About how I’m a horrible runner (also pretty bad at biking and swimming as well) and how maybe I just want to quit the whole fit/healthy/triathlon thing and call it good enough. It’s easy to think those kinds of things when you’re struggling through something.

But I’m so stubborn that I would never quit. In fact, stubbornness is what got me started doing tri’s to begin with. I got the feeling that someone thought I couldn’t do it, so I did it to prove to them that I could do it. Only I have no idea what they really thought, nor did I even speak to them by the time I got done doing what I thought they thought I couldn’t do.

I’m a pain in my own ass. I can only imagine how everyone around me must feel.

So, I’m too stubborn to quit. What’s more unfortunate than feeling like I should quit, is that with my school schedule, I cannot participate in the triathlon I really wanted to do this year. Mostly because it was my first last year, it’s close to home and I wanted to own it this year since it nearly killed me last year. So I’m a girl without an event right now. I’m training for nothing, and that is not the most motivating thing. I’m also having quite a bit of trouble finding another tri that is local and works with my schedule. Honestly, I don’t know if I will find an event that I can do this year, but I’m training as if I will be doing one.

I know I’m not the only person who struggles through every moment of a workout. I’m not the only one who would rather watch reruns of Sex and the City than run, bike or swim. I’m not the only one who HATES the treadmill or worse yet, the stationary bike.

I’m not the only one who thinks she runs too slow, can’t bike far enough, struggles with hills, gasps for breath, and works her ass off with no evidence of it when she steps on the scale the next day.

I am a runner, I’ve participated in 4 5k runs. I am a triathlete, I’ve participated in 2 sprint triathlons. I swim, bike, run.

But. I often feel like a fraud. Sure, I’ve done those things, but I’ve never finished a 5k under 36 minutes. I run a 12 minute mile on my very best day, in fact, the 5k portion of my first triathlon took me 49 minutes to complete. That, my friends, calculates out to a 15 minute mile. I nearly drowned in my first triathlon. I only learned to swim a year ago. I rely on nose clips in order to swim because my completely un-athletic brain just cannot grasp the concept of not inhaling water through my nose. I’ve failed to successfully climb a sizable hill on my bike, I always have to stop to take a break. I have knee problems, foot problems, breathing issues.

That runner’s high that people swear exists? I’ve yet to experience. I hobble away from each run serenaded by the grinding of my knee, not feeling better than when I started.

But I keep on keepin’ on. Because it’s what I’ve always done. I always just keep going, even when I really just want to quit.

I just thought I’d share. To let you know that I struggle, a lot, every single time I try. But I keep going, because I should, and you should too. Because if you keep going, you’ll get there. You’ll accomplish something. And while I’ve never experienced that runner’s high, I have experienced extreme pride in myself for doing something I thought I could never do. And it’s a pretty cool feeling.

My dish to pass was far from being healthy, but it was damn cute.

Penguin shaped cake pops, that’s right, there’s cake in there! Red velvet cake, because I guess I’m a little odd, and I thought that would be funny.

I looked around the room at midnight and knew that I was truly one of the lucky ones. None of these people were in my life at this time last year, and I am so thankful to know them all now. My boyfriend has truly brought more love and joy to my life than I could have ever imagined and I cannot imagine life without him now. I am incredibly lucky, I know it, and I hope I succeed in showing him how much I appreciate him and love him and I hope I make him feel as lucky and happy as he makes me feel every single day.

And now it’s the New Year and I have triathlons to train for. The combination of starting grad school and trying to find a routine in a new relationship caused me to shelve my exercise routine for the last 4 months of the year. I concentrated on finding a routine with school and am still struggling with finding a routine with The Boyfriend, but we’re working on it. Whether a routine has been established or not, I can’t push off training any longer, I have events coming up and I need to be prepared.

Since sprint triathlons are my focus, I tend to keep cardio workouts to about 30-45 minutes. I increase the intensity and duration slowly each week, increasing workouts by about 10% then backing off by 5%. If that makes any sense. So for example. A 30 minute run increases to 33 minutes the next workout, then back down to 31.5 minutes, then back up to 35 minutes the next time. So the first workout of each week is 10% longer than the previous workout and the second workout of each week is 5% shorter than the previous workout. Make sense? Same goes for strength training, +10% then -5%.

January through April goes something like this: Swim 2x week, Run 2x week, Bike 2x week, core and strength training 4x week, power yoga 1x week.

I know it might seem like a lot (or maybe not for you overachievers) but it really isn’t. Workouts are usually 60-90 minutes a day, not too bad at all. One day a week is a rest day.

Once April rolls around I’ll start brick workouts, which means at least 1x a week there will be a Swim-Bike workout and 1x a week will be a Bike-Run workout.

Here’s how my schedule looks right now:

Monday- Swim/Core/Upper Body

Tuesday- Bike/Core/Lower Body

Wednesday- Run/Core/Upper Body

Thursday- Swim/Core/Lower Body

Friday- Off

Saturday- Bike/Yoga

Sunday- Run (Yoga if I didn’t do it on Saturday)

Runs start at 20 minutes, Bikes at 30 minutes, and Swims at 500 meters all increasing in length from there.

I will probably try to work in at least one interval run a week in an effort to increase my speed, but for now, I’ll start out easy.

This is the training schedule that I used last year and it worked pretty well for me. One mistake I will not be making this year that I made last year is trying to increase my run distances beyond 4 miles. I have knee problems and the more I push myself, the more pain I am in. My knee unfortunately limits the distances I can run and the sooner I recognize this and accept it, the better. Otherwise I’ll be a candidate for knee replacement far sooner than I should be.

So, are you training for something? What’s your routine? Tips, tricks, insights? Please share!

While I don’t make the typical resolutions each year, I do try to make an effort toward something. Last year I believe I vowed to get my finances under control (check) and maintain my sanity (check). This year? I don’t know.

I did have big expectations for the Eve of the New Year, you know, a romantic evening, dinner, candlelight, champagne, a romantic kiss as the clock strikes twelve… but that’s not exactly what’s slated to happen on New Year’s Eve. And I suppose after spending the past few years in bed alone already asleep by midnight, I should be thankful I have any plans at all on New Years. And I am. Really.

After the New Year’s celebrations I will be jumping into training for upcoming summer events. I’ve given myself a break the past few months, but now it’s time to get back to it. With that training comes a cleaner diet with more protein.  Quinoa is a good source of protein, especially  in a salad. I can use quinoa and not feel guilty for not including meat in my lunches. Since I’m not a big meat eater, although I do like it, just not for every meal, I have to be aware of how I am getting the protein I need when I am training.

If you’ve never cooked quinoa, it’s really easy, just read the instructions on the package. You can even make it ahead of time and keep it in the refrigerator to add to meals. I especially like this because it is a warm salad, in my opinion that beats a cold salad in winter.

Warm Spinach and Quinoa Salad

1 (6 oz) package of fresh spinach

1/4 cup chopped onion

1/3 cup shredded carrot

¼ cup uncooked quinoa (makes about ½ cup cooked)

1.5 oz Goat Cheese

1 tsp original Mrs. Dash seasoning

2 tbsp McCormick salad toppings

Prepare the quinoa according to the instructions on the package. It is usually a 1:2 quinoa to water ratio, boil until the water is absorbed and the quinoa starts to open up. It looks like this; uncooked on the left, cooked on the right:

While the quinoa is cooking, saute the spinach, onion and carrots. Add the cooked quinoa, Mrs. Dash and salad toppings, mix together, and then top with the crumbled goat cheese before serving.

Super easy, super filling, super tasty and it won’t violate any of those resolutions you’re making.

Calories 419 |   Total Fat 15 g | Total Carbohydrate 50 g | Protein 22 g

Christmas is proving to be a bit more difficult for me. Not because I won’t see my family, I’m definitely making time for that and I’m thrilled to be doing that with someone by my side instead of self medicating with mimosas and explaining that I’m attending yet another Christmas dinner alone because it’s not that easy to just hire someone to be your stand in holiday date.

The reason I’m finding Christmas difficult this year is because I find myself suddenly wanting all the Christmas crap I never really wanted before. Like a tree, decorations, lights, tradition. It’s hard to have all of those things when you’re in the relationship-in-between; dating, seriously, but not married, not living in the same place. Two trees, two sets of decorations, lights on two houses… suddenly starts to just seem like a lot of work rather than a lot of fun.

So I decided for my sanity, to lay low this Christmas, and save the new traditions and new-found holiday cheer for next year. Instead, I went ahead with my typical Single Me tradition of baking cookies and giving them as gifts. Instead of baking at home alone, as in years past, I brought the baking to The Boyfriends house which made for a nice compromise between full-out couple-y Christmas and single girl Christmas. Plus, he has a bigger kitchen, so there’s that.

If you’re ever wondering what eighty-five dollars worth of cookie ingredients looks like, there you have it.

My Pinterest addiction is to blame thank for the Melting Snowman cookies. They were a hit.

Obviously this isn’t health food. There won’t be nutrition information on these guys, we just want to eat them without knowing, right?

But I did make some good healthy meals that I plan to share with you later. I threw together a really tasty Warm Spinach and Quinoa Salad With Goat Cheese and after the cookie baking marathon there was Pork Loin with a Mandarin Orange Lime Jalapeno Glaze. Mmmmmmmm! More on those after Christmas.

Happy Holidays Everyone! Enjoy your families and/or significant others. I’m going to make every effort to enjoy what I have rather than lament about what I’d like to have.

Same goes with food. When I was a kid I decided I hated pretty much every food on earth. I would eat a handful of things, including chicken sandwiches, plain, with no bun. That’s how my mom had to order for me at the drive-thru. I made the poor woman order me an oversized chicken nugget. I didn’t eat cheese on a burger until I was in my 20′s.

So a couple of years ago I decided that all of these foods I hated could not be as awful as I thought they were, other people were eating them and seemingly enjoying them. So I started out eating things like onions, which I absolutely hated, and ended up loving them. The biggest obstacle for me has probably been vegetables and sauces. I didn’t care for either, of any kind.

Zucchini is pretty innocuous, as far as vegetables go. It doesn’t really have an offensive texture or an obnoxious flavor. It’s pretty… plain. Which is what I like. I started out eating zucchini in dishes that more or less masked any texture or flavor, just to get used to the idea of eating something I didn’t like (or had convinced myself I didn’t like). Eventually I added more zucchini and less other things until the zucchini became the center of my meal. This is great because zucchini is a low-calorie alternative to pasta (yes, pasta) that I use all of the time now.

I’m currently working on learning to love broccoli, and really I’m pretty much done with that, I’m a broccoli convert, it’s tasty. Next up is fruit, I only like one fruit, apples, which is ironic since I mentioned how I hate Apple. If that makes any sense.

I use zucchini noodles as a base for many meals, or many times I just eat them alone (not alone as in just me and my zucchini noodles on a Saturday night, alone as in with no sauce or other food). They’re great with spaghetti sauce and honestly, I don’t really miss pasta anymore.

Zucchini Noodles

You can do these a few different ways, if you’re not sure about the idea of just cooking up a zucchini and eating it all by itself, you can add some pasta to it like I did in this version. But honestly, it’s not needed, just cut it, saute it and eat it.

Start with 1 LARGE zucchini or a few medium zucchini, chances are your store won’t have one this big.

My boyfriend grew massive zucchini in his garden this year, so one was plenty.  Clean the zucchini and cut off the ends (or use the ends as a place to grip while you’re peeling like I do), then use a julienne peeler to cut it into noodles.

Cut just down to about where it starts to get seedy, then throw the rest out or maybe use it in a soup or something.

If you must, cook up a small amount of pasta (this kind of defeats the purpose of the zucchini noodles, they’re supposed to replace pasta). I recommend using wheat pasta or none at all.

Season the zucchini however you like, this is all I normally use.

Then saute in a little bit of olive oil until it starts to get tender. How tender is up to you. I don’t like it to get mushy, I still like it have a little bit of crunch to it, so how long you cook it depends on your taste. It really doesn’t need to cook for more than a few minutes.

If you’re adding pasta you’ll want to drain it then toss it in with the zucchini for a minute or two. I like to add a little bit of Parmesan cheese to it at this point.

Then that’s it! I’ve eaten plenty of meals comprised of nothing but sautéed zucchini noodles. But it’s also good with sauce. I’ve successfully replaced pasta with zucchini in several meals, including spaghetti. It’s a huge calorie saver, and it tastes great too!

I’m still refining it, but it’s getting there. Keep in mind I’m not a food blogger (or up until now I never have been), I’m not a food photographer, I’m not a personal trainer, I’m not a dietitian… I’m just a girl who writes a blog about food, exercise, and her life.

Let’s get started.

I keep telling myself that I’m in the off-season. That’s not entirely untrue, training for a triathlon in December in Illinois is kind of pointless. But I’ve honestly been a bit more lax than I really should have been the last few months. I’m cutting myself a break since I just started grad school and have been juggling that and a busy social life and falling in love. Ooops, that happened.

But I am trying to get serious about my diet again. I’ll get more serious about my workouts after the first of the year, my only scheduled event so far is a sprint tri in June. I do need to schedule at least two more events for 2012. I’ll get to that eventually.

A couple of weeks ago The Boyfriend suggested that I could package up individual stir fry type meals and freeze them, then pull them out and cook them up for lunch each day. Great idea! So the next day I went to the grocery store and got to work.

Stir Fry With Peanut Sauce

1 lb Rice Noodles

2 Fresh Red Bell Pepper

3 medium  Zucchini

1 bag (7.5 oz) Fresh Sugar Snap Peas

2 medium Onions

1 bag (10.5 oz) Shredded Carrots

Peanut Sauce:

½ cup Creamy Peanut Butter

½ cup Low Sodium Soy Sauce

½ cup Honey

1/4 cup Rice Wine Vinegar

3 tsp Chopped Garlic

1 tbsp Curry Powder

Prepare rice noodles per instructions on the package. Chop all veggies into bite size pieces.

Combine all ingredients for the peanut sauce in a small saucepan and simmer until the peanut butter melts and combines with the other ingredients.

Divide veggies and noodles evenly and put into 8 separate freezer bags. Divide Peanut Sauce into 8 separate snack bags and put into the bags with the veggies. Then load everything into the freezer until you’re ready to eat.

When you’re ready to eat, take one bag from the freezer, remove the peanut sauce, saute all ingredients until cooked through. Meanwhile, microwave the peanut sauce for about 45 seconds on high in the microwave, or soak the baggie in a bowl of hot water. Pour the warm peanut sauce over the noodles and veggies. You can eat it just like this a this point, or if you have extra ingredients on hand, like bean sprouts or crushed peanuts, you can throw those on top.

Makes 8 servings | 450 calories per serving

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Since I’m new to this blogging about food thing, if anyone has any resources that are good for calculating the calories and nutrition info in recipes, please share. I’d like to provide as much nutritional info about each recipe as possible.

So here’s what’s been going on…

I went on vacation.

Lake Superior! Rocks! Trees! Lichen! Exclamation points!

Smoked lots of cigars. These were Cubans, because the Canadians allowed us to buy Cubans. Thanks, Canada!

We went to the zoo and there was a peacock roaming aimlessly in the parking lot. This doesn’t compare at all to the picture of me hanging out with a llama, but I don’t have that one on this computer.

I’ve attempted to make some really healthy food. I’m pretty sure I ate all the zucchini in the world this summer, it helped that The Boyfriend was growing it in his garden

Zucchini Noodles, Mmmmm.

But sometimes I made some really unhealthy food. Blue box mac and cheese, but with more zucchini. That makes it healthy, right?

Good, but not good for you.

The Boyfriend and I celebrated 6 months together. And can I just say, this man, every single day, he makes me the happiest person alive. So much love.

Awwwwww!

I had to shave my beagle (and no that is not a euphemism) because she got fleas.

I went to Chicago. A lot. Like, a lot, a lot. Because my school is there, which by the way is going well, even if it is totally exhausting.

And I ran a 5k. Which I don’t really recommend you just decide to do when you haven’t done any training since your last tri at the end of July. Oh man, was I ever sore the next day. But yay! for running! (Also, I’m too cheap to actually purchase the photo. Deal)

So I think that about sums it up. I also went salsa dancing, saw a 3D movie for the first time in 10+ years, interviewed for countless jobs, found time for dinner and drinks with friends both new and old, introduced The Boyfriend to my dad, introduced The Boyfriend’s family to my family, drank lots of wine and I’m sure did a whole bunch of other stuff that I can’t remember.

I’m working on new content and direction for this little blog, so bear with me, but I’m pretty sure there will be lots of recipes in the future. Food, FTW!