QOTW

"Training is the opposite of hoping." - Nike

Now off to go clean and fix someone lunch...I mean train  :)

QOTW

The only one who can tell you 'you can't' is you, 

and you don't have to listen    ~Nike

I'm not a Nike endorser per say (there are only 2 things Nike at our house I think), but they have some good quotes I found online.  I'll put one up every week for a while

Favorite things Friday!

Hey all!  I'm feeling better these days and working out well the last couple of weeks.  Been following my Ironman St George plan from this time last year which is fun.  I've been asked if I'd do it this year if I kept following the plan and we didn't get pregnant and I'd probably still say no.  Probably.  I would absolutely LOVE to do Ironman again, including IMSG, but where I just wasn't planning on it 3 weeks ago and I don't have all the base I did last year this time, I'm not sure.  I want to do really well and smash up my time a bit, so I'd like to be really prepared.  I am really excited to watch the action this year too.  We shall see.  For now I'm just enjoying being active again.  I'm going nordic skiing (skate style) tomorrow for the first time in a year, we'll see how that goes!  I really like it, it's an amazing hard workout, but I'm not great at it.  Hopefully I come home unbroken with everything intact  :)

So, haven't done one of these for a while, but have been meaning too.  This is a product we use at my house ALL the time, like daily.  And what's nice is it's cheap.  These Nature Made Immuni-C packets are great!  Just like Emergen-C, I just get the 72 packet Costco version to save some money, but you can find name brand Emergen-C on sale fairly often.  Anyway, this baby is packed with 1000mg of a very absorbable kind of Vitamin C (better than pills), as well as 17 other vitamins and minerals.  I put it in all of my smoothies or recovery drinks.  Here's a quick recipe for the smoothies we do around here in our Magic Bullet (we have a Kohls generic one too that works great, just get em when they're on sale for like $20)

• 1 cup 100% juice, usually apple, sometimes orange, grape, or some other 100% blend
• However much more water you need for your desired consistency
• Packet of Immuni-C
• Splash of Flaxseed Oil (maybe a tablespoon?)
• Handful or raw spinach (no you really cannot taste either the spinach or oil)
  Blend - the first blend is optional, it just helps blend the spinach finer
• Add a cup or so of frozen or fresh fruit - superfood blueberries are my favorite, bananas, pineapple are good too.  We get a bag of blueberries and a bag of mixed fruit frozen from Costco to use
• A scoop (roughly 12-20grams worth) of protein depending on the workout length, intensity, and body weight.  I use 100% whey isolate for long or hard workouts and post race, a blend of isolate and concentrate like Interphase for not as intense workouts.
• A scoop of HEED or Carbopro  (if you use HEED and juice together the drink will be really sweet, just fyi) to get to that 3:1 or 4:1 carb to protein ratio
  
  Blend and drink!

If I don't have time for a smoothie or I'm away from home I'll just do the water, Immuni-C, protein, carb powder in a water bottle and shake it up.  You can even add the powders in there before hand so you just have to add water, no measuring away from home.  The recovery powders like Ultragen or Recoverite are great, I just prefer the fresher nutrients and lower cost of my shakes when I'm home.  I will use the powders after races sometimes though for convenience sake.
If the shake is not a recovery shake, just something during the day, leave our the carb powder, and the juice for that matter if you want, which is just in there for more quick absorbing carbs.  We don't usually need more help getting carbs in our regular everyday diet.  You may also use less protein.  And if I haven't had a shake at all in a day (which is rare, I try to get all that good stuff in every day) or if I'm feeling a cold or illness come on I'll just have a Immuni-C packet in a 6oz glass of cold water.  I'll do 2-3/day with a cold.  Doesn't taste horrible alone, but some people think it's an odd taste, I don't mind it for what it gives me.

So there you go.  Want a packet or two?  I'm not going to do this contest style, you just leave me a comment in the comments and I will send the first 10 people some!  Unless we see each other regularly, email me at leslie@powertri.com with your address and a message mentioning this post and I'll send some out.  Happy Friday all!

* NOTE:  My costco stopped carrying this brand, so you'll want to look for Emergen-C.  5-31-11

My 2010 teamates

Congrats guys!  It was a great season and you all are so talented and so much fun!  I'm not sure if I'll be racing with them again this year or not, but I'll still be around cheering none the less.  This was a slideshow I had a fun time making that is also on the Powertri blog.  Now to get started on my 2010 summary...