Tuesday, December 23, 2014

Happy Holidays, Bitches-A Solstice Letter

Dear Family, Friends, and Random Internet Pervs

2014 is drawing to a close, and it's time for Fox News to start bitching and moaning about an imaginary war on the most ubiquitous holiday known to humankind.  That means it's also time for that most sacred of holiday traditions: The Solstice Letter.  Written entirely in the third person as though being reported by a downtrodden, out of work journalist.  Hey, print journalism is a dying art and if you live by the pen you take work where you can get it.  Keep it quiet, Judgy McJudgealot.

This year brought big changes for Amy.  Though she continues to be a pharmacist, she made the daring decision to go back to a job she held for 5 years in the recent past even though this means a longer commute.  The extra 3 miles round trip takes a lot of precious time away from her loving husband and children, but in the end it's worth it as they are mostly sleeping when she's commuting and she doesn't like them much anyway.

Amy continued in her commitment to fitness by running a shitload of unlogged miles, doing a shitload of races, and drinking a tankerfull of post-race beers.  She also half-assed some CrossFit, made a fool of herself at yoga, blogged about 100 days of good food, and then fell off the wagon over and over and over again.  She made several attempts at lifestyle changes, but remains slightly fat and unmotivated, with no change in sight.

Mr. Amy remains a loving, supportive spouse and excellent father.  That is all that will be said as Mr. Amy is a strong individual with a certain skill set and knowledge of places to hide bodies.

The children continue to excel at important skills like whining, bitching, misery making, and handprint related art.  All three continue to eat enormous amounts of food while simultaneously expressing dissatisfaction with everything placed in front of them.  The girl child has refined her devil-may-care fashion sense into a cohesive philosophy that her parents have come to call "homeless clown chic".  To that end, several pairs of truly alarming leggings have been purchased for said girl child and sneaked into her dresser.  Amy anticipates the day girl child locates the donuts-cookies-and-kittens leggings with unbridled glee.

The boy children remain unemployed in spite of reaching the advanced age of 4-and-three-quarters.  They still brazenly expect frequent meals, clean laundry, and assistance with basic hygiene.  Both boys have begun to display a love of music and song, in the form of "Sweet Home Alabama", "Let It Go" and that fucking "It's Friday" song from YouTube. They have also developed their father's knack for breaking into song while in the car whenever Amy's current radio favorite is on.  They have not yet been tested to determine their status as identical or fraternal twins-a fact which continues to create anger and confusion in the general populace.

The Z family is grateful to remain basically healthy and tragedy free for one more revolution of the Earth around the Sun.  May the lengthening days bring light to your mind and warmth to your heart.

Happy Whatever-the-Fuck-Holiday-You-Celebrate

The Zs


Sunday, November 9, 2014

Year in Review, or What the Fuck is Wrong with Me?

I'm going to warn you that this will be long and probably not terribly interesting unless you are really into someone else's race shirts and medals.  I'll preface this with the fact that I am an extremely inconsistent runner.  Sometimes I train and sometimes I don't.  Sometimes I'm fast-ish and sometimes I'm really slow. I'm really lazy, which I believe is why I'm never injured (it hurts, I stops).  Some people have that "balls to the wall" mentality when racing...yeah, that's not me.  I've got a lot of shit going on in my life, and if going flat out on the race course means I'm going to spend 3 days working and managing 3 kids while exhausted and in pain?  I'm not going to do that.  It's not that I don't care about my finishing times, I think all runners do to a degree, but this year has taught me to let that go a little.  I turned in a couple of super-slow (for me, historically-they may not be slow for you and I make no judgement) half marathons this year and at first I was upset about it, but I'm realizing now that it really makes no difference.  Next year I'm going to refocus on my goal of a sub-2 hour half marathon, but a spring half so I can train in the winter.  I want to hit that one time, then I'll be content to run 2:30s forever.

So here it is, my crazy racing year in review.

February:
The Seroogy's Valentine 5k.  I was hoping to PR this one, as I'd been speed training, but it was (as usual) about 5 below zero at the start and I couldn't feel my feet for the first mile.  The confounding factor in this race is the hill near St. Norbert's Abbey.  If it's icy, you're fucked.  I hit the first mile in this race in 8:50 and totally died on the hill.  Couldn't get my footing and there were too many people to dodge to get to the dry places.  The other odd thing about this course (aside from it's being a little long) is the last 1/4 mile or so is almost always covered with mushy churned up snow.  It's kind of like running in sand.  I got my chocolate bar and made for my car.  Did I mention this race was cold?  Because it was.  Cold. Finished in 30ish minutes.

Shirt was less crappy than two years ago.

March:
The Point Bock Run (5miler) which is a personal favorite.  I was slow this year.  It was cold, but it usually is. This race is in my husband's home town, which is kind of cool, but starts at noon, which is kind of odd.  I have a hard time fueling for late races.  My guts don't know what the fuck is up.  One thing I love about this race that I hope they never change is the long sleeved cotton shirt.  I have so many goddamn tech shirts that every time I'm handed one I kind of sigh and wonder what the hell I'm going to do with it.

Purple this year.

April:
The Drake Relays-on-the-Roads half marathon.  The race was delayed for about an hour because of a huge thunderstorm that rolled over Des Moines right before the start.  It was a little cold, which was fine, and once the storm blew over we didn't have any more rain.  I liked this course a lot.  It was a lovely tour of the city and the area around campus and finishing on the oval was pretty special for an alumna like me.  The shirt is pretty decent.  The sleeves are a little short, so I mostly just wear it as a warm up, but the back says "In it for the Long Run" which I like.

Cute medal, too.

May:
Sweet Jesus, what the fuck was I thinking in May?  I raced every weekend and two of the weekends were out of town.  The other two?  Were after working third shift.  I will NOT be doing that again.

The Door County Half.  I really love this race.  It's so pretty.  This year following our crazy freezing winter there were still icebergs floating in the bay.  This race used to give out long sleeved cotton shirts, but went to tech a couple of years ago.  This one fits like a bag, but it's a decent warm up.  I ran this after a night shift (it's a 10am start).

No DC half in 2015. I'm trying to cut back.

The Cellcom Green Bay half.  I ran this one after a night shift as well (it's an 8am start).  I actually felt awesome for the first 5 miles but then spent a lot of time in line for the portolet around mile 6.  So I just kinda fucked around for the last half.  I really liked the new course.  I hope they keep it even after all the construction is done.  This one will be my "A" race for 2015-the one I try to sub-2.  It's local so I can sleep in my own bed, it's early so I know now to fuel, and it's pretty flat.  Plus it's my home town race...as long as I don't get bottlenecked in Lambeau I think I can do this.

Decent shirt this year.  No stupid mock neck.

The Soldier Field 10-mile.  It was a gorgeous day and I managed to PR both my 5k and 10k before coming apart at mile 7ish.  I still finished in 1:45, so it was an official 10 mile race PR and running into Soldier Field was pretty neat.  I did wear the above GB half shirt for the run.  I stayed at the Essex Inn which was very comfortable and very close to the start.  I will do this one again, but not in 2015.

I SAID I'M TRYING TO CUT DOWN.

Ragnar Cape Cod.  Shirt and medal shot below.  I wrote a pretty extensive race report on this one earlier in the year.  Suffice it to say that I like this one quite a bit.

June:
HFM Maritime Marathon Relay.  My husband and I did this one as a two person relay.  I turned in an okay time, but had another "OMG I FEEL AWESOME AND SHIT HOLY COW I'M KILLING IT wait now I feel kind of shitty and sweet chocolate Jesus I'm only at mile 8" race.  Ah well.  This race is really pretty when you only have to run it once.  As an out and back marathon it's kind of "WHERE IS THE FINISH?!? FUCK ME WHEN IS THIS OVER?!?!?".
The medals have gotten much cooler in the past couple years.

The GBRC Solstice Ultra.  What a nice race this is.  I ended up with more than 50K but did not do the full 15.5 hours.  I probably could have, but I just really didn't want to.  It was so hot.  I felt like my brains were cooking.  I'm going to volunteer in 2015 and then potentially try this shit again in 2016.  The shirt is pretty boss, and we got a full sized Jansport backpack with the logo stitched on.  You know I carry that shit everywhere.

This shirt actually fits!  Huzzah!
August:
The Madison Mini.  We entered this race on a whim at kind of the last minute.  It was a nice excuse to see a Madison based friend and log another half.  This one was my slowest of the year at nearly 3 hours.  My guts revolted at around mile 5 and I walked A LOT of the rest of the race.  Basically I just had a baaaaaaad day. The race is great, though.  Tons of water stops to break it up, lots and lots of entertaining spectators, and a truly great finish party (with a band that was actually GOOD).  I like the shirt, too.  I've worn it as a base layer a few times.

Sparkly medals rule.

September:
The Boring Half.  This was my second half of the weekend.  It was an inaugural event and I LOVED it.  A pretty course, super friendly volunteers.  The race director hugged me at the end.  How cool is that?  The husband and I ran/walked this one together and we had a really nice time.  It's an out and back, but not an annoying one.  The RD even sent me a track team t-shirt from the Orient school district (we ran by the elementary school) which I thought was fantastic. I hear that next year they are adding an Ultra Boring Ultra Marathon.

Nice fitting shirt.  

The Oregon Half.  It was hot as hell.  I had a super slow time because I felt like I was going to burst into flames.  The packet pick up was disorganized, but the host hotel was nice and the after party was basically the town of Mt. Angel's awesome fucking Oktoberfest.  The shitty thing was that apparently we were supposed to get a bunch of vouchers to spend on food and beer but no one told us that at packet pick-up and the place to get the vouchers was not well marked.  So we paid for our food and didn't get free drinks. NOT COOL OREGON HALF.

Pretty boss medal though.

Ragnar Adirondacks. What a gorgeous race this was.  We only had 9 runners, but it was pretty seamless in spite of that.  There was beautiful scenery, awesome teammates, fantastic food, and lots of laughs.  And a double medal, which is important to me because I am a total medal whore.

Only one Ragnar on next year's calendar.


October:
The Mankato Half and Pork Power 5k.  The 5k shirt was a decent long sleeve, but it didn't fit me very well so I wore it as a warm up and tossed it away during the half.  I PRd this 5k.  27:21 which is more than 2 minutes faster than my previous PR.  Weird thing is?  I wasn't even trying.  I don't get my body.  When I feel like I'm really pushing I'm moving at a snail's pace.  Just bopping along looking for the bacon stop?  2 minute fucking PR.  The bacon stop was awesome by the way.  The half marathon was really nice as well.  Pretty course with varied terrain and good beer at the finish.  

Not a terrible shirt.

The Fall 50.  This was my 5th year running and I got to run the only 2 legs I hadn't done yet.  The weather was fucking perfect this year.  Sunny and 58?  What the fuck is that?  The leaves were beautiful, there were tons of fun teams with great costumes, it was the USATF 50 mile championships and there were a bunch of incredibly inspiring solos on the course.  The shirt is the same as last year, but red, and I like it.  The only sad moment?  The medal isn't on a Mr. T starter kit chain.  The last 5 years it's been a big as 50 on a big ass chain.  Tear. 


Still a nifty 50.

November:
The Tyranena Beer Run half barrel.  This is my second time doing this race.  This year I ran it with one of my oldest friends (and by that I mean I've known her a long time, not that she's old) and we spent 2:38 yakking and whining at each other.  I didn't run a step between the Fall 50 and this race and it showed, big time. We stopped for the beer stop, discussed the virtues of having Muslim and Mormon running friends (they don't drink, so you get extra beer tickets), and ate lasagna as big as our faces.  The shirt is a nice cotton t-shirt.  Love it.  You can also buy discount beer, which we did.  There were also a bunch of my Panty Raiders teammates from my very first Ragnar present this year, which was cool.  It's kind of fun to know a bunch of people at a race. This was my last "real" half of the year.  I still have a virtual to do in December.

Oh yearh, I run for beer.
December:
Beat the Blerch Virtual half.  I plan to do this in December so I have a reason to keep running for the next few weeks.

Next year I'm going to be scaling back pretty considerably as this year was just fucking insane.  I will probably not run during the summer and confine my half marathon efforts to the Cellcom and possibly the Whistlestop.  I have Hood to Coast and Ragnar Wasatch Back on the calendar already, and will probably do a few 5ks.  All this racing was pretty fun...but it gets expensive!

I've still got a few pounds to shed, so my focus will be on that for the next few months.  Running will be a part of that, but probably not super long distances as that tends to make me EAT ALL THE THINGS.

It's time to start getting my goals together for 2015.  Registrations for all sorts of things will start in the next few weeks.

Somebody hold me back? 

Friday, November 7, 2014

I Feel Like Bloggin' Tonight

Lurong is coming to a close and I'm not sad to see it go.  It's not like I've been cheating my face off, but I really didn't meet my "no cheats" goal.  I had a little booze, a little candy, a little cheese...I didn't derail, but I probably could've done a better job.  My husband?  That rat bastard lost 30 pounds.  I think I lost 7.  Not terrible, but not earthshattering either.  Meh.  I've got 3 months until I have to wear a bathing suit in public. Plenty of time to hit goals.

Tomorrow is the Tyranena half marathon, which is going to be a hoot as a ton of my friends from all sorts of places will be there.  And I'll get lasagna as big as my face and two (TWO!) Tyranena beers.  Tomorrow I'll probably also write my year in review, which is going to involve raiding my medal display and trying to remember what the bloody fuck I did this year.  I haven't kept a running log for a couple of years (well, since I started CrossFit and logging that) but I think I should.  I have no idea what my annual total is, and I'm guessing it's really fucking high.  I've probably raced more than 200 miles, with no mention of training.

Since I can't manage to blog without taking pictures of all my goddamn food, here you go.

Simple stuff. Pig, egg.  All the majors.

I went to Costco today to re-up our membership.  I'm lucky if I can make it out of that place without dropping 3 bills.  Good thing I got paid today.  For lunch I ate one of the beautiful red peppers I got in a highly economical pack of 6, and the better part of a cup of guacamole.  The first ingredient listed for this guac?  Motherfucking avocados. Have you picked up supermarket/deli "guacamole" and looked at the ingredients lately?  Most of them barely include avocado.  This shit?  Avocado, tomato, onion, and spices. Huge win.  I love Costco.  This is probably a substandard lunch, but it filled me right up.

There were a lot more pepper slices at the outset.

I also bought another flat of these delicious sons of bitches.  I've gotten into the habit of cuing up a show on Netflix, opening up a pomegranate and spending 25 minutes getting every last seed ohmygawd. Then I use a spoon to shovel them into my gaping face hole in 5 minutes flat.  It'd be faster, but you really have to chew this shit or you'll aspirate a seed.

My son calls these "jewels"

My current Netflix deseeding show is Rescue Me.  I can't decide if Dennis Leary is hot.  He's like Cameron Diaz.  From certain angles, hot.  Other angles holy shit so ugly.   Plus he's kind of old and has clearly lived a hard drinking/smoking/fucking life.  Good hair.  Piercing eyes.  Still, sometimes he looks like an old woman.  Which doesn't prevent his character from getting laid constantly.  Have you watched this show?  It's like a fucking porno with all the humping.  A weird point about the humping?  99% of the time it's our boy DL sitting on a couch with a hot chick riding him.  Which is fine to a degree, since he really kind of looks like an old woman without his shirt, and he has freaky chicken legs.  

But still, from certain angles?  Kinda hot.  

Maybe it's the uniform?

Dinner tonight was made by the fabulous husband.  A recipe from Well Fed 2 that we hadn't tried before. Chicken Nanking.  Verdict?  Delicious.  

Simple and tasty.


For dessert I chose a Mojito. Becky, this shit is pretty darn tasty.

Don't freak out, it's a tiny glass.


Early to bed tonight so I can be ridiculously well rested for the Tyranena.  Moreso because I haven't run a step since the Fall 50.  Whatever.  It was just a really long taper.  I managed to sleep through CrossFit on Thursday, so I need to get in on Sunday to finish my last Lurong retest.  So far both my retests have been better than the first time around, so that's positive.  Tomorrow is measurement day (eek).  I'm going to lay money my waist is 30.25, because the universe just can't give me that bloody 29.  Ah well.  I had an HRA at the husband's work and got a perfect score, so there's that. The nurse who had to call me to go over my results was really scrambling for something to review.  I almost felt bad for her.  She asked me how I maintain my health.  I told her I eat a lot of bacon.

The take home point here is that bacon is medicine.

Seriously.  Is Dennis Leary hot?


Monday, September 22, 2014

Blogging the Menu: Lurong Day 8

Woot, I accomplished everything I needed to today.  That's a good feeling.  I made it through the night without having anyone code (Win!), I got 3 solid hours of sleep (Yay!), made it to the box for Lurong 2 (Woo!), and did a shitload of laundry, squared away the spawn, and walked the dog.

I feel accomplished.  And tired.  Also pretty tired.  Tonight will be long, but oh well.  I'll live.

Tomorrow night is binge watching Outlander with a friend, then getting in my final shift before Ragnar.  I'm pretty stoked about going to New York, even if this will be done in an Ultrish fashion (we only have 9 runners for various reasons).  It's gonna be fun, I can feel it.

I had spaghetti squash and sauce for my midnight meal.
Not as pretty after being nuked.  Still tasted pretty great.

More peaches and raspberries at 3am.  So. Yum.


There were danish in the breakroom, but I managed to avoid that land mine and not feel deprived at all.  There were also grapes, and I did indulge in a few of those.

After my longish nap this morning, I pounded down the last of the apple carrot sausage hash before heading off to the box for the Lurong WOD.  It sat pretty well, fortunately.  Don't wanna be burping up sausage while doing burpees.  I did not photograph it.  It was gone too fast.

No lunch today as I'd already consumed what amounted to three meals.  Wasn't hungry at all, so I have no problem skipping the meal.

I opted to clear out some leftovers for dinner and went with Cottage Pie.  I can't believe there was any left.  I feel this must be due to all the food we made this week!




I had a couple of prunes for dessert when we got back from our dog walk, and they really hit the spot.  It sounds stupid to say I like prunes (because old people food, y'know) but they really are quite tasty.  

Oh!  Another awesome thing happened today!  We ran the Half Boring Half Marathon last week, and the race directors sent out an email to participants asking for feedback.  I told them the truth, that we really loved the event, but were a teeny bit disappointed that they didn't have track team shirts for sale since it was a fundraiser for the team (and I have a deep love for random t-shirts).  Guess what I got in the mail today?  A Damascus-Orient Track t-shirt!  How cool is that?  I was so surprised and thought that was the neatest thing.  All the way from Oregon, a total stranger (and race director!!) took the time to find and send me a shirt.  The only way it would've been better is if there had been yarn in the package and that is patently ridiculous.  

Two more shifts and I'm off for 8 days, which is pretty great.  After my next 7 on rotation I'm off for THREE WHOLE WEEKS!  I hope I remember how to pharmacist after all that time.

I stole this image from professionalfangirls.com.  I kind of love it.

Outlander Jamie

This one, too.

Outlander wedding package
Helloooooo nurse.

I have a problem.



Sunday, September 21, 2014

Blogging the Menu: Lurong Day 7

Today was odd, as I had another "stay up for a while and go to sleep at noon" day.  I'm not sure I like that.  I'd rather sleep right away and have my afternoon and evening instead.  My husband had a good run, the weather wasn't as sucky as predicted, and all my friends who ran the FCM finished healthy and happy.  A good day for runners in NE Wisconsin.

The forecast is looking damn near perfect for Ragnar this weekend, and I'm starting to plan my clothing/packing so I'm not doing it at the last possible second on Wednesday.  My current debate is whether or not to bring my sleeping bag.  It's small, and it'll be chilly at night, but I don't know if I really want to waste the bag space.  I'm debating bringing a bigger bag this trip, but I must admit I get a charge out of packing really small for these things.

Our fridge is getting quite full of leftovers, so it's time to go through and see what's left.  It's probably not as much as I think, but there's lots of containers!

Midnight dinner was leftover Beef and Bacon Cottage Pie.  Even better after a day or two.

Spicetastic.

3am was more peaches and raspberries.  Such a great combo, and I'm enjoying the shit out of it before the peaches turn to cardboard at the end of the season and the raspberries go back up to $20/pint.  No picture, because my computer ate it, but you've seen it before.

I switched from coffee to tea after 3am, and had my cashews and dates as a little snack around 6am as I was planning to eat breakfast with the offspring.  


Sticks to your ribs.

When I tucked the boys into bed on Saturday night we discussed having pancakes for breakfast and that they were not to pester the sitter for cereal (we had a sitter come to sleep on the couch so hubs could leave early for his race).  They agreed and were happy about pancakes.  They should be happy.  I make that shit from scratch.  No Bisquick in this house.  

When I got home this morning, one of my lovely sons decided it was appropriate to beg for cereal and cry because he "doesn't even like pancakes".  This is a child who will eat eight pancakes in a sitting.  I told him that was total horseshit and if he didn't want pancakes he was welcome to starve, because I am a great parent.  Ultimately he mashed a bunch of pancakes and applesauce into his face and forgot all about cereal, but I wish that once, just once I could start my fucking day without one of my utterly privileged crotchfruit whining about some goddamn perceived persecution.  It really puts me in a bad frame of mind.  At least one of them thanked me for breakfast (he's my favorite).

Since I had the griddle out, I threw together some banana pancakes for myself.  I had them with blackberries and a carefully measured tablespoonful of real maple syrup.

No bacon because it was partially frozen.  Sadness abounds.

Then I went to sleep.  It was a good sleep.  I may have watched strategic parts of Saturday's episode of Outlander to encourage good dreams.  The best part of watching this show is that the male protagonist is played by a 34 year old actor (Sam Heughan-go forth and Google), so I don't have to feel guilty about wanting to do things to him.  Back when Twilight was a thing, I always felt a little "Mrs. Robinson" about admiring Taylor Lautner's shirtless form.  Not that I wanted to do things to TL-he's not my general type (and is a CHILD you fucking pervert), but he did have really nice abs.

So for dinner I had Citrus Carnitas and mashed squash.  Was that an excellent segue or what?

Magic pork.

My calves are totally cramped up today and I have no idea why.  It's kind of pissing me off.  I need to foam roll in the morning, then try to catch some sleep before heading off to the box to make up Lurong 2.  I'll be cleaning out the fridge in the afternoon and looking for inspiration on what to feed the spawn.  I was going to make myself some salmon, but I might opt for bacon wrapped scallops instead.  That pairs well with broccoli, and I have some I need to steam up and eat.

That's all I've got.

Here is a gratuitous shot of Sam Heughan.

You're welcome.


Saturday, September 20, 2014

Blogging the Menu: Lurong Day 6

Last night was a pretty good one, but boy was I sleepy at the end of it.  I barely made it home (singing along to the radio at top volume with the window down) and had to sleep for a bit before going to the box.  I got almost exactly an hour, then went to get my WODs in.  Only finished WOD 1, then helped videotape a friend's WOD and realized I was too tired to do the second one.  Still have a bit of time to do it, and Monday or Tuesday is looking good.  I'll make a bigger effort to get to the box to do WOD 3 before leaving for the Adirondacks on Thursday.  So here's what a day that begins at midnight looks like when you throw in a workout.

Started with leftover eggplant lasagna.

This is really quite good.  I'll use more eggplant next time.

My 3am snack was some peaches and raspberries from Costco.  These peaches are just perfect.  I can't remember the last time I had one so nice.  Not at all pithy, and not so juicy that you end up a total mess. Look at this container full of summer.  Just look at it.

Better than dessert.

I had some tea and cashews and dates later in the morning.  I did put some honey in my tea, but I'm finding I need very little to get the desired effect.

Mmmm.  Candy.

I woke up slightly later than planned to go to the box, so I just mashed a Larabar into my face on the way.  Nothing like working out at what amounts to 3am.  When I got home I was ravenous, so went for my pre-made option (with a runny egg).  Have I mentioned I love my electric egg cooker?  And the person that sent it to me?  Who is clearly some kind of saint?

Omnomnomnomnom.

Then I went to sleep.  For about 6 hours.  I wasn't going to eat "dinner", but I was so hungry that I thought it unwise to wait until midnight to eat again.  Husband made Moroccan meatballs.

With cauli rice.

This is a perennial favorite.  Lurong is bringing out a lot of old favorites.  We got lazy over the summer with menu planning, and found ourselves eating a lot of the same things over and over...and having that daily "Shit, what's for dinner" panic that lead to the menu board in the first place.  This has been great, because we always have wonderful leftovers, we waste very little produce, and we get something delicious and healthy for dinner every night.  

I got my measurements done today, and I have my goals.  Getting my waist below 30 and my hips below 40 are tops on the list.  I'm already down 4lbs, so that's a great start towards my 20lb goal.  I've been tempted to cheat a few times since starting, but so far have stayed the course and resisted (stupid cheats...PopTarts or muffins that are laying around...not anything really good or special).  I hope I can keep that up for the next 7 weeks!  My motivation is high right now, and that's a good place to be.

So upcoming this week are Lurong 2 and 3, an Outlander marathon with a friend, packing for my trip, and jetting off to upstate NY.

Speaking of Outlander.  If you don't have Starz I feel bad for you, because Sam Heughan is crazy hot, and Catriona Balfe used to be a Victoria's Secret model, and this week they had kilted 1700s Highland sex all over the place.  




I mean really.  This isn't even the best view.  The quads on this guy could crack walnuts.  

Off to the salt mine for night #3 of 6!



Friday, September 19, 2014

Blogging the Menu: Lurong Day 5

Last night was a good one, in that there was a little something to do all night (do a few orders, check a little Pyxis, make a couple drips, dose a couple meds, answer a few questions, do a little med rec) but no major fires to put out.  I like that.  Keeps me awake, makes me feel useful, and the night rolls on quickly.

I went out this morning for about 30 minutes of shake out running, nice and slow.  I used the new hospital trail which is pretty nice, but the bridges are a little slick in the morning.  This morning was a humid one, so I really had to watch my step.  For some reason I only brought a long sleeve shirt and was pretty much sweating my balls off 10 minutes in.  I love the cooler fall temps, but 50 degrees isn't THAT cool.

Tomorrow is "hammer through the Lurong WODs" day.  Then home to keep the spawn from killing each other or setting the house on fire while my beloved heads to the Fox Cities Marathon packet pick-up.  He'll be doing the half on Sunday.  I'll be pulling kid duty.  I hope the weather pans out, because he's poised to smash his PR and that would be pretty fucking awesome.

I have tabled my sub-2 ambitions until I can get this extra weight off.  I hate hot weather, and the last two months of training have been so hot that I feel like I'm going backwards.  I'll pick it up in January, and train hard in the cold weather so I can smash the shit out of the Cellcom half, and my PR (set on that course in 2012).  I was 150 pounds when I set that PR (2:12 and change) and I'm riding 167 right now.  They say every 2 pounds lost gains you 1 second per mile.  I mean to test that theory.

On to the menu!

Last night I had my midnight meal right on time (I was hungry before that, but eating too early sets me up for failure.)  Leftover curry cauli rice and chicken.

Better the second day.

I try to have my 3am meal be something sweet.  It keeps me from raiding the break room (where, incidentally, the carcasses of several donuts, bagels, and muffins were lying around).  Berries fit the bill, with a couple of HBE for protein.

Perfect.

I also had an apple at one point, and 3 dates that I forgot to photograph until I was licking their sticky remains off my fingers.  Oops.

Breakfast at 6:30am was Paleo "cereal" with unsweetened applesauce and a teaspoonful of honey.  I paired this with a mug of mint tea, as I planned to go straight to sleep when I got home after my run.

This is a perfect oatmeal sub. 

I was a little hungry when I got home, so I had a few grapes before going to sleep.  I got about 6 hours (with 2 breaks to let the dog out) and woke up this afternoon to get the spaghetti sauce going.  This recipe (from Well Fed 2) requires 2 hours of simmering, but comes together pretty rapidly so it's not terribly labor intensive.  I don't make meatballs as indicated in the recipe, I just break up milk Italian sausage straight into the sauce.  There's balsamic vinegar and cocoa in the recipe, which gives it both richness and acidity.  It's lovely.

The wine is mostly for show.  I only had a few sips.

The kids actually ate this really well tonight (sometimes they don't-who knows why).  We took the dog for a walk, and now the little bitch is barking her fool head off at her reflection in the front window.  Sigh.  Someone is always making noise in this house.  I'm not sure why I try to read or watch TV.  

Hopefully we'll have another good night.  I'm looking forward to having apple carrot hash before my WODs tomorrow and then getting to sleep until it's time to go to work.  Ahhhhh....sleep.






Thursday, September 18, 2014

Blogging the Menu: Lurong Day 4

Yeah.  I slept through my alarm this morning.  So no workout.  I did walk over 13000 steps today, so there's that.  I have my gear packed to get 30-45 minutes of running in on the trail by the hospital after my shift tomorrow.  Saturday I'll go to the box with a buddy and make up the 2 WODs we missed and get our measurements/weight done.  Yay and stuff.

I hate getting weighed fully dressed.  I want to shout that THAT NUMBER IS NOT MY NUMBER!!  Goddamn it, these are DANSKOS!  It's so stupid, because it's not like 3 pounds of clothes makes a big difference in determining my health, but it does put me in a different decade of numbers and it makes me stabby.

Haha! Progress!

So breakfast was pretty delayed today and it was also pretty basic.  Eggs, bacon, and coffee with almond milk.  I really dig vanilla almond milk (unsweetened, of course) in my coffee.  It's really tasty, and I'm normally a black coffee girl.
This Maplewood bacon is the shit. The. Best. Bacon.


Snack was pretty basic, too.
Look familiar?

My plan was to nap today since I work tonight, but that didn't happen for a variety of reasons.  I did however "skip" lunch (ie I ate what amounted to a heavy snack) because if I daysleep and still eat all the meals I end up eating six meals in a 24 hour period and that's just too much damn food.  I'm trying to get smaller here, people.

So, lunch.

I also had a few cashews later on as I was getting pretty hungry as the dinner hour approached.  Also a venison stick, which I didn't photograph.

Thanks, Costco!

Squash was on sale at Festy the other day so I loaded up on the butternut and we had Beef and Bacon Cottage Pie for supper.  Holy shit I love this recipe.  Simple, simple, simple and SO FUCKING GOOD.  Also, the kids won't eat squash so more for me, motherfuckers. It's from the 21 Day Sugar Detox Cookbook.  How do you not have this book yet?
Get in my belly.

I finished the day with a few prunes, packed up my lunch, watched The Biggest Loser (without eating a sleeve of Oreos) and got changed for work.  Day one in the salt mine.  Only 6 shifts this week as I took Wednesday off for Ragnar Adirondacks.  Huzzah!  Off to the land of foliage and Zestar apples!

Day 4 done.  Hope my resolve stands up overnight.  I am armed with much food, good coffee, and mint tea. 

Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more!  Or close the wall up with our English dead!

If you get that reference we are still friends.






Wednesday, September 17, 2014

Blogging the Menu: Lurong Day 3

Lalalalalaaaaa Day 3 down.  Tomorrow night I go back on at work, but not before hitting the gym and getting some other things in order.  Today I did a fair amount of cooking, which means I'll have lots of good leftovers for the next couple of days at work.  I have plenty of grapes and apples, and tomorrow I'll hard cook a bunch of eggs to bring along as well.  So far so good.  I rested the last couple of days (though I did do a fair amount of walking) and I feel pretty good.  We have an HRA for the husband's employer in the morning.  Always interesting to get a peek at the bloodwork every year.  Last year my numbers were so good the employee health nurse summed it up with "I don't know what you're doing, but whatever it is keep it up!" and that was before Lurong.  I kind of wish I would've gone in for a follow up set.  One of these days.

One of my boys was up six times during the night with a cough.  If you're keeping score that means I was up six times as well.  Little children would be much easier if they would listen to reason.  If you have a cough, great hiccuping sobs only make it worse, right?  Right.  Try explaining that to a four year old.  Goes over like a lead balloon.  So tonight he's doped up on dextro, rubbed down with mentholatum, and the humidifier is running on high.  Fingers crossed.

This morning I made apple carrot sausage hash.  This is good shit.  Love this recipe.  It's our "already made and ready to go" breakfast recipe of the week.  I'm going to have one of these per week in order to avoid eggs-and-bacon burnout.

Add a runny egg and an almond milk latte and you're set.

Snack was pretty simple.  Big wad o' grapes.

Crunchy and delicious.

Had a fair amount of Tandoori chicken left over, but didn't feel like eating it Plain Jane again, so instead I whipped up a little curry rice with the pre-made cauli rice.  Almonds, raisins, pineapple, onion, curry, salt, and pepper came together pretty well with the leftover chicken.  Damn.  My lunches are far more interesting when I'm at home.  I did make 2 portions of this, though, so I have a container full for work.

So fucking awesome.

This afternoon I went for a SweeTango while I took a little break from my busy hands project.  It's the collar and shoulder increases for a cable detailed cardigan.  So far it's coming along nicely.  It'll be seamless since it's top down, and if I keep at it I should have it finished by the end of the challenge.

I love fall.  Apples and sweaters.  Love it.

I made eggplant lasagna for the first time this afternoon.  Eggplant, spinach, mushrooms, and homemade meat sauce.  It was really quite tasty.  Of course the kids were having none of it except the meat.  Fortunately we didn't waste much on them.  Boxed up some leftovers for lunches later in the week.  I also had my 6oz pour of Cab, which made me positively silly.  I'm officially a cheap date again.

Eat. Your. Veg.

Had a couple of prunes to kill a sweet craving this evening.  Love these things.  I buy them in bulk at Costco.

Sweetness without the work of de-pitting.

Tomorrow morning will be interesting as we're supposed to go to the HRA fasted.  I'll have to eat something before CrossFit, but I can't skip tomorrow since it's Lurong WOD #2 and I already have one to make up this weekend sometime.  The hardest bit will be not eating after the WOD untill I'm done being poked and prodded at 8:30.  Going to be the longest 2 hours of my life.  

Now it's time for bed.  I'm spent.  On to tomorrow!