Your speeding!

So first off lets address the obvious...I've had a few changes around here. Came home from my long run today and threw everything on the counter from my run and then looked down and just decided it was going to be my new blog header. And since I had been doing much thinking about spring as I ran (and the fact that it is suppose to be in the low teens for the high temps in a day or so) I decided spring colors was the way to go. So here's the new look...what do you think?

Training this week was actually pretty good. I got in two each of swim, bike and run as well as a couple of strength training workouts. I also dropped my bike off at the shop for it's spring tune up and set up an appointment for a bike fitting which I've never actually had done.

Long run today while a little cool was really pretty nice. I went over to Standley lake to run so I could get off of the concrete and asphalt. In my first mile I passed a gentleman who called to me "Your speeding!" and made me laugh. While I was anything but speeding it was nice to hear and made me remember that it is all relative. One persons slow is another's speedy.

Here is the gorgeous view I was running toward. That's the dam in front of the mountains I ran to the right of it first then back down and over to left.

This is just before mile 3 running through the empty campground with the spot marker.

Look how beautiful the mountains with the snow are. But as you can see the foothills have none. We've seen very little snow here in the metro area.

This shot is from the other side of the lake and you can see the wind turbines in front of the mountains.

And that's it 7.25 miles done. While it was any thing but speedy, I felt pretty good about it especially considering I stopped numerous times for photos, a potty break, a phone call and it was pretty hilly too. Training for spring 1/2 mary is coming along just fine!

What's for Dinner? Stuffed Poblano Peppers

So this one is not a new recipe, but something that I enjoy throwing together often and wanted to share. Poblano peppers are usually pretty mild although I must say recently I've had some pretty spicy ones which is a little strange. I would imagine if you don't like spicy food that you could use Anaheim peppers or for that matter a green, red or yellow. This can be a great way to use up leftovers, I put in whatever is in the refrigerator. This particular one turned out to be fantastic!!

In this mix I have approximately:
1/4 c. zucchini
1/4 c. yellow squash
1/2 c. mushrooms
1/2 small onion
1/4 c. cooked butternut squash
4 oz cooked chicken
1/2 c. black beans
1/2 c. grape tomatoes cut in 1/2
salt
pepper
cumin

Saute the zucchini, yellow squash, mushrooms and onion until tender 8-10 minutes add butternut squash, chicken, beans and tomatoes. Add salt pepper and cumin to taste.

Stuff peppers (as you can see I had more filling then room) and smother with canned enchilada sauce. This time I used Las Palamas Green Chili enchilada sauce. Cover and bake at 350-400 degrees for 45 minutes to 1 hour. You can stick the peppers to make sure they are soft. Top with sour cream or/and cheese if you would like.

As I said you can put almost anything in these. I believe this is the first time I haven't added some kind of grain, either brown rice or couscous. It was just as good without it. You could use different veggies although these are my standards. You could mix in cheese and you can also use red sauce, that's tasty too although I prefer green. I've made these for the boys and they like them too although Carb lover didn't like the outside pepper so much.

Go clean out your refrigerator and enjoy!

A man ahead of his time.

Do you remember Jack LaLanne? His exercise show started in the late 50's and continued for more then 3 decades. I have some vague memories of seeing him on TV when I was a child. He passed away on Sunday at the age of 96.

Well into his late 80s, LaLanne continued his personal fitness routine of two hours a day — one hour of weight training and another hour exercising in the pool — beginning at 5 or 5:30 in the morning (a concession to his age; in earlier days, he started at 4 a.m.).

Los Angeles Time Obits

I heard part of this today on the radio and I was amazed that even then he was so dead on with this advice.


Wow what an inspiration. RIP Jack Lalanne.

Can you imagine?

What is this? This is approximately 30 lbs worth of canned goods (and most of the cans that were in my cabinet before I went shopping) It is also the amount of weight that I have lost in the last 9 months. It's been a slow journey with months at a time that I didn't lose anything, or lost and gained over and over but as you can tell from my weight tracker it's been a pretty steady downward trend. It also puts me pretty close, 13 pounds, from my "high" goal weight which I really can't remember ever being at but I'm sure I was in at in my 20's.



Are there benefits of losing 30 lbs?

HELL YEA!

Lets start with the running. I'm getting faster. Not fast, just faster. In the last 6 months I've gone from a monthly average pace of 12:42 to 12:14 that's almost 30 seconds a mile! Like I said not fast but it would be really hard to get that kind of increase just training I think. Especially when you don't like to make it hurt.

Clothes all fit so much better and I've dropped 2 jean sizes. This means I get to shop for new clothes, can't see anything bad about that, well except for the obvious lack of money. Luckily most of my workout clothes still fit which means the spandex must have been stretched to the max before. I will however need a new wetsuit since the one I had was already slightly big.


My knees and feet don't hurt! Not only when I run but just on an average day they feel pretty darn good almost all the time.


Self confidence. I feel much better about myself in general and as an athlete. Am I still shaking in my boots about that 70.3? Yes but every pound makes it seem that much more attainable.

Then of course there are the obvious health benefits of which there are to many to list.

This one may seem odd but food...it tastes good again! When I'm heavier it's as if I just eat to be eating and don't really taste or enjoy it again. When I'm watching what I eat and eating healthy everything tastes so much better and I get real enjoyment from it.

I'm sure there are many others that just aren't coming to mind right now but it's time to get out for my weekend long run...7 miles today..I think I'm going to be smiling. :)

Have a great day!

What's for Dinner? Senegalese Peanut Stew with Spinach and Sweet Potatoes

Ok I admit it...this one is just for me. :) Not a chance either of my boys would even give this one a try, their loss! It's really good. Seriously good! And it freezes pretty good too! Try it you will not be sorry.

Senegalese Peanut Stew with Spinach and Sweet Potatoes
Weight Watcher

Ingredients

1 spray(s) cooking spray
2 medium onion(s), roughly chopped
1 medium green pepper(s), cored and roughly chopped
1/2 pound(s) sweet potato(es), peeled and chopped into 1/2-inch cubes
2 medium carrot(s), peeled and thinly sliced
2 clove(s) (medium) garlic clove(s), minced
2 Tbsp ginger root, fresh, minced
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp table salt
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper (I added extra becuase I like it spicy)
4 cup(s) vegetable broth, reduced-sodium (I used chicken broth becuase it's what I had)
6 Tbsp peanut butter, natural, creamy-variety
8 cup(s) spinach, leaves, stemmed, packed, chopped

Instructions
Coat a large saucepan with cooking spray and set over medium heat. Add onion and bell pepper; cook, stirring often, until softened, about 3 minutes.

Stir in the sweet potato, carrots and garlic; cook for 1 minute, stirring often. Add the ginger, cloves, salt and cayenne; cook for 30 seconds.


Pour in the vegetable broth and bring to a simmer, scraping up any browned bits from the bottom of the pan. Stir in the peanut butter until smooth.


Cover, reduce the heat to low, and simmer slowly, stirring once in a while, until the sweet potatoes are tender, about 30 minutes.


Add the spinach; cook, stirring occasionally, for 10 minutes. Yields about 1 2/3 cups per serving.
Notes
Keep the heat low as the soup simmers so the peanut butter doesn't break (that is, in culinary terms, "doesn't fall out of suspension" or separate).

Yummy!

Randomness Returns

So this week, what's going on? Workouts are going pretty good, still having a problem getting to the pool. I don't know why I can't make myself go swim. I made it my goal to swim twice this week, tomorrows Wednesday and I've not been yet. It's my plan to go tomorrow morning.


Have you seen this? I just think it is the coolest. I think I found it from a link on DC Rainmaker's blog

Source

The weather continues to be crazy here. It was almost 40 degrees when I went out to run this morning a little before 5...in Colorado...In January...Crazy...

Something else I found interesting, this might be common knowledge, but I never thought about lacing my shoes different to help with different problems.

Colorado bloggers I would love to do some kind of meet up. Maybe combined with exercise or maybe just coffee. Kathleen and I had such a great time talking about the upcoming season and I think it would be great fun to meet everyone and chat. I don't have to many people in my everyday life that have any interest in what I'm doing so I love having the chance to talk about it with others who love it. Any interest?

Stylish? Me? Not!

I feel so very honored to have been awarded the Stylish blogger award from tri like mary . Mary is up north in Canada and is training for her first 70.3 and I've been following along. If you haven't visited her blog you should check it out.

The rules are a little sketchy, I've seen this award taken a few different ways, from listing 7 things about yourself to showing your stylish side. I've always wanted to be stylish and usually thought I was... but apparently I rarely pull it off. Please witness some of my fashion failures.

Can I really take the blame for this one...I mean really I was pretty young...can I really be held responsible for those curls, not to mention the apple thing on my zipper and the little cat pin....

Well what to say, the knee highs were fab I believe it was a creative mix of black and navy blue.

The up swept hair and the lack of bra well what can I say, everyone has an off moment.

Shut up! Who do you think you are in that pink shirt and matching shoes! Love, love, love the acid washed jeans!

Hey the glasses were in style!

Uhuh..you got it.... although the picture seems a little blurry that is a christmas sweater and a Santa hat. You wanna make something of it?

Please feel free to contact me with any style related questions and I will do my best to help you out.

Now to pass this on to some of my blogger friends that can do as they wish with it.

she said I need a goal although I've only been following this blog a short while I get the feeling she can have some fun with this.

5-4-3-2-1 Because Cara has a great story you should check out.

Dare to Dream In case you need an idea for something to blog about. :)

Triathlete Within Because I'm so jealous of your upcoming trip to Hawaii.

I Tri To Be Me Just because I think Aimee is so cute and because she is in Arizona running the Rock 'n Roll Marathon today. Be sure to go read her race recap when she gets it up.

Good luck ladies and have fun with it!

What's for Dinner? Calzones! And DC Rainmaker has a giveaway!

First off I know I've talked about him before (he has the BEST giveaways!) DC Rainmaker is giving away a Garmin 301XT! Boy could I use a new Garmin! You must go over and check out his beautiful pics of a recent vacay...in addition to the best giveaways he is an awesome photographer and goes to some cool places! And on top of that he does some great food too! His blog has it all!

Now on to my dinner....

Tonight's dinner was pretty tasty. I think I need to experiment a little bit with the dough but all in all a success. (If anyone has a great whole wheat crust recipe let me know!) If you haven't tried the Fleischmann's Pizza dough yeast you should. It makes it so easy!

Calzone Dough 4 servings
Fleischmann's Pizza Crust Yeast
Ingredients:
1-1/2 to 2 cups all-purpose flour (I used 1 cup whole wheat flour and 1/2 c white that was all I needed)
1 envelope Fleischmann's Pizza Crust Yeast
1 teaspoon sugar
3/4 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup very warm water (120° to 130°F)*
1 tablespoon oil

Favorite fillings

Zach putting his together and thrilled to be having his pic taken.

We all made our own using a bunch of fresh veggies, (spinach, tomato, mushrooms) chicken, turkey pepperoni, cheese (cheddar, Italian blend and feta) kalamata olives and the boys used tomato sauce.

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375°F.

Combine 1 cup flour, undissolved yeast, sugar and salt in a large bowl. Add very warm water and oil; mix until well blended, about 1 minute. Gradually add enough remaining flour to make a soft dough. Dough should form a ball and will be slightly sticky. Knead** on a floured surface, adding additional flour if necessary, until smooth and elastic, about 4 minutes. Cover and let rest on floured surface while preparing fillings.

To make calzones, divide dough into four portions. Roll 1 portion into an 8-inch circle on a floured surface. Spread desired fillings on bottom half of dough, leaving outer 1/2-inch free of filling. Fold top half of dough over filling. Pull edge of lower crust over top; folding and pressing layers together to form a seal. Carefully transfer to greased baking sheet. Cut 3 to 4 vents in top. Repeat with remaining dough.

Bake for 15 to 20 minutes until lightly browned. Transfer to cooling rack to keep bottom crust crisp while cooling slightly. Serve with pizza sauce or other sauce for dipping.

Recipe Tip: For a crisper crust, brush calzones with olive oil and sprinkle with coarse salt just before baking.

*If you don't have a thermometer, water should feel very warm to the touch.

**To knead the dough, add just enough flour to the dough and your hands to keep the dough from sticking. Flatten dough and fold it toward you.Using the heels of your hands, push the dough away with a rolling motion. Rotate dough a quarter turn and repeat the "fold, push and turn" steps. Keep kneading dough until it is smooth and elastic. Use a little more flour if dough becomes too sticky, always working the flour into the ball of dough.


Yummy! Served with some sauce on the side for dipping a small salad and delicious and nutritious dinner. :)

20 Minutes

So in my never ending quest to find a way to do some kind of strength training I’ve decided to start with some of the DVD’s I’ve had/used in the past. I can never seem to find the time/will to lift at the gym so I figured this would be better than nothing and I can get it done in the morning which always works best for me. Yesterday I did a circuit training video that has you doing 3 minutes of cardio, 2 minutes of strength and 1 minute of abs repeated for about 50 minutes. I got to say that I didn’t get much out of it. So this morning after I did my 30 minute high RPM trainer ride I decided to do a 20 minute Jillian Michaels video…yep she kicks your butt even when she isn’t really there. Or maybe that’s just a sad statement about me. The cardio parts were easier than they used to be for me, but my abs are sore, my a$$ is sore and my pecs are killing me! And this is just hours after the workout. That means there is a very good chance that come tomorrow morning getting up off the toilet and curling my hair might be difficult.  It may not be as effective as a full gym workout but I’m thinking it’s better then what I was doing…nothing. And I shouldn’t have a problem fitting in 20 minutes two to three times a week. Thanks Jillian! Now if only I could put a pool in my basement…..

Mooooving into Winter this week!

Today was beautiful day for a run! I headed out for an easy 5 mile run and just enjoyed the day as Stock show weather is coming! Looks like sub zero and teen temps will be here for the week which is par for the course when the Stock show is in town. And speaking of Stock show my son was riding in the Stock show parade thru downtown Denver this past Thursday. It was a fabulous day for a parade!

That's my son Josh in the middle. Looks excited doesn't he?

Training the last couple of weeks has been a little off. Fighting thru a darn cold would be the cause of this. I'm feeling back to normal now and hope to do a little bit better this week.

Spent the afternoon with Kathleen drinking coffee hearing about her adventures at Ironman Arizona as a volunteer this past November (she signed up for 2011!), discussing the upcoming year, and a lot of time with her reassuring me that, yes I will be able to do that 1/2 Ironman. :)

This is how 2011 is shaping up:
Platte River 1/2 marathon 4/10/11 (registered)
Community Classic Bike Tour 5/15/11 (Metric Century - tentative)
Boulder Sunrise 6/4/11 (registered but depending on weather may skip signed up for free for volunteering last year)
Denver Century 6/12/11(Century-tentative)
5430 SPRINT 6/19/11 (registered)
BOULDER PEAK 7/10/11 (registered)
IRONMAN 70.3 BOULDER 8/7/11 (registered)

That's how it stands right now. I'm pretty sure there will be some others added in. Maybe some running races in the next couple months as well as maybe another sprint at the end of the season. I'm ready to get started!

What's for dinner

So I enjoy cooking, and I enjoy trying new recipes. I haven't however been trying to much new stuff recently and I want to get back on track with this. It's sometimes hard to find something that pleases me and my boys. While they eat pretty healthy at my house they are teenage boys and they think some of the things I enjoy are quite strange. Not only that but they are teenage boys with two totally different ideas of what constitutes "good food". One is a meat lover the other a carb lover. So I decided that this year I am going to do my best to try some new stuff around our house and document it here.

Maybe it will help someone else figure out "What's for dinner?"




This is my first post of a new recipe and I gotta tell you...a winner right out of the gate. This recipe comes from a blog I frequent, Gina's Skinny Recipes (where you will find much better photos of this recipe) but this is the frist recipe I've tried it's called

Asian Glazed Drumsticks

Gina's Weight Watcher Recipes
Servings: 4 • Serving Size: 2 drumsticks • Points: 5 ww pts
Calories: 213 • Fat: 4.7 g • Protein: 27.5 g • Carb: 12.7 g • Fiber: 0.4 g

8 medium chicken drumsticks, skin removed
Pam spray oil
1 cup water
1 tbsp Sriracha hot sauce (more or less to taste)
1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
1/2 cup soy sauce
4 tsp agave nectar (or sugar)
3 cloves garlic
1 tsp ginger, grated
2 tbsp chives or scallions, chopped
1 tsp sesame seeds
In a heavy large saucepan, brown chicken on high for 3-4 minutes with a little spray oil. Add water, balsamic, soy sauce, agave, garlic, ginger, hot sauce and cook on high until liquid comes to a boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer, covered for about 20 minutes. Remove cover and bring heat to high, allowing sauce to reduce down, about 8 minutes until it becomes a thick glaze, turning chicken occasionally. (Keep an eye on glaze, you don't want it to burn when it start becoming thick) Transfer chicken to a platter and pour glaze on top. Top with chives and sesame seeds and serve.

You will want to try this.
I subbed skinless boneless chicken thighs and it was truly fantastic. The combo of the soy sauce (which I sometimes find to strong) and the balsamic vinegar gave the chicken such a good flavor. The sauce was so good I had to put some of it over my rice also and then add just a bit more of the Sriracha hot sauce. Can I just say....yummy! Now to be truthful the boys have not tasted this one yet. The will get leftovers, but I think that they will enjoy it even if not as thrilled as I.

Update...the Meat eater ate all the leftovers..not sure there was a chance for Carb lover to try it. :)