Ely Cabin Weekend
Saturday February 28th 2009, 11:49 am
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Just in case you are not one of my friends on Facebook, here are the pictures from our recent trip to Ely, MN. It was a super-fun trip. We had a BLAST. After our amazing dog sledding trip in 2008, I guess we couldn’t stay away from Ely. Although, this time, we enjoyed it from the comfort of a cabin with our own dogs. :)Color of the Cross 2: The Resurrection releaseRace to Witch Mountain dvdrip Vampires Anonymous Heat move Frame of Mind dvd
'lil update (and a mini-Vassaloppet race report)
Hola. I’m sitting here at my desk digesting my breakfast and gearing up for a long workout at the club and I figured I might as well log in and tell ya’ll what I’m up to. I haven’t forced myself to sit down and write my Vassaloppet race report. But I will say the 35k ski race was way easier than I’d expected. Although, the conditions were super fast which made the experience a lovely 2.5 hour trek instead of the 4 hour slog that I’d expected. Every time I’d come across a sign indicating how much distance was left, I was amazed that I only had 18k left. Or 15k left. Or 10k left. Or only 3k left. It was so unlike any long race I’ve ever done — those long races where each final mile or kilometer stretches out to infinity and you just want it to be over. I guess that’s the upside to being mentally committed to a 4 hour race. That makes 2.5 hours seem like a breeze.
That said, I did finish almost dead last in my division. I was #11 out of #12. Yes, I’m totally a newbie skier and it’s humbling to be so back-of-the-pack again. Of course, I think I can also admit that I didn’t push myself like I do in triathlons or other races. My heart rate was more in the upper 140s / lower 150s with the exception of a few hills. I’m just not that confident to go fast or hard yet. My technical skills are rough and the slightest imbalance throws me down on my ass. I was too scared to fall in the middle of the race to push too hard. I know when I go hard skiing, I start to lose form and the last thing I wanted to do was cause a pile-up at the Mora Vassaloppet.
This was a crowded race in my limited experience. I probably did start too far back in the pack and was stuck behind a lot of slower skiers for the first 10-12k of the race, I found a few ladies to follow and would try and stick with them when they passed other skiers. But it was a challenge and sometimes I’d just have to resolve to stick behind someone until the trail would open up. Passing is not my forte. It’s SOOOO much easier on the bike without all those poles and sticks in the way.
I was the last of our ski team to finish and was it was nice to see my crew at the end. I was pretty psyched that I’d survived and that it’d been so fun. It was such a glorious day to ski. Everyone said it was perfect. I almost don’t want to do another race because it was so great. I can only imagine that those perfect conditions don’t come very often.
In other news, I’ve been crazy busy at work. I know, what’s new? And isn’t EVERYONE crazy busy at work. But I do finding it very hard to separate my personal life from work and I’m not doing a very good job AT ALL on the work / life balance thing. In fact, I have a half-filled out application for Bolder Options that shouldn’t be too hard to complete but I’ve been sitting on it for a month now. I just need to fill in my references. But, truth be told, the time commitment makes me nervous. It’s something I need to do. But it scares me. 2 hours per week is a lot and you’re committed to a kid. If I do this, I have to do it right. I have to make the time.
But work HAS been fun. I so dig what I do. I’m lucky to work where I do. Shit, I’m lucky to have a job in this current economy and then to adore the industry I’m in, well, that’s a special thing. And even better than the regular Web site *stuff* we do, we launched both an iPhone app AND a very cute (I hate this word, but I’m going to use it because that’s what it is) viral video for Valentine’s day. Both super-tiny, scrappy projects. But exciting things in the space and it’s been fun to watch them gain traction.
As for my training, I was doing pretty good since the start of the year. I selected my race schedule pretty early this year and started training pretty regularly on my Training Peaks.com regime. Then the Vassaloppet happened two weekends ago and a fun cabin trip to Ely happened last weekend, so I’ve fallen off the wagon a bit and am looking to get back on starting today with a swim / spin / weights workout at the club. I’m going to do an early half ironman this year (yes, Sascha, I’m going to do Liberty!). I’m then going to sprinkle in some sprints & Olympic distance races throughout the summer with my focus being the Twin Cities Marathon in October. I’ve had two marathons now that I’ve not been that jazzed about my time. I think this will be the year. But I do need to really focus on my running. I also need to focus on my weight.
Ahhh. What a segue. Not that I really want to talk about it, but as long as I’m giving you the update, I might as well paint the whole picture. My weight is up. It’s up higher than it’s been in years. For a while, it wasn’t that big a deal because I was still fitting in my clothing. But now almost all my jeans are tight. It’s kind of bugged me because I’m not doing anything all that different than how I maintained a few years ago. I still workout like mad. I do have my wine and cocktails. I know I haven’t tracked all my food. But to gain like I have in the past year, something in my body has changed. It’s probably age. I know the metabolism slows down. But whatever the excuse, it’s indicative that something does need to change. I need to focus.
I started back with Weight Watchers online back in mid-January. I saw some success the two weeks that I actually tracked everything. But then, again, Vassaloppet and the Ely Cabin weekend distracted me. I feel off the wagon. I didn’t track and I already feel like the 2 lbs. that I lost at the end of January are already back. My body is very unforgiving right now.
So, that’s that. I’m back to counting today. I’m headed to the gym. I’m not all that crazy about where I am weight-wise, but I have some fun races coming up and I feel more focused on training than I was last year. I’m also having a blast at work — which is a good thing when you work as much as I do.
Okay. Cereal digested. I needs to hit the club.
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Best "2-Point" Dinner. Ever.
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It’s basically the Shiratake noodles, laughing cow cheese, low-fat sour cream & parmesan. I made it mostly because I was desperate. I’ve had these Shiratake noodles in the house forever and haven’t done anything with them. I also didn’t feel like making a big dinner. And I wanted something to eat — immediately. I went onto HungryGirl.com because I know she cooks with these noodles often and I came across the Fettuccine knock-off recipe. It didn’t sound as great to me as it sounded fast and easy.
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(80 Calories, 3g Fat, 242mg Sodium, 9g Carbs, 4g Fiber, <1g Sugars, 4g Protein = 1 Point!!!)
This recipe will rock your world. Share it with everyone you know...ASAP!
Ingredients:
1 Package Tofu Shirataki Fettuccine Shaped Tofu Noodles
1/2 Wedge The Laughing Cow Light Cheese
1 teaspoon Fat Free Sour Cream
2 teaspoons Kraft Reduced Fat Parmesan Cheese
Salt & Pepper (if desired)
Rinse fettuccine noodles VERY well. Microwave them for one minute, then drain them and pat dry. Add cheeses and sour cream. Mix thoroughly. Microwave to help melt cheese further, and mix some more. Add salt and pepper to taste. Enjoy. Serves 1.
This Fettucine Hungry Girlfredo has just 80 calories per serving, and is only 1 point on Weight Watchers (if you're counting). This is the guilt-free recipe of the century!
I put it all together. Instead of the non-fat sour cream and fat-free parmesan, I actually used low-fat sour cream and regular parmesan (because that’s all I had). I also used an entire wedge of Laughing Cow (didn’t really want to save half a wedge). My changes probably make the recipe 2 points instead of 1 — but that’s still super low.
And now for an even dirtier secret: on top of the salt & pepper to taste, I also added a sprinkle of Bacos.
Yes, Bacos.
I know that sounds crazy, ghetto and gross. But it actually gave the dish a little bit of a “carbonara” flavor. AND Bacos are completely vegetarian (did you know that?) — so it’s really not that different than Morningstar Farms veggie bacon.
At the end of it, I had a dinner that was about 130 calories, super filling and pretty satisfying because it’s cheesy and noodley, almost like grown-up macaroni & cheese. I was also impressed on how nuking the noodles and then draining and patting them dry actually do make the tofu noodle seem like pasta. All in all, this is a nice recipe to have in my arsenal when I’m low in points, want something comforting and don’t want to spent any time in the kitchen:
Oh, and by the way, I completed my 35k ski race yesterday!! A complete race report will follow.download For the Love of Benji
