Moving on to a new chapter.

Started a new blog. A Tumblr, no less. I had to actually google "what is a Tumblr?" to finally understand why I might want to use that, over, say, another Blogger site. But it seems to fit with where I'm at. Minimal site design. Easy to post from my phone. Less emphasis on text, more on substance. I like it. So I did it.

If you care to follow the next chapter, which will be about food, wine, bike riding, Sonoma County adventures, and other random nonsense, you can find me here.

Otherwise, I will say farewell to all of the triathletes who have stumbled here in search of good information and motivation and inspiration. May you find what you're looking for, and always remember this:

just do your best. 

If you finish the race and you can honestly say you did your best, then be pleased and focus on what you enjoyed. Don't harp on how you could have saved a minute here, or two minutes there. It's just a race. I know you spent months of preparation on it, I know you paid lots of money to be there, you sacrificed a lot to make it happen. Remember, I've been there!

But that's the point - you gave up a lot in time, money and other opportunities (like sleeping in!) to make it happen. So go out there, do your best, and enjoy the ride. Kind of like life.

April already? Thoughts on this blog.

Holy crap, I can't believe my last post was in January. Where did the last 3 months go?

Well, in that time, I've gone from cautious Paleo adopter to full on Primal. I love it and I'm never going back to bread, legumes, processed sugar and eating cheese 7 days a week. The way I feel is awesome. But more on that later.

Maybe I'm not posting because I hate my blog layout right now. But maybe, more than anything, it is just time to hang up this blog and leave it to the search engine junkyard for mining. I want to get back into social media - namely, Twitter and blogging, because I enjoy it. I just don't have a lot of extra time these days. But also, this was started as a triathlon blog. I may do an occasional triathlon here or there down the road, but I think my attitude has changed too much from what it was to consider myself a triathlete.

But then what will I write about? Probably a mixture of indoor cycling thoughts, Primal-inspired recipes (you thought I used to cook a lot? Ha. I realized that I used to be a person who "cooked occasionally" to a person who cooks 2-3 times/day. And loves it.), thoughts on life, points of view from the dog's perspective (Marney has taught me a lot, too), and of course, I will still write prodigiously on great bike rides and swims. Probably not so many runs.

(Marney reminds me it's good to stop running and take a break!)

In short, I will be working over the next month to build a new blog. This one will stay up. But it will direct anybody who wants to follow the next chapter of my life to a new spot on the enormity that is the web.

Triathlon was a whole chapter in my life. A very good chapter that taught me a lot about life, myself and helped me to learn that no matter what happens, I will always ADORE swimming and biking. Running - eh, well, I'll be up for a run if it's the only thing I can do, or if it's a slow run through a state park that can be enjoyed in the company of a good friend, or if it can be a run/walk. Running is not the worst thing ever. It's just not my favorite and I'm ok with that.

Triathlon, however, was also an escape for me. It was an escape during a big chunk of my 20s when I could have been exploring other potential business ventures. It was a way to say I had to 'be somewhere' (swimming/biking/running) when really I could have been furthering my knowledge. I could have been learning about gardening, cooking, etc. etc.

Don't get me wrong; I don't regret it in any way. But I do acknowledge that I was running from something as I found a sport to occupy so. much. time.

So, I'm 31 now. I started this when I was 24. Holy crap. 24?! First triathlon in 2005...yep, 24. Not only do I feel old but sh** - wow how my priorities and interests and cares and joys have changed. I love my garden. I love my dog. I love Matt. (not in that order!) Definitely time to move along.

I'm going to call it a day now. Time to go turn that grilled Balsamic-Garlic Crusted Pork Tenderloin. 
 

A New Week

Regarding Paleo:

Each day this Paleo thing seems to get a little easier! I noticed that I am starting to think about food the same way I did before; that is, you think up what to have for breakfast in the context of what is available, not "Well, I guess I can't have toast. I guess I can't have yogurt and fruit." Instead it's more like "hmm, poached eggs sound good. Oooh and I can put some lox and avocado with that too. Perfect!"

And there you have it - my new favorite breakfast:

New fav breakfast! Poached egss, lox and capers, and some avocado. Nom nom nom!

Proper Fueling for Workouts

The one thing I noticed last week that was NOT so good was that I need to figure out pre- and post-workout fueling. I went out for the Tuesday Fun Run at Heart and Sole Sports last week. This was an easy 5 mile run - moderate pace, a couple of easy hills - definitely a run that could be deemed "Fun Run" as I was able to maintain a conversation throughout most of the run. Then I taught spin on Wed at 5:30pm. On Wed and Thursday nights, I woke up with my legs in extreme pain - the kind of pain that I've only experienced after doing half-Ironmans. WTF?!? It wasn't like I'd done anything crazy and yet, my legs were in so much throbbing pain that it was difficult to get back to sleep.

Upon further thought, I realized this may have had to do with improper fueling before and after workouts. Even without grains, I still need to find some proper carbohydrates to get into my system. 

This Week's Agenda

This week is all about setting up the year's schedule. I want to start planning for events now, so I can have some semblance of a training plan, and not just decide I am going to swim because I feel like it. I kind of got off the running schedule because it's been SO EFFING COLD here (it was 22 degrees Fahrenheit at 6am this morning. NOT cool.) that I haven't been doing my 6am runs. It may just be time to HTFU and do it. Or find a more reasonable hour (and temperature) to train at.

Update

I’m going to start writing again. I don’t really have the amount of time that I used to, but in order to get back into writing, you have to just keep doing it. I miss writing and now that I actually have some goals again, I feel a need to express my thoughts and feelings about the new adventure I’m on. 

When I have some more time, I’m looking to redesign the blog as well. 

But here’s what’s up in 2012:

1. Not sure if I’ll do any tris this year. Maybe one or two sprint-distance (or Olympic if I’m feeling really snappy).

2. I want to do the Marin Century this year. It’s one of my all-time favorite and hardest centuries and it’s just gorgeous. And the County of Marin has recently repaved a TON of the roads on the course, as I’ve recently found out on drives out to Dillon Beach. In order to do this challenging ride, I need to be in *awesome* riding shape (because I want to beat my best time, which is something like just over 6 hrs).

3. I want to ride my bike. A lot. (see above)

4. I want to swim. A lot. This might be a little more difficult, if I’m doing #3 well, but I’d like to swim as much as I can. But what I know is that just as many folks get “runner’s high,” I get “swimmer’s high.” Swimming exhilarates me so much more than running.

5. But now that I’ve figured out what my running problems were thanks to Dave Townsend, MPT at Santa Rosa PT, I can actually run again without pain. It doesn’t mean it’s the most awesome thing ever all of a sudden, but it IS nice to run a couple times a week without feeling like I’d rather be doing anything else. So I might do the Santa Rosa Half Marathon in August. We’ll see how that goes.

6. I went Paleo. I know there’s a lot of controversy around this ‘diet,’ but I’m not really looking to defend myself to anybody. This is a personal choice and at Day 9, I am feeling *really* good. I don’t necessarily intend to be super strict and never, ever eat dairy or grains or sugar again. But as I intend it to be a lifestyle moving forward, I plan on sticking to it as closely as possible. My reasons for choosing this are as follows:

*I’ve put on about 10 lbs over the last 1.5 years and it is largely due to how I’ve been eating. Drinking too much, consuming too much sugar, not enough veggies, too much cheese (yum!), and just generally living the life that a typical Sonoma County resident might. Let’s just say that around here, it is entirely too easy to get too much of a good thing. 

*I want to get back to the basics in my diet. Eat lots of fruits, veggies and meat, without the extra carbs that are so unnecessary. This diet just make s a lot of sense to me. I figured I would try it, and if for some reason it didn’t jive, then I would stop. But so far, it’s been great. So I’ll be using this to chronicle how I feel and the journey I’m on to take it one day at a time.

The first week of it was a little rough, feeling frustrated about everything I couldn’t have. But now that I’m just feeling really good, it’s actually starting to be fun finding alternatives and exploring new recipes with all of the veggies we have. 

That’s it for now. Next goal: write again tomorrow.