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Thursday, July 02, 2009
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| Asian Chicken and Veggies |
| Posted by: Vince |
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This was delicious. When I tasted it, it was hard to believe that I prepared this meal. I am an ok cook but most of the time I can taste the difference between my cooking and what I would get at a restaurant. This tastes like something you'd get from a restaurant. The oyster sauce sounds yucky but I think that's part of the reason why it taste so good.
In my next attempt, I think I will add more veggies because in the end, I felt like there could've been more. In fact, I might double the recipe and add more veggies since I felt like there wasn't enough leftovers. You know me, I'm all about the leftovers. :)
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Category: Health & Nutrition |
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Monday, June 29, 2009
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| Intellectual Dishonesty |
| Posted by: Vince |
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If you've ever asked me for advice about your training, I've probably told you to SLOW DOWN. This has been my mantra all season but a recent forum post got me to thinking about it again. The question: "Why are you running fast, if you're racing slow?"
When I came to the conclusion that "slow is the new fast", I didn't really think about why I was going fast in the first place, I just realized that slow was better. But the forum question got me to think about why.
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Category: Training |
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Wednesday, June 24, 2009
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| Quinoa with Roasted Peppers |
| Posted by: Vince |
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There are days when I feel like I need to eat everything in sight. That was yesterday. I nibbled throughout the day on the leftovers from the night before and continued on with my dinner last night and didn't stop until I went to bed. It would be interesting to count the total calories but the manorexic inside might freak out so I'll just chalk it up to my body needing the food.
I was sort-of wondering how this would taste once it was put together but with my new favorite grain quinoa and roasted red bell peppers, I was pretty sure it would be ok. It was better than ok, it was very tasty. Other than squeezing the juice from several oranges and lemons, it was fairly easy to make as well. The only complaint I have is that it didn't create enough leftovers. I saw this coming during the preparation phase and attempted to double the recipe but realized I didn't have enough ingredients and ended up with extra quinoa on the side.
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Category: Health & Nutrition |
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Tuesday, June 23, 2009
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| The Edge |
| Posted by: Vince |
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I am about to close the door on the Build period and enter the Peak period. As I enter each new period, I've been re-reading the periodization chapters in several books to refresh my memory of what I'm doing and why I'm doing it. In the book "Going Long", the authors state: "Many triathletes end their Build period on edge."
It's funny how the mind works. You take a simple word like "edge" and I'm immediately drawn back into my childhood to when I would go to summer camp each year. The word "edge" reminds me of one specific year when I had the coolest camp counselor in the world. My world was pretty small back then but this man made a large impression which I've carried with me throughout my entire life. In addition to my world being small, I was physically scrawny at the age of 15. In fact, most of the kids in our cabin were small and we'd get picked on quite often.
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Category: Training |
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Monday, June 22, 2009
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| Penne with Tomatoes and Feta |
| Posted by: Vince |
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I feel like I'm in a bit of a calorie deficit so I thought I'd cook up some pasta on the eve of a long run. At first glance you might think this sounds a bit odd but the sweet and sour combination of the ingredients blend well together. In fact, I found myself back in the kitchen a few moments ago spooning a mouthful straight from the bowl into my mouth. :)
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Category: Health & Nutrition |
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Saturday, June 20, 2009
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| Slumdog Stew |
| Posted by: Vince |
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In my younger years, I think I would've been better off living in the mid-west because I was primarily a red meat and potatoes kind of guy. "Give me red meat or give me death" — or something like that I guess. But those days are long gone due to getting older, triathlon, and generally trying to eat healthier. In fact, I recently discovered that I'd accidentally given up red meat. Other than eating it by mistake at a post-race meal, it's been months since I've last had a big-juicy-steak.
The subtle changes in my eating habits have altered my cooking habits as well. There was a time when every meal had to have some sort of meat. A standard meal would include beef, pork, chicken, or turkey. Beef and pork have been removed from the list. Various types of fish have been added and the most recent shocker... all veggie meals.
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Category: Health & Nutrition |
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| Expensive Pot |
| Posted by: Vince |
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My wife and I were married in November of 2006 and like most newlyweds, we received numerous gifts and gift cards. The gifts were awesome and the gift cards... well... those were ok too I guess except for the fact that we had some difficulty spending them. One in particular from Williams and Sonoma had quite a bit of money on it and while that sounds great, when two grownups move in together, they will most likely end up with double of everything... including the kitchen. And let's not forget that we received kitchen "stuff" as gifts.
In an attempt to get the card to a zero balance, we've been stopping into their store periodically over the last THREE YEARS and we'd occasionally purchase an item or two. Our last purchase, a set of wooden spoons, brought the balance down to around $200. You might think great, $200, you're almost there but we started at $500 which makes that $100 per year spent. [Hold that thought.]
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Category: General |
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Thursday, June 18, 2009
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| White Bean Chicken Salad |
| Posted by: Vince |
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I never knew something as simple as olive oil, vinegar, and lemon juice could make a tasty dressing for a salad but it does. I think this is my third recipe using a similar concoction and I think I'm sold on it.
That said, the similar taste creates a similar tasting salad but I think the variation in ingredients sets each of them apart from each other. The beans and basil in this recipe created a unique flavor that had me going back to the kitchen for more. What remains will be my lunch today. :)
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Category: Health & Nutrition |
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Wednesday, June 17, 2009
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| Don’t Believe Everything You Think |
| Posted by: Vince |
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My wife forwarded an email to me yesterday from our local gym. They send out a monthly newsletter with the latest news, upcoming events, or some tidbit of information related to health and fitness. To be honest, I get the newsletter but when it arrives, I normally just hit the delete button because I only care about whether the pool is going to be warm or cold and they don't publish that information in the newsletter.
In their message, I noticed they were trying to tell me something about nutrition and I normally roll my eyes because I know everything about nutrition and how could they possibly know something I don't. At least that?s how I feel when I receive messages from 'them' and of course that is the wrong attitude.
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Category: Health & Nutrition |
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Tuesday, June 16, 2009
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| Grainy Edamame Salad |
| Posted by: Vince |
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I'm becoming a big fan of the Trader Joe's "Harvest Grains Blend" for its wide variety of grains and unique taste. I cooked the entire bag and put the extra in a container and I caught my wife doing what I do — eating the stuff cold. She's such a guy sometimes. ;)
This recipe is one that I decided to try because I've been trying to improve my eating habits just a little bit more. I'm not sure I've been doing a better job but I can at least call this meal a small victory.
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Category: Health & Nutrition |
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Monday, June 15, 2009
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| 32,110 |
| Posted by: Vince |
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My workout on Saturday was a race specific simulation. What does that mean? It means I had a ride of similar length to my "A" race followed by a 30 minute transition run. The ride and run are to be done at "race pace" which for me means riding at 200 watts and running somewhere between a 7:50 and an 8:00 minute mile pace. This type of workout scares me because holding 200 watts for hours on end is TOUGH!
Before owning a powermeter, I would set out on my ride and pace the ride according to how I felt. This basically meant that I would most likely go hard in the beginning and soft in the end. But now that I've switched over to power, I have an honest friend who accompanies me on my rides. To say that my powermeter is an honest friend is an understatement because the powermeter is your "too honest friend". You know... the friend that doesn't have an internal filter and will tell you you're an idiot, you're too weak, you're being overly competitive, or whatever else you don't want to hear.
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Category: Training |
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Thursday, June 11, 2009
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| Spinach and Chickpea Soup |
| Posted by: Vince |
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It's funny what runs through my head as I'm trying to get through the day. Although I was faced with a number of workouts in the afternoon, I was more concerned with being able to have enough time left in the day to get my grocery shopping done in order to cook a real dinner.
Arriving home from work, I changed into my bike clothes and began a series of workouts. The first was a two hour ride, next a 30 minute transition run, and finally a one mile swim. Although the bike and run took up a large chunk of my afternoon, swimming is a huge time killer because I have to drive to the gym, change into my swim gear, swim, shower, change into people clothes, and drive home. So while a one mile swim is 30 minutes, you can add in another 45 minutes to an hour for everything else.
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Category: Health & Nutrition |
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Tuesday, June 09, 2009
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| Spicy Squash Casserole |
| Posted by: Vince |
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I should know better than to listen to my wife when she says: "Don't worry about me..." when referring to our dinner plans. But I did listen and I made a spicy dish to which she opted to eat at the last minute and then made an unhappy face when the jalapenos kicked in.
When I started buying ingredients for dinner, I wanted a vegetarian meal. This is a vegetarian meal but it needs meat! It's tasty on its own but it would taste so much better if it had sautéed chicken or turkey sausage. I will make this again and I will include turkey sausage (casings removed) sautéed in one tbsp olive oil.
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Category: Health & Nutrition |
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Monday, June 08, 2009
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| No Ketchup Meatloaf |
| Posted by: Vince |
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All I can say is... you win some and you lose some. But that's not really fair because it's not like this was a bad meatloaf, it's just that I have high expectations because of my brown sugar meatloaf which is quite tasty.
When I make a meal from a recipe, I like to keep it as original as possible in order to see how it's supposed to taste according to the cook. And as I was reading this recipe, I thought to myself... self... this is going to be a little bit dry. And I was right. It wasn't sand in your mouth dry but it wasn't as moist as my meatloaf.
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Category: Health & Nutrition |
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Friday, June 05, 2009
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| Walk the Walk |
| Posted by: Vince |
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Back in April I wrote about Bobby McGee's Run-Walk Protocol which essentially means you breakup your run with short periods of powerwalking. At first glance I was tempted to "walk" away from the idea but the list of potential benefits compelled me to give it a shot.
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Category: Running |
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| Greek Salad |
| Posted by: Vince |
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We eat a TON of salad in our house. A typical salad will include lettuce, various fresh and canned veggies (drained and rinsed of course), cheese, and possibly a meat such as chicken or tuna. I'm not sure how much healthier a salad is compared to one of the regular meals I cook but it's convenient and provides a wide variety of colors (vitamins and minerals).
You would think that considering how often I cook a new recipe that I would make a wide variety of salads but I don't. It's generally the same salad with a slight variation in the vegetables. This might have something to do with the salad meal being a backup plan for not having enough time to cook. After making this salad, I think there might be two backup plans now.
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Category: Health & Nutrition |
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Wednesday, June 03, 2009
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| My Tasty Bars |
| Posted by: Vince |
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I had originally planned to make these into little balls but then the title of this post became R Rated. :|
You might be asking yourself... WHY would I need to make my own bars? I'll tell you why. Because all of the different bars I'm buying are starting to taste the same — they all taste like crap. Take your favorite food, whatever that might be, and eat it over and over and over and over and tell me if it's still your favorite food.
The other day while doing a long workout I was reaching for another bar and I just couldn't do it. I couldn't put the bar into my mouth. I hesitated for a few minutes but then realized it was either eat the bar or bonk and ruin the workout. So I ate the bar and I cringed as soon as I tasted it. It was at that moment I decided I would make a trip to the store and do something about it.
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Category: Health & Nutrition |
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| Salmon Burgers |
| Posted by: Vince |
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I did a search on the term "if you make nothing" because I know exactly how I would preface a statement in order to emphasize the importance of you trying a recipe. I found one instance on this site where I used that wording and it was for Pasta Carbonara. The statement was:
"...if you make nothing off of this site, you have to make this dish."
I have a bit of a dilemma now because I've used that phrase and locked myself in so I guess I'll have to come up with another way. How about — If you were going to make Pasta Carbonara and went into the cupboard to discover you were out of pasta and found that you also had accidentally defrosted salmon then you have to make THIS dish instead! That'll work. :)
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Category: Health & Nutrition |
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Tuesday, June 02, 2009
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| An Unscientific Test |
| Posted by: Vince |
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Let me preface this post with the following:
My test is about as unscientific as they get but the physics behind the experiment is solid.
A cyclist approaches and hill and immediately starts to pedal as fast as he can. Somewhere in the middle of the hill, the cyclist loses momentum and begins to slow down. As the cyclist arrives at the top of the hill he struggles to get over and once at the top, he catches his breath, and then begins to pedal furiously down the backside of the hill to make up for lost time.
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Category: Biking |
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Sunday, May 31, 2009
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| Sweet & Spicy Chicken |
| Posted by: Vince |
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When I'm in a pinch for time, I will typically grab some chicken breasts from the store and coat with my standard spice mixture. And while this serves a purpose, it gets kind of boring eating the same chicken week after week.
This recipe below as about as simple as they get and yet it provides a completely different flavor than my "standard". As I'm sitting here typing this out, I'm thinking this might taste good without the honey-vinegar mixture and I wish I would've left one alone. Perhaps I'll try that next time.
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Category: Health & Nutrition |
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| Annoyed |
| Posted by: Vince |
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While talking to my coach the other day, she suggested I do another functional threshold power (FTP) test this week. For those just tuning in, this is cycling test with a powermeter and it consists of warming up for 20 minutes, an all out effort for 5 minutes, a 10 minute recovery, and finally an even but maximum effort for 20 minutes.
I performed this test back in March, determined my adjusted FTP, and based my training around that number. Between my two solid performances at Ironman Oceanside and Wildflower, I don't need any other data which makes this threshold test an academic exercise. When she suggested the test, I hesitated for a moment which she picked up on. She asked why I hesitated and I proceeded to explain that I didn't think the test was necessary nor would I want to change ANYTHING we were doing. Despite my protest, she still thought it would be a good idea.
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Category: Biking |
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Saturday, May 30, 2009
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| Turmeric Chicken & Rice |
| Posted by: Vince |
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You'd think with this being a recovery week I'd have plenty of time to blog my recipes but I'm actually sitting on a backlog because work has been keeping me busy.
This was a tasty meal but I think it could've used a little more turmeric and possibly something to add a little bite to it. But it will hold its own without any modifications and I found myself sneaking a forkful before I went to bed if that's any indication of how I really felt about it. :)
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Category: Health & Nutrition |
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Thursday, May 28, 2009
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| Two Bean Veggie Burgers |
| Posted by: Vince |
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Finally! You have no idea how long it has taken me to come up with a successful veggie burger. It has nothing to do with the taste because I've had several ideas for a burger that have tasted good but would fall apart once heated. I remember one attempt where I wound up with the best pan-heated bean dip but no burger.
In a perfect world, I'd like to make an all veggie burger that is baked but I somehow doubt it will stay in the form of a burger unless it's cooked in a frying pan. I have this aversion to "frying" food and yet any recipe I have that includes onions usually has a step which states: "sauté the onions..." Go figure.
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Category: Health & Nutrition |
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Monday, May 25, 2009
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| Lawn Mower Man |
| Posted by: Vince |
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After completing my brick workout yesterday, I came home and decided to mow the lawn. It seems silly to clean up and then get dirty again so I threw on a different shirt and shoes and went out into the yard with my tri shorts on and starting mowing the lawn.
As I pushed the mower back and forth, I realized that the handle was similar in size to a base bar on a tri bike. I thought to myself... "Huh... I bet I could mount a set of clip-ons."
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Category: General |
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| Oatmeal and Banana Waffles |
| Posted by: Vince |
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The odds of my wife and I both having an easy day on the same day is about as common as a solar eclipse. Well I guess there's going to be an eclipse soon because today was the day where we both had it easy so I decided I would dust off the waffle maker (literally) and make us oatmeal and banana waffles. The recipe was originally designed for pancakes and now I understand why because when I opened the greased (yes, I greased it in case you were wondering) waffle maker, and a couple of the waffles ripped in half.
Despite the mini-catastrophe, I put them back together and they were still delicious. That said, next time I make them, I will definitely make pancakes instead.
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Category: Health & Nutrition |
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Sunday, May 24, 2009
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| Salmon with Mango-Kiwi Relish |
| Posted by: Vince |
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It seems like we've been eating everything but fish these days which is kind of unusual for us so I decided I would cook up some salmon. I like salmon enough that I don't really need to do much with it other than toss it into the oven but I decided I would get clever with it by marinating it and serving it with a fruity relish.
Before I get to the recipe let me tell you about a discovery my wife and I made. When we buy salmon we typically pickup "Fresh Atlantic Salmon" which sounds like it's caught right out of the ocean. But then one day we picked up Coho Salmon and discovered that it has an extremely fishy taste and to be honest, neither of us liked it and we wanted our Atlantic salmon from the ocean. When we were discussing it with the meet counter clerk, it turns out that the Atlantic salmon which we thought came from the ocean is actually farm raised and the Coho salmon is actually wild.
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Category: Health & Nutrition |
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Friday, May 22, 2009
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| Burning Matches |
| Posted by: Vince |
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I feel like I'm just scratching the surface of training with power and at the same time I feel like I'm adding new knowledge to my small brain at an exponential rate.
Until Wildflower, my focus was to determine the correct wattage for a half Ironman distance race. With two successful races (Oceanside 70.3 and Wildflower Long Course), I am certain that I've got the HIM wattage pegged. The next obstacle was to take that information and to determine Ironman pacing for Lake Placid.
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Category: Biking |
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| Chicken and Squash Tostados |
| Posted by: Vince |
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In case you're wondering why I haven't blogged a recipe in a while, it's because I had planned a meal for the other night but it failed to the point where I was unable to recover it into something useful. I ate it anyway because with a bit of spice I found it to be ok but I'd hate to post something like that and have you accidentally make it.
After recovering from my miserable failure, I decided to find a group of recipes to work with so I went on the hunt and what I'll be cooking over the next few days will be my latest discoveries.
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Category: Health & Nutrition |
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Thursday, May 21, 2009
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| Brick Workouts |
| Posted by: Vince |
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The combination of a bike workout followed by a run workout is known as a brick, brick workout, brick training, or transition run. The purpose of a brick is to teach your body how to switch from cycling to running. The run doesn't need to be long or fast; it just needs to be long enough to make the switch.
You might be wondering why I?m talking about brick workouts. Well, I'll tell you why. After I posted Big Bike Weekend II, someone told me that I should make my brick runs longer. My knee jerk reaction was to run out and get an MDot tattoo and start trash talking but then I realized I should just blog about it instead.
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Category: Training |
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Tuesday, May 19, 2009
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| Big Bike Weekend II - Family Style |
| Posted by: Vince |
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The idea behind big bike weekends and my overall cycling strategy this season is to overload on miles in order to make 112 miles seem smaller. I can say matter-of-factly — it's working.
Looking back in my log, this time last year I had logged only 2352.11 miles. For that same period this year, I have logged 3289.17 miles. That's nearly one thousand more miles over the span of 5 months.
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Category: Biking |
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