Rants, Recipes, and Running

I have to say this past weekend was pretty awesome! It was jam packed and busy. By the time Sunday evening rolled around, I was exhausted! But worth it! I kicked off my 3-day-weekend with a swim/bike brick Friday morning. Which was rough . 1 hour speed work swimming. 34 miles biking. I hit a wall . Learned that taking in some form of nutrition during these long work outs is mandatory. I drove home very pale....(90 + degrees with 60% humidity is no good...) I went straight from my brick work out, to oatmeal, to a bathroom "mini-reno". We replaced light fixtures and painted. Ryan had to do rewiring, I was his "tool girl". This project turned into much more than expected. It took 4 COATS of paint!!!!!! (Pictures to come soon.....once I get around to decorating!!) We took a break from painting at 6 pm to head over to my friend Lisa's 40th Birthday Party! It was the group of girlfriends who spend hours weekly running/biking/swimming together. So it was fun ...

I'm getting "down and dirty" with this half ironman training. I have to say so far it's very manageable and fun! I have to thank my work schedule of 4 10's, so that on my 3 days off -- I am able to get longer workouts in. #spoiled I'm several weeks into this training, and here are a few observations. The Good and the Ugly : The Good One doesn't really get sick of a sport. You're balancing between running, biking, and swimming. So every day, I kind of get excited about which one I get to do! Fun bonding time with training partners! Between Saturday-Sunday, we biked 73 miles. (Which is about 5 hours on the bike total). Talk about some serious catching up/bonding! (here we are on our 34 mi bike/2 mi run Brick Saturday morning!)   Learning new sports. I'm really embracing my love of the water. This masters swim team is going to be hard for me to quit when I'm done training! Mondays & Fridays we do speed work and Wednesday...

If there's one thing I've learned since we moved to the Sonoran Desert, it's that you can garden and eat things from the ground. It just takes some serious labor and love. I cannot just plant tomatoes, water them every other day, and expect fruit. That's just silly and naïve . One must do extensive research! In  fact, I am currently starting my seeds for next years garden. As it takes much love and transitioning to get them ready for Arizona's awful, relentless heat! One thing we've really embraced this year - is making use out of our cacti. We have a beautiful prickly pear cactus in the corner of our yard that bears wonderful fruit! What does prickly pear look like again?   There are 2 distinct parts to the prickly pear. The green paddles (nopales) and the purple prickly pears.   Harvesting these isn't always fun. You will get hairs and thorns impaled into your skin. Unless you were smart and perhaps wore gloves?   The nopales pa...

Ryan and I have been living completely opposite lives lately. But I was able to finagle my work schedule around to get Saturday free, so we could have a day together. And it was worth all the finagling! We took a day trip to Saguaro Lake Ranch to do a kayaking trip on the Salt River. We had 13 miles to kayak, and the river gets very full of tubers during the summer. So we wanted to get an early start. We were on the road by 5:15 am, and on the river by 7:30! This trip made Ryan & I seriously consider buying kayaks. We had so much fun! I'm going to let the pictures do the talking.... We saw a variety of landscapes along the way. We started @ Saguaro Lake Ranch - which historically was the ranch that housed the workers who made the dams on the Salt River to create the various lakes near Phoenix. They provided the kayaks, and picked you up when you finished to bring you back to your vehicle.   Here I am getting the feel for my kaya...

As you know, I am training for my 1st 70.3 half Ironman in October. Looking back on my sprint triathlon I did last May, the biggest challenge for me was the open water swim. I just didn't feel like natural in the water. Which is funny. Because I am " the water girl ". I could spend all day in the water. This was the case as a child, and I never really outgrew that. I have a few friends who are on the Masters Swim team, and have brought me to a few workouts. The aquatic center is right by my house..... And let me tell you about this Aquatic Center. It is the " Taj Mahal " of swimming pools. Our city spent big bucks to have the best aquatic center in the city (it's one of the best in the state). The water is perfect. Best part? -- surrounded by mountains!   And it's only 4 miles from my house!   So after trying out a few practices, I am hooked! So Monday is my 1st official practice on the Oro Valley Masters' Team: " The Flying...

Our kitchen has been active lately with several new recipes. My favorite thing that is a'brewin' is our prickly pear infused liquors ! But there will be a post to come on that soon. I'm pretty stoked about it, though! We are actually harvesting plump, juicy, red prickly pears from our cactus, and infusing them in mason jars w/ vodka and agave nectar..... More to come that! Over the weekend, I tried to make comfort food for my husband who went on night shift starting the 4th of July. Right now our schedule couldn't be more opposite. He wakes up as I go to bed. But that's okay - we still live in the same household, and this schedule is temporary! A few of my comfort creations were: Salted Puppy Chow (sea salt, pretzels, puppy chow, #crack) - I made 2 big batches of this. One which I brought to the 4th of July party I went to, the other I sent with Ryan to work. Crockpot lasagna - super easy, super delicious! Why have I never tried making lasagna in a cro...

I've owned my bike for about 1.5 years. I have avoided learning how to change a tire like the plague. My strategy has been, "If I get a flat, I'll just call a friend." or "If I get a flat, I'll just run home (barefoot?)" The idea of changing the inner tube of a tire just seemed like this impossible feat - and a skill I am not interested in learning. It all kind of relates to my disdain for the sport of "road biking". In order to go road biking, my routine is: check tires air up tires to 90 psi get my helmet out get my cycling shoes out (which you can only wear cycling - they have funny clips on the bottoms) make sure my "bike bag" is all set with the appropriate tools, tubes, drivers license (in case I get hit by a car and end up in the trauma center & need to be identified.....Just kidding, Mom!) Then I have to load it onto my bike rack. Make sure it's bungee corded down. Drive it to a meeting spot, unload, ...