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Showing posts from January 11, 2009

Thankful to be healthy and alive

I can't believe the miracle on the Hudson. I can't stop watching it and I am amazed that everyone survived. For the past few years I started to fear flying. I will fly if I have to but it kinda scares me at times. Driving scares me as well. I love road trips but it is the around-the-town driving that really worries me. There are so many rushed and occupied drivers on the road that I don't think people watch the road carefully when they are driving. In either case, by plane or road, I am always careful to buckle up and to always think about possible scenarios which could put my life in danger. As I watched CNN and the Today show this morning on the treadmill, I was almost in tears when I heard all the stories from the survivors. Everyone had their own story and their own reason to be thankful to be alive. So, I ask everyone out there, are you thankful to be alive? Do you take care of yourself on a daily basis in order to prevent injury, illness, disease or an accident? Do yo

Power Test and Campy

Uggh...I did my bike power test today. NO fun! Here are my comments on Training Peaks to Shawn The test started out really slow for the warm up. Couldn't get my speed up but this was my first time on a trainer so it was a little weird at first. I did two 1 min pick-ups and afterwards I thought I would never survive the test. The warm-up last 15 min and after the 2 x 1 min pickups I rode another 5 min. easy (as prescribed by my test). The test was 20 min at max, starting out around 65% max HR. I broke the test into 4x5 min intervals. I got out of the saddle the last min. of each 5min interval because my legs (mostly my right leg, the one that was injured) was tightening up on me. I probably should have stayed in the saddle the whole time but physically and mentally I wanted to quit after 5min. I was never in pain from the leg but just in pain from the grueling test at an all-out effort. The test got better (mentally) after 10 min but physically it was killing me. I tried to increase

Change in weather

BRRRRR...It's cold here!! High of 59 and low of 34. On Fri the high is 49!!! I know it is nothing to joke about when people are experiencing freezing conditions and negative temps but for us Floridians, it is cold. Although the weather is cold, I'm staying somewhat consistent with my workouts. I love my training plan! I feel I am doing less volume than I did during the off-season (when training is just for fun) but the quality of my workouts is killer! I am working really hard at being a smart athlete and having a coach keeps me accountable for not doing too much but doing what I need to do for IMKY. Oh jeez...IMKY is in 8 months! I was suppose to do my power test on my bike yesterday (TUES) but it rained ALL day. I could have done it on the trainer but I really wanted to do the test outside. Karel gave himself off from work on tuesday but it was a bummer that he didn't get in a ride that morning. I went to the Y to swim and run but for a cyclist, all karel could do was wei

Homemade Muffins!

Karel started making muffins last year and now I am hooked. We don't make them that often but with our training getting more serious, they are perfect after a hard weekend of training. We made several batches this past summer because our muffins are perfect for car rides when we travel to races. They take about 5 min. to prepare and about 10-15 min to bake. I have two pictures of muffins that I made this weekend. The first batch was raisin, nuts and fresh apricot. The batch I made this morning were chocolate chips, nuts and raisins. Here is the basic recipe that Karel and I use for our muffins. Then it is up to you to decide what to put in it! 1/2 cup whole wheat flour 1/2 cup skim milk 1/2 cup oatmeal 1 egg 1 cup raisin bran cereal (if you don't like raisins you can use a bran flake cereal) 1 tsp. baking powder 1 tsp. baking soda Cinnamon (a few shakes) 1/4 cup vanilla yogurt 1/4 - 1/2 cup water (add last after mixing the above ingredients) I use butter pam spray for the muffi