On Friday morning, I got in a light strength session, followed by a 25 minute EZ treadmill run before heading to the airport to pick up Trimarni athlete Stephanie, from Tampa, who was in town for a quick 48 hours for a RETUL fit by Karel. I was really looking forward to spending some time with Stephanie, especially since she loves food and swimming, like me!
It doesn't take much persuading to gather together a group of Trimarnis for a group ride but I promised the Greenville Trimarnis that I would make banana bread to enjoy with smoothies, for after our group ride on Saturday. I knew if I made the bread on Thursday, there would be a great chance that it would not make it to Saturday (and instead, it would end up in my belly). Instead, on Thursday evening, I made a delicious loaf of ginger molasses bread, which was perfect for breakfast on Friday morning.
Ginger Molasses Quick Bread
Pg. 182 from Run Fast Eat Slow
Ingredients
1 1/2 cup dark rye flour, whole wheat or spelt flour (I used spelt)
1 inch knob fresh ginger peeeled and grated, or 1 tsp ground (I used ground0
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp fine sea salt
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 egg
1 cup whole milk yogurt (I used 0% Greek as that is what I had in my fridge)
1/2 cup molasses
4 tbsp unsalted butter, melted (I used salted)
1/4 cup golden raisins (I used black)
1 tsp orange zest
Instructions
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease an 8 1/2 x 4 1/2 inch loaf pan with butter.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, ginger, cinnamon, salt, baking powder and baking soda.
3. In a separate small bowl, whisk together the egg, yogurt, molasses, butter, raisins, and orange zest. Add to the dry ingredients and stir just enough to bring the batter together. Do not overmix. The batter will be very thick.
4. Pour into the loaf pan and bake until a butter knife inserted into the center comes out clean, about 40-45 minutes.
5. Cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then transfer the loaf to a wire rack and allow to cool completely prior to slicing.
------------------------------------------------------
After Stephanie got herself situated, it was time to head to Furman for a swim (around 11:30am). I looked at the swim workout on paper and thought, "this isn't too bad". Ha! I was SO wrong.
Stephanie is a fast swimmer so it was nice for me to be pushed in the water. Karel held his own in the next lane and he swam super strong, just coming in a few seconds behind us for each part of the main set.
WU: 300
Pre set: 8 x 50's kick with fins
MS:
100 at 65% w/ 15 sec rest
2 x 100s at 70% w/ 10 sec rest
300 at 70% w/ 30 sec rest
4 x 100's at 80% w/ 45 sec rest
500 at 80% w/ 45 sec rest
6 x100's at 85% w/ 5 sec rest
700 at 85% w/ 1 min rest
8 x 100's at 90% w/ 5 sec rest
We had a hard time holding ourselves back so I am pretty sure all the 100's were 85-100%!
After our workout, I made a beautiful salad. And no, we didn't just eat salad after that mega swim.
We also had fresh bread and quinoa for carbohydrates and Karel made a tuna mix for him and Stephanie and I had cottage cheese for our protein (Stephanie also enjoyed Karel's tuna mix).
In the afternoon, I got to work on the computer and Stephanie got her RETUL fit by Karel. The fit took a bit longer than expected as Karel had to do some mechanic work on her bike to ensure that everything was dialed in. We had planned a short late afternoon spin after the fit, but we were unable to get on the bikes as we ran out of daylight. Instead, Campy got a nice walk before dinner
Dinner was ahhhmazing. I made a shredded apple, apple vinegar and olive oil (with a little mustard) dressing to toss in a broccoli slaw, to serve with basmati rice and marinara and cheese stuffed mushrooms. I made tempeh for my protein and Karel and Stephanie had chicken (Stephanie and Karel also had some of my tempeh).
We relaxed in the evening after dinner after making a loaf of banana bread for the Trimarnis after our Saturday workout.
We don't always plan group workouts with our Greenville athletes but when we do, we like to have fun. Seeing that most of our Gville Trimarni athletes are parents, we feel it is important to balance the outside long bike workouts with quality indoor bike sessions. Therefore, when we have an athlete in town or we feel the timing is right, we encourage our Trimarnis to get outside and ride with us. While it doesn't happen all the time, it's a great opportunity to see them in action and we always have so much fun. Although our roads are super bike friendly, we do enjoy having safety in numbers.
For our Saturday morning ride, we had Dana, Meredith, Stephanie, Bryan, Al, Thomas, Chris and Karel.
Oh, I forgot to mention that it was just around 32 degrees when we started the ride at 9am and the high on Saturday was only mid 40's!! But thankfully, the sun was out and we all dressed appropriately.
We were so proud of Stephanie for riding so strong on our challenging terrain. She was extremely attentive to our suggestions with her gears and managing the terrain. We did have a few delays in our ride, like a broken chain and a flat tire, but they didn't add on too much time to our 3 hour ride.
There wasn't a cloud in the sky and the cars animals were out enjoying the crisp air.
I had told Stephanie that our roads do not have shoulders were we ride so she saw first hand that we literally share the road with the cars.
All smiles for 3 hours and over 3600 feet of climbing.
We didn't have a route picked out for the ride but instead, Karel was the leader and he just let his bike pick the route as we rode along. We just love where we live as there are so many different routes for riding!
Although the ride was "endurance", it was not an easy ride due to all the punchy climbs for the last hour.
But, the mountain views make it all worth it.
After the ride, it was a quick transition (and hello to Campy) at Trimarni HQ before heading off for a 25 minute run.
And if you were wondering, our running routes are just as hilly as our biking routes.
Karel ran with Al, Bryan and Thomas and I stayed with Stephanie, Meredith, Dana and Chris.
Although we all had tired legs from the ride, everyone ran really well.
Perhaps it was this goodness that was to be devoured after the 3.5 hour workout that motivated the Gville Trimarnis.
After the workout, everyone came inside our house and as promised, I made everyone berry chocolate Clif protein recovery smoothies (with milk) along with my homemade granola chunks and fresh, warm banana bread. Let's just say that there was nothing left of the banana bread and the granola was happily enjoyed with the smoothies. Happy bellies for everyone!
I was a bit tired in the afternoon but I had to get some work done on the computer so I rested on the couch with Stephanie (while I worked) for a little bit before taking Campy for a long walk and then getting ready for dinner.
Seeing that we rarely eat out, we just LOVE heading downtown for dinner when we have company in town (or it's a special occasion). We invited our Trimarnis to join so we had a nice group for dinner at Pomegranate On Main (one of my fav downtown Greenville restaurants). We first walked around downtown for about 30 minutes to show off our amazing downtown to Stephanie and then headed to the restaurant for our 6pm reservation. I just love the vegetarian options on this Persian menu but I went with the special, which was a mushroom, bean and spinach stew served alongside basmati rice.
Karel ordered the Shish Kabob which included marinated cuts of tenderloin, eggplant, mushroom, bell pepper, pineapple, zucchini, onion and tomato, along with basmati rice with lime and dill.
In typical Karel fashion, he was full after dinner but somehow, had room for dessert next door at Blueberry Frog. I always joke with Karel that he has this special compartment in his stomach that is reserved for something sweet, no matter how full he feels after a meal. Karel has sweet teeth (not just a sweet tooth).
On Sunday morning, I woke up to an alarm to take Stephanie to the airport (on her birthday!!) and it was sad to say goodbye to her, but, we will meet again at our Clermont camp in mid March. Although her trip was short, it was a great investment to come to Greenville so that she could get a professional fit by Karel to ensure that her bike was all dialed in for her upcoming season of training and racing.
After I returned home, I was super sleepy so I went back to bed for for 90 minutes to get myself fully rested before my long run on the treadmill.
My run was challenging but in a good way as it required a lot of focus.
30 minute warm-up
MS: 6 x 10 minutes as (3 min steady, 2 min strong, 3 min steady, 2 min strong, 1 min rest)
Then cool down
Total: 1:42
Karel ran outside for 2 hours and did a similar main set.
We typically swim on Sunday afternoon but we were tired and felt we would get nothing out of the swim so we stayed home and stayed busy with some work that we needed to get done.
What a great weekend of eating and training, filled with great people and lots of miles in and around Greenville, SC!