Half Brained Half Marathon

I’ve felt so swamped this week I keep *forgetting* that the half marathon is on Sunday. Last year at this time I was gearing up to run my first full marathon and it was of course all I could think about. I began checking the weather forecast day 10 days out. I laid out my clothes and mixed and matched outfit possibilities in my mind figuring out what would work best. I checked the race website for updates multiple times a day. Re-read emails from the race director again and again, making sure I knew every last detail and didn’t miss a thing.

I was thinking about this today during my morning run and realized that oh yeah, the half marathon is just 3 days away! Sure, it’s only half the distance I ran last year but sometimes I need to pinch that soft fleshy skin under my arm between my elbow and my arm pit to make sure this is me who’s out there running most mornings. I think back to the person I use to believe I was. I was that girl who said I could never be a runner. Running hurts. It’s bad for my knees. My boobs are too big, I might give myself a black eye.

The right goal and some determination can do amazing things. Running’s a great way to lose weight? Hmmm, ok, maybe I’ll try it. I needed a goal and tried to train for the full marathon in 2007 but had no idea of the commitment, dedication and conditioning it took to run 26.2 miles. I told myself I just wasn’t built to go long distances. Some people can do it and some people can’t. I guess I’m one of those who can’t.

It’s funny the things we tell ourselves and believe to be true. These words and phrases we use to define ourselves and how it can hold us back from our full potential. Running is my personal example but it could be anything. Painting. Yoga. Underwater Basket Weaving. If you want it, reach for it.

After my 4.76 mile run this morning I wanted overnight oats so I reached for them. It’s been a while since I’ve had oats and I was in the mood yesterday so I knew overnight oat prep was in order last night.

Oats for breakfast makes me want to reach for coffee! But oh yeah, I’m not drinking coffee right now. If I dig a little deeper it’s not that I want coffee, I just want something warm to drink with oats.

Tea it is!

Oats, ground flax and unsweetened shredded coconut soaked overnight in unsweetened vanilla hemp milk, some mashed banana and a scoop of almond butter.

Topped this morning with sliced banana. I sweetened my chai tea with a tsp of agave nectar and a splash of 1% milk. Funny that I don’t need sugar in coffee but I do need something to sweeten my tea a little bit.

Thoughtfulness from a morning run aside, I’m suddenly excited that the half marathon is so close! I’ve got to go pick up my race packet tomorrow and start thinking about how I’m going to fuel up for the big day.

If the sky were the limit, what would you reach for? Be it big or small – what would it be? What’s your first step?

I want to be tidier! I want tidiness to come naturally and just be a part of my day to day life like running now is. I believe that with tidiness comes order and with order comes peace. My first step? I need to get rid of STUFF! Clutter! Papers! Magazines! Books! Can’t I just go run and forget about this mess I call a desk?

Oh yeah. That’s exactly what I’ve been doing. Interesting. I guess running and a clean desk aren’t compatible. Awww crap there I go with the definitions again.

It Was Ladies Night

Blog: And just where have you been, young lady?

Me: Um, err… I was out.

Blog: out? OUT!? Where exactly is OUT?

Me: Well, let me start at the beginning.

A long, long time ago, on a Sassy Saturday afternoon…

I ate a salad.

A salad filled with red leaf lettuce, spinach, carrots, tomatoes, sprouts, cucumbers and green peppers. It was a lovely salad indeed.

After lunch I packed my bags for an old fashioned, get out your dancing shoes, life before kids, girls night out and sleepover to boot.

What, you don’t take breakfast cookie ingredients with you to a sleepover? Breakfast rookie.

Waiting for my (big) girls to come pick me up, I had a little snack. This was a snack with a purpose, you see. This snack was meant to serve as a REMINDER that I did NOT want to wake up with a tongue feeling like the outside of a kiwi tomorrow morning.

Yes, Blog, last night was Ladies Night you see. Oy what a night. Oh yes, I shirked my parental responsibilities in lieu of a good cause: Food, friends, fun and freedom.

One of my oldest and best girlfriend’s is in town for about a week. My former high school clique turned fellow 30 year old’s circled round to paint the town red. Or whatever it is you kids are calling it these days.

First up, girlfriends Missy, Sharon and yours truly headed out to dinner at a happening little bistro while we waited for gal pal #4 to get out of work.

This would be an attempt to look sassy, wind blown and sexy.

Meh. Two outta three ain’t bad.

The scene.

The menu.

The beverage.

Oooo don’t mind if I do…

The food.

I let this Pinball Panini bounce all around between my teeth.

I was more than happy to get all tied up in my Tangled Up and Bleu Salad.

After dinner and tons catching up and girl talk, we blew that pop stand and moved on to meet up with Tara.

But first, an emergency stop for caffeine and a little something sweet.

Yes, that’s right. Starbucks. A pecan toffee bar and a little insurance policy to insure I wouldn’t fall asleep in my chardonnay.

Coffee with a time check to make sure I wasn’t dreaming because I was definitely feeling sleepy as well as feeling like a I needed a little pinch that I was out with my gals on a Saturday night!

Three hip chicks, hanging out like this is standard operating procedure and pretending our sweatpants never see a Saturday night.

With our coffee buzz well underway, we headed downtown to meet up with Tara and make our move for some more “we do this all the time” action.

The scene.

The company.

The beverages.

Wait, how many of us are there again? Head Count! 1, 2, 3, 4… Drink Count! 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6…

Interesting.

That might explain why the scene started to look a little like this. I think it’s time we move on.

Hmmm, spelling the name of the bar with our arms?

Yeah. Definitely time to move on. And just about time to remember back to that fuzzy kiwi snack this afternoon too.

We danced, laughed, talked and walked our way through a club and back to Tara’s house to do what any group of fun loving girls would do at this hour of the night. Err… hour of the morning.

A late night lesson on how to make a breakfast cookie, as requested.

Operation Avoid Fuzzy Tongue was a rousing success this morning, as were our breakfast cookies.

The chatting continued this morning and we enjoyed a late morning walk together to the local co-op to refill my stash of Larabars and nut butters before the journey home. A girl’s gotta have priorities.

Home again and caught up on the events of the 18 hours I was able to escape, I’ve already managed to consume my weight in vegetables.

Given all the clocks I studied yesterday, you think I might have made at least once glance at a calendar?

I needed a cup of tea to weave my tale. You just can’t wrong with a box you dig out of the cupboard that has Gingerbread Men on it. August Schmaugust.

So you see Blog, that’s where I’ve been…

A Juice Refresher

I belly flopped into bed last night as soon as Zak walked through the door. When I woke a little while later as he was getting the girls ready for bed I realized it probably wasn’t just lack of sleep that had me feeling puny. I think I was probably fighting off that odd 12 hour bug Ava seemed to have on Wednesday too.

A 12 hour bug indeed I woke up this morning after 10 hours of sleep feeling almost normal. Nothing a run and some green juice couldn’t fix to get me all the way there. Although who am I kidding? I don’t think any amount of green juice is going to take me all the way to “normal”. Green juice in and of itself has me shooting well past the normal mark.

Instead of a usual Saturday long run I opted for a very nice and easy jaunt around the neighborhood. I did my 4.2 mile loop in 36 minutes. I heard the juicer already whirring as I ascended the porch steps and walked into the house to find my mind reading husband not only making juice but taking pictures too!

He was fully embracing the juicing process, taking an approach I’ve yet to take – a scientific one.

Juice from a large head of romaine:

1 1/2 cups.

Still left to be juiced at that point; two apples, two carrots, a lemon, a beet, a cucumber and some ginger.

Juice from two apples:

1 cup.

Juice from all fruits and vegetables combined:

A grand total of 4 cups!

The pulp left behind.

My glass held some ice and about 1 cup of vegetable juice this morning – I went back for a refill after this was polished off and we each enjoyed 2 cups of juice this morning.

Natalia Rose talks about vegetable juicing in her Raw Food Detox Diet book, which thus far has been my only juicing reference with the exception of some blogs and a few online resources. Natalia’s book is where I’ve learned most everything I know about juicing at this point. On the days I drink green juice I try to follow her advice and have it be the first thing I consume that day or at the very least on an empty stomach if it’s later in the day. I aim to give it a half hour or so before moving on to something more solid.

And by something more solid I of course mean something like 2% Fage, homemade cereal, 1/2 a sliced banana and a scoop of almond butter topped off with a splash of hemp milk.

If yesterday was Friday Funk I’ve since turned it around to Saturday Sass! Sleep, run, green juice? A perfect recipe for sassiness.

Make Your Own Cereal

I got up with Zak this morning when the alarm went off at 5. He headed out to go swimming and I headed down to the kitchen. Feeling hungry already, today would have been a perfect morning for some green lemonade, except for one problem. I’m out a romaine. I’ve got spinach but spinach doesn’t have a lot of water and I’ve come to find that it takes A LOT of spinach to get a decent amount of liquid from it.

What’s that saying? If life hands you lemons, make lemonade? Well then, if life hands you spinach, make a green smoothie.

Hmmm, my modified version of that saying doesn’t roll off the tongue quite as easily but I’m sticking with it.

Today’s concoction was 1 banana, slightly frozen. 1 apple, peeled and sliced. A couple handfuls of spinach and a few splashes of unsweetened vanilla hemp milk.

I’ve got yoga planned for today but made the executive decision to move it back to this afternoon. The girls are spending the day with Aunt Ellen and I always enjoy yoga more in the middle of the day after I’m loosened up from moving around with normal activity.

With my exercise postponed I had time to experiment in the kitchen this morning. I knew my green smoothie wasn’t going to hold me over long so I got a jump start on Breakfast Part II knowing it was going to be at least an hour in the making.

I love cereal. Especially cereals like Kashi Heart to Heart and Peanut Butter Puffins. I’ve come to realize though that eating boxed cereal makes me crave MORE MORE MORE cereal and it’s easy for me to go overboard with it if I don’t try hard to exercise some restraint. I therefore prefer to leave cereal on the grocery store shelves with the exception of what I buy for the girls. (i.e., “safe” cereals that aren’t as titillating as H2H or PB Puffins.  I can safely buy Cheerios with no fear of diving head first into the box.)

I’m quite experienced now in making my own granola, and its had me thinking for a while now that making my own cereal couldn’t be a big stretch from granola. I wanted something slightly different than granola though because I don’t want a “cereal” full of nuts and dried fruit. I like to add fresh banana and almond butter to cereal and make a big ol’ cereal mess!

With that introduction, let me proudly present you with my very own breakfast cereal recipe created this morning.

Mama’s Bunches of Oats

1 cup of rolled oats
1/4 c ground flax
1/4 c canola oil
1/4 c grade A maple syrup

Pre-heat oven to 250 degrees.

Combine dry ingredients in one bowl and combine wet ingredients in a separate bowl. Mix dry ingredients with wet ingredients and flatten mixture on a large cookie sheet but be careful not to spread too thin.

Bake at 250 for about an hour. No flipping or stirring necessary while it bakes. Remove after an hour and allow to cool. Break into clusters.

Makes about 3 servings. I didn’t figure out calorie content but I’d put a rough guesstimation at about 300 calories per serving. My typical breakfast cookie or bowl of overnight oats easily runs me 500 calories so this is about par and fits neatly in to my usual complete breakfast. But there no doubt about it, this is calorie dense.

Store in an air tight container to enjoy another day.

“Another day” for me will most likely be tomorrow. This turned out better than I ever expected! I’m already looking forward to experimenting with this further. I’d like try some different spices like nutmeg, cinnamon, vanilla… maybe even some nuts if I feel like I can bear to be without my beloved almond butter for breakfast one morning. The possible combos are endless!

Time to eat! Served still warm this morning on top of 1/2 container of 2% Fage, 1/2 a sliced banana and a spoonful of almond butter, topped with unsweetened vanilla hemp milk.

This was crunchy and very satisfying.  More importantly it didn’t leave me wanting to sneak back into the container for a little more. In addition, there are no added preservatives, chemicals, high fructose corn goodness or partially hydrogenated surprises. I’m excited to call this a breakfast success!

Run Like You Stole Something

Speed work was on the agenda for this morning. I was hungry but didn’t want to eat very much because the likelihood of puking on a run increases exponentially during a speed work session.

A small handful of raisins ought to be safe enough. It’s kind of hard see but my little pile of raisins were in my hand underneath the Newman’s Own Organics carton there. It’s almost as if the perfect portion just dropped right out of the bottom like magic. That would be really “handy”, wouldn’t it?

I out the door at about 6:45 – it was only 55 degrees out! I did almost an exact replica of a track work out that I did a couple weeks ago. Except this one was solo, on Thursday morning instead of a Friday afternoon and it was not nearly as hot. Like I said, almost an exact replica.

A ran a slow easy pace for the mile warm up from my house to the track, and then jumped right into 400 meter sprints (one time around the track), 200 meter recoveries (half way around the track), repeated 5 times. I ran each 400 meter in about 1:35 and each 200 meter in just over a 1:00. There were handful of walkers on the track this morning, I was the only runner.

I took the long way home for a 2 mile cool down. I’m fairly sure my total mileage works out to be just under 5 miles and I was gone just shy of 40 minutes.

I realized this morning that this is such a great way to mix it up. It went by really quickly and barely felt like a “real” run. The warm up run there was easy and enjoyable. The speed work itself didn’t feel like running – it was more like short bursts of torture. The cool down run home was easy and enjoyable too and I didn’t feel like I was slacking with a slow pace after a 15 minutes of running like I was trying to escape the police. The whole run went by really quickly. I need to start doing this more often. Sprinting, that is, not escaping the police.

Back home and grateful my raisins stayed down, I decided today was the day to hack into the young coconut I’ve had in the fridge for a few days now. Except I couldn’t find the mallet I use to pound on the knife to get the frickin’ thing open.

So I tried the “hold the knife behind your head and WHACK down on it”. Umm yeah, do you have any idea how hard it is to AIM a knife when you do that?? I hit the coconut each time but never in the same place twice.

OK, this was going to take ALL MORNING at this rate.

I gave up went to look for the mallet again. I didn’t find it but I did find an acceptable substitute. I’m going to leave it “acceptable substitute” because Zak reads the blog occassionally and I’d hate to incriminate myself.

But let’s just say my substitute did the trick and I finally cracked that nut.

This one was loaded with water and it’s contents filled the glass to the very brim! Probably 12 oz, maybe a little more because some slopped out when I poured it into the glass.

And per usual I scooped out the young coconut meat that I swear looks like squid and the only way I can possibly imagine eating this is pureed into a smoothie.  I’m gagging at the mere thought of slurping this down my throat any other way.

After coconut water and came some body weight exercises – a couple sets of push ups and some yoga flows to stretch it all out.

And finally, a breakfast worthy of sprinting to.

Buried underneath that pile of ground flax, sliced banana, spoonful of almond butter and sprinkle of homemade granola was chocolate overnight oats, believe it or not.

My overnight oat was typical mix of 1/2 c rolled oats soaked overnight in 1/4 c LF Stonyfield Farms vanilla yogurt, 1/2 chocolate unsweetened almond milk and about a tsp of unsweetened cocoa powder.

This breakfast makes me smile almost as much as all your comments and emails do. Almost.

A Short Story

I woke this morning just as the sky was beginning to fade from the darkness of night to the shade of gray that precedes dawn. As the haze of subconscious lifted I realized Zak was still lying in bed next to me. I nudged him gently with my elbow to ask him if he was planning to swim this morning at the lake or not. The color of the sky lead me to believe he’d overslept.

He confirmed my suspicion when he said it was 5:50 and then proceeded to roll over and go back to sleep. I sat up and said quietly that I was going to go for a bike ride as I slithered my way to the foot of the bed.

I dressed and headed downstairs to forage for something to take the edge off the earliest inkling of hunger and hold off the savage beast until I returned from my ride. I sliced a kiwi and stacked it like a deck of cards, enjoying each card and it’s furry edges as I filled my water bottle and moved the cutting board to the sink.

It occurred to me as I was preparing to head out the kitchen door into the garage that I’d originally planned to do yoga this morning. For a moment I let myself entertain thoughts of changing from my bike riding gear into yoga clothes and staying home to do yoga as scheduled. My mind then leaped forward to the bitter cold and snow filled days that will be here soon enough. A sea of mornings lie ahead to stay inside and do yoga. Reminded that my days of bike riding will soon be over until the spring, I stayed the course and left to ride.

I listened to the mechanical clicks of a the garage door as it lifted and walked my bike out onto the driveway. I was greeted with a beautiful sunrise and air so perfectly cool and crisp it practically begged to be broken and disturbed by a woman on her bicycle.

I wanted to capture more photos of the sunrise. It was so moving that I wanted to remember it in more than just my minds eye. Taking pictures seemed to cheapen it, but it didn’t stop me from stowing my camera in the small bag under my bike seat. I set a course for the east end of the subdivision, beyond the houses and trees to capture the rising sun with my digital eye as it rose between the clouds and moved above the horizon.

I rode through my suburban neighborhood and stopped where the pavement ends near the newer homes and construction. I’ve noticed the dirt road that extends beyond the paved road and on a whim decided I would explore it further, like I might have as a child on my bike before I knew about maximum heart rates and calories burned.

The dirt road ended in some brush and I turned around to continue on my way. Exiting the subdivision and heading into to town toward the commercial district, I watched the sky transform from red and pink as it filled with yellows, oranges and blues.

I was glad to see other people walking and running this morning. I took comfort in knowing I wasn’t the only one awake and outside enjoying this perfect start to a new day.

There is no denying that the season is changing and autumn continues to inch ever closer. Although the wheel of the year never stops turning, the change of the seasons is more evident at certain times of the year than it is at others. I was brought back to this time three years ago, awaiting the impending arrival of our second baby that we now know as Maxine. With Zak’s help I had just made what I believed and hoped to be the best decision I might ever make; to choose the fork in the road that led to leaving a promising career as a computer programmer to stay home and raise our children.

As I approached the large grocery store I made an impulsive decision to turn into and coast down the large sloping parking lot, following my child themed ride for the morning. I noticed three old women walking together toward the store, well before the parking lot, leading me to imagine they had walked together from their near by homes for coffee and to enjoy each others company early on a Wednesday morning.

I breezed past the entrance and watched a woman exit the store with a grocery bag full of packaged food. I observed without judgment that it looked like she had bought candy and some baked goods. Without of course knowing exactly why she bought what she did, it reminded me of a life I once lived, just two short years ago using sugar and refined carbohydrates to find comfort and solace. What was it that lead to me to these feelings of disorder and stress? What drove me to make poor food choices again and again? Oh. Right. Zak in a new demanding job that left me home alone for long hours with a toddler and an infant. As much joy and wonder the girls bring into our lives, caring for small children can be both physically and emotionally taxing. Chocolate covered pretzels and everything bagels were my escape.

I made my way out of the parking lot and down a busy main road. Instead of my usual route I veered off course once again and rode through a neighborhood I’ve never been into. How many times have I walked by the people that live inside these homes and are a part of our community? In the aisles of the grocery store, at the post office, the library? Folks on their own journey, living their own stories that we call our lives, fighting their own fights.

I checked the clock on my bike a noticed I’d been gone for 45 minutes. Based on the landmarks I knew from experience that I was about four miles from home. I set my course for the house to let Zak get on his way to work.

A mile and a half from home, I passed under a large tree whose branches reached over road. At that moment three drops of water fell to my face. Two on my cheek and one on my eye lid. I briefly thought the breeze must have blown a few droplets of water from a leaf into the air, by pure chance landing on me instead of the ground. A few more cycles of my wheels and I quickly observed that those weren’t drops from a leaf at all, they were drops from a cloud. It was starting to rain. Heading west now with the sunrise behind me, I realized gray clouds were moving in and now muddying the colors I’d appreciated barely an hour ago.

The rain remained light but picked up in intensity as I grew closer the house. I contemplated how I might best capture a photo to the end of the story I’d weaved for myself this morning. A beautiful sunrise and morning ending with the rain slowly soaking the grass and the pavement.

I smiled when I realized we’d sat here barely 12 hours ago, watching ants attack popped corn that was now no where to be found. No human moved those kernels, I’m sure of it.

Inside to change out of my rain and sweat soaked clothes, Zak and I talked in hushed voices about the events of the day that just passed and those of the coming day as well. We moved downstairs to have breakfast and coffee together while the fruit of our loins continued to sleep.

I laughed to myself when I took my breakfast out of the fridge with child-like anticipation, realizing that I still and will likely always find joy and comfort in food. I’m grateful though that I’m now better equipped with the knowledge to make healthier choices, as well as more self-awareness to be mindful of the reasons breakfast delights me so.

The morning rain has already passed. The girls are rousing from their slumber and now it’s time to begin another day together.

Sunday Rides

After a long run yesterday, a Sunday Ride was in order for today. The weather man said it was supposed to rain this morning but fortunately he is A LIAR.  I rode 13.5 rain free miles this morning in just under an hour. In YO FACE Weather Mack Daddy!

On my ride I was thinking about how it seems like something has been “missing” lately. I couldn’t put my finger on it exactly, but something is definitely missing. *think*think*think*

And then it dawned on me.

Oh yeah, I haven’t had to clean the juicer for a few days. That settled it.  Today was officially Get Your Juicer Dirty Day.

Tearing fruit and vegetables to shreds lit a fire under to me prep every bit of produce yet to be prepped in the fridge. Cantaloupe, broccoli, cauliflower and watermelon. In fact, I made a new kind of “bar” this morning. Watermelon bars! You don’t even have to pre-heat the oven for these babies.

I’ve been keeping Sarah’s Breakfast Challenge in the back of my mind this week – that is, to have something new for breakfast every day for a week, which started Thursday if memory serves me correctly. Today I realized I’m either a Breakfast Challenge Failure or Breakfast Challenge Cheater.

I had overnight oats for breakfast yesterday, but I them for BRUNCH today.

It’s ok, you can say it. Alison and the Breakfast Challenge? FAIL. Alright alright I DO plan to try to make it up with some new breakfast idea before the week is up!

I swear these were some of the best chocolate overnight oats I’ve ever had too. I’m pretty sure they were tastier because I was being crazy and reckless with the Breakfast Challenge, hoping to squeeze by on a technicality.

On whim we pawned off the girls asked Zak’s mom to watch the girls while we escaped for a couple of child free hours.

Let Freedom Ring! Let Freedom Ring!

We used our time to hit up a couple of stores, the farmers market and stopped for some groceries too. At Wegmans Zak said he was hungry and asked for my input on a snack. I suggested a Larabar, unaware at the time that he’d never had one before.

This was the only picture I captured of his maiden Larabar voyage.

He tried to help and make for a more interesting photo.

A nice try but forget it. It’s too late. You scarfed it. The moment has passed and there’s no bringing it back. Your first Larabar is a BIG DEAL!

I had a couple of sips of the juice he bought as part of his snack attack.

Born Dia? Bom Dia? I can’t tell what that says! But it was tasty, that I can tell.

And while I had the camera out, snapped a pic of my Farmer’s Market finds.

We picked up the girls and made our way home. I had a little snack attack myself upon our return.

Given we’ve got a fridge full of leftovers, I’ve declared today a non-cooking day. For dinner I chose a leftover zucchini boat and a huge salad. This would be one of those “eyes bigger than my stomach” moments because by the time I sank the Zucchini Battleship I could only manage a couple of bites of salad. I even said yesterday that these didn’t need a side dish. Hello? Do I even read my own posts?

Dinner was early tonight so I’m fairly certain I’ve got a date (wink wink) planned with some almond butter!

Sweaty Oats

I enjoyed a pre-run peach waiting for my bud Shawn to show up to run long this morning. I had my mind on 10 miles but was up for going with the flow and running less if necessary.

We set out to do a 6 mile loop and as soon as we started I was feeling pretty tired. We took it easy and maintained 9 minute or so pace and I started settling in and feeling better after we had a couple miles behind us.

We were back 55 minutes later, making our average pace about 9:09/mile. We stopped the house for water and I enjoyed a little snack.

These dried apples look a lot like what my legs were feeling like, but I still went out to finish up 4 more. I really wanted to hit 10 today and felt mentally prepared to go the distance, so off I went.

Shawn opted to stay behind because his knee has been bothering him and hung with Zak and the girls while I slugged out the second loop. Those apples must have been laced with something because I felt fabulous for the last 4.19 – that I did in 37 minutes, making my average pace for the second loop 8:49/mile.

After cooling down and a quick shower, I was observed like a lab rat while enjoying my overnight oats.

1/2 cup of oats soaked in LF vanilla yogurt and unsweetened vanilla hemp milk, topped post-run with ground flax, organic blueberries (frozen, thawed) a small sliced banana and shredded coconut.

Looks like it was my oatmeal’s turn to be all sweaty!

The Feather

I got up this morning thrilled to find we were back online almost business as usual, thanks to Zak working his late night his magic when he got home. It was like we had a visit from Internet Claus. After playing a little online catch up this morning I headed out for a run.

I ran just over 4 miles in about a half hour. It was such a refreshingly cool and comfortable morning I thought I’d take a cool down ride on my bike around the neighborhood.

My running buddy Shawn, who is training for a triathlon, has told me about this training approach they call The Brick. As part of your training for the back to back events and preparing your body to go from one event to the next, you ride your bike X miles and then you run for Y miles. X and Y would vary depending on how far your triathlon is and what you are hoping to accomplish. As the values X and Y increase your levels of sanity decrease.

Apparently it is called The Brick because, in short, riding and then running leave you feeling like you’ve hit brick wall.

Oh boy where I do go to sign up for that?

I was thinking about this on my post-run bike ride this morning. It is not at all hard to run and THEN ride, but I can easily believe it would be a lot tougher to ride 15 miles and THEN run 4. But running and then riding? Yeah, I think we can call that The Feather. A hot sweaty run and then coasting around the neighborhood streets while the cool air dries your sweat and you get to enjoy the breeze? Sounds like sleeping on a feather bed to me. At least compared to the idea of hitting a brick wall.

But then my cool down ride took a turn from down comforter to pillow fight as I ended up going 11 miles and another 45 minutes. The air felt just too perfect to turn around head home already so I kept going. Feathers and bricks aside, running and then riding is a fun and easy way to get a longer workout in. I highly recommend it.

“Hungry” is one way to describe how I was feeling when I got back. “Diving head first into a bowl of watermelon and cantaloupe” is one way to describe the first thing I did when I walked in the door.

Note that I said ALMOST business as usual with these internet shenanigans. The wireless networking is still not working but my hopelessly devoted husband scrounged up an extra long network cable so that I can have “wireless” access in my office, except with a wire for now. I’ll take it!

A breakfast cookie while sitting at my desk and being online?

What more can a girl ask for? A feather bed would be nice, but I’m not going to push my luck.

Oats By Any Other Name

I set the alarm for 5:30 this morning so I could get out early and beat the heat. It was still dark I ended up tinkering around and didn’t get my butt out the door until 7.

I spent what felt like an hour sawing my slightly more ripe peach off it’s pit.

A muggy but not-too-hot run this morning for 6.24 miles in 53 minutes – just a nice and easy pace considering the distance and air thickness today.

Back home, Zak asked if I was going to make juice. I think he’s hooked.

Hers and His.

Yes, that’s mine on the left. I got the The Look and filled his glass to the top from my giant glass. Alright, alright settle down! I suppose I don’t really need to drink a gallon of it.

Today’s juice would be one of the giant heads of romaine I scored on Saturday, plus one and a half cucumbers, two lemons, an apple and a boat load of ginger. Ginger makes it SPICY!

Our green lemonade traveled to the deck where we sat and were able to chat in child free peace and serenity like two normal adults.

Now the man is off to work and the children are up and it’s time for an official breakfast.

Chocolate Overnight Oats – or maybe I should call them Chocolate While I Run Oats since I threw these together this morning before I left. I find that they really only need to soak for an hour to soften up.

Or maybe we could just call them the Adult Version of Cocoa Crispies – I loved that cereal as a kid! Although I’d hate for that to come off sounding pornographic. X-Rated Oatmeal? Nice.

Today’s mix was my standard 1/2 c rolled oats, about a 1 tsp of cocoa powder, 1/4 LF vanilla Stonyfield Farm yogurt and about a 1/2 c of unsweetened chocolate almond milk. Stirred and popped in the fridge for a couple of hours.

Or better yet let’s just call it an Oat Mess because that’s exactly what I made with the toppings this morning. Ground flax, sliced bananas, almond butter and granola. For once a mess I don’t mind cleaning up!