Smoothies: The Best Thing Ever

A while back Jason and I attempted to do the Clean Program by Alejandro Junger. While I failed after a few days, what I took away from the experience is how awesome it is to start the day with smoothie. I’ve been eating a smoothie for breakfast almost everyday for a year and I feel much less healthy when I don’t have one. What is great about a smoothie is that you have so many options and it almost never tastes the same, though it’s always delicious. Here’s what my smoothie had in it this morning: Lindsay Brust

• Spinach
• Almond butter
• Chia seeds
• Earth Balance chocolate soy milk
• Frozen peaches
• Frozen cherries
• Frozen blueberries

Start with filling a small food processor with spinach, dump in a little milk and the almond butter. I usually use about a tablespoon. Blend. Dump in a little more spinach and the frozen fruit to about 3/4 full on the food processor. You can use whatever sounds most tasty to you. Put soy milk (or dairy, almond or coconut) to the top of the fruit. Blend. While blending, you can add a little more milk from the top until the smoothie is nice and creamy. Slurp away.

The Importance of Massage in Triathlon Training, pt. 2

I received my second massage with Brad at the Cafe of Life. In addition to trading a lot of damage to his arms to repair the damage I’ve been doing to my tired, overworked hamstrings, he also did some energy work. Lindsay Brust

Now, I’ve lived in Boulder, Colorado (one of the crunchier places on Earth) since August of 2006 and I still don’t completely understand the concept of energy work. I have noticed that the phrase “energy work” is commonly used in the same sentences as words like “chakras” and “meridians.” I have only a loose grasp on what those mean as well. I do like the idea of it though.

What I can tell you is that energy work with Brad will get you free soy milk and $3 bottles of wine. Hear me out.

I wandered across the parking lot to Whole Foods after my massage because we are out of almond milk and I absolutely can’t live without smoothies. The almond milk I usually get for smoothies was $4 for a half gallon at Whole Paycheck (er, Whole Foods) so I tried to find something a little more affordable.

While I was gazing at the milk case in my massage induced haze, one of my favorite Whole Foods employees approached and asked if he could help me. Assuming he couldn’t get me out of my triathlon or suddenly make me an effortlessly awesome endurance swimmer I asked for a suggestion on milk for smoothies. He handed me a carton of Earth Balance Soy Milk and told me it was so awesome and he was so sure I would love it that he put a sticker over the bar code and gave it to me for free as a sample. Score.

Then I wandered next door to the liquor store to grab a bottle of wine to enjoy this evening with (or for) dinner and I noticed a sign for Three Wishes for $2.99 a bottle. This is almost certainly Whole Food’s answer to the popular “3 buck chuck” made famous by Trader Joe’s. I asked an associate working there how it was and they said that the cabernet is “pretty good.” So I got two of those and one Chardonnay just to balance it out. For $9. Double Score.

Next time I go get a massage from Brad, I’m going to have to tip him more.

Biking from Boulder to Ft. Collins

I don’t really care for riding loops or out and back routes on a bike. I think I was spoiled by a bike trip I went on where we scouted a bike tour through the Belgian countryside. Recently, I also did the ExperiencePlus! Bicycle Tours Pedaling the Andes tour with my friend M.E. (I blogged about it here and the PTA series here) We woke up everyday in one awesome spot, we got on a bike and rode through awesome spots to another awesome spot where we would spend the night and do it all over again. I decided to try to simulate this experience here in Colorado – fortunately, I’m already in an awesome spot. Lindsay Brust

I woke up in Boulder yesterday morning, and after work, I started riding to Ft. Collins. Google Maps told me it was about 50 miles away, and while I was only suppose to ride 75 minutes I felt like a 50 mile ride would give me a little confidence about the 56 mile biking leg for the half Ironman. Plus, it’s a long Memorial Day weekend I don’t have any other plans, so what the heck. Here’s the route I took.

The elevation wasn’t too bad either. A long slow downhill north.

I started off about 3:20pm fueled with this fantastically delicious yogurt, granola, strawberries and blueberries concoction.

My friend and co-worker, Lauren rode me out the first 26 or so miles. It was a beautiful day, though I spent most of these first 26 miles with my eyes glued to her back wheel knowing that I wouldn’t have to work as hard to keep up if I stayed in her draft.

She eventually decided to head back and turned around at an intersection about 6 miles south west of Loveland. I plugged in some music and braved the east blowing wind on my own until I made it to the meeting point M.E. and I had settled on in Loveland. I chowed down on a packet of Justin’s Nut Butter (Chocolate Almond) and waited for my next set of friends to pull me the rest of the way to the Fort.  It’s a good thing I have friends who know something about bikes because as I waited, the air slowly deflated from my back tire. By the time they arrived my tire was totally flat. It turns out I had picked up a tiny piece of glass somewhere along the way. Fortunately, Seth (M.E. fiance) had a patch kit with him and after about 10 minutes of fiddling with my tire, we were ready to hit the road again. I just hoped this approaching cloud didn’t decide to dampen my adventure.

We made it the rest of the 10 miles to Ft. Collins in a light sprinkle and pulled up to their house just before my boyfriend Jason arrived in the car to have a yummy dinner and then drive me back to Boulder. Today, I feel great, and tired. My legs are a little heavy and I’m a little sleepy. I couldn’t be happier with my adventure. If you are training for a tri, or anything else, I would highly recommend two things:

1. Great people to keep you company
2. Turning your workouts into adventures. It takes them off of your to do list and put them on your fun list.

Fun Facts About Triathlon Training

Outside of swimming, there are a lot of aspects of the triathlon that are new for me. I’ve learned a ton. Here are a few of the most interesting facts:

• I smell like chlorine all. the. time. No matter how many times I take a shower.
• It takes waking up at or before 6am four days in a row to have it suck less. It still sucks, but less. Unfortunately, it looks like I’m going to have to repeat this every week moving forward.
• You don’t need impact to get a workout in. Nothing wears me out or leaves me gasping for breath like swimming.
• I am always hungry. After a swim, I can eat a burrito for breakfast and an hour later I’m desperately looking at the clock every few minutes willing it to be lunch time.
• I can fall sound asleep on the couch with the TV on and Jason banging around in the kitchen but as soon as I go upstairs to bed the noise downstairs keeps me awake.
• Triathlons are complicated. I have a session with a personal trainer about eating. I thought I ate just fine. Apparently, I do not and need a professional to teach me how.
• I have muscles in arms, shoulders and back. Seriously, I’ve never had any strength in my upper body before. Get some tickets and come to the gun show! (I promise I will never say that again) Lindsay Brust

Swimming Efficiency

I’m extremely lucky to have some very athletic friends to help me out, keep me company, and encourage me on my quest to become half an Ironman.

A couple of days ago, I had my second swimming lesson with my friend Mary the endurance swimmer.  She started out by saying that my stroke was night and day better then it was the last time we swam together. (Yea progress!) She also sent me these helpful tips. I wanted to pass them on to you.

The 4 most important aspects of freestyle are:  rotation, pull, breathing and kick.

• ROTATION:  the body should rotate fully from side to side to give you the most distance per stroke possible. The shoulders and body (hips) will roll but the head should always remain still and aligned with the spine and the chin should be aligned with the sternum. Looking straight down when swimming will help maintain this body position.
• PULL:  the arms should be extended both in front and behind the body to allow you to get as much distance from each stroke as you can and allowing for the lowest stroke count possible. The hands should enter at the goggle line and glide the rest of the way underwater. The hands should also pull past the hips and accelerate behind you. To get a sense of how far back your hands should be pulling – standing up on dry land, measure the spot where your thumbs graze your legs when the arms are relaxed at your side.
• BREATHING:  bilateral breathing is key to maintain your rhythm and reduce the risk of cramping on one side. Only breathing when you really need a breath will save you time and make you more efficient overall. But don’t wait so long that you are panting and lingering when you do take a breath! It’s important to fully exhale underwater first and to move the head as little as possible by simply rotating to one side while keeping the opposite cheek and ear in the water.
• KICK:  the kick should be minimized during long distance swimming. Slow and steady is the key to maintaining a balanced body and keeping an even pace. Remember to have “floppy feet” and loose ankles. You can practice swimming with fins (the shorter the better) to work on “runner’s kick” and increases ankle flexibility. Just remember to wean yourself of them as you get closer to your event. Lindsay Brust

Sacrifices

It’s not fair that there are so many things I want to do and there is only one of me to do them. Recently, I feel like I’ve been spread a little thin. I’ve been prioritizing my work and my exercise as much as I can and because of that, I don’t feel like I have enough time for other things that are important to me. I haven’t been able to unpack those last few boxes after my move to my new townhouse. My Kindle is full of books I want to read but haven’t gotten to. I don’t get to see my friends near as much as I would like and I have a cute boyfriend I occasionally like to spend time with. A couple of weeks ago, I was just asked to teach at course at CU-Boulder and I agreed. Lindsay Brust

I believe very deeply in the importance of the material being taught and respect the people designing the course. I was also looking forward to making a little extra cash to restock my emergency savings account after cleaning it out on the downpayment for the townhouse. I started second guessing my decision last week when I started getting busy at work. I also put myself on a training schedule and realized how much more I really needed to do to, you know, not die during the half Ironman.

After my backwards triathlon on Saturday, I had lunch and was so happy to take a short nap before spending the afternoon shopping for furnishing for the new townhouse. I realized how, come this fall, I will need to spend my Saturday afternoons grading and prepping for classes. I started getting this panicky trapped feeling and, after an entire weekend of analyzing, mulling, thinking, weighing, writing pro con lists, knew I didn’t want to teach this fall.

It was difficult for me to bow out of this commitment but I think that I’ve reached a point in my life where I need to find more of a work life balance. I also find that if I have no time to relax then I am not near as happy or creative as when I can follow some of my own passions.

How do you know when you’ve taken on too much and what do you do to find some space for yourself?

Did You Know it’s Light Out at 5:30am?

Now that I’m actually on a schedule, I feel like I have harder training days because I can’t just think, “oh, I’ll finish this workout tomorrow” or “maybe I need to work in some more rest time.” The schedule has other plans. I’m suppose to do something else tomorrow. I can’t put this workout off.

Yesterday was one of my harder days so far. First of all, it was Monday. That’s hard in itself. Secondly, I needed to ride for 75 minutes and swim for about, oh, a million laps or something. In order to do both, I got up at 5:20am to get to a 5:45 cycling class. (Did you know it’s actually light out at that hour? I had no idea.) Then, when everyone else headed to the showers at 6:30, I stayed in the cycling studio and rode another half hour. Insanity.

I worked a full day and headed back to the gym for some swimming. I made it about 27 laps. My shoulder started aching a little bit so I stopped at that point. I usually try not to strain myself, but Monday the H.IM had other plans.

The good news is all the swimming workouts I’m not quite finishing must be paying off. My friend who has been giving drills and tips said that my stroke is looking much better these days. Progress is good. Lindsay Brust

Tri… Backwards

My long workout last weekend was a backwards triathlon. I made some coffee and put on my running clothes before taking a little time to lay out what I was going to wear for the bike ride. Then I put all my swimming gear in a backpack with some clean dry clothes so I could grab it quickly on the way to the pool.

I started out by running for about half an hour along a trail near my new townhouse. The trail was well packed dirt and gravel and gently rolling under shady trees. It was awesome. What a find! I felt well rested, refreshed from a couple of days off due to my knee draining. My iPod recently quit on me so I used my iPhone. I have been hesitant to introduce my iPhone to my sweaty hobbies for fear that it would get salty, dirty, and gross. But, since my choices are, use the phone I already have or shell out $100 for a new iPod, I stopped worrying about the potential saltiness of the phone. I downloaded the Nike+ GPS application and covered about 3.4 miles in about 32 minutes. Anything under a 10 minute per mile pace is pretty good for me. I was excited. Lindsay Brust

Next, I biked about 60 minutes in the rolling flats north east of Boulder. I am very bad at planning what to wear on a bike. I always under dress. I think it’s because I run so slow that I always get so warm from the lack of breeze that I don’t compensate for the fact that I ride slightly faster then I run. Regardless, it was a gorgeous day with just a couple of things I needed to slow down for.

By the way, this train wakes me up at night pretty frequently at it passes about a block away from the new townhouse. I underestimated how loud train whistles are. I should know better.

My swim, as usual, was the hardest part of the workout. I was a little warn out from the run and the bike — which, for the record is two workouts for anyone not living in Boulder. Normal people would throw in the towel at this point and go get breakfast and take a nap. Not me. I had to go not drown for a while.

I only made it about 20 laps, which is crazy because a few weeks ago, I was really proud of myself for not drowning for 20 laps. Now, it’s just 1/2 as much as I’m going to need to do and 1/3 as much as I should be doing. (I dislike fractions almost as much as I dislike swimming.) Anyway, I survived. I treated myself to mimosas, sweet potato fries and laying on the couch watching a chick flick. You know, what many people skip directly to on Saturdays.

Knee Draining (not for the squeamish)

A couple of days ago, I mentioned the fact that I have an ugly bump the size of a golf ball on the inside of my left knee. (Don’t look! That’s not polite.) My orthopedic surgeon had some guesses as to what it was but thought it might be a good idea to double check his thoughts with a MRI. The results confirmed what he had been thinking (a trauma induced hematoma). Lindsay Brust

Yesterday, I had an appointment to get it drained. I don’t remember the fancy word for the process, but it sounded more sophisticated then “draining.” I think it probably takes a bit more skill to do this procedure than it takes to “draining something.” I have no idea. I didn’t watch.

Here’s what happened. First, I was stabbed (slight dramatization) in the thigh with a local numbing agent that is not the novocaine they give you at the dentist but it was similar. Call me a wimp, but that was pretty unpleasant. It burned when it when the agent went into whatever tissue is surrounding the cyst and continued to burn for about a minute (gasp!) before the area went numb.

Then, my doctor drew the fluid out with an additional needle. I felt a little pressure during this, but it wasn’t painful. The whole procedure probably took about 10 minutes. He wrapped me up and sent me on my way with some extra gauze and an extra wrap.

I took the opportunity to not feel guilty about not working out last night. I had a glass of wine (or two), watched an obscene amount of TV and read a book. I’m not suppose to do anything strenuous for 48 hours. Funny how once I’m told I shouldn’t train, suddenly I want to. (Note: Talk to therapist about this the next time I run into her)

I started considering swimming and just working on my pull. If I don’t kick, it will be fine, right? I probably won’t actually do it, because I strategically planned a night out with entities some people who aren’t working full time and training 15 hours a week call “friends” later tonight. If you are at Ignite Boulder and the after party at the Bitter Bar, I’ll see you there! Order me a Pisco Sour.

Biking and Laps. Always Laps.

According to my new program, I needed to bike for about an hour and then swim another insane amount of laps last night. I’m exhausted just looking at the schedule. The good thing about being on a schedule is that it takes a lot of the emotion out working up the motivation for me. I just try to do as much as I can. I still haven’t been able to complete a “full” swimming workout yet, but every time I get in the pool, I need to rest a little less and can go a little further. It’s a good guide for me to follow… or try to. You can find my schedule here. Thanks BeginnerTriathlete, for keeping me moving. Someone has got to do it. Lindsay Brust

I would have loved to get out on an actual bike yesterday, but since I had to do all my training after work, I decided to go to a spinning class. Despite my comment about motivation in the previous paragraph, I try to make it as easy as possible to go from one workout to another. I’m very gifted at coming up with excuses for not completing my workout so I have to organize things in a way where I have as few ejection points as possible. Having the pool with plenty of lanes, and all my gear, in the same building makes it more difficult to get side tracked by the happy hour special less then a block away.

The spinning class was good. We did a lot of intervals which is a sneaky way for me to get stronger. I have the “I can do anything for a minute” approach to biking. Then, I just spin. So you have to make me work for short amounts of time. Following the spinning class, I was suppose to do about 29 laps in the pool. I did 21 and called it a night.

I’m having my draining procedure done on my knee today. At least it’s a good excuse for a couple of rest days. Wish me luck.