More Rev 3 Pics

Me givin' some love to my #1 training bud

Headed out on the bike

Go Team HFWT (and CREW)

Rev3 Weekend of Mayhem

(Me and Phil at White Pond)

I arrived at HFWT on Friday and Phil and I immediately headed to White Pond for a beautiful swim. Then I got in a fight with a dog. The doggie was super cute so I wanted kisses. We were playing and it mouthed at me (in a playful way) but it was a puppy and my lip got cut open. I thought it wasn't a big deal until I talked or smiled and saw that I clearly needed to be stitched up. I got 5 stitches, though the needle to numb it was the worst part. Doctor's orders were "No swimming". But honestly, this weekend for me was about being with my friends and having a great time. That's what triathlon is for me. It's Phil and Kate and the rest of the CREW. I love training and racing, but I love it because of them.

(My pretty lip. Now I'm like Sally from Nightmare Before Xmas)

Then I did the math... a 70.3 minus the swim is a 69.1. I could totally do that! So at race reg I cleared it with the director and was allowed to jump in after the swim for a "catered training day". I actually had a great time! I LOVE spectating and I got to see my friends finish their swim, then I hopped on my bike and went for it. I was already DQ'd so I decided to play with some of my racing strategy. I would normally have a somewhat conservative bike for a good run but I decided to test myself on my bike this time. Who cares if I walk on the run?! It's just a training day. So I employed "The Strategy", which I can't talk about because its top secret. I CAN tell you that the first step to the strategy was to go to Strong Like Bull. I cut 35 minutes off my previous time for that bike course. I felt awesome.

My run started out great. I ran the first 4 miles at an 8 min pace and was holding back. Then I started to get sick from the antibiotic I had to take for my dog fight incident. I had to stop, walk, try to run, walk, dry heave, then run again. I decided to tough it out because I'm sure I'll feel terrible during IM at some point and this would toughen me up. I made it through with the slowest half-marathon time I've ever had... but I'm very happy with it!

(The new CREW kits and gear look super hot on Miss Murder... contact me to order some)

I can't say enough about Rev3. The bike course was gorgeous and the run course was the perfect run for me. I really wish I felt better because its the kind of course where I can fly past people the entire time with the rolling hills. I'm a strong "hill shuffler" and a FAST downhill runner. I can't wait to do the whole race next year! The post race food was impressive too. There were plenty of healthy choices for an almost vegetarian, wheat free athlete like me.

I also want to say congrats to my buddy, Bill Risch. This was his first HIM and also his longest swim (by far) without dying. He killed it! I'm psyched that he's hooked and he'll be joining us for more racing asap.

And lastly, I'd like to thank my sponsors. I couldn't have done this without you... HFWT, CrazyBitchWater and JohnHirsch.org. Love you guys!

***

I asked for guesses as to why I didn't swim. You guys think I'm such a badass :)

" @ceco911

@holisticguru I heard u had swimmies and got caught with one of those hidden motors on the bike. U got away with the robot legs though"

" @tallgirlky

@holisticguru hmmm, two guesses: You wore a superfast, yet illegal, wetsuit? Your swimsuit was so cute, it was declared illegal!"

" @Ironmanjay

@holisticguru DQ'd for doping on whole foods and gaining a energy advantage on the compatition. Oh yea, then kicking the head ref u kno where"

" @TexasDevin

@holisticguru I heard you were DQ'ed because you lost your cool and punched an official in T2. Is this true? :)"

"@ dylmcnic

@holisticguru my guess is that you have no respect for the courage wolf."

" @romsfou

@holisticguru That sucks. They did not like your pocahontas look? ;-)"

" @bryanhammer

@holisticguru some kind of HTFU game gone wrong? wanted to take it easy on the competition and give someone else a chance to win the AG?"

"@DollarBillRS

@holisticguru you kicked a race official while doing a pas de chat"

"@austinslide

@holisticguru I'm gonna go with three guesses a) you forgot your wetsuit b) the organizers decided you were too awesome to swim c) you forgot how to swim :)"

Moo Shu Vegetarian

(I was too hungry to mess with lighting for this pic)

This week I got cabbage in my Urban Organic delivery. It's definitely one of the vegetables that I like (well enough) but I never think to make. I also usually end up going back to my Irish roots and make a boiled dinner with it. This time I decided to branch out and try something new. I adapted this recipe from one that I found on MyRecipes.com. Their recipe is here, though I changed almost everything :)

Moo Shu Vegetarian

1/4 cup water
3 tsp toasted sesame oil
6 eggs, beaten
1 Tbsp grated ginger
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 small head of thinly sliced green cabbage
1/2 thinly sliced red bell pepper
2 carrots, sliced thin
1/2 cup diagonally sliced green onion
3 Tbsp rice vinegar
3 Tbsp tamari or soy sauce
3 Tbsp hoisin sauce

serve with brown rice or Chinese pancakes

1. Heat 1 Tbsp of oil in a wok or large saute pan. Add eggs and scramble for 2 minutes then remove eggs onto a separate dish.
2. Add the rest of the oil to the pan, then add the vegetables (cabbage, bell pepper, carrots) and saute until tender. Add the water, cover the pan and steam on low for 3 minutes.
3. Uncover and add the green onions, rice vinegar, tamari and hoisin sauce. Stir fry to combine and mix well.

Enjoy!


And the picture below is my gorgeous doggie. She could be a model, I really believe that. She's the prettiest girl I know.

Gluten Free for One Year

And then I went to Italy.

(Me on our snack break during a 13 mile hike exploring Lake Como)

I decided to go 100% gluten free about a year ago and have never felt better. My energy levels are high, my mood is stable, my skin issues have cleared up and I have rarely had migraines. I like to offer gratitude where gratitude is due so I'd like to thank:

1) my boyfriend John for going WAY out of his way to support me (at home AND while traveling)
2) the HFWT staff (and my bestest friends) Kate and Phil for creating a gluten free section of their pantry and kitchen especially for me
3) my family at home for supporting me when I visit for holidays and in general
4) my numerous friends who have educated themselves, on my behalf, enough to be aware that I have to eat a certain way when they are eating with me (this always gives me the warm fuzzies) One example is Grant, who never seems to forget. Thanks dude! :D

So now, my dear friend King Cholmu invited me to keep him company on a business trip to Northern Italy. He said I'd be able to train and focus on my work while getting to see the beautiful Italian countryside. It's not like I was gonna say no. Cholmes and I met in 2001 in Nice, France and he has since been one of the most important players in pointing me in the direction my wonderful life has taken. Of course when I agreed to go (with enthusiasm) one of my first thoughts was "what the heck am I gonna eat". I gave it some thought and considered showing my readers that it can be done. Traveling through Italy, surrounded by bread, pizza and pasta and not eating any of it? No problem! Then I decided... eff that. I KNOW I COULD do it. I KNOW that it takes some advanced planning, including carrying food with me, and learning some of the italian phrases I would use to communicate my needs. And I KNOW that Cholmes wouldn't kill me for being such a pain in the ass. BUT I decided to eat wheat.

(King Cholmu beholding the beautious view out of our secret cave)

I haven't actually really tested my reactions to wheat in over a year. This is the first time I had cut it out completely. I was curious to see how I would react and what quantities I would react to. What better place to test this than Italy? At worst I would feel terrible and go back to eating gluten free immediately, while still in Italy. And at best I would get a better sense of my wheat sensitivity and possibly appreciate my efforts to live gluten free a bit more. I knew I wasn't going to go back to eating gluten/wheat either way. I actually LOVE eating the way I currently do!

In a sense I was trying an elimination diet, where you remove possible allergenic foods for a set period of time, and then reintroduce them paying very close attention to your reaction. I kept a food diary during my trip by emailing with my mom (also a health counselor) about what I was eating and how I was reacting.

In conclusion, eating wheat makes me feel yucky. It doesn't make me feel terrible or miserable but my reaction is definitely not the way I want to feel. Especially because I ask so much of my body while training for triathlons. Eating some form of wheat 3 times a day for 6 days gave me the following reactions:

1. low energy (which could be jet lag related)
2. itchy, red skin
3. achey muscles in random places
4. upset stomach
5. constant mild headache

Along with the symptoms, I discovered something new... I don't actually WANT wheat products. I sit down to breakfast and they offer pastries and baguettes when I'd really just love fruit, yogurt or eggs. Lunch is sandwiches but I'd rather a salad or bean soup. And dinner is pasta or pizza and I'm happiest when there's a fish, veggie, bean option. It's amazing that clearing wheat out of my diet has become so natural for me. All in all, I'm very glad that I did this because I now recognize how important it is for me to eat a gluten free diet. I'm also totally stoked that it has become my acquired taste. Yay!

If anyone is interesting in trying an elimination diet or a gluten free diet, please contact me for support: christine@liveandeatbetter.com

#i8this Challenge - Day 4

(Me asleep at breakfast in Spain, Photo taken by @IronmanBobby)

I should have added catching up on sleep as an #i8this goal for myself. Usually sleep is a HUGE priority for me but over the past 2 weeks I've been falling behind. It's unacceptable. So, for the past 3 nights I've turned in and tuned out really early and now I'm feeling back to normal :)

Some people seem to function pretty well with less sleep than they need. I'm not one of them. If I get less than 6 hours I start to feel spacey, nauseous, jumpy, cranky... it's terrible. I'm also more tempted to eat junk. But it actually makes sense that I would feel that way due to a lack of sleep because I'm USED TO the feeling of being well rested. I stretch my energy potential to the max by sleeping enough, avoiding stress and eating healthy. Other people might feel fine when they don't sleep enough on a day-to-day basis because for them, it's the norm. They're USED TO feeling tired and drained. They know how to function that way. I don't.

When looking at WHY getting enough sleep is so important we can look at a couple of things:

1) When you're asleep your body switches gears and focuses on taking care of the business its too busy to do while you're awake. Your inner janitors come and "clear out the clutter" as Ankur would say. When you're asleep your liver is dealing with your crappy toxins. Less sleep = less time for important work to be done. Sleep is an active process!

2) I don't normally get tired during the day because I take care of my adrenal system. Your adrenal system provides you with energy and a sense of vitality. Having a taxed adrenal system can lead to a giant list of health concerns, like:

- heart palpitations
- carb cravings
- low tolerance for stress
- chronic infections
- low libido
- and on and on...

To support your adrenal system you need to do 4 things:

1. Get enough sleep
2. Eliminate processed crap foods from your diet
3. Eat clean (animal or vegetarian protein and organic fruits and veggies)
4. Stay well hydrated and consume minimal amounts of caffeine

There you go. I can do these things, easily. Part of the reason for that is I understand their importance AND I've experienced what its like to have lots of energy and vitality from living this way. If you're feeling stuck on one of these, email me: christine@liveandeatbetter.com. I can help you or I can direct you to the information that will. I know it can seem overwhelming to take MORE time out of your busy day to get enough sleep. Just trust me, if you start by adding 20 minutes a night and you'll feel the difference.

#i8this Challenge - Day 3

Firstly, I tweeted an offer for a free consult the other day. I'm supporting another health counselor by having her observe the call to learn about my style of counseling. I got TONS of responses. Like, woah. Of course I wanted to offer it to everyone and of course I can't, so I decided to offer to anyone interested, a $30 phone consult (normally $75) if you schedule it before #i8this ends next Sunday, April 25th. Email me at christine@liveandeatbetter.com if you're interested :)

And moving on... I got some great responses from people who were mindfully eating fruit after the last post. Here are a couple of awesome pics that were tweeted:

This one was tweeted by @SamanthaUF. Aside from being hilarious, it's a great example of an awesome breakfast.

And...

This one was tweeted by @LilMsSweets. This is a great evening sweet snack. Have you ever eaten a raisin slowly and mindfully? They're pretty delicious.

And now for MY #i8this update. Saturday morning we drove to the Home For Wayward Triathletes (HFWT) to train and hang with some of our best buds. We rode the Quassy Rev3 course and now I'm even more excited to race it. You can check out John's wicked cool review of it here. It was fun doing #i8this with the group and talking about our different goals and supporting each other. On Sunday we did a 4-mile hilly running race. It was my first chance to test out my running pace after feeling like I've been dragging for a couple of weeks. I finished in 29:59 which is a 7:30 pace and I felt great. I could have held that for a few more miles, for sure. John won the race overall and Phil came in 6th.

After leaving the HFWT we went home to cook and eat some of our stockpiled organic produce. I love having a fridge full of that stuff. I ended up making my typical pre-race meal: brown rice pasta with sauteed garlic and greens. John requested more veggies and protein so we added broccoli, carrots and kidney beans. It was delicious and only took about 20 mins. Don't be fooled by this being my race day eve dinner. I would eat it any other time with more of the focus on extra veggies, though I would leave out the extra veggies and kidney beans BEFORE a race to avoid GI issues from the added fiber.

(We had some issues with our cameras so it's not a great pic. That's a candle lit lamp from Granada in the background)

Guru's Pre-Race Pasta

brown rice pasta
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1 bunch swiss chard (or any other leafy green)
3 carrots (optional)
1 head of broccoli
1 can organic kidney beans, drained (optional)
olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

1. Start cooking the pasta.
2. Saute the garlic in olive oil until golden, then add carrots, then broccoli. Saute for 2 mins.
3. Add the chard to the veggies and saute until soft and vibrant (some greens may need a pre-cook).
4. Combine the pasta with the veggies and kidney beans.

Enjoy!

#i8this Challenge - Day 2

(Meeting my goals in half pigeon pose)

An exercise in Mindfulness...

Today let's try to eat mindfully, as an experiment. It can be one food, one meal, or all day. Use ALL of your senses to experience the food. You'll be surprised at how much more satisfaction you get from your food this way. It's the first step to having killer portion control habits and is especially useful as a tool for indulging within reason.

I LOVE how Ankur explains mindfully eating a piece of fruit.

***
Love On Some Fruit

dear holisticguru,

There's a lot of potential commitments we could be making. We could commit to going 'vegan' for a week, or commit to a '200-mile diet' for 3 days, or commit to buying packaged foods only if they contain fewer than five ingredients. Or we could commit to taking a moment of silence for those who won't be eating today, or commit to chewing each bite 37 times. Or anything. But, at this moment, this very now, I'm going to suggest something a little more mundane, perhaps slightly easier, and no less important: Loving On Your Fruit.

I'm going to dare you, that's right, dare you, to take this pledge along with me. Starting today. Holy now. Until eternity or a week goes by -- whichever comes fruit -- We are going to Love On Our Fruit, at least once day.

And by Love On Your Fruit, I don't mean buy a fancy pineapple in a plastic box from the local chain health store. I mean, have a real Moment with the fruit. Take it from it's wholeness, peel and all, and place it reverently on a big clean cutting board. Stare it down. Gawk. Whistle at how beautiful it is. Let your mind wander.

Bring yourself back to the moment. Cut it or peel it*. Separate the edible from the compost. Array in a nice design. Sunburst. Mandala. Mandelbrot Set. Take a picture with your twitter, or whatever the kids are calling it these days.

Turn to the light. Close your eyes. Open your eyes. Thank you parents. Enjoy.

Love On Your Fruit means taking it from eating to enjoyment, from sustenance to bliss. Really get down with the fruit. It's there for you, full of all kinds of vitamins and trace quantities of dopamines and psychotropics as yet undiscovered.

Let's do this everyday, for a week, and see who isn't blissed-out and scurvy-less by the end of it all.

- ankurbhai

* The fruit, not the moment.