Saturday, July 25, 2009

OUCH!!



Very dissaponted with myself. Finishing up my ride today and I hit the deck. Worst part, the deck was not nice smooth pavement...it was chip seal.

I had just finished a nasty little climb (city park) and was just begining the descent. I was holding my base bar beneath the elbow pads which were very sweaty from the climb. I hit a pot hole and my hands flew off the bar and I went down. My palm took most of fall.

Nothing too brutal and nasty. Was a little bummed since it looked nasty when I was on site of fall. Once washed off it was very minor. Probably a good thing since I race in a week. It did hurt..a lot remembering the feeling of my palm absorbing/sliding the fall on chip seal. Thank god nobody was around to see it.

Thursday, July 23, 2009

Carrot Apple Bread- Paleo Style



Carrot Apple Bread (paleo style) simple means I didn't use any grains. Almond meal as the flour, olive oil, apple sauce, pure butter, and fresh ground carrots, apples, and a few chopped up dried plums (for sweetness). Okay I did use a tiny bit of whole grain cornmeal to thickin it up a bit, but its still gluten free. The recipe and Nutrition Facts are below. Its yummy with marmite but then again you have to like marmite and be from Britain, Australia, or New Zealand, haha!

carrot/apple almond bread

Ingredients:
3/4 cup almond meal
1/4 cup organic corn meal (gluten free)
1 medium size carrot around 6-7 in. (chopped in blender or food processor)
1 medium apple (chopped in blender or food processor
5 dried plums (chopped or shredded into pieces)
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
2 whole eggs
1/4 stick natural butter melted
2-3 tablespoons of oil (olive oil or coconut is best)
2 tsp nutmeg
*OPTIONAL- agave nectar if wanting to make sweeter (maybe 1tbsp or so)


Directions
:

Preheat oven to 350 F.

In a small bowl, microwave the butter until melted (but do not overheat). Whisk the eggs in with the butter, olive oil, applesauce, and other spices/sweeteners until well mixed. Gradually add the finely chopped (or pureed) carrots, apple, prunes, and almond flour.

Pour into a lightly greased pie plate or other casserole dish and bake for 40 minutes or so. Depending on your oven it could be 35 to 45 min.

Nutrition per slice (12 servings)- Based on fitday's calculations
119 calories
8.4 grams fat
1.9 saturated
9 carbohydrates
2 grams fiber
3 grams proteins

I hope it turns out yummy. Its also good as a quick breakfast quickly heated up in the microwave!

Cheers,
LC

Tuesday, July 14, 2009

SERIOUSLY

I will not even lie and just throw it out there. I say this with the highest amount of respect to top three at Rhode Island...I went into RI thinking I could win the race or at least podium. Post race i spoke with Cameron Brown who said it best. This sport is filled with so many ups and downs.

Swim was perfect. I started swimming when I moved to Hawaii in 2000. Swimming in the ocean a fair amount even when rough prepared me for the swim at RI. Lots and lots of chop the entire swim. Even though I said I was not going to lead the swim because of the great white shark spotting, it just happened. Opened up a gap from the gun. I was hesitant to open up the gap outbound because I didn't want to be easy bait. Once I hit the turn around I opened it up a little more. Solid swim which I thought set me up perfectly for the race since I cruised 80% of swim.

On the bike I rode solid and waited for Richie to bridge up so I had a riding partner. He went by and it was like I was riding with my brakes on. Brownie went by, Wolf went by, Lovato went by, Hodges, Evoe, hell i was waiting for some one in the last wave of the day to go by! It was strange because my left leg was not firing and was stuck in a constant cramp the entire ride. Very hard to swallow especially when my build had gone much better then Kansas. That is racing and if were easy the world would be full of pro triathletes.

Run was solid and I shut it down at mile 10 when I knew the money was too far up the road.

Rhode Island is a great course. The transportation situation is not awesome (up at 3am) but everything else is top notch. I will be back again. Congrats to all finishers.

Great event and it was nice to run into friends. Once of my favorite things about the sport of triathlon is running into friends and meeting new athletes. Meet Dion Harrison during the race and had a nice chat with him at my 14hr stuck at the airport!

Positives from the race:
1) swimming is feeling good
2) my biking continues to motivate me. It is stronger, just bad luck.
3) Running is easier off bike since I'm getting stronger.

Back at it tomorrow!

Cheers,

JC

Wednesday, July 8, 2009

RI

Last year i went up to Rhode Island to compete in the inaugural 70.3 in Providence. The logistics kinda sucked as I was up at 3:00am to get to Providence to then jump in a bus for the 40 min trek to the start line. Apart from that, the race was awesome! Great challenging course and great support. I will be returning again this year to try and improve on my time and placing. Like always, the field is never easy. Cameron Brown, Michael Lovato, and R. Cunningham are only a few of the athletes competing next weekend.

I have switched a few things around and so far things appear to be heading in the right direction. Heading into Rhode Island, I have done it the same as my Kansas build. I have had one recovery week and two build weeks heading into Rhode Island. Like my coach always tells me in the kindest way possible.."You bike like shit" so I have been really focusing on lots of Big gear work on the bike. I need to be able to bike with the big boys and this has been helping some. I'm feeling stronger then I did heading into Kansas so hopefully I will still have something left in my legs to throw down a respectable run split as in Kansas. Really looking forward to racing and seeing how my body has adjusted to a few more weeks under Mr. Dixon.

I head out at 7am tomorrow morning. It's race time!

JC

Monday, July 6, 2009

Coconut Crusted Salmon with mango peach salsa

SUPER EASY!


I combined it with arugula salad and sweet potato wedge.

I love this meal! Its simple to make, healthy, tasty, and a great summer time dish!

You don't even need a recipe. Here's the low down on the dish. Mix in a small bowl 1 egg, 2-3 tbsp of a coconut oil, and any type of sweet vinaigrette dressing. I used a strawberry blush/balsamic vinaigrette. Then coat the salmon in the liquid mixture. In a second bowl place 1/2 cup almond meal and 1/2 shredded coconut. Dip the salmon in the dry mix until lightly coated. Bake in over on 400 Degrees for about 10-15 minutes then broil the 2 minutes or so. For the salsa you can buy a mango peach salsa from the store and add in diced purple onion, cilantro, and jalapeno if you want a good kick of spice. Or you can make the salsa from scratch. See recipe below.
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Ingredients:
•2 mangos, peeled and chopped
•2 fresh peaches, peeled and chopped
•1 sweet onion, diced
•1 medium tomato, diced (optional)
•2 cloves garlic
•2 tbsp chopped fresh cilantro
•juice of one lime
•dash salt and pepper

Preparation:
Combine all ingredients and chill. If you have a food processor, you can process all the ingredients in chunks, rather than dicing and chopping. Chill before serving.
Makes four servings of mango salsa.

After salmon is done, place on salsa on top and chow down!

P.S. This goes great with a Pinot Grigio!

Cheers,
LC

Thursday, July 2, 2009

Slow Roasted Tomato-Chile Pork Loin with Carrots and Parnsips

Basic and Good!








This is super easy and very tasty!

You need the following:

1. Pork Tenderloin.
Trim off extra fat if need be. I like to leave a little on for flavor.

2. 10ounce can of diced tomatoes and green chile.
3. 1/2 to 1/4 teaspoon of garlic, cloves, cinnamon, pepper, and sea salt.
4. 1/2 to 3/4 cup chopped onion
5. 1/2 to 3/4 cup chopped carrots or parsnips
6. 1 to 1 1/2 cup of low sodium chicken broth
7. 1/2 cup diced squash

Combine all ingredients in slow cooker (minus the tomatoes). Add a 2-3 tbsp of Olive oil or coconut oil. Let is slow cook for about 3-4 hours on low. Then the last hour add the tomatoes, stir, and any extra seasoning to taste. I like to use a touch of cumin as well.
All together it takes 5 hours to cook or less on low (depending on the size of the pork tenderloin).

Serve over spinach with diced Gouda on top. Or if you're a carbohydrate lover, serve over brown rice. Lots of juice left over so it can easily be made into a stew.

Enjoy!

LC