That's Amore! (free recipe included)

That's the helmet I just ordered online for the new steed. Hint: Italian. I love Italian stuff--Italian red wines (favorite is Barolo), Italian food (been cooking it for years), Italian men (Mario Cipollini would be proud of my soon-to-be bike styling), Italian cars (if only I could afford or even RIDE IN a Ferrari), Italian bikes (he he).

Speaking of Italian food, I must be cooking too much. My freezer is jam-packed with goodies! But they should last me a few months, and come in handy once I begin doing double long rides on the weekend.

I don't know what's up with my body--but I keep waking up starving. My guess is that I am way off on my calorie needs, especially since I don't wear my HRM any more to give me a clue as to what I'm burning. I feel like a damn Ferrari--I run on high performance fuel! A few other very low body fat athletes I know report the same phenomenon, so I'm really not complaining--it's just a bit unnerving to wake up at 4AM because my body is done processing my last meal (if you know what I mean, wink-wink!) and my stomach is growling!

This racing every other week with big, intense weekends has been fun, but man, it's exhausting. I am truly glad this will be over in 2 weeks. But the intensity has been revving me up in other ways, as evidenced by a recent sewing binge, and today I pulled down drapes in 2 bedrooms and took them to the dry cleaners, drove around looking for a helmet to match the new bike (gave up on bricks and mortar as you saw above), ordered seeds and plants for my flower beds (I always order a bunch of annual seeds and I need some fill-in perennials as well), managed to get in a 2:15 workout (I actually cut it short because I was bonking because I started late and should have eaten another meal before I started but oh well) and I just finished making 2.5 batches of the following, which you just HAVE to try, especially if you love garlic! If you don't love garlic--what's wrong with YOU????

Linguini Fini con Salsa di Noce (Thin Linguine with Walnut Sauce)

Ingredients:
1 pound Linguini Fini (the smaller linguini), or Spaghetti works great, too.

Sauce:

1 cup walnuts
1/2 cup pignoli (pine nuts)
2 large cloves garlic (I’m like Emeril LaGasse—more garlic is better, so you might go for 3-4 large cloves)
4 TBSP lightly chopped fresh parsley (do NOT use dried parsley in this recipe--basically remove the stems, and your food processor will do the rest)
1 TBSP softened butter (salted, please)
1 TBSP olive oil (good, extra-virgin)
3/4 cup ricotta cheese (I used fat-free, and it works just great—otherwise you might need to drain the regular kind)
1 TBSP water (more if needed)
1/2 tsp salt (Kosher salt is the best in almost all recipes)
liberal grindings of fresh pepper (at least 1 tsp.)
pinch of dried oregano (actually about 1/8 tsp., which is like a pinch to me—you can use ground oregano, and it works quite well)
1/2 cup grated fresh Parmesan or Romano cheese (Locatello Romano works best--don't use the stuff in a can)

Put all the ingredients into the bowl of your food processor, and process until smooth--there might be some chunks of nuts visible (not in my giant Cuisinart, though), which is OK. If it is too dense, add drops of water sparingly. This makes enough to fit into one of the 1-lb. deli containers, and keeps in the fridge for several days. It's good by itself! It also freezes well.

To serve, cook the pasta al dente (which is 8-9 minutes in rolling, boiling, salted water), add the sauce and toss with forks until blended. Yum!!!

You can double the recipe and only use a bit of the sauce at a time and freeze the rest. It freezes quite well.

More sewing and bike shopping

I made this shirt for my coach for his birthday, shown above finished and also a close-up of the print. I had this fabric in the house for a few years--I bought it in Kealakekua, Hawaii (on the Big Island) 3+ years ago. At one time I was planning on making a dress from it, but I ran across it and thought, hey, that would make a cool guy's shirt. I have no idea if the coach will wear it other than perhaps camping, but I think it's cool, and if it were mine, I would wear it when I was in a "Bite Me" sort of mood!

I have located all my new bike's parts except for the shoes I want, but those should not be a problem. It's been interesting finding things in my CORRECT size for this bike--turns out my existing road bike wasn't fitted too well to me, but the new steed will be perfect. I went nuts on the components, as this is my dream bike, so everything is going to be top-notch. This bike will be more precious than my Griffen, which itself is pretty high-end. Of course, I didn't NEED another power meter, but hey, that's what I like, so the new girl gets one, too.

If anyone is interested, I have a Power Tap built into a 700cm wheel that I am looking to sell for a good price. It's a Powertap Pro, very lightly used, but needs service, probably just the battery. Contact me if interested.

I seem to be recovering from the last weekend pretty well, although I'm still not sleeping consistently over 8 hours. Maybe I've just been too excited about too many things, who knows? If I can make all my scheduled workouts this week, though, that will be good. Only 2 more weeks until I'm back on a "normal" training regimen!!! Which is good, because by then, it should be more reliably warm out and I'll have a new bike and I'll be ready to rock and roll on it!

I'm in Love

...with my soon to be new road bike. My Bitch (pictured above chillin' in Kona) is going to have a new sister, and my existing road bike is going to be sold (anyone interested, let me know and I'll send you the specs and pricing information).

My new frame has been located. I'm told I will have a one of a kind because this frame is a rare bird--I suppose I could have named her "rara avis," but once I have her, I'll reveal her name.

In some ways, I'm a miser--I don't spend money on the "typical" things many people do--going to the movies, stylish clothing, makeup, fancy car, home renovation and decor. Since my 20's I've been saving as much money as possible, because I have never felt financially secure. Why? Because growing up I wasn't. My Dad had his own business for awhile, and when that folded due to technological advances (even though he's an extremely intelligent man), I believe he fell into a depression of sorts and didn't work for many years, and my Mom took over the family upkeep. I can't complain too much, though, because we still had a roof over our heads, we didn't suffer for good food (my Mom was a great cook--not the way I cook, but great for the family), and we still received Christmas and birthday presents, although they were usually necessities. I did spend a bit more while I was married because we had 2 incomes, but it's just me now, so I'm still careful.

I never felt like I was missing out on much because I had many things going for me--we had a piano, and I could play it. Out of 5 kids, I was the only one who was drawn to it instinctively. I began playing tunes I had heard in cartoons by ear at the age of 4. Mom threw some music in front of me by age 5, and I picked up the notation as if it were my native language, and I began lessons by age 6. That piano is still in my childhood home, and I believe my Mom has left it to me in her will, but I do not wish to take it away while my Dad is still living. It's a beautiful, upright Wurlitzer with real ivory keys. You cannot get ivory keys on a piano now, and I would not want them--but the piano was made about 70 years ago, and back then we thought we could kill as many elephants for their tusks as we wanted to make pianos and jewelry! I loved playing the piano--now I just have an electric Rhodes (88 keys, though), that I just tinker on every now and then.

Sometime during grade school (while my Dad was still employed), our ONE TV died, and Dad decided not to fix it (he had at one time worked for Admiral TV, so he knew how to fix it) for an entire summer. No problem! I went to the pool to hang out every afternoon, I taught myself to crochet, and Dad made us read books and do book reports. So I developed a love for handicrafts and reading.

I was into school from the get-go. Back when I was in grade school, it was acceptable for teachers to single out the brighter kids. Lucky for me, because I was one of them, and there were competitions held in reading and math, and I was all over that. So my competitive streak was developed beginning in the first grade! If there was a prize, I was going to win it, dammit, even though the age group was coed!

In 3rd grade, we had the first "election" for a Class President. It was me against a boy. The boy won by one vote, and I was crushed. Welcome to sex discrimination! That one incident set me out to excel even more and show that I could play with the big boys--I DID win the very next election, so I guess I was pushing for women's rights way back then!

By 5th grade, my teachers knew they needed to do something special with me, as I was well beyond the rest of the class, even the other bright kids. My parents did not have money to send me to a private school, and they had tried skipping me 3 grades when I was in first grade, but the principal wouldn't do it because he didn't think my emotional development could take it (in retrospect, I bet if I was a boy they would have skipped me without batting an eye). So early on I was progressing beyond the rest of my classmates, no thanks to a rich intellectual environment at home--we played a lot of mental games including "Go to the Head of the Class" (the precursor to Trivial Pursuit, only it wasn't about trivia), watched a lot of National Geographic and Jacques Cousteau specials on TV, and my Dad took me on regular trips to the Art Institute of Chicago and Ravinia Festival.

So in 5th grade, my teachers allowed me to "fast track" myself in math, reading and Spanish, and I would just "sit through" the other subjects and keep quiet, unless the teacher specifically called on me to answer a question nobody else could. I went to summer school beginning in 7th grade, not because I HAD to, but because I WANTED TO.

My high school was forewarned about me (still public school), since they would need to do something for me lest I be royally bored. So I studied 3 foreign languages at the same time (Spanish, Russian and German), became a teacher's aide in all three, and they put me in math and English classes with kids 2 years older than me, and I was still rather bored and threw off the grading curve. Yes, back then we had ACTUAL GRADES and we were all evaluated against one another. It was a beautiful world to me! I graduated high school as one of 4 valedictorians, but I am always careful to point out that I was the only 1 of the 4 who had perfect straight A's for the QUARTERS, not just at the end of each year! I also graduated with twice the credits required to graduate.

Oh, and the only sports I did back then was badminton--I was on a coed intramural team with this guy and we beat the pants off everyone else. The very first arrow I shot in gym class was a bulls-eye, but I never pursued that. I sucked at golf and kickball. I would ride my bike recreationally as a way to cool the mental jets and get fresh air.

7th grade was when I took up sewing and cooking and learned to type. My typing teacher was amazed at how fast I was right away (80+ wpm), and I told him I played piano, and I asked him if that explained it, and he grinned and said, "Yes, it most certainly does." I moved up to 100+wpm over the summer, and this enabled me to begin working part-time alongside my Mom.

The sewing thing was initially a necessity, as my Mom had been sewing my clothes, but since she had to return to work because my Dad decided to stay unemployed for awhile, she wouldn't have time to sew so much, and as a young girl, I wanted to be somewhat fashionable, so I taught myself.

My academic glories paid off, as I earned a full scholarship to Northwestern University, where I decided to "have fun," and didn't worry so much about my grades. In the end, I graduated with an A minus average, and I was perfectly OK with that. I started out pre-med, then switched to biomechanical engineering, then education, and finally, I majored in math. If I had honed in on math right away, I would have had a graduate degree in 4 years, but I wasn't worried.

I worked while I was in college, too--for 2 years as an assistant to a genetics professor (mostly feeding and cleaning up after fruit flies, ah, Drosophila!), and then doing night office work typing from dictation. The night job was a buzz, because they paid me for 4 hours no matter how long the work took! Since I was still a speedy typist, I would get the work done in 1.5-2 hours max. But I was so honest, I kept telling them to leave me more, and they just couldn't believe I was getting it all done so fast. After a few months, I began CORRECTING what I was hearing and putting little notes on the finished product to let them know what I had changed. After another month or so, they told me to stop leaving the notes, because they trusted me to correct things! What was I typing? Group insurance quotes from Underwriters. So as I typed, I learned another new skill. The year I took off from college to earn some more money (the academic scholarship didn't include extracurriculars like my Sorority dues), this company (Washington National Insurance) happily allowed me to work full-time, and even as they saw me work live, they couldn't believe what I could do. So they immediately promoted me (much to the chagrin of some other young women who had worked there for a few years), and asked if I wanted to become an Underwriter. But lucky for me, the Group Actuary asked to speak with me about a career as an Actuary. So I began taking those exams, finished up my last year of college, and during my last year I got a job at a consulting firm doing actuarial calculations and working with computer programs to calculate numbers required to be reported to the government about pension plans.

Through all of this, I lived frugally, because it was just how I had been raised. When I got the job at the consulting firm, though, I couldn't believe how much money they were going to pay me, and yet I still didn't go wild spending. And even as my career marched on through my 20's and 30's, it was always difficult for me to make big purchases. Still is.

So now I'm about to drop major cash on a new bike. All I needed was some encouragement from a few "enablers" to convince me I deserved the new bike. I do have the money, and even though I don't live as frugally as I once did, I still do not spend to the same level that many people I know do. But I also love the fact that I can cook really well, sew really well and even fix a few things myself. My Mom said, right up until her death last year, that she was always conflicted about how "independent" I grew up to be. Needless to say, it can get me into a bit of trouble with men, because I am not one to act dumb or helpless. But it applies equally well to other women, who can be puzzled by my assertive nature. Triathlon is a good thing for me because it allows me to be myself 100%, even if at times I appear overly aggressive in my goal setting or race expectations.

And I'm still cheap in some ways. But now it's more of a selective cheapness. I could care less that my kitchen could use an overhaul--I'd rather have a new bike! I should have the entire interior of my house painted, but I can't stand the thought of how much time it would take to move all the furniture (which invariably leads to assessing every single object and whether it should stay or go) and all that--I'd rather be out riding my bike!

My new bike comes at a good time for me. It seems that I go in 5-year cycles, where there is some major change. I suppose this new bike is sort of a mid-life crisis, but I don't feel like I'm in a crisis--just that it was time for me to be a little frivolous.

I'm not saying what the new bike is--when it's built, I will take pictures (good ones), and tell all about it. And now I need to begin saving for my 2008 exploits, which will involve my butt on that bike for many miles. I'm definitely going to California in February to ride the Tour of California ahead of the peloton, and someone gave me another idea for one of my dream trips--cycling in Italy! So those 2 things will bracket my next year, and I have no clue what will come in between, but I suspect my Bitch will feel left out if I don't fit in a few triathlons, at least 1/2 Ironman distance. But so far, 2008 does not include an Ironman.

I suppose I'm also feeling good today because I slept a solid 9 hours last night, even though I had my first near-death experience riding outdoors. Yes, that's right--my first outdoor ride, and I almost got killed! Good thing I was paying attention to the stupid fool turning right trying to run me over and was able to swerve to avoid being hit. The man apologized to me, but I told him, "You need to look BOTH WAYS AND USE TURN SIGNALS." Of course, that nice statement followed on the heels of an extremely loud diatribe, whose contents I will not reproduce here.

It's spring, I'm in love, life is great!

Weekly Workout Totals 3/5/2007-3/11/2007 and Race Report

I failed to best my nemesis, SBH (Surly Bitch Hag) today. What can I say? She was better than me on the day. But at least I looked good doing it and smiled and was encouraging to the rest of the racers and extremely thankful to the volunteers. Unlike SBH...

Maybe you think I am using a strong name for a person because I didn't take first place today. Not so. Me--I just didn't have it, even though I gave it the old college try, and I was bested by a worthy competitor. I am chalking it up to still getting less than optimal amounts of sleep and a crazy workout/racing schedule that has been making it difficult for me to recover. Oh well, my choice (except for the sleep thing)!

Two weeks ago I thought I had spotted my nemesis, and I was right, but today we got to be up close and personal, racing in the same wave. I am positive she knew who I was (#2, we tri harder, right?) and she commenced scowling at me from the get-go. Geez, lady, lighten up a bit! I know I am damn competitive, but that has never stopped me from wishing my fellow competitors good luck, thanking the volunteers (today my man was Ken, who had lost his wife to MS just 2 years ago-- the race proceeds go towards MS, so it was very poignant), and doing at least one thing to make the day fun, even in the midst of a hard effort.

Today I wore a hot pink/black zebra stripe bra top and my lowest of low-cut black Desoto tri shorts. NOTE TO ANONYMOUS: YEAH I LIKE SHOWING OFF MY ABS AND YOU CAN KISS MY NEAR BUTT CRACK THAT WAS SHOWING TODAY. And I looked damn good in the outfit. So SBH is glaring at me, perhaps because of how I'm dressed (tough shit, bitch I have aged better than you--just ask all the men taking a gander), or perhaps that's her way of getting her "game on" (I may get serious looking, but I don't think I've ever scowled at a competitor), and she knows we are closely matched in speed, and we are probably both out for blood today. No smiles for her, though! I am smiling, trying to be relaxed (as relaxed as I can be at the start of a race), SO thankful that Ken is my guy, encouraging the woman I am sharing a swim lane with (who I can tell is a poor swimmer--she ended up doing some combination of pretend backstroke/treading water, but hey, she's here, right? Better than 99% of the people out there) and frankly, as is the case with every race I do, just incredibly grateful that I can DO this shit, you know?

There was no snow to shovel today. I stretched for 20' at home and got a nice pre-race massage. The pool was a bit warm for my tastes, but I should be able to swim OK today, and I did. Still not quite as hard as I would have liked, and I may have even equalled SBH (who is at least 4" taller than me and quite the swimmer, but she was breaststroking there at the end).

Nice, quick shower, change out of my swimsuit bottom (I wore a black swimsuit bottom because I don't like swimming in the tri shorts and we have TEN WHOLE MINUTES FOR COSTUME CHANGE), and on to the bikes. I know SBH and I are pretty equally matched here, as I complete the first mile first in the wave. As we bike, there's a white board where volunteers move a little bike next to your bike number each time you hit a mile, so you know who is on which bike, and me and SBH were scoping one another out. She did complete 1 of 6 miles before me, but I was first on all the rest. So we had to have finished the bike leg neck and neck in terms of mileage completed.

Get off the bike, nearly puke, change shoes (I wear trail shoes on the bikes because they are stiffer than running shoes, and since the bikes don't have clipless pedals, this allows for a bit more power transfer), and head upstairs to run. About 5 other women in my wave, including SBH are at the front of the line. My thought is they can't all be that fast--and I was right--since the entire lot took off like stuntmen who had been shot out of a cannon. I thought to most of them, "I'll see you in a few laps," and I was right. I am certain some of them were surprised to be passed by me, but hey, I think I know what I'm doing.

I didn't even look at my watch or bother with splits, as I thought I was running well enough, but when I hit 1 mile I did look and it was uh-oh, I suck today. I did manage to pick it up for the remainder, but it just wasn't good enough today. SBH may have gone 3/4 lap more than me on the day. Even once when she passed me, I said to her, "Nice run," and I meant it. What did she do? She made some waving hand gesture like "WTF are you doing talking to ME?" Oh well, I tried anyway. When someone says that to me in a race, I try and at least make a thumbs up sign to show that I heard them and I appreciate it, since I may not feel like talking. When I would pass other girls, we invariably exchanged words of encouragement like, "Nice job," "Good pace," and mutual, "Thank you's," even as we are barely able to breathe!

As competitive as I am, hey, it's called COMPETITION for a reason. The word is derived from the Latin word competere, meaning, "to strive together." If there are no other people, it ain't no competition, and I am grateful for others out there pushing for their best and also pushing me to do my best.

So when it's over (after nearly puking, so I did give it my best), I see SBH, and come on, she knows who I am. I extend a hand to congratulate her and she puts her hand out like it was some big inconvenience! I think she only did it because there were other people watching. And of course, she didn't smile. I should have said the big, "Fuck You" right then and there. But I didn't. I said to her, "Great race!" with a smile on my face, and I meant it. But seeing that woman continue to grimace, you can imagine what I was thinking. I feel sorry for her if she couldn't get a bit of good feelings from doing what she did, especially since she won!

And next, I needed to run 1:30, but I couldn't use the treadmills at the race facility, so I gathered up some takeout snacks (they had pizza and pretty good guacamole and chips, YUM!), and drove home to run at my Y. I could have run outdoors, but I just wanted to control my effort and I did NOT want to run hills, and that's all there is from my house.

I had a pretty good run, considering, and I am pretty fucking beat up right now. Tomorrow I have to put on my happy face and give 2 presentations at a conference. Too bad I won't be wearing shorts, because I love to show off my numbers! If anyone tells me I look tired, I will be more than happy to roll up my left sleeve and display the evidence!

All in all, I really can't complain about my performance--it's my own damn fault that I am stacking these nasty fucker workouts over the last 6 weeks, but thankfully only 2 more to go and then hey, a 4 hour ride sounds like a piece of cake! I mean really! So that's the beauty of what I'm doing right now--it's all about making the next stage of training as well as the Desoto American Triple T go well, although let me tell you that will be no cakewalk.

No news on the new bike yet--stay tuned, this shall be done!


Weekly Totals 03/05/2007-03/11/2007
Swim: 5735 yards (3.25 miles) in 2 hours; 16% of weekly workout time; approx. 700 calories burned
Bike: Approx. 89.06 miles in 5.08 hours; 40% of weekly workout time; approx. 2388 calories burned
Run: Approx. 26.91 miles in 4.08 hours; 32% of weekly workout time; approx. 1850 calories burned
Strength: 1.43 hours; 11% of weekly workout time; approx. 358 calories burned
All Sports: Approx. 119.22 miles in 12.59 hours; approx. 5296 calories burned
Sleep: 8.14 hours avg./night
Stretching: 2.6 hours.
Massage: 2 hours

Goals from Last Week:

• Finalize bike frame and component: Well, I have the parts list together...waiting on some details.
• Kick ASS at the next race on Sunday 3/11. I gave it my best, and it was only good for 2nd place, but I'm good with it.
• Kick down the coffee one more notch. DONE.
• Enjoy the fact that I'm on MAINTENANCE STRENGTH TRAINING!!!! Yeah, baby!
  Increase the sleep. Did better than the week before, but still needs work.
• Lose that last stupid pound of weight that is hanging around (although I suppose it could be muscle, so it's not really a concern). DONE.
• Hope that nothing weird or strange happens and nobody close to me or any wild animals die in front of me or bite me. It was a good week.
• Enjoy the heck out of my next week of life. DONE.

Goals for Next Week:

• Improve sleep to over 8 hours per night.
• Less alcohol (hey, I couldn't eat pizza without a beer after a race, could I???)
• RECOVER!