More Snow and a Banana Smoothie - and I'm published!

Why does the weekend weather have to be snowy, cold and nasty for the last several weeks?! It's mid-April and you'd think of mild temps, but no, it's Spring with storms. It's forcing creative workout planning for sure. The snow started early this morning and it is still hanging around, probably until sometime tomorrow. We've had breaks, but you can see the huge moisture band to the east (Colorado Springs is in the top of the empty spot, near the small cluster of green surrounded by white...) So tomorrow's Team workout will be a spin. We were going to run at Garden of the Gods (great place to run!) but we'll stay off potentially slick roads since it is hilly there.

Here's the latest banana recipe -

Coffee Banana Smoothie

Ingredients:

2 small bananas, peeled, cut up & frozen

1 1/2 cup milk or soy milk

1 container (8 oz size) low-fat coffee yogurt (you could also use another flavor or plain yogurt and just replace 1/2 c of the milk with 1/2 c coffee)

1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 dash ground nutmeg

A great recovery drink with protein, potassium and calcium! Could also boost the protein by adding a scoop of whey protein powder.

Running news

Last Tuesday (4/14) we ran "best effort" miles at our weekly track workout. I ran a 6:47 - my best yet! (previous best was 6:54). Woohoo!

Published....

I wrote an article on Team In Training for the local online news site, coloradosprings.com.

I'm working on the next one now, which will be about our Team Heroes. Can't hurt to provide a little extra press for the cause!

Loooooong workout today!

Today I did all my workouts back-to-back (as race day this is what you have to do). :-)
swim: 2500 yds. drove home, changed into my bike shorts and hopped on the trainer. It was just a little too cold and windy to ride outside today. Plus some of the roads had a little bit of snow near the shoulders. Spent the next 2.5hrs on the bike and watched Gladiator. The movie was the right length for this ride - I was wrapping up when the credits started to roll. Then quick change to running shoes and pants for a 30 minute run. The wind was chilly but sunny so I could keep pretty warm running. Still wouldn't have wanted to have been out there on the bike!!
Got home, had the rest of yesterday's peanut butter/banana/chocolate smoothie from this new food chain here called Froots. Had a tuna wrap yesterday and it was pretty good. Actually a reasonably priced place for healthy food choices. yay!!

Then I napped. Naps are good. After the nap, Tim and I started cleaning up for the 2nd Annual Casino Royale! It's 4 weeks away, but I think we need all that time to get the house ready, especially with my weekends being sucked up by a lot of training.

Yesterday was a good day of training, too. With the storm I scheduled the TNT workout at Bicycle Village for a spin class. We shared the room with a group training for the MS 150. We had a workout projected on a screen (BV folks have a workouts to choose from that tell you what to do each minute) and I yelled out what to do next. A lot of cadence work and some single leg drills. A good workout for everyone! Then I held a nutrition clinic for the TNT folks and let anyone from the MS150 group stay. I thought it went pretty well, even though I was expecting my assistant coach to be there for support, but she was sick. bummer.
After the clinic, time to get a run and swim in. Ran 60 minutes on the treadmill - about all I can take! I changed pace and grade about every five minutes to help keep things interesting. To cool down a little I hopped in the pool for about 20 minutes. I was pretty tired (and hungry) at the end of all that!

TNT and a bomb of a banana recipe!

I'm signed up again with Team in Training! This time I will run the Denver Marathon on Oct 18th. That is going to be an adventure, as the longest race I've done is a half marathon. Here's to my IT bands holding up! but I figure if I want to do a full Ironman triathlon in 2011 (IM Florida) then it might be good for my overall endurance training to do a marathon. And since this will be about 2 years prior to the full IM, I should have plenty of recovery time! :-)

But since I am signed up with Team in Training - that means more fundraising! Here's my online page - my goal is $2000.
http://pages.teamintraining.org/rm/denver09/ndrummer

and since it's been a while since I've posted a banana recipe, here's one from Emeril...

Banana Quesadillas
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/emeril-lagasse/banana-quesadillas-recipe/index.html


Ingredients
1 pound cream cheese, at room temperature
1/2 cup confectioners' sugar
2 ripe medium bananas, peeled
10 flour tortillas (7 inches in diameter)
4 tablespoons butter
2 1/2 cups caramel sauce, warm, recipe follows
4 medium bananas
Whipped cream
Fresh mint sprigs
Directions
In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat the cheese until smooth. Add the sugar and bananas, continue to beat until smooth. Spread 1/4 cup of the filling over half of each tortilla. Fold the other half over the filling and press slightly. Place on a large plate and cover with plastic wrap. Refrigerate until the filling sets, about 30 minutes. In a large saute pan, over medium heat, melt 1 tablespoon of the butter. Pan-fry the tortillas in batches, 3 at a time, until golden on each side, about 2 minutes per side. Repeat the above process with the remaining butter and filled tortillas. To serve, slice each filled tortilla into thirds. Arrange the slices in the center of each serving plate. Spoon a 1/4 cup of the warm caramel sauce over each plate. Peel the bananas and slice 1/4-inch thick. Garnish each plate with the sliced bananas, a dollop of whipped cream and a sprig of fresh mint.

CARAMEL SAUCE
Recipe from Everyday Is A Party Cookbook, by Emeril Lagasse, with Marcelle
Bienvenu and Felicia Willett, published by William Morrow, 1999
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup water
1 cup heavy cream
In a small, heavy saucepan, combine the sugar and water and bring to a boil, stirring often. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the mixture is a deep caramel color and has the consistency of a thick syrup, 10 to 15 minutes. Remove from the heat. Stir in the cream, return the saucepan to high heat, and boil the sauce until it regains the consistency of a thick syrup, about 2 minutes. Yield: about 3/4 cup

Turn up the Volume!

Training Volume, that is! 2nd week off of work (last week was a "rest" week) and I am putting in a big volume week - about 20 hours of training, which is a lot for me. The goal is for it to kick up my fitness level. This week is also the first first official Coach Matt Training Plan. And what a plan it is! I'm half-way through the training week (Monday is a rest day) and actually feel pretty good. here's what I've been doing - and for those of you who get tired from reading my typical workout days, get the pillow ready!

Tues - morning swim of 2500 yds. working on lengthening my stroke - need a little (a lot) more glide.
lunch time bike ride of 2 hours. the weather was actually decent enough that I headed downtown and back home. I just wish I didn't live on top of a hill - my house is at 6800ft, downtown is just above 6000. that means 800ft of pure elevation gain, more if you count the rolling hills!
evening track practice - 4+ miles of quality running.
Wed - morning run - 45 minutes on mostly soft trail. even though it was an "easy" run, it wasn't really after tuesday's track! legs felt it!
mid-day (11am-2pm) 3 hour ride. I found Highway 24 is pretty flat heading east. too bad it's windy out there! temps were about 37, a few snow flakes, but otherwise I had a really nice ride!
Evening swim turned into a brief 20 minute session - I got kicked out of the pool because of a water aerobics class! oh well, 4 hours of training in one day is pretty good!
Thurs - get the workout in before the snow storm! Got up and did a great 60 minute workout on the trainer, followed by a 30minute run on a local neighborhood path. I will admit I was getting sucked into Bravo's supermodel reality show, but had the will power to pull away so that I could run right off the bike. felt surprisingly good. Then it was time for breakfast at mimi's with Elissa and Joey! honey oat bran muffin rocked!
I planned a lunch time swim, and almost finished my last set (4 more laps to go) when I got kicked out of the pool because the gym was closing - 24 hour fitness wasn't open 24 hours today! But the storm is making the roads pretty nasty and it took me about 20 minutes to go what usually is 5. But I did get in 2300 yards.

Now I'm just trying to relax, going to hit my foam roller and work out most of the muscle groups. Tomorrow is another big day - 30min run, 2hr bike, and 2900yds swimming! The one good thing is that I have to eat to have the energy to do these! and I'm eating pretty healthy, too! Although the snow is putting me in the mood for ice cream - not sure why!

Timeless Taupe

Last year during the 4th of July holiday I painted my bedroom and the tub/sink part of the 5-pc bath: http://bananadeath.blogspot.com/2008/07/paint-pics.html
Never did get around to the shower/toilet area so that is what I did today. Finally got the "Timeless Taupe" up on the walls! This morning I picked up a new quart of paint at Lowe's - the bathroom is small so I figured that would be enough (more later). I also had the can left over from the summer that I had used on the bedroom stripe. Then I tracked down all the painting supplies - tape, drop clothes, plastic trays, brushes, rollers and what not. Good - had everything I needed. Bathrooms with toilets are a challenge (do you paint behind the toilet or not?) but I decided to "do it right" and take off the tank to the toilet. That went surprisingly well. Then the fun of taping the trim and tile as to not get paint everywhere. OK, ready to paint. I'll start with the new can of paint. Squeezed up on a ladder in the shower to get to the high ceilings, but all was well. I really don't mind painting and figured I could be done around lunch time. When I was getting to the area behind the toilet, I realized I was pretty low on paint. Rather than struggle to eek out every bit of coverage from the new can, I went out to the garage to grab the old can. Oops - never leave paint in the garage in Colorado. I'm sure it froze a few times during the winter and now was useless. So now I am back to what I was hoping to avoid - getting every last drop out of that new can! It was painful, but I did it. The walls wouldn't mind a second coat, but I don't see that happening any time soon. Maybe I'll just hang some pictures. :-)

end of week report and exams

Today is day #5 (wow - it is Friday already!) of the ATMEL 2-week shutdown. Brief recap of the week so far.
1) Coach with a Coach...I've hired a coach to train me. You might ask why a coach would need a coach. There are several reasons - one being that if you spend a lot of your time with your clients, you tend to neglect yourself (especially with a busy schedule like mine). Second, it always helps to have someone else out there motivating you. I met Coach Matt at the USAT Level I Coaching Clinic. We have a similar science background and have similar philosphies regarding training and how it fits into life, so we'll give it a shot.

2) Vision is still stable...I had my annual check-up on Wednesday and all is good. My eye prescription still hasn't changed -it's been stable for at least 4 years now. Going to the eye doctor is not one of your "traumatic" doctor offices, although some might not enjoy the puff of air in the glaucoma test. Every year I try not to flinch and every year I fail. My doc also gives this peripheral vision test - you put a patch over one eye and rest your chin on this rest of a bowl-like contraption that might be an planetarium for mice. You stare at a light spot and then flashes of light go off in different locations in the bowl, and each time you see a light flash, you click a clicker. For some reason I think this is also a reaction time test, and I'm clicking away as fast as I can as soon as I see the light. Haven't missed a flash yet!

3) Neck Poppin'...At last Saturday's race I got a free massage and they were scheduling free evaluations with a chiropractor. Why not check it out - can't hurt, right? I went on Monday, got some x-rays, back on Tuesday and apparently I'm pretty whacked out in my neck and lower back. Though it probably explains some of the little aches in my neck and lower back I ignore or blame on training. Since I've got insurance coverage for this, I figured I would sign up for the treatment that I'm covered for. Every afternoon (good thing I'm off work) I head over there for time in a wobble chair, self-hanging on this neck contraption, 10 minutes of a nice back massage table - it runs along the spine, creating space between the vertebrae, and then an adjustment by the doctor. Boy does my neck crack - yesterday was really loud. I have about 12 more visits over the next few weeks and then they will take more x-rays to see how much my "loss of curve" in my neck and my other misalignments have improved.

4) NEO Endurance Sports and Fitness...been working on the research for my business plans. Also have a lot of documentation to take care of like business cards, waivers, athlete history forms. But I look forward to getting my coaching business rolling!

St Pat's Day 5k Race Report

One of the most fun races in Colorado Springs is the 5k on St. Patrick's Day, which is really held on the Saturday before St. Patrick's Day. The course loops around downtown, which is relatively flat for Colorado standards. Total elevation gain/loss about 250ft according to my GPS. Everyone out there is wearing green (I was in my Jack Quinn's Running Club shirt) and there are a lot of green wigs, hats, etc. This year about 1500 runners were out on the course.

Got up a little before 6:30 for my morning ritual. We had a Team in Training run today as well, so I had to make sure I was ready for that.
Breakfast was a bowl of oatmeal (2 packets regular quaker instant oats) with a little bit of peanut butter and a banana. Then I hit the shower and got ready for the training.
It was a cold morning, temps in the 20s around 8am. But the sky was clear and the sun was shining - which made for a perfect day to run.
Down at Monument Valley Park I met the Team, we warmed up and went on a 50-60minute (I did about 50) endurance run with about 5 30-second pick-ups to put in some speed. I ran a bit slower this morning so that I wouldn't burn out the legs or the lungs before the race. Normally I would just take a water bottle with me for that time run, but today I used HEED to get in some calories. We saw the TNT run/walk team out on the trail today. It is always great to run into familiar faces out on a run! After the group run, I quickly put on a dry top, grabbed my backpack with recovery drink and such, and then walked about a mile to the starting line at Acacia Park.

Scheduled race start: 10am
I get there at 9:35 - plenty of time. I pre-registered so I already had my race number, which I carefully pinned to my shirt before I left the house this morning. Task #1 - find a port-o-potty. Line was pretty short so all was good. Task #2 - attach timing chip to shoe. This is critical, but maybe tast #1 was more critical!?! I'd never used a chip that tied to the shoe with the shoe laces before, but my method appeared to be solid. Task #3 - find a place to stash my bag. No bag check at this race, so the bag went under a bench near the finish line, also near the registration tent. All was OK.
9:45am - take a gel - today was a vanilla gu with a little caffiene. wash down with some water and head to the streets to keep the blood flowing in the legs and get to the starting line. While waiting I overheard a couple people talking about peanut butter jelly time.


LOVE IT!
anyway, then I saw Tim Barry, the former Process Engineering Manager at Atmel, so I chatted with him. He works in Longmont now so I don't get to see him much.
10:00am - People are still registering so the start will be delayed. So much for my 15minutes prior to race start gel consumption.
10:11:48 (GPS time) the gun goes off! The fist half mile is downhill - so the race start surge really surges! I checked my Garmin for my pace - a little too fast - my goal was to finish at about an 8:00min/mile pace, so I backed off to about 7:45, knowing after we turned the corner, we'd be going back uphill.
Mile 1: 7:13 (these are guestimate splits from my GPS, which doesn't put time and distance on the same graph!)
Mile 2: 14:50
Finish: 23:54
Overall: 39/777 women
Age Group: 11/149
There are a few turn-arounds between mile 2 and 3 which do slow you down a little.
Ok, so I did start a little fast, but overall the legs felt really good. I think the oxygen uptake issue was what slowed me down, not my legs, though I will admit they were heavy at the end. At one point I did reach an almost "gasping" stage, but backed off a tad and was good. Have felt that in other races- especially at the end of a run in a triathlon.
My goal was to go sub-25 (last year I ran something like 25:07) so I was really excited when I came around the last corner and saw the clock read 23:45....just had to make it to the mats before the 24:00 mark! and I did!

After the race I ran into Tim again and his wife Karen, then one of my TNT members. A couple of them did the race, but I didn't see the other. Hard to find people at times in big crowds like that. As I was about to head back to the car, I ran into Stacey and Shannon. They did a brick workout today (crazy riding at 7:30am in the 20 degree weather!). They were parked back at the same place I was so we walked back together. It's always fun to see them.

Now I'm just hanging out, trying to relax and recover, as tomorrow is a big endurance (not speed!) day. Pushing that hard really does take a bit out of you. I took a nap after I got home and will try to keep my feet up as much as possible for the rest of the day.

I Love Gold Camp Road!

Today's bike ride was with a few good Team in Training buddies who are training for Ironman Louisville. Our needed rides were similar in length so I met them at their place mid-morning, along with another TNT-er and her husband. Though the forecast was about 60 degrees, at 10:45am it was still only 40. Brrrrr. But the sun was sneaking out at times and we headed out. First was a little warm-up up and down 31st St, then over to 26th St. 26th turns into Gold Camp Road, which is a fantastic gradual climb, between 4% and 6% grade. I forgot my GPS so I didn't get any data, but I love that ride! The lower part is kind of steep, then you hit a steady climb up into the mountains over Colorado Springs. We stopped when the road turned to dirt, about 5 miles from where we started. The views of the city are phenomenal from up there. My legs felt great - I wasn't sure how my new position (more forward for the aerobars) would be for climbing, but it seemed to work just fine! Now if I could only get a little more comfortable descending to take advantage of free speed!

The rest of my day was spent cleaning the house and baking a chocolate cake. We're hosting the Porsche Club board meeting on Tuesday so I thought I'd make a really great chocolate cake. It's a 3-layer cake from the Mrs. Fields "I Love Chocolate" cookbook. The frosting is like fudge. Yum. Good think I did that bike ride today since I licked the bowls.

Now for this week's Recipe:

Tacozagna and Banana Cheesecakes
(From the food network and Rachel Ray.)

Ingredients
3 tablespoons vegetable oil, divided
2 1/2 pounds ground turkey or ground sirloin
1 zucchini
2 carrots, peeled
1 onion, peeled
3 cloves garlic, peeled
3 tablespoons chili powder, 3 palm fulls
2 teaspoons ground cumin, 2/3 palm full
1 tablespoon coriander, a palm full
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 cup beef stock
6 (8-inch) flour tortillas
3 cups shredded Chihuahua cheese or Monterey Jack
4 scallions, chopped
2 hearts romaine lettuce, chopped
3 plum tomatoes, seeded and chopped
3 cups prepared cheesecake filling (recommended: Philly brand)
2 very ripe bananas with spotty skins
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 tablespoons honey
6 individual graham cracker crusts
Whipped cream

Directions
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
Heat a large high sided skillet over medium-high heat with 2 tablespoons vegetable oil. Add the meat and brown, 5 minutes. While meat browns, grate the zucchini and carrots with a box grater. Add the vegetables to the meat and grate in the onion and garlic. Season the meat with chili, cumin, coriander, salt and pepper and cook 7 to 8 minutes more to soften vegetables. Stir in beef stock. Grease a 8 by 13-inch baking pan with vegetable oil. Layer in 3 overlapping flour tortillas and top with 1/3 meat, 1/3 cheese. Repeat the layers twice and bake 10 to 12 minutes to brown cheese. Top with scallions, lettuce and tomatoes, cut into squares and serve.
While Tacosagna cooks, make dessert. Place cheesecake filling in bowl and mash in 2 really ripe bananas, season with cinnamon and stir in honey. Fill the crust tins and when you are ready to serve top with a swirl of whipped cream.

USAT Certification and Bananas to Celebrate!

Yesterday was a good day. After a long day at work, I came home deciding to go for an easy run. The weather was good so I took Juno with me. She managed to jog with me for the first half, but on the way back we walked a bit. She actually did better than I thought she would. I think we were both glad to be outside and since this is a recovery week, I didn't mind a little walking. When we got back I checked the mail and there it was - the letter I'd been hoping for! Tthe official word that I passed the USA Triathlon Level I Coaching Certification test and am now a certified coach! I can now wrap up some of the details in setting up my coaching business. The March shutdown (2 weeks of no "day job" will be perfect for this).

Tim got home a few minutes later and we decided to head downtown for dinner. We went to the Metropolitan, an underground bar that also serves "small plates." So we got drinks (mint chocolate chip martini for me) and some pretty good food. Tim was still a little hungry, and of course I can always eat, so we got dessert - baked bananas with vanilla bean ice cream. Not bad - the dish was a banana cut in half, lengthwise with cinnamon, sugar, and possibly some vanilla sprinked on top and then baked, still in the peel. The ice cream was just vanilla on the side in a small dish. Simple but good. A nice way to celebrate my certification!

Weekend Report and Red Snapper

Weekend Report:
Here's the report for the week. I finally got over the sniffles I caught last week. There are quite a few colds going around, but I didn't get it too bad. Mainly head congestion - ick. I got most of my training in, but rule #1 before working out was to make sure I felt good enough to train.

Let's see -
Monday was a rest day except for yoga, which is always a very relaxing session. Took Tim to the airport (DC trip) early in the morning.
Tuesday was the first TNT track session. WINDY! Not super cold (30's-40's maybe), but gusts I'm sure 30+mph. The team ran a timed mile and then some 800m intervals. I was chilly so I ended up running the last couple intervals with them. Oh yeah - swam ~2000yds over lunch.
Wednesday - I did a trainer ride in the morning along with a Chris Carmichael video - it was the time trial video with some power intervals. I didn't take it as intense as I could have, since I'm still in my base phase, but it was still a really good session. Juno went to doggy day care today. She has such a blast out there at Preppy Pet Suites.
Thursday I ran a timed mile after work. Jogged over to the nearby middle school and then pushed out a 7:10 on their gravel track. Not as fast as last summer's 6:54, but I'll take it, especially at the end of a cold and no day off of training before hand. Another morning swim of about 1900 yards.
Friday - Another morning session on the trainer, this time a recovery session of 45 minutes. Got my new seatpost installed and fit over lunch. Now I will really be aero and fast!
Saturday - TNT group run in the morning. Was chilly - low of 15 but is was probably 20ish by the time we ran. The sky was blue and the sun shining so it made for a really beautiful morning to be out on the trail. We did 40 minutes easy. Later that afternoon I swam 2400 yards. Didn't really mean to swim that much, but it was a nice session. I'm pretty consistent about 2:00min/100yds with easy to moderate effort! That's the pace where I want to race at, so I am pleased with my progress. In the evening Tim and I went to a fantastic Mardi Gras party. I made bread pudding from the Commander's Palace cookbook. Delicious!
Sunday - Not as good a day as I planned. I think I ate too much at the party (who didn't!). I've been eating smaller meals for the last few months and have been eating pretty healthy, I think that rich food got to me. So I bailed on a bike ride with friends and hopped on the trainer instead. Much better to be home for GI issues that out on the road somewhere! I got an hour in watching Pirates of the Carribean. I've spent the rest of the day working on my business plans and making meals to freeze for lunches during the week.

Here is a non-breakfast banana recipe for the week!

Red Snapper With Pecan-Banana Butter (from bananas.com)
Ingredients:
1/2 cup flour
2 tsp. hot paprika
1/4 tsp. dried thyme
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 cup milk
3 Tbs. peanut or canola oil
Four 6-oz. red snapper fillets (you can also use catfish or haddock)
4 Tbs. butter
1/3 cup finely chopped pecans
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
Pinch salt
1 large firm-ripe banana, diced
2 Tbs. fresh lime juice
2 Tbs. minced fresh cilantro or parsley

Preparation:
Stir together the flour, paprika, thyme and salt on a large plate. Pour milk into a shallow bowl. Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat until hot, not smoking. Dip fish in milk, then flour mixture. Cook in hot oil, in batches if necessary, until browned on the bottom. Turn fillets and brown other side, about 4 minutes per side for 1-inch fillets. Remove to a platter and keep warm.
Drain cooking oil and wipe skillet with paper towels. Heat butter over medium heat and add pecans, nutmeg and salt. Cook, stirring, until pecans are lightly browned, about 3 minutes. Add bananas and cook, stirring, about 1 minute or just until heated through. Remove from heat and stir in lime juice and cilantro. Place fillets on warm plates, spoon some sauce over each and serve immediately.
Yield: 4 servings
Preparation time: 45 minutes

Banana Heaven!

So I'll start out with this week's banana recipe. I stumbled upon the new Banana Nut Cheerios at the grocery store this weekend so I had to pick up a box. I am looking forward to trying them tomorrow morning! And they have some delicious looking recipes on their website....Jess, is this healthy enough for you? ;-)

Banana Date Muffins from Cheerios.com
Prep Time:15 min
Start to Finish:35 min
Makes:12 muffins
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
2 1/2 cups Banana Nut Cheerios® cereal
1 1/4 cups Gold Medal® all-purpose flour
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup buttermilk
1/4 cup canola oil
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 egg
1/2 cup chopped pitted dates or raisins
1 1/2 teaspoons coarse or granulated sugar

1. Heat oven to 400°F. Spray bottoms only of 12 regular-size muffin cups with cooking spray, or line with paper baking cups. Spray bottoms only of paper baking cups with cooking spray. In large resealable food-storage plastic bag, coarsely crush cereal with rolling pin or meat mallet to measure 1 3/4 cups.

2. In large bowl, mix crushed cereal, flour, brown sugar, baking soda and salt. In medium bowl, beat buttermilk, oil, vanilla and egg until blended. Add buttermilk mixture to flour mixture; stir just until dry ingredients are moistened. Stir in dates. Spoon batter into muffin cups. Sprinkle with coarse sugar.

3. Bake 18 to 20 minutes or until light golden brown. Remove from pan to cooling rack. Serve warm or cool.

----------------------------------------
OK, so now on to this week's training and other stuff.
This week was "Kickoff" for our Team in Training summer season. Looks like the tri team will have about 12 participants - which is great! We had our first group workout on Saturday - in the 17 degree slightly snowy weather! Brrrr. But I think we all managed the 1.3 mile jog to Criterium Bicycles for a basic triathlon gear clinic. It was really nice of them to let us use some space in the store and since they have tri gear, I didn't need to lug any of mine! Then we jogged back to the cars and refueled at Einstein's Bagels. I was pretty hungry by then because I put in a 40 minute run prior to the group workout.

On my way home I stopped off to check on my brother's bird, Archie. He seemed just fine. I gave him some fresh water, some birdy treats, scratched his head a little bit and headed home for a well-deserved nap! After my nap it was time to hit the pool for about 2000 yards. The best reward was the hot tub afterwards, which was really hot, maybe a little too hot, but still gets the blood flowing from being in a cold pool! My swimming is also coming around - my SwimLabs lessons are paying off because I am faster. I also think the yoga I've been taking is working to improve my upper body flexibility.

Today I woke up with a bit of a sore throat, which is now turning into some head congestion. There is a cold going around work, so I may have a mild version of it (and running in the chilly weather probably didn't help). I think I got close to 10 hours of sleep last night - much needed! I felt well enough to get my 90 minutes in on my trainer mid-morning. I had really planned on riding outside, but with temps in the mid-30s (sunny, though) I decided it best to not get chilled with this congestion. So instead I was dripping sweat in the family room. The Bourne Identity helped get me through some of the monotony of sitting on a trainer.

Tomorrow is a rest day with only yoga in the evening, so I'm hoping the cold symptoms don't get any worse.

Why Breakfast Rocks

Breakfast rocks because:
1) you can eat a lot of carbs (just call me a carb-o-holic!)
2) it is usually the easiest meal to prepare
3) it gets you going after that morning workout and fuels you for the one over lunch
4) there are soooo many great foods to choose from!
5) bananas are a great breakfast food!

Some of you who know me know that breakfast is by far my favorite meal of the day. This is one benefit of my increased exercise, as I can usually justify a good sized breakfast because I do a lot of training in the morning and over lunch.

Dunkin' Donuts new waffle sandwich inspired me to write this post. I love scrambling up some eggs and making a waffle sandwich. So I usually don't have bacon and cheese with it, but I do love the Sonic Bacon, Egg and Cheese Toaster sandwich, so using waffles will just be heaven for me! Ok, so I won't eat these very often, once a month or so, but yummy. It's also nice that most fast food places are putting the nutritional info on their websites so that I can plan a splurge.

On a healthier side, my breakfast staples during the week are:

• Oatmeal - I like Archer Farms multigrain oatmeal. I'll usually throw in some mixed berries (I buy frozen for convenience) and if I need a protein boost I'll cook it in soymilk or add a tablespoon of peanut butter.
• Cereal. Kashi GoLean has good fiber and protein. Again I'll throw some fruit.
• Eggs. I'll use the egg whites you can buy in the store or egg beaters, or just mix a real egg in there if I want a little more fat. I cook them in olive or canola oil.
• Pancakes. I'll make a big batch of whole grain pancakes and freeze them. I'll usually add some soy protein powder. Last week I threw in some zucchini so I got a serving of veggies in my breakfast!

These are all easy to bring to work (eggs I cook ahead of time but they refridgerate or freeze well) for when I swim in the morning before work.

Ok, so now it's time for the week's banana recipe. Of course it is a breakfast one!

Chocolate-Banana fille Crepes from Paula Deen - coutesy of the food network.

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/paula-deen/chocolate-banana-filled-crepes-recipe/index.html

Crepe Batter:
1 cup all-purpose flour
Pinch salt
1 egg
1 egg yolk
1 1/2 to 2 cups milk
1 tablespoon melted butter
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Topping:
1 jar hazelnut chocolate spread
5 bananas, sliced
1 can whipping cream

Directions:
Sift the flour with the salt into a bowl. Make a well in the center and add the egg and egg yolk. Pour in the milk, slowly, stirring constantly and, when half is added, stir in the melted butter and vanilla. Beat well until smooth. Add the remaining milk, cover and let stand at room temperature for at least 20 minutes before using. The batter should be the consistency of light cream. Heat a well greased 6-inch skillet,. Add 1/4 cup batter. Tip skillet from side to side until batter covers bottom. Cook until the bottom is golden brown, turn and remove to a plate. Repeat with remaining batter. Spread a thin layer of chocolate hazelnut spread onto crepe and place banana slices down the center. Roll or fold crepe. Just before serving top with whipped cream.

Banana Recipe for week of 2/1 - Warm Bananas with Brown Sugar and Bay Leaf

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/michael-chiarello/warm-bananas-with-brown-sugar-and-bay-leaf-recipe/index.html
Ingredients
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 bay leaves
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 cup fresh orange juice
1 cup packed light brown sugar
2 tablespoons brandy
Pinch salt
6 ripe bananas, peeled and cut on the bias into 1/3-inch slices (about 1 quart)
1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon fresh coarsely ground black pepper
Store bought chocolate cake or ice cream, for serving
Directions
In large skillet over high heat, melt the butter and cook until it browns, about 3 minutes. Add the bay leaves and stand back (it may pop). Add the lemon juice, orange juice, brown sugar, brandy, and a pinch of salt. Bring the mixture up to a boil. Stir and cook until the liquid has reduced by half and it has reached a syrupy consistency, about 5 minutes. Remove the pan from the heat. Add the bananas and pepper. Stir to coat the bananas evenly. Serve immediately spooned over cake or ice cream.
Cooking Notes: You can make the sauce hours ahead of time. Just add the fruit after you bring the sauce back to a simmer. The fruit should be a little cool inside. Serve it with a good, store bought chocolate cake or spoon it over your favorite ice cream.

The Peak

Not Pikes Peak, the Boulder Peak. I signed up for my second 'A' race of the season - the Boulder Peak triathlon. I've done the sprint distance and half-ironman distance races in the 5430 series, so now it is time for me to tackle the olympic distance. The challenge of this race is the hill you have to climb. Here's an elevation profile of the course - looks like 1200ft in about 7 miles.

http://www.5430sports.com/profiles/peak_elevation.jpg

The course description:
http://www.5430sports.com/peak/course.htm
"The 42 kilometer bike leg is a course that has a little of everything as it winds through north Boulder County. About 6 miles into the clockwise loop will ascend 15% Old Stage Hill (600' vertical climb in 2/3 of a mile). On the summit will be the first fluid replacement station. From Old Stage it is a beautiful descent down Left Hand Canyon and out onto the Buffalo covered plains. Now, in its third year, a 35mph speed limit will be strictly enforced on the major descent on the backside of Old Stage Road. We will have police officers and course marshals monitoring this."

I'm happy about the speed limit, as that is about the top speed I am comfortable descending! Though my max speed at Loveland last year was about 42mph!

Today's Ride
Today I did about 25 miles over lunch. It was a must to get out today as we had temps around 60 degrees! In January! If this is global warming, I don't mind. ;-) But it is supposed to snow tomorrow - that's Colorado for ya! I was proud of myself on the first half of the ride - I was feeling strong, easily cruising about 20mph. But then I remembered it was a gradual loss of elevation (~1% grade) and realized after I turned around that the wind was strong. By the time I got back, some of the flags were really whipping. So my return speed was nowhere near 20mph! Oh well - it'll make me stronger, right?

Time to hit the bowling alley for a friend's birthday party! woohoo!

Catch-up Post - it's a long one!

It's been a while since I've posted, so here's an update of what is going on.

Jan 13-15th I was at USA Triathlon coaching certification clinic. I have to take a written test and submit it within six weeks. I'd like to submit it as soon as possible so I've been working on it a lot. Should finally wrap it up this weekend! Once I get my certification I will work more on marketing my new coaching company, NEO Endurance Sports and Fitness.

I'm starting to train for Ironman 70.3 Kansas. They give out special prizes if you do the race in a Wizard of Oz costume, but I think I'll skip that this year. I'm enjoying getting back to a structured training program, and with what I learned at the USAT clinic, I'm hoping to have a good race season. Trying to get in 3 swims, 3 bike rides, at least 2 runs and 2-3 strength training sessions per week adds up with time, especially working full time.

Wednesday night I went to Carmichael Training Systems athlete appreciation event. Chris Carmichael (Lance Armstrong's coach) spoke about Lance's comeback effort and spoke on how to create your own comeback - really goal setting skills using Lance as an example. He's a pretty good motivational speaker. Then some guy, a finiancial coach, talked about market stuff. Really a sales pitch for his company's methods. While he was somewhat of an engaging speaker, we were running late so he had to rush through slides, and I think most people there were really more interested in the 60 minute spinning class that Chris Carmichael was about to do for us. They had the event at the Antler's Hilton due to the big response and the CTS coaches were "bike valets." Went pretty smoothly. Anyway, the spin workout rocked - it kicked most of our butts since it was about 45 minutes of various power intervals. I haven't pushed myself on the bike that hard in a while - it was great!

My aunt was just diagnosed with a form of lymphoma called lymphoplasmacytic lymphoma (aka Waldenstrom's macroglobulinemia). So I will definitely keep up coaching for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society's Team in Training program. The season starts in a couple weeks - we're recruiting now. I hope the economy doesn't affect participation this year.

Thursday I went to a memorial service for a friend's husband. She was one of the triathletes on last summer's TNT tri team. I met her husband when he helped out at the TNT fundraiser we had at our house last year since Krista had to work and couldn't be there. I remember him as a really nice guy. Her husband was in the army and had been to Iraq a couple times. Something went terribly wrong and he took his own life. I can't imagine the mental torment and distress he must have gone through to do that. I'm glad Krista wasn't hurt that night and hope she can find peace and heal. It's hard to find words to describe what she must be going through right now.

Tonight I helped another friend record some songs for her brother, who is also serving in the army. She sang some patriotic songs and I will get them on a CD so she can send it to him for his birthday.

Let's see...in tradition of posting my training, here was my workout today;
Core work before the swim - planks, side planks, bridges, lower back extensions.
Also did some strengthening for my back and shoulders.

Swim workout:
300yd warm up easy swim
3x100yds (broken into 25s) stroke drills
4x50yd kicking
2x25yd fast
1x800yd (broken) I pause slightly at each wall, maybe 5s to let my muscles relax just a little. did this in 17:30. while that's not a great time, it matches my fastest 800 time, and I probably had 2-2.5 minutes of pausing at the walls. Take that out and and I'm 15:00 - 15:30. About where I want to be for race pace and I wasn't trying to swim it hard, just steady and maintain my form!
4x50 stroke drills
200yd cool down mixed stroke
Total yards: 2050

Winter weather is back (we had a few 60-70 degree days earlier in the week) but the sun was shining so I went out for a 50 minute run. Only did 4.5miles - taking it nice and easy getting back into training, and my neighborhood has some long hills. Felt yesterday's strength session in my hamstrings!

That's it for now - time to get back to explaining strength and flexibility training for triathletes!

This Week's Banana Recipes

In order to make up for all the weeks (months) I didn't post any recipes, here is a great site with a few recipes such as a traditional banana bread and red snapper with pecan-banana butter.
Banana Recipes
yeah, the site is banana.com! Woohoo!

My Main Race is 22 Weeks Out
So today I joined a couple friends and we went on a 22+ mile bike ride. So it was only 30ish degrees out and a little windy coming out of the south. Other than frozen fingers, toes, and nose, I was just fine! It was nice to get out on the roads and I'm thankful that all the snow had melted and there wasn't too much gravel out there. It took us a little longer than usual to do the route, but that's probably because of the cold wind. I was able to get into my new aero position for a little bit, and can tell it's going to take some practice getting used to it!

Banana Shortage!

I think I'm going into withdrawal! I forgot (not sure how!) to buy bananas last week at the grocery store and never made it back to get some. So I've been an entire week without eating a banana! Oh my! I will be sure to get some tomorrow when I go shopping. That's a good thing since I'm 22 weeks out from my goal half ironman so the structured training will begin!

Today I went for a 45 minute run in the neighborhood. There was a little snow left on the sidewalks for me to leave a lot of footprints. I can tell I am not in running shape since I've run maybe once a week, sometimes less in the last few months. Just got to remember to start back up slowly! Tomorrow I will brave the chilly weather on my bike and try out my aerobars. I got them fit a little better today - need to get a new seatpost to make even better adjustments to my position, but that will be next month!

Lance Armstrong's Lactate Threshold Test

One day I will be on a bike and have someone prick my finger. :-)
Lance is getting into race shape faster than his coaches thought he would...
http://www.trainright.com/articles.asp?uid=4109

First Banana Recipe of 2009!

New year, new training schedule, new need for yummy breakfast so here is a link to some Banana-Orange Crepes on epicurious.com.

Now it's time to mentally prepare to return to work tomorrow!

Aerobars!

I did it. I finally bought aerobars for my bike. Ideally I would get a triathlon specific bike, but dropping another $2-3k (at least) is not in the cards this year. Instead I'm doing what a lot of amateurs do - add aerobars to the road bike. According to this report, time/energy saved is very cost effective. They are being installed at Bicycle Village (thanks Joyce and Keith for the gift card!) today. The bike was due for its tune-up anyway. I also got a skull cap and a warmer jacket to help me on those cold days of riding. I'm thinking I will use the bike to commute more often to squeeze in some extra bike training, so I need to stay warm. And with my big race scheduled in June, I'll have more chilly and cool days of training than with an August race!

This morning I did a brief benchmark training test on the bike on my trainer. Here's what I did: 20 minute warm up easy with a few 30s fast spins in there.
Then I started in a moderate but easy gear and increased the gear every minute. I was going for 12 sets, but only managed 9. My heart rated started in the low 130s and made it up to 180. I had a few more gears left on the bike, but at 9 was all the power I could generate. (I would love to have a power meter for more data, but for about $1000, not sure it is worth the investment right now!)
15 minute cool down after all that.

Would have been nice to get outside and ride since it was 60 degrees today, but I did manage to take Juno out for a nice walk.