race bib!

Due to the quick turnaround for the races I will be focusing more on time in the Houston Marathon than in the Surfside race. This will be my first time running a marathon outside of Ironman races so I am still trying to figure out my pacing strategy. At this point I have ran 18 miles at an 845 pace, so I am planning on starting at 9 min/miles and going from there. I have one more long run (going for 20) before the race then I will begin my taper. I still haven't decided how I am going to do this since it overlaps with the start of my Ironman Training for May. I am very excited for my first race as a member of Big Sexy Racing, even though it isn't a triathlon. 




I have recently made the jump to Newton shoes and will be racing in those. I bought a pair at the Las Vegas Ironman 70.3 World Championships and have ran on them ever since. After talking with the representatives at the booth, they helped me pick out the Newton's Distance U's a half size smaller than I typically run in. I'll admit the transition was hard, I had been off my feet for four weeks after Vegas with a partially torn Achilles and they induce a much different gait than most of us run naturally. My calves were very sore the first two weeks, where it's recommended you don't run over three miles until you are comfortable, but after that I started to see some marked improvements. I no longer have the hip, knee and ankle pain I used to experience and I can tell I am using more of the muscles in my legs than before. Overall I am running faster than I used to. I won't be needing a new pair for two months or so but am considering the Newton Ironman Elite they released this year.





I will keep you updated with a race review once it happens!



Recipe of the Week: Easy Peasy Hummus
Hummus is easy to make and easily modified to your preferred taste. As a good source of healthy fats and carbs, it's a great afternoon snack when you want to bridge the gap between your lunch and afternoon workout. 

It can be paired with fruits, veggies or pita bread to keep the variety up through the week!



What you need:

• 4 cups of canned garbanzo beans, drained but keep the juice
• 2/3 cups Tahini (Sesame seed paste, you'll find it in a can in the asian food section)
• Lemons for juice
• 2 tsp salt
• 1.5 tbls Olive oil
• 4 Garlic cloves, halved
• Paprika and parsley to taste
• Extras: you can add in almost anything, I've used bell peppers, spicy peppers, spinach, cilantro etc... If you use something like a pepper it can change the consistency but this can be balanced out by adding the juice from the beans in small quantities. 

What you need to do:

Depending on your blender or food processors capability, chop the garlic and extra add ins to the needed size. Toss everything but the olive oil, paprika and parsley in and blend to your hearts content. Serve with a drizzle of olive oil, and a sprinkling of paprika and parsley. 

Because I typically make this on Sunday and bring it to the office throughout the week, I add the paprika and parsley in during the blending stage. 

Update: Getting Back in the Swing of Things

Back to work today, it's always hard to get up and going after taking any significant amount of time off. I always try to workout every day while on a trip (other than Mondays, Monday's are rest days and the rest day is sacred) but it's one thing to workout when you have leisure plans the rest of the day, versus working around the 40 hour work week.

The best advice I can give is to get back at it and into a standard schedule as soon as you can, my flight did cut my long run on Saturday somewhat short but I did get out there to do it regardless. It might have been for the best as I ran all last week anyway so it was good to give the ankles a rest. Workouts will probably feel harder and a bit slower this week due to the rest, so it's OK to ease back into it. A week of easier work is hardly anything and you'll bounce back quickly and newly refreshed!

Got my cute face on. 

I did do a Turkey Trot 10k while I was away, and while my Age Group placing was 6th (4 down from last year) I did do a significantly faster time and PR'd at 50:23 so I am overall happy with the results. The Magnuson course is also really fun because it has a lot of terrain changes. 

I always have trouble pacing 10ks, because I want to go as hard as I would in a 5k but can't and somehow my 10k pace is only 30 seconds faster than my half-marathon pace. I hope to start racing some Olympic races this year along side my full and half distances, so this is a good bench mark.



Recipe of the Week: Stuffed Bell Peppers

A bit of a warmer recipe for the cooler months, this recipe include quinoa, cottage cheese and chicken so it is tasty and packed with protein!


What you'll need:

Yum!

• 1 lb diced chicken
• 5 bell peppers ( I prefer red, but they looked a bit wonky at the store so green it is!)
• 1 cup coked quinoa
• 1/3 cup of cottage cheese (don't go for the fat free, they just add sugar)
• 2 handfuls chopped spinach
• 15 chopped up cherry tomatoes
• 1 onion diced
• 1 tbsp minced garlic
• Olive oil
• Salt and pepper

What you need to do:

• Preheat the oven to 400F
• In a deep skillet, saute the diced onion and garlic in the olive until soft. Add chicken and salt and pepper to taste. Heat until chicken is mostly done.
• Remove from heat, add quinoa, cottage cheese, spinach and tomatoes. 
• Cut the tops off the bell peppers and gut the innards, a quick rinse will get rid of the seeds. Fill the peppers with the mix.
• Place in a cake pan and cover with aluminum foil and cook for 20 minutes. Remove foil and broil for an additional 5 minutes to make the tops crispy.

Workout of the week: Practicing for open water in the pool

When I started in triathlon, I was deathly afraid of the swim. I was a weak swimmer to say the least and adding a crowd of people and taking away the lanes wasn't bound to help.

Unfortunately the best solution to swim start anxiety is practice practice practice, never make your first race of the season your A race and if you get a chance to swim with a group outside.

It is surprisingly difficult to swim in a straight line in the open water, in the pool you have lane lines and guides to keep you on course. Unfortunately in the open water you just have the wild blue yonder. Practice swimming in the pool with your eyes closed and see which direction you drift, most people tend to be stronger on one side than the other and it pushes them off course. Once you find which side this is, one armed stroke drill can be done to even it out. 

When you get yourself swimming in as straight a line you can, it's time to practice sighting. Sighting allows you to look up occasionally without interrupting your stroke and redirect as needed. Either pick a landmark in the pool (such as the diving platforms) or set up a kick board at the end of the lane to sight off of. Keep your eyes closed when your face is in the water and every eighth stroke or so push up slightly with the arm going into the water and bring your head up to catch a quick glimpse at the target. The more you do this, the more natural it will feel and you'll find a sighting position that works best for you. 

That's it for this week! Feel free to leave suggestions in the comments on things you want to see!