45 Day Beer-Free Challenge

Why wait for New Year's to make a positive change?  After the Packer game on the 18th and a few days home for Christmas, I was feeling rather like an over-stuffed sausage.  Based on the meals I had in Wisconsin, I'm currently under belief that there isn't a vegetable in the entire state that isn't covered in cheese or cream-of-something soup.

My favorite quote of the holidays: "You have to finish your bacon before you can have a cupcake."

Seriously.

It is no wonder that I gain a pound a day when I'm home.  My mom always tells me I can go back on my diet when I get back to KC.  I tried to explain that I'm not on a diet - this is how I always eat.  And after 5 days with too many cookies and too little fiber, my body is more than a little unhappy.

I don't do resolutions.  I've never understood why people wait for one day of the year to try to make a change.  I didn't see why I should wait until Jan.1 so I started a 45 Day Beer-Free Challenge on Dec. 26.  My last beer was a New Glarus Spotted Cow, one of my favorites, and a good one to be my last for a while.  Why 45 days?  I thought about 30 days, then I thought about Feb 1 and then I realized it would be 45 days to my birthday, so that seemed like a good mark.

Besides going beer-free, I'm also eating at least one leafy-green salad every day for a week and working out 5 days a week.  I am hoping that this will help me get back on track.  I'm still trying to decide on a race, so hopefully a better diet and reduced calories will help me find some motivation.

Christmas Lights Run Recap

Elf Hands!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Last week was the Prairie Village Christmas Lights run and we had a fantastic turnout!  We had 23 people (3 kids) and 3 dogs show up for the run.  We also had a lot of festive costumes.  I think the bar for next year has been set fairly high.

We made 3 main stops.  Here is the first:

Don't let it fool you, the moving dolls are actually more creepy than festive.  Stop #2 was at the high school for the mayor's lights set to music.  The last stop was Candycane Lane, which has been putting on a lights display since 1954.

This was such a hit, we will definitely be doing it again next year!

New motivation? Or something close to it?

This weekend the coverage from the Ironman World Championship was shown.  I watched the end of the women's race live on the internet and I read all about the men's race so I knew how it ended.  Even though I already knew the ending, I was glued to the TV.  Watching Chrissie Wellington battling back from a serious bike crash and still dominating the women's race was just awesome.  I'm a big fan of Craig Alexander as well (since I did share an elevator with him in Boise) so watching him win back the title was awesome.  John and I watched it together on Sunday morning.

As soon as it was over, I thought "Damn.  Now I want to do one of those again." 

Maybe.

I'm still not quite sure what I want to do.  I'm still throwing around the idea of doing a bike race (or series) this summer since I can train this spring instead of study. 

On Sunday night John and I exchanged gifts.  I opened up wrapping paper to this:

In case you can't read it, John wrote

There was a girl named Sam

who did whatever she could

to go as far as she should,

but unfortunately her crash cast

doubt in her ability to go fast and

that she was a star.  From a dirigible

view a solution to be had that she

better check in the convertible

now!

Aww, what a guy, right?  It takes some serious dedication to work the word 'dirigible' into a poem!  So I went to the garage and looked in the convertible.  Inside I found these babies.  They're Zipp 101 aluminum wheels.

Well, it looks like I'm racing in 2012 for sure, just not sure what kind of race it will be!

Christmas Lights Run II

It's almost time for the Second Prairie Village Christmas Lights run.  I went out tonight scouting out good streets to run down.  It's a lot more difficult to plan out a Christmas Lights run route than you'd think.  It has to be a loop, an out-and-back route doesn't really cut it.  It needs to be on fairly quiet streets, since lots of traffic tends to ruin the appeal.  It has to start and end at a convenient place for parking and meeting, preferably some place well lit and with the option of getting a holiday cocktail afterwards.

I had a great route last year from Prairie Village through Mission Hills, to Brookside and back.  Unfortunately, I've driven most of the route and only half the houses that were lit last year are not lit this year.  The biggest disappointment: George Brett did not light his Magnificent Tree.  In case you missed the Magnificent Tree last year, it was a 30+ foot tall lit up like the tree at Rockefeller Center.  Has the economy really gotten that bad that the rich people can't afford to pay someone to put up a little Christmas cheer on their behalf?

Now just so you know, I put up a little Christmas cheer myself.  We stayed in KC for the first time so I took the opportunity to get decorations up over the holiday weekend. 

While the Mission Hills route is out, I think I have the start of a new route.  A few more evening runs and possibly a trip in the car and I'll have another festive route mapped out.  Oh, if you're in the KC area, keep the evening of Decemeber 21 open.

Lost joy

I haven't posted much because I don't have anything to post about.  I was on my road bike for 10 min this week, but other than that I haven't touched any of my bikes.  I ran a 4 mile trail race which didn't go well last weekend and haven't run since.  I think I might have ran 20 miles total since Austin.  I don't have any races planned and I quite honestly don't have any desire to find a race.  I don't have have any desire to do much of anything.  Call it a rut, call it a funk.  It is what it is.

Crossroads Bootcamp

This summer I bought a Groupon for 12 CrossFit classes for $30 at Crossroads Bootcamp here in KC.  I wanted to wait until after Austin to start since I knew I would be crazy-sore once I started.  So Austin is over and I started my 12 classes.

The first class I did was a bootcamp class.  After months of Austin training, a one hour class on a Saturday morning felt like a cop out for a real workout.  Later that night, I was out with friends wearing high heels.  At some point, I dropped something and squatted down to pick it up.  Except I got down tot he floor and then realized I couldn't' stand back up.  Turns out that the hour long workout wasn't a cop out after all.  Not only was a crazy-sore the next day, I was crazy-stupid sore.  And everything was sore: arms, shoulders, back, abs, quads, hamstrings.  My calves were about the only thing that didn't hurt.

The first class I did was on a Saturday.  I was so sore I couldn't go back to class until Wednesday.  But it was a good sore, the kind that reminds you of muscles you forgot you had.  So Wednesday I went to another class and since I was not paying attention, I signed up for one of the real CrossFit classes instead of bootcamp.  The CrossFit is definitely more intense and focused.  I was sore again, but it was more localized.

I've gone to a few more classes and I really like it.  I know I'm still in good shape from Austin, but I feel strong.  I feel good.  I can see exactly why they make you take 12 classes in 45 days for the Groupon - you're pretty much guaranteed to see results in that amount of time.

My only complaint: the cost of an actual membership.  I think it's about $150/month or $25/class.  I just can't justify that cost when there are so many other activities I like to do.  I looked into a different CrossFit gym in the area and it was even more expensive.  For that kind of money, I could probably get a personal trainer or coach.  We'll see.  I do love the class and I'm sure after my 12 classes I'll be seriously considering a membership, at least through the winter months.

Quinoa Salad, Take 1

So what have I been doing with all my free time now that I'm not training for anything?  Besides getting my ass kicked by CrossFit classes, I'm doing a little more cooking.



Quinoa Salad with Pineapple-Roasted Pepper Puree

I had an awesome quinoa salad while in Austin and I really want to try to recreate it.  This is attempt No. 1.  I'll give it a B+.  It was good, but not quite great.  Here's the recipe if you want to try it as is.  All measurements are guesses

Salad:
2 cups quinoa, rinsed, cooked, and cooled
2 cups greens, coarsely chopped
4 oz goat cheese, crumbled

Puree:
2 poblano peppers, roasted under broiler until skin blisters
4 pineapple rings, reserve juice
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp white pepper
Pulse all ingredients in food processor

Drizzle quinoa with a little olive oil and toss with greens and crumbled goat cheese until mixed.  Serve on a plate with puree on the side.  Garnish with a grilled pineapple ring and 1/2 sliced avocado.

A few additional notes:  The original recipe used red quinoa, I only had plain.  It also originally called for sheep's cheese but I only found goat's cheese in the grocery store.  Sheep's cheese is probably a little sweeter, goat's cheese is a little more tangy. 

I thought it was missing a little zing.  So I added champagne vinegar to the puree for the leftovers tomorrow.  On the next try, I might add one roasted jalapeno and some lime juice to the puree to make more of a vinaigrette.  I'm going to track down red quinoa and sheep's cheese for the next time, too.