Dry Creek Dried Out

Went for a quick 10 mile out and back (from my house) today on the Bonneville Shoreline Trail via Dry Creek. Normally this time of year the snow is still frozen or just starting to melt, which makes this trail pretty tough to get up. Since we've had such a weak sauce winter the trail was perfect after a few days of sun.

Despite how sore my legs still were from the crossfit squats I took the rigid single speed...

















Drew a little bit of blood (this will look fabulous with the dress I have to wear this weekend)... I have no idea what part of my bike actually caused this but this was a mind says go and legs say no situation.


It was 60° with a nice breeze (that is hopefully bringing snow into the mountains) and tons of fun...

Learning to Love the Burn

I learned a lesson in planning ahead today... don't take your fixed gear bike to crossfit (even if it's only 4 miles each way).

WOD:
AMRAP in 20 minutes
15 Squats at 65 lbs (was supposed to be 115 for the ladies, but I'm a puss)
9 toes to bar
200 M run

7 reps... everything about that hurt. Especially when I wasn't droppin' it low enough on my squats for the men in charge. I got the ball. Sometimes... in the heat of the moment... it's forgivable to go ass to ball.

My legs were a burnin' and I was thankful I left the brakes on my fixie.



Straight sausage-y.

Spring in SLC

This time of year in Salt Lake City tends to be my favorite for bike commuting. The inversions start to become less of a problem and the temperatures at night become more bearable for my fingers (despite purchasing Pearl Izumi lobster claw gloves this winter). To be honest, most of my commutes are within two miles of my house... commuting to the hospital involves 2 miles with 500 foot elevation gain, only 3 blocks of that 2 miles are on roads open to cars. It's pretty fabulous.



This morning I got to ride only with a long sleeve jersey and shorts (wool socks and gloves because my digits are wimpy). Also fabulous. Saturdays and Sundays are particularly nice because there is hardly anyone on campus or on the roads and the sun happens to be coming up over the mountain I'm climbing at the same time. Makes for a lot of zen moments with my Surly LHT. A little bit of Ray never hurts either.

You'll Never Walk Alone

One of my closest friends lost her mother in a sudden and unexpected accident this week. They were best friends and practically inseparable. My heart truly hurts for her and my thoughts have been with the whole family since I received the news. Today I went on the longest run I've been on in months and not once did I have to find strength to push through any kind of pain. I guess things are in perspective for me at the moment.



"Unable are the loved to die. For love is immortality." -Emily Dickinson

"I think every woman should have a blowtorch" -Julia Child

Mama' got a new culinary toy... and it's blue! (not a blowtorch, but still exciting)



Since Friday's are my Monday's I decided to spend some time cooking some things today that I won't have time to cook in the next 5 days while I'm held prisoner in the hospital (for money). This includes about 1.5 pounds of chicken, a variety chopped veggies, and a few sauces from my new cookbook Well Fed. This lady is pretty rad if you're into the paleo lifestyle. I recommend her blog/website for a few recipes to light the proverbial paleo fire under your butt.

I just seasoned my chicken with salt (sea and iodized), paprika, and pepper and cooked at 400 for 30-ish minutes.

I've Got a Lovely Bunch of Coconuts

I spent an obscene amount of money on paleo groceries this evening at Whole Foods (mostly coconut products and meat). Apparently coconut is the way to go if you're avoiding vegetable oil (heavily refined soy bean oil)/peanut oil (not paleo) and when the taste of olive oil isn't ideal.

My coconut grocery list:
Coconut oil- supposedly has a somewhat buttery flavor and can be used at high temperatures without oxidizing. It's solid at room temperature (kind of weird).

Coconut aminos- tastes like soy sauce, good replacement for asian style foods (regular soy sauce is loaded with gluten, other replacements are soy)

Coconut milk- good for making sweet/savory dishes, also a good replacement for heavy cream and yogurt in sauces



SLC Crossfit WOD:

5 rounds for time:
400M run
15 burpees
15 medicine ball slams
30 sec plank

Burpees make my heart beat fast. 20:07.

On a side note: SLC Crossfit is kind of a meat market. Not sure how I feel about that yet.

Happy Valentines Day

Paleo post-run breakfast: eggs, asparagus, onion, broccoli, and garlic (cooked with a few sprays of olive oil)




While I'm not a terribly huge fan of this holiday, I did run in my red shorts today. So festive.



Good grief.