When I started my 2009 training year back in December of ’08, I thought how nice it would be to qualify for Clearwater one day. But it was not in my real, or even my stretch, race goals for this season. So it was to say the least a shocker to post a qualifying time at Oceanside (though I did not take the slot since I started with the Challenged Athletes wave and was thus ineligible). When I qualified at Lake Stevens, I felt like maybe I really did earn the entry. So before I could think it through much – as with many of my decisions – I took the slot and started planning the next 3 months out.

Training as always was a fight to make my desired hours and volumes, but me and Mr. Coach took a very simple approach and planned out the weeks on a routine that stayed race specific, accounted for my strengths and weaknesses, did not have me drilling incessantly, gave me solid rides wherever I could find a flat route, and enough running to keep me off the injury list. Or at least we thought; due to a recurring niggle in my knee I had to eighty-six many of the runs the final 2 to 3 weeks pre-race. The situation could be a confidence killer if you let it; my solution is to keep the mental game on as much as possible. That meant maintaining hopes of at least finishing the run, supplemented by appropriate knee care; and not stressing over an outcome I could no further control.

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I got back from a week of travelling and I’m 4 pounds heavier than I was when I left. I guess the lack of activity while recovering from the race is the obvious culprit but I’m finding the weight gain to a bit troubling. Oh you know me, if I’m not obsessing about something, I probably wouldn’t be able to exist.

The truth is — it’s only a minor concern because I realize that while I was travelling, I didn’t have a kitchen at my disposal but now that I’m back, I am back on the plan. For the next week or so, I’ll keep an eye on the type of food I’m eating in order to cleanse my body and replenish it with my standard list of fruits and veggies.

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Just two short days after returning from Henderson, I jumped back on an airplane headed for Clearwater to meet up with my wife who was racing the 70.3 World Champs.

Although I was able to nod off a few times during the flight, I spent the majority of the time listening to podcasts until the sound of the voices in my head became too overwhelming to follow along.

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Although I thoroughly enjoyed Silverman last year despite the stormy conditions, I had no intention of being a participant this year because I was going to Kona. It wasn’t a question; it was a matter of fact. So when I melted down on the second lap of the run course at Lake Placid, I was devastated.

Over the next three months, I picked up the pieces of my ego and tried to understand what had gone wrong. To be honest, I’m still wrapping my mind around this but I can tell you that I made some mistakes and there were factors that played a role which were not in my control. In the end, I put it all on the line to win big and I lost. It was a tough lesson and I’m surprised to hear myself say this but I think it’s one I had to learn.

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I’m leaving Thursday morning for the race and I won’t be able to cook my own meals once I’m in Vegas. Between now and my departure, I’ll try to get as much healthy food in my belly as possible which means I’ll be cooking as much as I can.

I’ve been focused on recipes which create leftovers in order to have lunches as well. The night before last was an already blogged entry but tonight is a variation on chicken tortilla soup except that it doesn’t contain tortillas or avocado but I did top it with a touch of cheese. The cheese is optional because the soup is delicious.

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When I was a kid, Halloween was HUGE! There were literally hundreds of kids on any given block collecting candy for hours. But about the time I stopped trick or treating, Halloween became sort of dangerous and the kids retreated from the streets and their parents took them to malls and schools.

Throughout the years, I’ve lived in a few places and in some of those neighborhoods, Halloween still exists — we live in one of those places right now. When you drive through the streets of your neighborhood and you see that one house that’s gone overboard for Halloween, that’s our house. I love Halloween! It brings back fond memories of trick or treating and I just remember how cool it was to walk up to a house that was well decorated and I knew one day that would be my house — and now it is.

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We’ve had more weird weather over the last couple of days. What were temperatures in the 70’s with sunshine turned into a couple of days with 60 degree temperatures that feel more like 50 due to the wind chill factor.

I had a swim yesterday afternoon and I barely handle the wind and cold. I normally warm up after a few laps but due to the cold air gusting across my wet back, I was never actually comfortable. I’m in the process of looking for an indoor pool for my winter training but that’s another story for another time.

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We own a Tanita BF680W Duo Scale Plus Body Fat Monitor which is basically a fancy scale that measures weight, hydration level and body fat. As a part of my weekly routine, I weigh myself every Friday and I’ve been tracking my numbers since the beginning of the year. For me, it’s not about my weight or fat percentage; it’s just about keeping a baseline.

I’ve been told (by the people who tell me things) that the most accurate method for determining weight and body fat is the hydrostatic body fat test. My gym periodically offers said test so I decided to sign up to find out how fat I am. The price of the test is a whopping $49 which is a little less than what I paid for my Tanita scale but it’s a small price to pay for another blog entry. And besides… it’s the most accurate… right?

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I was confused the first time I went to Mexico and ordered tacos. You see in Mexico, tacos don’t come on a hard shell like they do at Taco Bell, they are served on soft corn tortillas. It’s a good thing I can’t understand Spanish because I’m sure they were saying bad things about me when I made the comparison. They probably would’ve shot me dead if I had asked for the spicy packets of sauce.

Despite being a gringo, I eventually learned the difference and became a huge fan of Mexican food. I don’t know if it’s the cheese, the spice, or what but I just absolutely love the stuff. I’ve travelled throughout the southwest and had many variations but my absolute favorite is Tex-Mex. In the spirit of the Longhorn 70.3, I thought I would post a Tex-Mex lasagna… it was delicious.

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It’s that time of year when I start pulling out the slow cooker on a regular basis. It’s not that you can’t use one in the summer but it just seems to me like it’s a better tool for the cooler months. Anyway, I decided to use it yesterday and the meal was delicious.

After dinner, I frequently returned to the kitchen to steal a spoonful until my wife gave a helpful suggestion that perhaps I should save some of it for our lunch today. This was probably a wise suggestion since I appeared to be binge eating last night.

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I have a friend who is in the process of hiring a coach and it got me to thinking about why I hired a coach, what criteria I used for the process, and what ultimately directed me to choose one over another.

I hired a coach because I recognized that I arrived at my own level of incompetence. Actually a better way of putting it is to say that I had never risen above the level of incompetence but let’s not split hairs here. Those are harsh words but honesty plays a big part in my understanding of what is holding me back.

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The wife gave me the go ahead to cook something spicy so I opted for yet another chili recipe. This recipe isn’t really much different than the dozen or so recipes I’ve made in the past but I’ve added a few more ingredients, subtracted some spices, and upped the fire with three chipotle peppers and two teaspoons of adobo sauce.

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The name might strike you as odd but I thought it was appropriate since I forgot to include saffron which I do have in the spice cabinet but neglected to put into the recipe at the appropriate time. By the time I had realized what I had done, it was already too late. Despite missing a key ingredient, it was still quite tasty.

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Between my business, my wife’s long commute, and our training schedules, family quality time has been reduced to an hour or two during the weekdays, Saturday night, and most of Sunday. Over the summer, I decided that we should have an official date night and we should also have planned outings.

Family date night typically involves going downtown to the local hotel bar to visit our favorite bartender, Dana, who over-pours and undercharges for high-end California wines. Dinner usually follows at one of the local restaurants where we’ve eaten one too many of the same dishes but they seldom change the menu and we’re too lazy to venture out farther.

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Last year at Silverman, I found myself running in the dark trying to manage my sunglasses on top of my head. I know it seems silly but the idea of losing them was stressing me out a little. I thought a better way to go this year would be to buy photochromic lenses which essentially adjust the tinting based on the amount of UV they detect.

This is a no-brainer for me so I talked to my good friends and Rudy Project and they sent me the Rydon Crystal With Impactx Photochromic Clear Lens. That’s a long name for a really cool pair of shades. These bad boys showed up in my mailbox yesterday in the late afternoon and by the time I got them out of the box, I really couldn’t get them to do much because the sun had already begun to set.

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This was a sort of last minute throw together. I didn’t even have spaghetti in the cabinet so I used up two different types of pasta in order to free up space.

As I’m sitting here typing this, I just realized that I’ve never made meatballs. Or at least not that I can recall which means if I did, it was a long time ago. But I really think this is the first time. Anyway.

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This is more of a documented experiment than anything else. That said, give it a shot if this sounds good to you because it was tasty but I’d maybe use a better wine selection unless you’re like me and just don’t care.

If you’ve ever made risotto, you know that by the time you get done, everything tastes the same regardless of what you put in it. I’ve come up with a way around that by steaming the vegetables and adding them at the very last minute or just serving them over the top.

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The first time I travelled with my bike was when my buddy and I decided to take a trip to Moab. Prior to that, my trips involved throwing the bike in the back of the car and driving to the ride location. Moab was different though because I did the math on the driving time and flying seemed like the best way to get there. Hindsight being what it is, flying there isn’t all that great either but that’s another story altogether.

Upon deciding to fly, we took a trip to our local Performance Bicycle and picked up a couple of their travel cases which consisted of two hard plastic locking sides and three sheets of foam. Following their instructions we packed our bikes and flew off to Moab for a memorable week of mountain biking.

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This recipe requires a bit more work than most but the flavor is what I found to be the best part of the meal. In hindsight, I think I would add more to it. I think celery, perhaps some bell pepper, and maybe even some broccoli. Don’t get me wrong, this was delicious but I felt like I could’ve had more meal with my meal if you know what I mean.

I was actually planning on making this the night before last but I got a late start and thought it was going to take longer than I wanted due to the initial preparation steps. It does take a bit to prep but it is worth it.

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You might be thinking to yourself… didn’t you just cook with olives the night before last? Why yes, I did. And I have a big jar remaining which is why I decided I would use them in another recipe. On paper, this might sound weird but I assure you, it’s quite tasty.

If you’re not a fan of olives, this meatloaf will be tasty without them. Note that olives are rich in antioxidants but are also high in sodium. This might be a good meal to make before a big weekend of training… gotta keep the sodium high… right?

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We are primarily red wine drinkers so when a recipe calls for “dry white wine”, I either skip the ingredient or I wind up wasting an entire bottle of wine to get that 1/2 cup which is required for the recipe. Last night was going to be another one of those days where I had to make the decision but while perusing the wine isle, I noticed that Sutter Home (not the best choice but is adequate) has four packs of mini bottles which each contain about one cup of wine. Needless to say I now have three bottles remaining for future meals.

I’m still recovering from my weekend trip but it’s been a week or so since my last blogged meal so the obsessive-compulsive in me said that I had to cook a meal for the blog. As if obsessing about my training isn’t enough! Anyway, I’m glad I did because this was tasty although I should’ve cooked some rice to go along with it in order to have a meal for lunch. Now all I have is two chicken breasts which is more like a snack than a lunch.

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My bike and I made it to Vegas in one piece although I learned a few lessons about travelling with a bike.

Lesson #1 - The castors on the bottom of a bike box are not enough of a hint for the airline personnel to place the box right side up.

I almost had a cow when I saw my bike upside down on the luggage carousel. I had not anticipated their complete disregard for my property but lucky for me, the bike was securely fastened — albeit a little less than when I started out on my journey.

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Looking over the many things that have gone wrong this week, I could easily get the impression that someone is trying to tell me not to go to Henderson this weekend. Oh, did I mention I’m going to Henderson?

Henderson, Nevada is approximately 15 minutes from Las Vegas and is the host town for the Nevada Silverman full iron distance triathlon which takes place in November. The bike course is very unique and is difficult to pre-ride without outside assistance due to the fact that you’re in the freaking desert.

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Ever since I added XM radio to the car, I get a daily dose of living in the past from their wide selection of vintage radio stations. My receiver has the ability to search for songs or artists and even has the ability to save songs for playback — basically a built-in mp3 player.

A month or so ago, my wife and I were driving and the song “Baby Got Back” by Sir Mix-a-Lot was playing and we both started bouncing around the car like a couple of idiots. I added the song to the song saver list and now when it starts to play on a station, my receiver notifies me. Needless to say I’ve heard the song numerous times and the song’s lyrics are very familiar to me.

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I have two choices: I can either write something witty to go along with this recipe or I can take a nap before I start my workouts. Since naps have become a big part of my routine, I’m going to take that option and you can pretend like I told a brief story and made you laugh.

This was delicious and fairly easy to make. Note to self… make this again. This isn’t really from my Grandma but I’m going with the unique name thing again. If you’re not following, you need to read more of the text that goes along with my recipes.

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We’ve been going through a heat wave which has brought my cooking to a crawl in an effort to keep the house cool. I don’t like eating out for lunch so I decided to cook something easy in order to have leftovers for lunch.

This concoction took less than 30 minutes including preparation and despite being fairly basic, it is a tasty meal. When I get around to compiling a cookbook, this will be in the quick and easy section.

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As I was putting together my shopping list, I thought… “chili… again?”. But that thought didn’t occur to me because I’m sick of chili — I would never be sick of chili. That thought occurred to me because I think I’ve blogged several chili recipes already. In fact, I was questioning whether I had already made one similar to this meal. I guess given the ingredients, you could say I already have but I don’t think so.

For me, this recipe is unique enough and I thoroughly enjoyed it although I thought it could’ve used something else to either take up space or thicken it up a bit… maybe some tomato paste and a can or two of corn. But that’s the beauty of chili — you can add and subtract ingredients and next thing you know, you’ve got another recipe altogether.

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My wife and I are about to have our house painted. When I returned from the grocery store yesterday, I noticed the neighbor across the street, who coincidentally has the same house as ours, was having her house painted. I immediately started to ask questions about their painters and before I knew it, we were caught up in a conversation that lasted about 15 minutes.

After chatting with the neighbor, I went into the house, and if you forgot about my groceries… so did I. Four hours later, I remembered they were in the car but with the temperature being over 100F degrees outside, I thought it would be wise to throw all of the perishable items into the trash.

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When I was a kid, my grandparents owned a home approximately three blocks from the ocean. In the summer, we would frequently visit them and I remember making everyone crazy because as soon as I popped out of bed, I would beg for someone to take me to the beach.

The morning ritual in their home was for everyone to get out of bed, have breakfast together, and then a group of us would walk to the beach. I was impatient though and I would frequently run around the house trying to awaken everyone but it wasn’t long before I’d get the “look” which essentially meant that a beating was about to occur if my actions did not cease.

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The last thing I wanted to do last night was cook a meal but after swimming nearly three miles in the lake, I wanted a real meal. It was either cook or eat a giant salad but blah! Don’t get me wrong, I like my salads but I eat a ton of salad and sometimes I just want to break free of the norm.

This was a really tasty meal and the lemon juice added a nice touch which reminded me of a Greek soup I cooked some time ago. In a future repeat, I would probably add a little more orzo because I found that I was hunting for it but all in all, it was delicious and I look forward to the leftovers after my long ride this morning.

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