June 2014 - Page 2 of 7 - My Healthy, Happier Life

I finished last week’s training feeling good about the headway I’ve made. I only logged one swim workout and one bike ride but with more than a month until my sprint triathlon, I feel okay. More importantly I finished the week feeling balanced and energized. I wasn’t overly sore but a few of the workouts definitely pushed me into the discomfort zone.

Last week’s workouts:

Monday: Oh the run from hell. I worried that this would shape my entire week as this after work 4 mile run was just plain horrible. My body was sore from overtraining the week before, it was super hot and I was exhausted. Sometimes running after work is a blessing but today it was a curse.

Tuesday: My body nor my mind were in swim practice but I pushed through and ended up finishing 1 mile in around 45 minutes including some sprints and mixed stroke work. The time in the pool definitely helped my soreness and my mentality more than expected.

Wednesday: This was definitely my hardest speed work yet as it included the dreaded mile repeats. I surprised myself by really enjoying it by the end! The workout included 1 mile warm-up, 3 mile repeats (7:53, 7:51, 8:01) followed by a 1 mile cool-down. I was dead at the end but it felt awesome!

Thursday: Katie and I switched things up this week and went to yoga together on Thursday instead of Tuesday. The class couldn’t have been more perfect. It was 75 minutes of sweat inducing flow yoga including some long holds and lots of inversion practice on a rooftop! We laughed together and pushed each other to go a bit further in this practice and the results really showed. Both of us left the class smiling and feeling stronger!

Friday: I’m starting to love these Friday rest days! There is nothing better than sleeping until 7:30 and getting to head to work relaxed with a homemade iced coffee in hand on a Friday.

Saturday: My mantra for this run was slow and steady. When talking to Theodora the other day I told her that my prescribed pace of 9:50-9:55 seemed so slow for long runs. I was tempted to try and push it even though that goes against the training plan. Luckily she told me to look back at DailyMile and remind myself how far I’ve come in the past 4 years. When I trained for my first marathon most of my long runs were around 11:30. This helped put my mind in the right perspective that 9:50 may be slower than my average runs are but I have never maintained a pace better than 11:10 for a marathon so hello – this is a fabulous pace. I checked my Garmin more frequently than normal to ensure that I maintained my goal pace. The rest of the time I zoned out to my music and took in the gorgeous views along the lake. The weather was perfect, I saw a few friends during the run and I had a wonderful lake day filled with rose, relaxation and friends greeting me at the end of 11 miles.

Sunday: I woke up more sore than normal in part due to my long run but I think my sunburn exacerbated things. It took every ounce of will power to kick my butt out the door for a solo bike ride around 4pm. I told myself that I just had to clip in and do a few miles. If I was sore and miserable I could turn around and call it a day. This trick always works and an hour later I found myself returning home. The ride wasn’t perfect as I had to avoid the lake due to all the barbeques and people but I still logged a 17 mile ride by myself. My goal this week is to find a route that I really enjoy.

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I hope you all enjoyed the Summer Solstice, also known as the 1st day of Summer or the longest day of the year!

We started the day with a sweat. Around 9, Bo and I each headed out for our respective long workouts. Even though we didn’t work out together it makes waking up on a Saturday that much easier when there is someone to provide extra motivation. Bo headed out for a 50k bike ride while I headed to the lake for a long run.

After focusing on speed lately, transitioning to long run mentality has been difficult these past few weeks. I spent more time checking my Garmin yesterday than normal but it paid off as I kept perfect splits for 11 miles. My goal pace was between 9:50-9:55 and I kept an average pace of 9:51! My goal for the Berlin Marathon is a sub 4:30. If I can maintain this same pace as I increase my mileage than hopefully that goal can evolve into a sub 4:20.

After quick showers we met up with a few of our friends for an afternoon of sunshine at the Wakeboard Center. A great area for an afternoon on the lake the Wakeboard Center has a great mix of options including 2 bars, restaurant, stand up paddle boarding, wakeboarding, in addition to space for relaxing on the beach, floating dock and rocks. We preferred it over Geneve Plage as it had far less kids and entrance is free.

We ended up hanging out the beach for seven hours mixing up sun and relaxation time with two swims and a wakeboard session. While I didn’t wakeboard the wives hopped on the boat to balance out the boat and watch our husband’s wakeboard on the lake. It was so much fun and definitely makes me want to go sometime this summer even though I’ve never wake boarded before!

After so much sun, fresh air and a few glasses of wine it was difficult to rally but after another round of showers and some much needed aloe we continued the fun with dinner and drinks in between taking in the Fete de la Musique, an annual music festival in Geneva. Unfortunately the only picture we took all night is a blurry one.

How did you celebrate the longest day of the year?

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Nothing screams summer quite like a cold soup and when I think of cold soup, I think of gazpacho.

Now, I know that there are other cold soups: cucumber, melon, vichyssoise, the list goes on. That said, gazpacho has always been my favorite. The ripe summer tomatoes, the slight spice, and the complexity of the herbs and vegetables all complement each other perfectly. Add the fact that this soup is, by its very nature vegan, raw and can be gluten-free, and you have the perfect healthy dish for any hot summer day.

Many of you may know that gazpacho comes in many forms. There are variations with melon, various types of citrus, yellow tomatoes (if you can find them this is a beautiful soup) and many other twists on the basic formula. In addition, the garnishes can be simple (one piece of cilantro for example) or more complex (last night’s had a cilantro pesto (Spanish variation on the Italian classic) along with some crème fresh). Also, the consistency of gazpacho varies significantly. You can find gazpacho that is chunky and crunchy where you will actually end up chewing the soup, or smooth and totally pureed.

Personally, I prefer smooth gazpacho not only because the flavors blend better but the prep work is also much easier as long as you have a good blender (you don’t have to chop the veggies in even pieces for example).

Below you’ll find the recipe for last night’s gazpacho and the pesto garnish. Just as a note, I omitted the EVOO and the bread to keep it healthy and gluten-free. Enjoy!

One final thing – a quick trick to peel tomatoes: bring a pot of water to boil, cut X’s in the bottom of the tomatoes with a paring knife and plunge them in the water for 30 sec to 1 min. When they come out, you should be able to pull the skin easily from the bottom of the tomato.

Ingredients:

For the gazpacho:

10 medium ripe tomatoes, peeled and chopped

1 medium red onion, chopped

1 cucumber, peeled, seeded, chopped

1 red or yellow bell pepper seeded and chopped

2 stalks celery, chopped

2 Tbsp chopped fresh parsley

2 Tbsp chopped fresh chives

1 clove garlic, minced (use of a garlic press is okay)

1/4 cup red wine vinegar

1/4 cup olive oil (optional)

1/4 cup of day old bread to thicken (optional)

2 Tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice

2 teaspoons sugar

Salt and fresh ground pepper to taste

A few drops of Tabasco sauce to taste

For the pesto:

2 cups of cilantro leaves packed

1/3 cup raw white almonds (don’t use the type with brown skin – if you can’t find white almonds use pine nuts)

1/4 cup EVOO (plus more if needed)

salt and pepper to taste

Preparation (this is the easy part):

For the gazpacho:

Combine all ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth.

For the pesto:

Combine all ingredients in a small food processor and mix until smooth.

Serving:

Put a serving of gazpacho in a bowl. Top with one spoonful of pesto and one of crème fresh.

Do you have any gazpacho variations or garnishes that you particularly enjoy?

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Geneva Triathlon Training – Finding Balance

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Happy First Day of Summer

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Cooking with Bo: Summer Gazpacho

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