Weekly Workout Totals 12/22/2008-12/28/2008, Miscellaneous Reflections and Recipe for Margarita Pie

It was a good week! We had crazy weather--snow, sleet, rain and ice for precipitation--and the temperatures ranged from the 60's down to about -15. Throw Christmas, a sprint and a 1/2 Ironman in there, and the entire week became something so unique that I will remember it for a long time! It is interesting to note that this is my second Christmas without my parents, and while I can fondly remember many with them, I am sure they'd be happy to know how much I enjoyed this one.

I received many special gifts this year, that I suppose, signify that I have friends and family that know who I really am:

• A fur zebra stripes on one side and black velvet on the other, blanket. I've already been cuddled up under it several times to read or just relax.
• The book Walden Two by B.F. Skinner. I will begin reading it in the new year to reconnect with my intellectual self.
• The book Peace is Every Step by Thich Nhat Hanh. This is a great addition to my small collection of books that remind me of my mission. Just reading the first paragraph has set the stage for my day: Every morning, when we wake up, we have twenty-four brand-new hours to live. What a precious gift! We have the capacity to live in a way that these twenty-four hours will bring peace, joy, and happiness to ourselves and others. That is what I intend to do today.
  
• Beautiful leaded-crystal candelsticks. In lighting candles on them, I'm reminded of my inner fire and the beautiful glow that it can cast on others.
• A sparkly, pink, leopard-print camisole. How my niece found animal print that is also sparkly and pink, I'll never know--but she does know me well!
• A plush monkey that went through an "infusion of love" session with my healing friends who live in Pahrump, Nevada.

I feel like I am surrounded by love and joy and can say that I am at peace with myself. What a way to end this year! I figure this is a good time to note that for 2008, I did the most triathlons ever in a calendar year--5 sprints, 7 Olympics, 4 Half Ironmans and 2 Ironmans! That's a whole lot of athletic fun, and I treasure the ones I did solo and also the ones I did in the company of friends.

I've been reading posts in some forums written by people who did an Ironman this past year who, in looking back, feel like they sacrificed too much to get to that starting line. While I don't have kids, I think I manage to squeeze in a lot of living with the time I have, and I think that if that is how someone feels about Ironman, I certainly honor it--but on another level, I am thinking if that's how you feel then you are doing it wrong! Some of their feelings may be driven by the fact that it's their first Ironman--similar, I suppose, to having a first child feeling overwhelming but the second and subsequent seem easier. For most people, the first time you train for an Ironman, it beats the absolute shit out of your body, and if that's all you remember, then sure, you might not want to do it again. But if you look at your life and figure out all the ways you can simplify it so that you can pursue that passion, if it in fact is a passion for you, then the act of training becomes an expression of pure joy. I know it is for me! Long distance endurance training and racing is not for everyone, for sure, and we all need to make the right choices for our life situations. While there are certainly times when I'm training that it feels like work, 95% of the time I just feel happy that I am able to do it, and know that the mental focus required to keep doing it carries over into everything else I do in life. But I also tend to laugh my ass off at myself, triathlon in general, and how serious I sometimes I think I am. But hey, in the final analysis, all I care about is that I don't totally suck! And my personal expression of the complete and utter joy I get from training and racing is by doing NothingMans! If all the organized races were to be cancelled, I would still be out there training and doing my own thing, occasionally roping in some other athlete who "gets" me and gets this stuff.

I am scheming, in fact, to "organize" an event for 2010 that will be a 4-day stage NothingMan, with a sprint on day 1, an Olympic on day 2, a Half Ironman on day 3, and an Ironman on Day 4. That seems like it would be an accomplishment, no? I'm thinking of doing it in June, to allow for another extreme event in August or September. While there is no shortage of organized endurance events, I kinda like the idea of inventing one on my own. We shall see...

Oh yeah, I was supposed to post totals and a recipe. So here they are!

Weekly Workout Totals	12/22/2008-12/28/2008 This week's totals are sponsored by freakish winter weather in Chicago. We had it all--rain, sleet, snow, ice!
Swim:	8200 yards (4.65 miles) in 2.78 hours; 21% of weekly workout time; approx. 975 calories burned Canadian: 7498.08 meters
Bike:	Approx. 94.79 miles in 4.88 hours; 38% of weekly workout time; approx. 2417 calories burned; Total TSS=256 Canadian: 152.55 kilometers
Run:	Approx. 25.26 miles in 3.83 hours; 30% of weekly workout time; approx. 1744 calories burned Canadian: 40.65 kilometers
Strength:	1.45 hours; 11% of weekly workout time; approx. 363 calories burned
All Sports:	Approx. 124.7 miles in 12.94 hours; approx. 5499 calories burned Canadian: 0 kilometers
Sleep:	7.39 hours avg./night
Stretching:	2.12 hours. Massage: 0 hours

Margarita Pie

From The Manhattan Chili Co. Southwest American Cookbook

Serves 8 (more like 10-12, if you ask me)

This makes a very tart, lemon-meringue type pie, but does not get baked. You’ll have a lot of egg whites left over which you can use in an egg white omelet or make some meringue cookies.

Do not serve this to children—there is a kick from the alcohol, and some adults (wimps) may not even like it!

Crust

1 ¼ cups graham cracker crumbs

¼ cup granulated sugar

4 TBSP. unsalted butter, melted

In a small bowl toss together the crumbs, sugar and butter until evenly combined. Pat evenly and firmly into a 10-inch pie pan and refrigerate.

Note: If I remember correctly the last time I made this in a single pie plate, there was a lot of extra filling. So I would suggest you use a deep-dish pie plate.

Or, you can be lazy like me and just buy a pre-made graham cracker pie crust, or even better, get those baby individual ones. The filling is enough for 15 individual pies.

Or, you can skip the crust altogether and just pour the cooked filling into unbuttered cups or bowls—perhaps margarita glasses would look nice with a slice of lime before serving!

Filling

7 large eggs

8 large egg yolks

1 ½ cups granulated sugar

1 1/3 cups fresh lime juice (about 9 limes)

Note: Do NOT use bottled lime juice. It will ruin this!

Finely grated zest of 1 lime

8 TBSP. butter (salted is fine), cut into small pieces

½ cup tequila (use something good, and a gold tequila is best)

1/3 cup Cointreau (I used Grand Marnier and really liked it)

Since you will be making a fast-setting custard, it’s best to have all your ingredients ready to go at room temperature before you begin, as it’s important to combine things at just the right time, otherwise you can end up with runny custard!

In a heavy-bottomed, noncorrosive saucepan, whisk together the eggs and egg yolks. Gradually whisk in the sugar, lime juice and zest.

Set over low heat and cook, stirring constantly, until the mixture thickens enough to heavily coat the back of a spoon. This happens rather suddenly, after about 9 minutes of cooking. Do like I do—set a timer for 11 minutes, and keep stirring and watching the timer. Depending on atmospheric conditions, it may set up after 9, 10 or 11 minutes and the amount of heat you are applying.

Remove from the heat immediately and stir in the butter all at once. Whisk until the butter is incorporated. Whisk in the tequila and Cointreau (or Grand Marnier) and pour immediately into the prepared crust. If you have more than enough to fill your crusts, simply pour the extra into bowls or cups or whatever. They don’t need to be buttered first, as this is good as a thick pudding!

Chill until set before covering loosely with plastic wrap. Refrigerate overnight before cutting.

Serve with whipped cream—sweetened or not. Raspberries would be good on top, too.

Weekly Workout Totals 03/31/2008-04/06/2008 and Bunch of Firsts

It didn't get quite as warm as I hoped today, but still, I rode outside. First outdoor ride of 2008! First outdoor ride of 2008 on LGL! First bonk! First bit of suntan on my face! First time cussing at cars (OK so it was under 5 minutes before the first F-bomb left my mouth)! Most amount of stretching I've done in a week this season so far! Did the 60 pushups to qualify for "excellent" status (it was actually easy)! Right now I'm eating some homemade spaghetti and meatballs, and I have to say it's my best version ever. Yesterday I made this Italian salad (recipe below) that is da bomb, and that will give me a few more lunches. Eating (and cooking) well is one of the perks of all this training.

I only took Gatorade with me on the ride today, and since it was still cool-ish, I didn't drink enough, and I should have supplemented with gels (or else used my custom Infinit which always gives me enough calories). As always, my first outdoor ride was a shock to the system, what with actual terrain, wind, needing to pay attention to cars and such. And then, there was the fact of what I did last weekend. And that I ran like a woman possessed yesterday. So my legs did not feel quite up to the task of a hard ride. But after an hour of noodling around (and removing a top layer as it had warmed a bit), I finally kicked in to some decent intensity and was enjoying it. Part of the ride ended up being recon, and man, some of the roads are in crappy ass shape after our snowy winter. It's like pothole city! One road on my interval loop is so chewed up that it caused an issue with my Nokon cables to surface--the rear derailleur cable kind of flops down after rolling over so many bumps and holes. I know my LBSG won't be thrilled when I ask him to remove a couple of the "links" in it so this doesn't happen. Good thing I noticed when I heard an unusual noise, which was the cable rubbing against the lower cog thingie.

When I got off the bike, I noticed my legs didn't feel too great. This wasn't entirely unexpected. I probably didn't need to do a brick run today, and it would have been better if I waited a few hours until I ran, but I didn't start riding until 10:15 since it dawned cold, and I had other things to do, so I suited up and took off. My legs felt at least as bad as they do when you start the Ironman marathon. This tells me that I am not in Ironman shape yet, which is fine, because I shouldn't be! I don't think I took in enough calories while riding, but no worries. I was supposed to run for :30, but I bargained with myself and instead decided to tough out 3 miles, which was plenty of running! After I finished, I wolfed down some of my Italian salad and an Endurox R4, and decided I needed a little lay down, which felt great.

After about :45 I got out of bed and started in on making the meatballs and sauce, and I'm eating now (and enjoying a Turning Leaf Cabernet Sauvignon--half of the bottle went into the sauce), but I must go and veg out for a bit now and call it a day.

Hope all you readers had as great of a weekend as I did!

Insalata russa con gamberi

Shrimp and Vegetable Salad

Serves 6 (allegedly)

Note: You can fudge on the amounts of each of the vegetables, and it will still probably turn out just fine. I am rarely precise in my use of ingredients, especially when it comes to vegetables or garlic!

1 lb. medium shrimp, unpeeled

1 TBSP. red wine vinegar

¼ pound green beans

2 medium potatoes

2 medium carrots

1/3 of a 10-oz. package frozen peas, thawed

6 small canned red beets, drained and dried on paper towels

2 TBSP. gherkins in vinegar, preferably French cornichons (available at Trader Joe’s), cut up

2 TBSP. capers, the smaller the better

3 TBSP. olive oil

2 tsp. red wine vinegar

Salt

2 ½ cups mayonnaise

Directions

1. Wash the shrimps. Put them, whole and unpeeled, in boiling salted water. Add the TBSP. of vinegar to the water and cook for 4 minutes. Allow the shrimps to cool; then shell and devein them and set aside.
2. Snap the ends off the green beans, pulling away any possible strings. Rinse them and drop them into rapidly boiling salted water. Taste them early and drain them as soon as they are tender but still firm, in as little as 8 minutes if they are very young and fresh.
3. Rinse the potatoes and boil them with the peel on. When they are easily pierced with a sharp fork, drain them and peel them while they are still hot.
4. Scrape or peel the carrots clean and drop them in boiling salted water. Do not overcook. Drain when tender and set aside.
5. Drop the frozen peas into boiling salted water and cook very briefly, not more than a minute or a minute and a half. Drain and set aside.
6. When the vegetables have cooled, set aside a very small quantity of each (potatoes excepted), which you will need later for garnishing, and cut up the rest as follows: the green beans into pieces 3/8 inch long; the potatoes, carrots and beets diced into 3/8-inch cubes. The peas, of course, stay whole. Cut up the capers also if these are not the very tiny ones. Put all the ingredients, including the cut-up gherkins or cornichons, in a mixing bowl.
7. Set aside half the shrimps. Cut up the rest and mix with the vegetables. Season with the olive oil, wine vinegar, and ½ teaspoon salt. Add 1 cup of the mayonnaise and mix thoroughly. Taste for salt and correct.
8. Turn the mixture over onto a serving platter. Shape it into a shallow, flat-topped, oval mound pressing with a rubber spatula to make sure the surface is smooth and uniform. Now spread the remaining mayonnaise over the entire surface of the mound. Use the spatula to make it as smooth and even as possible. Indentations or deep pockets will spoil the effect. You can omit this step and just scoop the salad into serving bowls.
9. Now decorate the mound. Here is one way of doing it. Place a thin carrot disk on the center of the mound. Put a pea in the center of the carrot. Make a rosette of shrimps around the carrot, placing the shrimps on their side, nestling one around the other. Over the rest of the flat surface scatter flowers made using carrots for the center button, beets for the petals, and green beans for the stems. Emboss the sides of the mound with the remaining shrimps, heads and tails imbedded in the salad, backs arching away. There are limitless ways in which you can use shrimps and vegetables to decorate this salad. Use your imagination! Caution: if you are preparing this many hours or a day in advance, decorate with the beets at the last moment before serving. Their color has a tendency to run. Note: Refrigerate at least 30 minutes before serving.

Weekly Workout Totals	03/31/2008-04/06/2008
Swim:	9600 yards (5.45 miles) in 3.45 hours; 23% of weekly workout time; approx. 1207 calories burned
Bike:	Approx. 94.79 miles in 5.42 hours; 36% of weekly workout time; approx. 2439 calories burned; Total TSS=347
Run:	Approx. 29.04 miles in 4.39 hours; 29% of weekly workout time; approx. 1987 calories burned
Strength:	1.75 hours; 12% of weekly workout time; approx. 438 calories burned
All Sports:	Approx. 129.28 miles in 15.01 hours; approx. 6071 calories burned
Sleep:	8.11 hours avg./night
Stretching:	2.63 hours. Massage: 1.5 hours

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.

Check Out My Jammies! (also free recipe)

I bet you thought this was going to be something racy....not today, sorry.

I finally finished sewing 2 pairs of flannel PJ's this morning. It's hard to photograph them 1) because I only have a stupid camera phone (no, I am not buying a digital camera just for blogging) 2) because the prints are rather large, but I did anyway.

The first picture is of the poodle print. It has pink standard poodles all over and their names--Fifi, Mimmi, Coco, Frou Frou, Lulu. But even better, EIFFEL TOWERS!!! So not only is this a French theme, but it is bicycling-related.

The second picture is of the Chinese takeout print. You can't see all the things on there, but they include: a takeout box, chopsticks, eggroll, fortune cookie, soy sauce packets, tea cups and a menu.

The third picture is of 2 pairs of what I call "pool pants." I have a number of pairs of flannel pants that I've made from my PJ bottom pattern that I wear all winter long for, well, basically trips to the pool/gym. They are comfortable, warm, and since I make them myself, I get to choose interesting prints. The pair on the left also has poodles, but they are enjoying a bit of lunch at a French cafe. The pair on the right are made of fleece, which is also warm and cuddly. You should see how excited little girls get when they see me wearing these!

I've been sewing since I was in the 7th grade. I basically taught myself, although I asked Mom if she'd help me if I got stuck. I took to it like a duck to water, and in high school, I sewed clothes for my entire family, because I enjoyed doing it so much. While I was married, I made Ken shirts, PJ's (we had matching plaid flannel for a few winters and then matching brilliant orange and black tiger stripes) and even a few pairs of shorts. All the throw pillows in my house were made by me, as are all the drapes, except for the ones in the living and dining rooms.

When I worked in downtown Chicago in my 20's and 30's, before the advent of business casual dressing, I was dressed to the nines in dresses and suits I made, most of which I still have, since I was tiny but skinny back then (now I'm tiny and muscular!). Beautiful clothes, I might add--as I have a penchant for haute couture designer stuff. When you make it yourself, you can have a beautiful suit for maybe $150 that would go for 10 times that were you to buy it retail. And yes, I do all the tailoring stuff, except that I don't make bound button holes (I use the machine). I've got some amazing "party dresses" that I pull out every so often just to put them on and marvel at my handiwork, since they are not the kind of thing you wear every day.

I had cut out the PJ's back in December, but you know what happened--I was into a big training phase for Goofy Challenge, and now my weekends are filled by crazy training and racing, and then I had a 3-week spell of working too many hours.

But no worries, I live in Chicago, it's March, and it's SNOWING AGAIN, so the new jammies have at least a month of use in them, sadly probably more like 2. This morning I also finalized my shopping list of parts for the new bike, and shortly I get on the Griffen for a nice 2:30 ride followed by a :30 run, and then it's off to the bike shop I go!

I slept really well last night for the first time in about 4 weeks, so I finally think the stress of work is wearing off. And I've decided I'm going to move my Saturday workout to Friday next week so I have a *taper* for my next sprint race. I'll show that woman who has beat me--wait until she sees what a Crackhead can do with a day's rest. Or at least I hope I show her something great. I may still not beat her, but I'm guessing it will be damn close.

So today is a wonderful, wonderful day--I slept really well, I finished making something nice for myself, I'm looking forward to my workout, I'm going to get fitted for my new bike and hopefully pick out wheels, and when I get done with all that, I'll be eating something I cooked that is so incredibly good--see below for recipe. It's not exactly low fat, but after what I'm doing today and for what I need to do tomorrow (1 hour swim and 1:40 run), it's not like I can't use the calories. And oh--that extra weight from one antibiotic pill is GONE!!! I am 1 pound away from my fighting weight (112). Next week, I go on maintenance level of strength training, so I will be even more rested up for my next race. And tonight I get to wear new, homemade jammies--I am not sure which pair I will break in first!

Life is SOOOOOOOOOO good!

Farfalle with smoked salmon

(1) 16-ounce package farfalle or bow-tie pasta
2 tbsp. butter
1 giant onion or 2 large onions, coarsely chopped
2 large carrots, grated
¾ cup dry vermouth or dry white wine (vermouth is better, trust me)
1 cup light cream or half-and-half
1 teaspoon salt
ground black pepper to taste
¾ lb. salmon filet, broiled and flaked
4 oz. Nova salmon, chopped into 1/2” pieces
1 small jar red caviar (optional)
2 tablespoons chopped fresh dill
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley

Melt butter. Add carrots and onions and sauté until onions are golden (about 2 minutes). Add ¾ cup water. Leave off heat until pasta is almost done.

In saucepot, prepare farfalle as label directs; drain.

Add vermouth to carrot/onion mixture and heat to boiling; cook 1 minute. Stir in cream, salt, and pepper; heat to boiling. Cook 1 minute. Remove skillet from heat; stir in salmon pieces and chopped fresh dill and parsley. Toss salmon mixture with pasta to serve. Top with caviar.

To make the dish even more heavenly, put some crumbled bleu or Gorgonzola cheese on top before serving.