Archive for January 31, 2010

The Triathlon Rx | January 31, 2010
6 comments

2010 Race Calendar

If you and I are buddies on Facebook, you know my most recent status update sounded a little something like this: That’s right.. it’s race calendar time –  early registration fee deadlines are passing, prices are going up, spots are filling up, and I need to figure out which races I want to dedicate my time and efforts to before I miss my chance! As much as I would love to just do as many races as possible this summer, there are several inhibiting factors to that ideal:

  • $$
  • time
  • the preservation of my bones, muscles, and what’s left of my left hip

If you really know me though, you know I’m mostly just talkin’ $$ here. :) Training alone isn’t free, but racing takes a big bite out of my Sperly-Financial-Pie. There are several things I take into consideration when building my yearly racing calendar:

  • Distance of race
  • Date of race
  • Cost of registration
  • Location
  • Cost of traveling to ^ location
  • Size of race
  • Who else do I know racing?
  • Have I done this race before? Did I do well?
  • Race’s history (race day conditions? organized well? course support? crowd support?)

Given those considerations, here are the races I’m considering for 2010. I would LOVELOVELOVE any and all input from you, especially if you have done one of these races before or heard good (or bad!) things about it. Some of these races I’ve done before – you can check out some of my RACE REPORTS – others would be a first time. If you’re a fellow runner / triathlete from Minnesota and still trying to build YOUR race calendar, maybe some of these will give you ideas!

RUNNING RACE OPTIONS 2010

Med City Marathon 2008

(5Ks not included.. those are all last minute registrations)

TRI RACE OPTIONS 2010

St. Croix Valley Triathlon 2009

So obviously I have some hang-ups here… some races are on the same day (Grandma’s Marathon & High Cliff Half Iron, Gopher to Badger Half and Green Lake Tri)… I wouldn’t do two half iron’s two weekends in a row (Liberty Half and High Cliff)… and I don’t have the money to register for all of these even if I wanted to! It would be pretty damn cool to just eat, train, race, and repeat (and get paid to do it), but there are two little things I need to keep in mind – finishing up with Kinesiology and Med School. And paying for both of them. Anyways, these are just ideas that I have circling around in my head. I told a girl on my team that I want to report back tomorrow and have registered for at least TWO of my summer races, so we’ll see where that goes but I’ll keep you posted!

If you need help figuring out your race calendar, and are from Minneapolis/St. Paul or our lovely state of Minnesota, I would be more than happy to give my opinion on the local races I’ve done (they’re definitely all not listed or accounted for under the RUNhard tab)! I also want to share some great resources to get you started:

Apple Raceberry Jam

Vacation Sports

Midwest Events

SCS Multisport

Good luck to you, good luck to me, I’ll report back soon with any decisions!
-E

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The Triathlon Rx | January 30, 2010
4 comments

Minneapolis Meet-Up, and some exciting things to come!

Shoutout to two of my favorite Twin Cities bloggies Melissa and Kate! They joined me this morning for part II of my endurance ride, and then after showering (ohhh how I love thee) and cleanin’ up we made our way to Whole Foods for food bar lunch and a lil shopping treat! Well, I can’t speak for the rest, but treat for me for sure! My two food boxes totaled up to $14.39! Paying by the pound is serious business kids… I think it was the 5 hard boiled eggs that did me in. Girl’s gotta get her protein! Neither of them are regular spin takers, but I don’t think that will last long! The biggest treat though was their company – they are both awesome ladies and so much fun!

Kate, Myself, & Melissa

Today has been jam packed, with a 140 minute endurance ride to start the morning off strong, lunch with these two lovely ladies, a job interview (which I scored! question is.. do I take it?), some research work, some team bidness’, and now I’m off to a housewarming party for my good buddy and long time running partner who just recently bought his first house! There will be tons of people that I used to run with, a bunch of people from my Ragnar team, and others that I haven’t gotten to catch up with for too long, so I’m really excited!

Also excited about all of the things going on here at Dr. Tri Runner! I don’t have time to go into too much detail, but for the time being, these pages have been updated:

And you will also be seeing posts about some great people that I am working with leading up to Nationals! AND training schedules. AND some reviews. Haha maybe I’m the only one excited, but that’s OK with me, this is my website ;) Gotta get off to partaay, but while you’re here, take a quick sec to tell me your favorite soup and win some for free!

-E

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The Triathlon Rx | January 29, 2010
8 comments

Love me some soup, and I bet you do too!

Raise your hand if you like warm delicious soup? Good. Now raise your hand if you like free things? GOOOOD. Here’s what I got for ya:

Progresso teamed up with BlogSpark and they were awesome enough to send me a TON of delicious soups to try! They also (unaware that they were feeding my oversized mug addiction) sent a cool Progresso Mug, just big enough to hold the whole can. ;) My upper body strength work came into play when I carried these bad boys up my three flights of stairs from the delivery truck to my kitchen!

I know it’s been a little while since my last GU:2010 (I promised you though, there’s one coming!) , but what about YOUR goal update? Was healthy eating a part of your goals for 2010? Well, Progresso wants to help you out!

The Souper You Debut Contest!

[From Progresso:] Celebrate the New Year and a new you with Progresso Light and 100 Calorie Soups because from January 4 through March 15th, you can visit www.Progresso.com/SouperYou to enter the Progresso “Souper You Debut” contest for the chance to win a full makeover in New York City.

Three grand prize winners will be awarded a trip for two to New York City from May 21st-23rd. The prize includes roundtrip airfare, a two-night stay in a NYC hotel, a full makeover, a $1,000 wardrobe shopping spree and personal consultation at a New York department store.

To enter the Souper You Debut contest, you’ll need to do the following:

  • Go to www.Progresso.com/SouperYou to learn more and enter the contest
  • Submit a short essay (200 characters or less) telling Progresso why you love Progresso Light or 100 Calorie Soups and why you would like a makeover
  • In addition, please submit a photo of yourself that visually reinforces the theme of your essay

Once you enter, you’ll have the chance for your photo and/or an excerpt from your essay to appear on www.Progresso.com/SouperYou, so be sure to check back frequently! Once the 10 finalists are announced (and I hope YOU’RE ONE OF THEM!), you can visit www.Progresso.com/SouperYou from March 29 through April 12 to vote for your favorite.

In addition, throughout the duration of the contest you can visit www.Progresso.com/SouperYou to download a coupon for $1 off any three varieties of Progresso Soup!

[Sperly takin' back over] OK, a free trip to NYC? Who wouldn’t want that? Awesome! But just in case you don’t end up winning that prize, Progresso and BlogSpark still wanna hook you up. You have the chance to win some awesome Progresso soups of your own. FREE! Though I can’t promise I’ll be there to help carry the box up your stairs, I can promise you that soup is GOOD, and Progresso is no exception.

To enter this GIVEAWAY (different than the souper you contest), all you need to do is:

  • Leave a comment telling me your Progresso soup! If you’re new to this tasty brand of convenient goodness, you  can check out their WEBSITE and tell me the flavor you’d most like to try!

Easy peasy, right? Because we want to waste no time getting started on a healthy 2010, I’m keeping this giveaway open only through this weekend, aka midnight on Sunday (CENTRAL time). But why wait? All it takes is a click of a button, and you’re ticket’s in the hat!

-E

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The Triathlon Rx | January 24, 2010
12 comments

A Long “Run” and a Live Post…

As promised – I’m back on Sunday, my favorite day of the week! And I have a lot to give you, so I’ll get right to it!

Sunday Long “Run”

Poppin (Remix) – Christ Brown ft. Lil Wayne & Juelz Santana

Today, being a Sunday, would mean it’s a long run day. We haven’t discussed my running status much as of late, because well, there really isn’t a status. It’s been constantly changing! For the month of December, running was super minimal. (read: like 30 miles for the entire MONTH maybe?) No – its most def. not because I can’t handle the Minnesota winters – we all know I’ve got that covered. ;) Unfortunately.. it would be the hip. Again. My next “big” Dr. appointment is February 8th. Maybe I’ll know more after that, but at this point, this is what I do know: (words of my lovely sports med doc:) “It’s not going to just break through while you’re out there – if you want to be running, and it isn’t excruciatingly painful, you might as well.”

High Definition – Lupe Fiasco ft. Snoop Dog & Pooh Bear

So since January, I’ve taken that and run with it, literally. My milage is still NOTHING like “normal”, but at least I’m running a few days a week. However, no weekend long run for me. So today’s “long run” is brought to you by my Octane Q47 (or what I refer to typically as my “xRunner”) machine… lookin a little like this:

Dirt Off Your Shoulder – Jay Z

And since I have two hours scheduled with this bad boy, I figured what a better time to give you my ellipti/run/music rundown. What you see in BOLD and PURPLE are the songs that are playing currently while I am typing. Yes. Blogging while working out is pretty much the only way I have time for this right now. And since right now I have, oh… an hour and 44 minutes left, you get lots of songs. ;)  My iTunes is on Shuffle btw, but I’m skipping around a bit if I hit a song I don’t like.

Beggin – Madcon

As you can also see, I’m not writing a ton in between what are anywhere between 4-5 minute songs. That’s because blogging, as I’m sure all of you who have your own site know, takes mucho tiempo.

Track 7 – Grey’s Anatomy Soundtrack

(Don’t know the actual name… really not a fan of this song… but it gives you an idea of the eclectness of my iTunes.) Which brings me to the next item on my agenda…

Future Updating Schedule:

Guarantees – Atmosphere

It’s no joke that I am super busy this semester. But this blog is really important to me, and I actually really LIKE doing it! My iCal last week looked a little like this, and this is even just a four day week, with school just having started, so not a ton of homework yet. This also doesn’t show the 6 credits of online classes I have currently going on! Ayyy. Contemplating dropping Physics this semester, but that doesn’t seem like a good plan because I still need to take it at some point. All the classes I’m taking right now are ones I need to eventually take! Thank you God for inventing iCal…

This Is What It’s Made For – Usher

Because of this insanity, my posting schedule will most likely be once or twice a week. It will also probably be a bit more to the point and content driven than all this extra curricular stuff. Actually.. no, it probably wont. That’s just how I roll. :D If you’ve seen some of my tweets lately though, you know I got a lot going on:

  • 20 credits
  • 2 labs
  • 2 jobs
  • boyfriend
  • family/friends
  • the Tri team
  • Dr. TriRunner
  • the Tri team’s website – I just took this one on, but I’m excited about it!

There’s no blame or fingers to be pointed (other than at myself ;) )… this is what I get myself into. Welcome to the life of a Type A (+) overscheduler. Moving on…

Real As It Gets – Jay Z ft. Young Jeezy

On Friday I promised you a gear review, and that’s what I have for you now!

Cycling & Winter Running Socks: Review

You – Atmosphere

First up, my loves of all time: SMARTWOOL. More specifically, their Ultra Light Cushion Women’s Cycling socks:

These were a gift from the boy, and damn, does he know how to pick em’! I love the way these hug my arches in just the right spot, and I don’t have to fold them over because they’re so effing big or have the “heel” be sitting at my ankle! I wear these in spin right now and they are PERFECT! They come up just high enough so my shimano shoes don’t cut into my leg, but they’re still “ankle socks.” Final Grade: A

Dirt Off Your Shoulders Vs. Bittersweet Symphony Remix – Jay Z & The Verve

Next: CRAFT Pro Warm Quarter Running Sock

Alright.. when I told you everything  you’d ever want to know about WINTER RUNNING… I told you how much my feet/hands circulation sucks. Well that post needs a revision: my feet/hand circulation SUCKS when I’m not properly prepared!!

Jesus Walks – Kanye West

This was also included in a x-mas gift from the boy (he’s winning in all corners here!) and DAYYYNG. I. Love. Keep in mind that these were not sent to me by the company – this review is solely based on my usage of said socks and happy warm toes. These. Are. FANTASTIC. On a run where my fingers were frozen solid through… think permafrost frozen… my feet were SO toasty, but not sweaty! Just happy, happy toes. Thankkk you to novio and thank you to Craft! Final Grade: A+

Real World – Match Box Twenty

(Haha! I told you it was on shuffle!)  While were on the subject of SOCKS, I will say that I am yet to wear my supafly Kayano Left and Right specific running socks that my mom gave me for Christmas. I feel like these need to be reserved for races or special occasion / monumental runs only. Q: Do you have any clothes like that? I definitely have a racing only sports bra!

Push It Remix – Camron ft. Jim Jones, Juelz, and Lil Wayne

Annnd that’s one hour down! Love it! What I don’t love is this weekend is “Open House” weekend at my gym. Read: Way super overcrowded!! Un momentitio chicos… bathroom break. :)

OK! Hour two.. start it off with an all time favorite:

I’ll Be Missing You – P. Diddy ft. Faith Evans

This is also where I switch to going backwards and up the resistance a bit! Annnd make sure I’m continuing to hydrate:

Baby It’s Cold Outside – James Taylor ft. Natalie Cole

(Hahaha!! Don’t judge!) Ok so I’m starting to really enjoy this live blogging thing. Pictured above (excuse the blurriness.. I took it one handed and moving) is the new LEMON LIME Powerade Zero! But not only Powerade kids.. that would be Lemon Lime PowerDew. If you haven’t done the PowerDew yet.. hop on it. And make sure to tell me what you think!!! And because we’re talking about beverages and hydrating….

Nilla’ Mint Coffee Recovery Shake:

Hotel California – The Eagles

I also told you last Friday that I had a recipe coming! I fell in love the second this cool, creamy shake of shining glory touched my lips. Not exaggerating.

Always Coming Back Home to You – Atmosphere

Thankfully that was not a 4:26 am photo! Here’s what we got goin’ on:

  • Chocolate Mint Coffee, (.5 – 1 cup, depending on preference of taste and texture) cooled (a la Ghiradelli – sent to my by my absolute fave SwimBuddy Lizzy)
  • 2 scoops Vanilla protein powder
  • Xanthan gum
  • Ice ( I use about 6 regular sized cubes)

If you tragically are not able to find this miraculous mint coffee, as I no longer am because I ran out and apparently this is a seasonal delicacy, I have moved on to using regular coffee (or espresso to be more accurate), dark coco powder, and mint extract. Place all ingredients in blender of choice, and get to town.

Say Shhh – Atmosphere

(If you’re from MN.. GET that song. Has been a favorite of mine for a lonnnng time!) Depending on the type of protein powder you choose to use, you can get upwards of 20g of protein here! Other variations: you could use chocolate flavored protein powder and nix the cocoa powder. You could do half coffee/half milk (or milk alternative). If you’re lucky enough to have any leftover Girlscout Thinmint cookies stashed in your  freezer… send them all to me one or two blended up in the drink would lead to nilla/choco/mint ecstacy. Caution.

When’s the Last Time – Clipse ft. Pharell

As you can see, I did this in my Magic Bullet and it barely fit. I’m still praying that the folks from VitaMix HQ over in Cleveland, Ohio will find this lil runner/triathlete/future doctor and realize:

Dang – this girl really needs a Vita Mix in her life. Her future depends on it. How can we help?

I have an extra kidney if any of your employees need it. We could work out a deal. KIDDING!!! Kinda… ;)

Bout It – Yung Joc ft. 3LW (Step Up Soundtrack)

Alright – decision time: I have half an hour of this “run” left… and there are still about a billion things I have on my “to post” list. I wanna give you a GU2:10 (or Goal Update for those who haven’t mastered the Dr.TriRunner terminology…) but I think I will wait till January is over and  give you a complete one month perspective.

Maria Maria – Carlos Santana ft. Wyclef Jean

(Yes, I really did only type that much in the time it took to play all of Bout It. Not a short song.. but I’m sweating more liquid than my shower gives on a good water pressure day. Haha what an attractive mental picture..) What I think needs to happen right now, since I neglected it on Friday, is a little guilt relief. That’s right kids – sounds like a…

Sunday Friday Confessional:

What We Talkin’ Bout – Jay Z ft. Luke Steele

You know the rules of the game: there are none. Nothing is off limits. You fess up, I fess up. We all feel better. This is a practice I have very much loved ever since my very first ever Friday Confessional back in November of 2008. One year ago I was fessing up to this:

  1. I’ve become rather spiteful without running. I’ve seen other people running outside or hearing them talk about running and wished they couldn’t run too. It’s like if I can’t run, no one else should. :(
  2. I stole my roommates pack of Cinnamon Spice gum off her desk. Sorry Laur – I owe you.
  3. I ODed on Cinnamon Toast Crunch one night in the beginning of the week. I literally had FIVE bowls. Just dry. Back to back.  And I felt sick as hell afterwards/the next morning. It was completely emotional and very delicious. But I don’t need to do that again.
  4. I paid $55 for unlimited group fitness at the Marino. And I’m yet to take ONE class. I signed up for abs tonight and spinning tomorrow morning.
  5. I accidentally brought home a pool belt from the Y. And it is sitting under my bed. And it’s mine.

Ever The Same – Rob Thomas

Have I changed? Let’s see…
#1 – I am currently running, but nothing like “I used to.” But my thoughts on that one are much more stemming from frustration.. not “spite.” Or at least I’d like to think so.
#2 – No stealing gum. I have a plentiful stock of my Stride favorites.
#3 – No more CTC sadly – I no longer have “the caf,” and therefore no longer have open access to crack this goodness. Probably a good thing.

Nothing Ever Hurt Like You – James Morrison

#4 – $55 seems like a steal when you’re paying $68/month for a gym membership. Nuff said.
#5 – That pool belt fits me perfectly :)

This week I’m going to confess only one thing to you in the blog word, because a) I only have 7 minutes left and I want time to make a song wrap-up, and b) I’ve been pretty darn good this week if I do say so myself. Here we go:

Move If You Wanna – Mims

  1. I have become increasingly reliant on sleep aids. Tylenol PM, Simply Sleep.. the melatonin ain’t doin jack isht. It’s at the point where if I don’t take anything, I just don’t get tired. No matter what. Friday night – took nothing. Fell “asleep” around 4 am. Was already awake when my alarm went off at 8am. I’m fessing up to this one because it’s actually a problem. I plan on talking to my doc about it at my next appointment. Which I am yet to schedule. :/

That’s all I have time for kids! This was a GOOD POST if you ask me! Sorry if I overwhelmed you with all of  this at once though. Here is the…

Long “Run” Song Wrap-up:

Encore – Jay Z (good song to end on!)
Poppin (Remix) – Christ Brown ft. Lil Wayne & Juelz Santana
High Definition – Lupe Fiasco ft. Snoop Dog & Pooh Bear
Dirt Off Your Shoulder – Jay Z
Beggin – Madcon
Track 7 – Grey’s Anatomy Soundtrack
Guarantees – Atmosphere
This Is What It’s Made For – Usher
Real As It Gets – Jay Z ft. Young Jeezy
You – Atmosphere
Dirt Off Your Shoulders Vs. Bittersweet Symphony Remix – Jay Z & The Verve
Jesus Walks – Kanye West
Real World – Match Box Twenty
Push It Remix – Camron ft. Jim Jones, Juelz, and Lil Wayne
I’ll Be Missing You – P. Diddy ft. Faith Evans
Baby It’s Cold Outside – James Taylor ft. Natalie Cole
Hotel California – The Eagles
Always Coming Back Home to You – Atmosphere
Say Shhh – Atmosphere
When’s the Last Time – Clipse ft. Pharell
Bout It – Yung Joc ft. 3LW (Step Up Soundtrack)
Maria Maria – Carlos Santana ft. Wyclef Jean
What We Talkin’ Bout – Jay Z ft. Luke Steele
Ever The Same – Rob Thomas
Nothing Ever Hurt Like You – James Morrison
Move If You Wanna – Mims

[Change of location - the workout went wonderfully! No pain, sweated my a$$ off, and feel good. At home now.] Hope you enjoyed this post as much as I did! I have two pages that should be up and running soon: music, and the return of my blogroll (finally)! There are more layout/style changes to come too. For now, if you’re looking for music (like the Reader’s Choice Ultimate Mix) just click on the “music” tag in the right column! Gotta go for now peeps – my VIKES are playing tonight!

-E

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The Triathlon Rx | January 22, 2010
7 comments

Gratuitous amounts of energy!!!

Why yes, I have fallen off the face of the planet. I expect to return this weekend with a whole host of things to share, but in the mean time, I want to share this:

But just in case you can’t get your hands on a can of PowerThirst, you can try out my mix, PowerDew!

And I actually can’t say “my”, because my cousin told me about this one at Thanksgiving. 50% blue powerade, 50% mountain dew, 100% caffeinatedly delicious.

Stuffed in the bag of goodies I have to share with you upon my return:

  • A gear review (running AND cycling!)
  • A recovery drink recipe
  • A food review
  • A giveaway!

Work them turbo puns ladies and gents! I am most definitely giving birth to a Kenyan! ;)

-E

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The Triathlon Rx | January 17, 2010
18 comments

Please don’t stop the music….

Knock and you shall receive, eh? I asked you all to contribute your favorite workout songs, and you did just that! To be honest, I hadn’t even heard of like half of these songs, but that definitely gave me some new music to download! And I felt much better hearing that I’m not the only one who rocks out to Sexy 8itch! I got that guy’s voice down – you couldn’t even tell the difference ;)

To derail for a quick sec – would you guys like if I kept an updated list of workout music? I was thinking of making a new page with either playlists or just a continually updated list of new music to rock out to. ;) Let me know!

Aright – here are the songs you gave me both in the comments section and on my facebook wall. It’s your…

READER’S CHOICE PLAYLIST

  • Sexy 8itch – David Guetta
  • Don’t Stop Believing – Journey
  • Dropkick Murpheys
  • My Life Would Suck Without You – Kelly Clarckson
  • Halo / Walking on Sunshine – Glee versions
  • Telephone – Lady Gaga / Beyonce
  • United States of Pop – DJ Earworm
  • Lovers in Japan – Coldplay
  • Fire Starter – Prodigy
  • Military cadences
  • Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da – The Beatles
  • Don’t Back Down – Tom Petty
  • Till I Collapse – Eminem
  • Even Flow – Pearl Jam
  • Gold Digger – Kanye West
  • Get Psycho – Disturbed
  • The Riddle – Karl Lux

Since this whole post is about music… I guess I can throw a little more in here while I’m at it!

My absolute favorite new song of the moment is CRAWL by CHRIS BROWN. I wouldn’t necessarily put it on my tempo run playlist, but with the stuff that I’ve been going through recently with my hip and xyz… I mean c’mon – listen to these lyrics:

So we’ll crawl
Till we can walk again
And we’ll run
Until we’re strong enough to jump
Then we’ll fly
Until there is no end
So let’s crawl….crawl….crawl
Back to love
Yeah
Back to love
Yeah

I also wanna give you one of my hill workouts for SPIN!!

I recently updated this one in possible-prep if I start teaching again! This is for a 60 minute class, with a good warmup and cool down, and five rolling hills. There is a “recovery” song between each hill, but “recovery” only in the sense that you get your but down on the saddle, flush out some of the lactic acid, and pick up the speed. It is not an excuse for you to let your HR drop way down – you’re still supposed to be working! I also have one “check out” song.. you’ll see details below. This one’s for you chica!

I used to be super protective of “my music”… for whatever reason, and I guess putting this online for anyone to use makes me realize I still am! If you want to use this for a class or something, that’s great (and let me know! I’d love to hear how people liked it!) but I guess I would ask please just give credit! Okk, no more dinkin’ around (haha.. my coaches favorite words!)…

SPERLY:SPIN:HILLS:3

warmup
Will You Be There – Michael Jackson (3:41)
hill1 – put on that resistance!
A Star Is Born – Jay Z ft. J Cole (3:48)
Already Home – Jay Z ft Kid Kudi (4:30)
resistance off, alternate between seated surges and running in 2
Always Coming Back Home To You – Atmosphere (4:00)
hill2 – resistance back on, short hill so make it worth it!
Say Shh – Atmosphere (5:10)
quick recovery – surges
Diamonds – Kanye West (3:53)
hill3 – also short, I do isolation during this one
Stronger – Kanye West (5:12)
resistance off – team sprints!
Guajira – Yerba Buena (4:12)
hill4 – crank it up!
99 Problems – Jay Z (3:54)
Sexy Back – Justin Timberlake ft Timberland (4:03)
my “check-out” song – lights off, spinners focus in and challenge themselves at whatever level/resistance/position they think is going to help them achieve their goals.
Black & Gold – Sam Sparro (4:33)
hill5 – last one! Make it count!
Kick, Push – Lupe Fiasco (4:14)
Flashing Lights Remix – Lil Wayne ft Kanye West & Jay Z (5:23)
cool down – I don’t stop the legs till the end of the song. Stretch out the UB. Smile knowing you worked hard!
Nothing Ever Hurt Like You – James Morrison (3:54)

I love closin’ on James… he’s my man. :)

And speaking of my man, that’s who I need to go see for this epic Vikings game that is starting right now! If I’m lucky I’ll get there by halftime. Yes, I am elliptiposting right now, so something tells me if there is going to be alcohol involved I should also go find some food to put in my stomach first!

Have a lovely Saturday everyone! And let me know if you want a separate page for music/playlists! I’m out!
-E

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The Triathlon Rx | January 14, 2010
11 comments

Swim slacker!

The week is going by SO FAST! There is no way that I only have FOUR days of break left?! ¡Ay Dios mío! Truth hurts.

WELL. Seeing as how life goes back to “normal” in four days, I figured I better get my rear in gear and get ready for practice to go back to normal too. Collegiate Nationals are on April 17th, and without time to count the actual number of days between now and then, I’ll just say it’s gonna come up sooner than we think!

Over break, there has been a much more slacker relaxed attitude with the practice schedule. Yeah, I still get my time in, but I’ve also gotten to change up the cardio a bit and do things like the stair mountain. (Which I really grew to like actually! Might have to sneak that in on the weekends… ;) )

My view from the top!

Here’s an early “Friday Confessional” for ya – I’m pretty sure I have been in the pool all of ONCE over this entire break. Part of practice going back to “normal” would involve me in a pool and 4000+ yards three times a week. I’m not saying I’ve entirely forgotten how to swim, but this is a pretty clutch time for me to be honing in on stroke technique and intervals. To pour on a lil’ more lame-sauce, I even got the ONE thing I really wanted for Christmas to make my swimming “more enjoyable” :

That would be the NU Dolphin UNDERWATER mp3 player. Haha one kid on the team called it “spoiled”. Since that was my one big gift and it was just over $100, I wouldn’t go that far.. NTM the word “spoiled” leaves a bad taste in my mouth. I would like to call it “dedicated” since the intention was that it would help get me in the pool more often and help keep me focused. Haha, well I guess I ALSO can’t go that far because I clearly haven’t gotten in the pool more. YET! For fairness sake, the first time I was headed to the pool with this lil guy, I had music all loaded and everything, decided to check it at home just to figure out the controls and everything, and nothing played! Turns out it plays only mp3 files (just like basically every single non-i-ANYTHING….), and so I had to convert a whole bunch of songs to transfer.

Here is ME, holding ME accountable. I am leaving to the pool the second I hit publish. I have my mp3 player loaded with a bunch of songs that better motivate my a$$ to swim hard. I will be crazy sore because muscle memory can only last so long, and baby, it’s been a lonnnng time. (TWSS. Bahaha. Sorry.) ”Base building” stops today tomorrow (I can promise today won’t be “fast”). Lubbock, Texas.. watch your back!

I will report back, complete with workout, playlist, and plenty of DOMS. If you find yourself in the same situation as this lil red head, I encourage you to wander over to the Train On Top tab at the top of the page, and explore your various training modalities that you may or may not be neglecting. As I just did with SWIMMING: VOLUME 1.

Going. NOW.
-E

Hahah lied. Had to do this first – Shelly’s having her first giveaway, and Katie’s having a giveaway too!

[EDIT-EDIT-EDIT-EDIT-EDIT]

Success!! I was really surprised at how easily I jumped right back in. I was expecting a not-feelin-it kind of workout, but the whole swim I felt like I was pulling strongly and efficiently. I LOVE IT! Annnnd, the mp3 player was a BIG HIT. Aside from kinda hurting my ears, because I pull the swim cap over the ear buds to stay in tight, I was really impressed with the sound quality and volume in the water! Expect a complete product review to come!

WORKOUT:

(I like to split my workouts into 1000′s – for some reason it just feels like it goes faster!)

SET ONE: warm-up
1000 yards free, straight. minus two stops to dump out goggua (goggle agua. oh so clever.)

SET TWO: kick intervals
200 kick flutter
200 free
200 kick dolphin
200 free
200 kick flutter

SET THREE: IM distance mixup
100 free
100 back
100 breast
100 free
200 free
200 back
200 breast

SET FOUR: SKIPS COOLDOWN
200 swim (free)
200 kick (alternating btwn flutter on back and sides)
200 IM
200 pull/hypoxic drills
200 swim (free/breast/free/breast)

I gotta get out the door NOW for spin with the boy, and make it home by 8:00 for Grey’s! Talk about a perfect Thursday! If you really do want the playlist from today, lemme know and I’ll throw it up there!

NEXT UP:

  1. Reader’s choice playlist! Don’t miss your chance to get your song on there!
  2. a GIVEAWAY!! make sure you keep checkin’ back!
  3. NU Dolphin Underwater mp3 player

Ciao!
-E

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The Triathlon Rx | January 12, 2010
5 comments

The Pay It Forward remix ft. IceBreakerz

We’ll get to the title in a minute.. trust. :)

Back when I asked you guys for your #1 pump-up song for my “reader’s choice spin mix”, (keep those entries coming btw – CLICK HERE to go to that post!) my east coast homie and fellow BAMF Karyn told me I should check out this other chica’s blog, Mindful Living. So I clicked my way on over to Christina’s blog, and am SO glad I did – this girl is awesome! Not to mention we have a crazy amount in common: we’re both the same age and the youngest of sister-only families, both marathoners (and both decently fast one’s at that ;) ), both entering the health/medical field, both teach (or taught/may be teaching again soon!) spin, both are super close with our families, and we’re both lifelong athletes. And oh yeah, there’s the healthy lifestyle blogger thing underlying somewhere in there too.

Christina recently tagged me on the Beautiful Blogger award – thanks lady! I LOVE fun facts! Cmon.. think back to your college orientation weekend.. job training.. summer camp. It gives you a chance to learn something you probably wouldn’t know otherwise. Or… if you’ve been around the blog long enough, stuff you DO already know, but a nice catch-up for new readers! Following the rules of the game, you get seven of my favorite “fun facts” and in turn, I get to pick seven of YOU guys to do the same! Kind of like a Pay It Forward (gotta love H.J.O. at age twelve), and an Ice Breakers remix. :D Here we go!

  1. I have a personal mini-hardware store residing in my left hip.
    After a few months of “groin pain weird-feelings” back in the fall of 2008, and a final push from my spots med doc out east, I finally went in to have my hip x-rayed. After touring all that Boston’s medical scene had to offer, I finally wound up with a bone/hip specialist at Children’s Boston, and two diagnoses: fibrous dysplasia, and a fractured left femoral neck (a la tension side). I had surgery in December over Christmas break back in Minneapolis, and many a pool running sesh ensued. Unfortunately, surgery was not an “end-all” solution, as fibrous dysplasia isn’t something you really “cure”. I will post more on this on a later day, but I may be lookin’ at surgery #2 here soon. Biiiig bummer! :(
  2. My dad and I have matching identical tattoos.
    Haha – I cringed at the word “matching” for whatever reason. It’s not a pinky promise, but that pinky squeeze is something special my dad and I have done for as long as I can remember. It means something along the lines of  ”I’m glad I’m with you.”  We had thought long and hard about what to get, and when I thought of our special pinky squeeze, I knew it was right. We got it done before I moved to Boston and before my dad moved to Philly at Steady Tatoo. Tatted by Rodger – they took the picture of our hands together when we went in for our consult.. I think he did an awesome job! I have loved my tattoo every second since of every day since he was inkin’ it in me!
  3. I would not be a runner without my mother.
    My mom is my best friend – this we know. I’ve mentioned our occasional mother daughter runs that I love. (Especially ones sprinkled with a little Christmas!) You might not know that she is also a very accomplished runner!  My mom didn’t start running until she was out of college, but she definitely had the natural talent! She has run 22 marathons over the course of her running career, broken 3 hours twice, WON a marathon outright for the ladies, and definitely put in wayyy more miles than I have! Some of my very first runs were just a few miles long with my madre. She gave me the genes :D
  4. I am on the Triathlon Team at the U of MN.
    Check out our team page! Next up are the Collegiate National Championships down in Lubbock, Texas in April. The plan as of now is that my fractured/fibrousdysplasiaed/lisfranc’ed self will be injury free at that time, and I’ll be ready to compete!
  5. I have endometriosis.
    I have mentioned it before briefly… I have a whole long post written on it that for whatever reason I just don’t want to publish, but it’s a fact! Hahah I wouldn’t call it “fun”… but it’s part of life. Be very thankful that I didn’t pull my “endometriosis” image off of google images. Search at your own risk. Photo credit goes to a fellow blogger dealin’ with the same thing. Maybe my fun fact #5 should have been “My hot water bottle is one of my best friends.”
  6. I treat my training gear with about as much excitement and love as I would my own kids. Meet Rilo, and Gomer.



    (Sorry for the camera angle….) The day when GOMER was delivered into my hands, I knew I had a gift from God. True story – I have a permanent tan line around my bicep from this lil guy. It’s my second birth mark. :D Then, several years later when RILO came into my life, it was like a stolen child was finally returned. Hahhaha.. issues. I know.
  7. I grew up as a “minority” student. And I am sooo thankful!I went to a K-8 elementary school where over 50% of the students were native spanish speakers, 20% were african american, caucasians made up about 15%, and the remaining 15% were from different ethnicities. The school is still extremely diverse – check the stats!  Then I moved onto a high school that was also super diverse! White kids made up about 20% of the student body. I say I’m so thankful because being around so many students coming from different backgrounds, having different beliefs, different lifestyles, and different opinions taught me right off the bat that everyone in the world is DIFFERENT and that is an amazing good thing. NTM I was understanding my 2nd grade buddies from Mexico City before I ever took my first “spanish class.” :)

Alright, time to share the love chicos y chicas! TAG – you’re it!

But you can’t really put a limit on Paying it Forward.. can you? I think not. So I definitely encourage ANYONE who wants to go and give your seven fun facts to let er’ rip! Sadly, this is all I have time for, and it took me 1.5 hours on the ellip plus over an hour at home. Someone asked me how I blog while I’m working out, and I gave you a picture last time, but keep your eyes out for a live post from my steady spot on my Life Fitness elliptical, complete with play list and intervals, to come! As for now, I have a double date with my BFF and my madre. And hopefully I can see the boyfriend somewhere in there too. ;) Adios!

-E

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The Triathlon Rx | January 9, 2010
7 comments

Tea envy..?

(Get ready for some serious link love here my friends…! And possibly some alliteration. I’m on one of those moods. :D )

First things first, HAPPY SATURDAY! I have had a wonderful day thus far – not really sure how Sunday could top it, but giving how much I Love Sundays (throwback link!), it just might have to! Today has been filled with a seriously sweaty spin sesh, muscle sculpting on the moving mountain of stairs, a splash of core, and some very necessary stretching. I also just started the book My Sister’s Keeper – for whatever reason once something gets to that “trendy” stage, if I wasn’t hooked before it got popular I tend to avoid it completely. Which is dumb because if everyone like’s something, they all must like it for a reason, right? Biggest two examples coming to mind: Lord of the Rings and Twilight. Noo thanks. Returning to the point – My Sister’s Keeper is GOOD and I just want to read it all the time! Haha feels good to read something other than endocrine functions and muscle insertions.

Anywho, other than wishing you a happy Saturday and a lovely weekend, I wanted to wave something in your face. I know how much all of you love your Celestial Seasonings tea. Well somehow I stumbled upon this little diamond in the rough:

Yes my friends. That would be Canadian Vanilla Maple (Decaf) tea. And according to the Celestial Seasoning’s HQ, this amazing delicious fantastic tea has been DISCONTINUED!! (Insert face of horror and shock.) So how was I so lucky to score myself some? That. Is a secret. What I will tell you is it makes a pretty freaking awesome shake. Something inspired by my favorite pimped out protein chick and her many tea infused shakes…

Vanilla Maple Pumpkin Protein Shake:

Call it dessert, call it a post-workout recovery shake, call it MINE because I’m not sharing! (Haha, ok, you can have the recipe at least!)

  • 1 Vanilla Maple Celestial Seasonings tea bag (steeped in .5 cup hot water)
  • 1/2 cup pureed pumpkin
  • 1/2 cup vanilla soy milk
  • 1/4 tsp thickening gum of your choice
  • sprinkle of love stevia
  • 1/4 tsp vanilla extract
  • splash of vanilla flavoring syrup, something along the lines of Toranni’s goodness
  • iccce at your discretion (I use 4-5 regular sized cubes)

Place all ingredients (not the tea BAG.. just the tea. obvio!) in blender/bullet/VitaMonster of choice. Blend away. Pour in bowl/cup/wineglass. Covet like it’s made with holy water. Cry silent tears because you know if you actually do get your hands on this miracle tea, supplies are limited.

Um… I think that is all I wanted to share. Just a reminder to keep your ULTIMATE PUMP UP PLAY LIST submissions coming – there is a really good mix so far!! Goooood night, good night.

-E

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The Triathlon Rx | January 7, 2010
18 comments

Confessionals return in O-Ten, goals, and changes!

Hello my runners, triathletes, cross trainers, yoga mastahs, and anyone else who may have found there way to my blog! I want to give you a fair warning of the randomness that is about to ensue, as this is sort of a “housekeeping post” – a chance for me to purge some old photos from the camera/phone, and just catch up on the little bits and pieces of daily life! And since I just confessed my love for VitaMuffins, I thought it was timely to get on to some other confessions, namely of the Friday variety:

Friday Confessionals: 01/08/2010

And the first ones of the new year too! I like it. Aright – you kids know the drill. Time to let go your guilt, admit to the MeanyThoughts, fess up to the xy&z of the week, and mooove on!

  1. I drove around on a basically-flat tire for a couple of days. Knowingly. It was either an “inconvenient” time to go get it fixed, or I had “more important” things to do. And then the boy scared the hell outta me by saying it could blow out on the highway. And it took all of 10 minutes to fix and now my baby jellydonut is filled again. :)
  2. My hip HURT yesterday. Like a mofo. I cried in the shower.
  3. I blog/watch movies/use the McMac while I’m at the gym. ON the elliptical. Or stairs. Or xRunner. I am on a Life Fitness ellip right now. I would get photobooth happy if there were not people on the stair steppers behind me. It has led to some pretty interesting conversations though (and possibly new readers – HI!!) When I was writing my VitaMuffin Review, someone next to me laughed and asked “What’s a ‘Love Muffin’?” Hahahah!!

Oh, I’m sure there are other things I could confess to, but I already told you guys about my 7 oz. cinnamon roll, and as you know, I like to do things in three’s. Anyways, here’s your invitation to confess away and join in on the fun! Ok, next!

2010 Goal Updates: aka 2:10GU

Time for me to check in on my 2010 goals and see how they’ve been going. I know, we’ve only had 9 days of 2010, but if something’s not working (or I’m not even making an effort – coughswimmingcough) then it’s time to make a change! You will [hopefully] see this as a semi-regular feature here on Dr.TriRunner.. and for those of you who set goals in a similar fashion, I encourage you to do the same! (I’ll even let ya’ use my SupaFlyGoalUpdatesGingerman! ;) ) I’ve gotta keep reminding myself, ”yo Sperly.. these are things you’re supposed to be working on!!” or I can’t expect any real progress to be made!  Here’s how things have been going so far:

  1. SLEEP: Mmmm will continue to need work. I’ve been going to bed still later than I’m comfortable with, and in turn, I’ve been “making” myself sleep in later. I guess because I’m on break, that’s “fine”, but personally, it’s not. I have ALWAYS hated sleeping in… ever since I was like 5 and up at 5am watching Martha Stewart. I love my morning time with a cup of coffee… I love getting things accomplished early on in the day. When I wake up late, I feel like my day is basically half wasted, not to mention it just sets your body up to go to bed later/sleep in later again the next day. I think I might start jotting down the hours of sleep I’m getting in my 2010 Minnesota Training Log I got for xmas from the madre.

  1. SWIMMING+CYCLING: Spinning = check! Swimming = FAIL! And I feel sooo dang hypocritical! I know said in my Train On Top Volume on SWIMMING that I feel sooo good when I get out, and blah blah blah. And especially since I admitted to my hip hurting.. that’s the biggest red flag to say go get in the pool. (Although unfortunately I can’t say my hip was hurting because I’ve been rocking so many runs lately :( ) Anyways, I got the spin part down. And I actually may have it even “down-er” in the near  future… Keep reading!! :D
  2. LESS B-N’-DUB: I’m still working on a way to “measure” this goal… but even that seems pretty type A thinking to me! Haha I just can’t win! In terms of “going with the flow” I feel like that’s been pretty good in the whole nine days of 2010 we’ve had so far. Plans change.. you don’t know where your friends want to go ahead of time.. I’ve made it work. It’s probably also true though that I only think of the times that I am being flexible, and the times that I’m not get overlooked. :)

Hahaha shoot guys – I really want a photobooth photo right now! But the hombre on the stairs behind me looks like he’s dripping up a storm working hard and not going anywhere anytime soon! Ohhh wandering thoughts. Back on track:

Cha-Cha-Changes!

I know… I feel like I just said that. (Oh wait, I did!) But changes are good for you, and apparently very good for me if I’m trying to work on being less black & white! This goes back to my Swimming and Cycling goal….

One thing some of you guys might not know about me is that am/was a certified spin instructor! I say am, because… well, I am. I say was because I’m not currently teaching, and I haven’t for a while now. After talking with a guy at my gym back in November, my little flame for teaching was re-ignited, and I’m trying to get myself a spot back on the schedule! I’ve been spending probably too much time making up new playlists and putting together new hill/spring/base workouts. This isn’t something I mentioned before because I don’t want to get my hopes up about getting a spot teaching if it’s not actually going to happen – don’t want to jynx myself, ya know? But at the same time, I’m sure I’ll be teaching SOME DAY, whether it’s at the club I’m currently at or elsewhere.

True story: when I’m driving alone with the music pumpin, I definitely talk aloud like I’m teaching a spin class. Throwin’ in jumps and sprints and everything. Ohh the dumb things I say sometimes. Haha maybe that should have been part of my Friday Confessional!

I’ll need your help on this next one!

I know there are some awesome bloggies out there who are either beasts on the bike or they know how to rock a good playlist – Spin Lives the Good Life, The Fitnessista, & Tina over at Carrots N’ Cake. I could go on and on! So, in addition to throwin in your own Friday Confessions, I got one more favor to ask ya! Whether it be for spin, running, an elliptical workout, a pre-meet/race/game pump-up mix, what is the ONE SONG you would have to include? One thing that I did for spin was have a “spinner’s choice” day where I played songs that they chose, and this is sort of like a “reader’s choice”! I will post up once I have a good list of songs, and you never know, it might end up being played in a spin class not to long from now!

Adios muchachos!
-E

p.s. HAHAH GOT IT!! I was checking over my shoulder the entire time. Ready? Aim, Fire! Ignore the blur + the crazy look on my face… yo girl was working, and about to crack up!

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