My arm is easily twisted

I've added yet another race to my calendar.

There was another Schwaggle deal, and with my Active Advantage membership, it cost a whopping $36 (instead of $90 + Active fees).  And I have some friends from high school who have signed up as well, including a newbie.  Go Eagles!  (or something.... I still have my old HHS swim team towel.  That would be amusing for use in transition).

I honestly don't remember owning this.  One day, a box of crap from HS showed
up at my house (thanks Mom!) and this was in it.  For the record, the printing is very scratchy.

This makes Race #3 in July.  THREE.  How did that happen?

All of the races should be fun, though.  I love supporting new triathletes, so SheRox was pretty much a no brainer.  Will decided to enter the Survivor Mud Run with me.  (I know, I about fell over.  Mud runs are the gateway drug to triathlons.... maybe).  Will has also been talking about going running with me.  Not sure where this came from, but I like it.  And the third race of July is the Rocky Mountain Tri - Oly distance.  Elevation of 8,500 feet.  It may hurt, but it should be pretty.

Also....This showed up on Tuesday:

100 wild berry, 100 strawberry, 50 strawberry-banana (with carrot), and 300 BOGO coupons.  Woot!  Now the real trick is keeping Will from eating all of them....

Ski demo day

Back in February, I discovered that my season rental skis did not meet my expectations.  They always seemed slow, but then I did a bunch of bumps and learned that they weren't doing what I wanted/needed them to do.  At first I thought it was operator error, but once I really focused on making them do specific things and they wouldn't, I began to realize that these were not the skis for me.

Skis are funny.  There are so many of them out there with so many bells and whistles.  I posted in a few facebook groups, asking for recommendations.  And I rarely got the same answer twice.  The answer I really got: go out and demo.

The thing with demo'ing skis is that it takes time.  Typically, you rent demo skis, meaning, you are on that set for the whole day.  Want to try something different? Rent another pair and spend another day on the slopes.  Not that this is a bad thing.  It just takes multiple weekends and usually an extra $40 each time to demo.

I began searching the interwebs, looking for ski reviews, recommendations, and demo days.  Demo days can vary.  Sometimes its one ski manufacturer bringing gear to the mountain for you to try... sometimes its a ski shop bringing lots of different skis to try.  After some searching, I finally found that Outdoor Divas was hosting their third and final demo day at Loveland on March 1.  Sweet!  Loveland is reasonably priced ($59 walk-up, $50 on Liftopia) and I was able to take the day off of work.


brr....  15 degrees, windy, and snowy.  But its a powder day!

 I found the Diva area and quickly handed over my drivers licence so I could play for the day.  Their recommendations was to do 2-4 runs and to make sure you do the same runs for each ski you try.


First up - Volkl Kenjas

I was there fairly early (9:30 or so) and they had a full rack of skis.  On my list of "I've read about and need to try" were the Volkl Kenjas, Rossi S7W, and Blizzard Black Pearl.  They sold out of the Pearls long ago, but had 2 sets of the others.  I grabbed the Kenjas in size 156 and went up the mountain.

I do this thing at new ski areas where I don't even bother looking at the map.  I just head up the nearest lift and figure I can ski my way out.  I hopped on Lift 2 but, even though there was a warning about 2 miles something-or-other, I didn't expect that the lift would take for.ev.er.  Wow.  It was slow and didn't even go up the hill that high.  And it was WINDY. So windy that they built a wind-screen at the lift dismount area.  (I would have taken a picture, but my hands would have frozen off).  Also, notably, there weren't many trees.  At all.  Mostly windblown snow and rock.  Which, as I understand, is the typical Loveland experience (and probably the reason why I haven't skied here before).

I hopped off the lift and immediately felt like the skis were squirrely.  It could have been that this was my first run of the day.  or powder.  or wind.  or the fact that it was white-out conditions and I couldn't see.  And of course, new fancy skis with a whole bunch of technology that I've never skied on before.  Fortunately, it being Thursday, there weren't any people to witness my "I feel like I have never skied before" behavior. 

I took a deep breath and went into the powder.  That's all there was - powder, at least 7 inches of it.  And powder scares me.  Mostly because I was a spring skier and never did much powder sking.  The little that I did, was hard and I would spend the whole time slightly terrified that I would catch a tip and faceplant.  Powder was fun, but mostly in the sense that you felt it was your obligation as a skier and native Coloradan that powder should be fun.  Dammit.

I made my way down and was a bit wobbly at first but was otherwise ok once I got the hang of things.  For such a long lift, there sure wasn't much vertical drop.  I had one blue run then I was stuck on a wide green thing, headed back to the base.  Boo.  Back at the base, I looked at the map and decided that Lift 1 had the best terrain options in proximity to the Demo area.  I headed up that lift (much shorter) and took a blue down.  And experienced barely-tracked powder.  Wowzers.  So much fun - I kept giggling to myself on the way down.  Kenjas were zippy and easy to turn, and felt like they had some speed.  Back up the lift and did a small stretch of bumps.  All was well. 


barely tracked powder.  life was pretty rough at this very moment.

I felt like a change and decided to swap out the 156 Kenjas to the 163 Kenjas.  (for those not familiar with ski sizing, that's a whopping 7 cm longer).  I headed up Lift 1 again and hit the bumps.  In the past, I had intentionally longer skis and loved them.  We started the day out on the 156s because that's what I'm presently used to.  Turns out, I did not like the longer skis.  They were harder to control and a bit wobbly at the tips.  Turns out, shorter is now better for me.  I did 2 runs on the 163s just to make sure the wobbliness wasn't operator error.  It wasn't.  Back to the demo area.
Next up, I was really hoping to try the Rossi S7Ws.  They look cool, one guy at a ski shop suggested they might be good for me, and I'd read good things about them.  Problem was, they're a powder ski... and it was a powder day.  The demo girl said that I wasn't going to get a chance at those skis for hours.  Boo.  Nothing else in the rack was on my wish list.  The demo girl suggested that I try out the Volkl Auras.  They were wider and more stable.  In my head, stable = not responsive.  There really weren't any other enticing options, so I grabbed the Auras and gave them a go.

hummingbirds - pretty!

I headed back up Lift 1 to that small bump run and immediately noticed a difference.  They were still great at turning, but the slightly squirrely-ness of the Kenjas was gone.  Interesting.  I headed back up Lift 2 (the long pointless lift) and decided to go explore.  I really didn't think these were the skis for me, so I thought of this demo as "explore Loveland" rather than "test skis".  I found some powder, nearly bailed forwards but managed to recover easily.  This was under the lift, and apparently my recovery was impressive, as they remarked on my skills.  I was zipping along and then all of a sudden it seemed like the ground was going to disappear imminently.  So I scrubbed and crashed.  Yup, a small cornice.  Upon closer inspection (later, from the lift), it was only about a 4 ft drop, which was manageable.  However, at the time and not being able to see beyond it, I decided to be safe, flip around, and go around it.

the road is I-70 and where the road disappears is the tunnel.  weird! 

Loveland is really awkward where it goes over I-70 at Eisenhower tunnel.  So, essentially it straddles I-70.  That makes getting around really strange.  I found a lift that went up a different part of the hill, and it didn't seem like there were many tracks over there.  I wanted to hit a bump run but kept finding roped off areas.  And then I ended up on a very narrow cat-track which was bordered by "do not cross, avalanche danger".  Mkay!  I had no idea where I was at this point and my only choice was to follow this odd path and was thankful to finally reach another lift.  This was Lift 8, which apparently isn't open all that often (I dunno, I just saw a bunch of signs saying the lift was open, which I thought was odd).  I rode up with some guys, and apparently this area was where all the powder was.  He recommended some black with a cornice (no thanks!  maybe if I was with people but not by myself).  At the top of the lift, I inspected the trail map and discovered that the only way back to the base (or really, back to anywhere) was on a black chute run and through a tunnel under I-70.  Where the hell was I and how did I get here?) I headed down on the north side of the lift and had a great time in the powder.  Since I wasn't ready to explore that random black run and a tunnel, I decided to head back up and explore the other side of the lift.  The right side was a big open field of barely tracked powder.  A bit intimidating (if I died, no one would find me) but I had so much fun on the earlier runs that I was looking forward to trying the Auras out in more powder.  I had SO much fun.  These things did exactly as I commanded, even in the powder.  At one point, I was flying up to a huge rock (I even yelled "ROCK!) and all I had to do was apply a tiny bit of pressure and I was zipping around it with ease.  If I had tried that in any of my "old" skis, I would have either tumbled over or crashed into the rock... or both.  Powder was effortless.  You just pointed the tips and let the skis do the work.  AWESOME.

By that point, even though I was having a blast, it was noon.  And I had these skis out for over an hour.  I lurved them, but I didn't want someone else to have to wait for a chance.  I headed down the black run, which was really weird.  It was 3 tiers of black, ski-width tracks which wrapped around the mountain.  Each track had a steep dropoff.  All you could really do was wedge or side ski down them.  And once you got the the tunnel, they had an employee at the entrance who ensured that you took your gear off.  Once you could walk, you went under the tunnel, which was gravel and not snowy at all.  Then you magically pop out on the other side of I-70 at the base.

Once back at the demo area, I was hungry but also saw that the Rossi S7Ws were back.  People must be out at lunch!  Even though I was hungry, I didn't think the S7s would stick around for very long.  I decided to postpone lunch and take a ride on the S7s.

oh hey, the sun is out for this one!

The S7s are fat powder skis with really cool graphics.  My photo isn't great, but you can kinda see the anime girl on them.  The bottoms are equally cool.  I hopped up Lift 1 to hit my test bump/fast run.  Almost immediately, I knew these skis were not for me.  They took WORK to turn.  I could have been that I'd been sking non-stop for almost 4 hours, but I really didn't think so.  I really had to focus and work to get these things to turn and move around.  I wanted to try them out on powder, so I took the useless Lift 1 up to get some powder.  There was a bit left, but it was fairly cut up.  The Auras just plowed through cut up powder like it was nothing.  The S7s took some work and felt choppy and a bit sluggish.  Boo.  Two runs was all it took for me to know that these were not the skis for me.  Bummer, because they really do look cool.  Upon discussion with the demo girl, she confirmed my feeling that yep, these are really only good for powder.  Everything else is a lot of work.  I saw that the Auras were still there and I took them for a bump run.

Full disclosure: I took them and then headed in for a bite to eat.  It was 1 PM and I was hungry.  Also: do not get the chicken sandwich at the base.  I thought something was fishy when the chicken sandwich was cheaper than a burger.  I asked the guys at the counter if it was real chicken.  They said yes.  Then I made some comment while I was walking away about just wanting to make sure it wasn't particle chicken, and they looked at me funny.  I paid for it, opened it up, and it was an anemic formed chicken breast.  Not cool.

Now that I had a full belly, I wanted to test the Auras out on this nice long-ish bump run on the far side of the area. And perhaps play in the powder some more.  I was very happy to see that the Auras handles well on the bumps.  The bumps were still a bit powdery/soft but were controlled and I could do quick, tight turns.  YAY.  And then on the flats, I could zoom with stability and a bit of speed.  It seems that these could be the skis for me :)

It was now a bit past 2 PM and I wanted to try out yet another pair of skis.  I'd overheard the demo girl call Kastles "the Porches of skis" and I was curious.  She spoke highly of them and why not?  It was free to try them out.

pronounced Cast-Lee.  fancy!  Also: the orange was see-though.  double also: this was
taken after 2 PM and look at all the powder that' still there!

I took them over to the long bump run and some powder for a quick comparison.  They were nice but not quite as nice as the Auras.  Of course, it could also be because I was tired.  They didn't handle the cut-up powder as well as the Auras.  On the bumps, it was a wash, as best as I could tell.  Same with speed.  The main factor in these was price.  $1100 MSRP.  Nearly $300 more (new) than the Auras.  Ummm, no. 


Represenation of my adventures at Loveland

I ended up taking the Auras home with me to demo this weekend.  I liked them, but I wouldn't call the conditions during the demo as "normal".  And the terrain wasn't too close to what I like to ski (no trees).  I have the pretty hummingbirds in my garage and look forward to really testing them out at Mary Jane on Saturday :)

Chilly Cheeks Duathlon #3 - Race Review

AKA "why am I racing in the winter?"
AAKA "my run training plan is to only run during races.  Maybe this isn't the best plan...."

This was the third and final installment of this duathlon series.  I signed up for this series for a few reasons:  

1. to keep me a bit sharp (maybe not as dull would be more appropriate) and to ensure that I rode/ran at least once a month during the winter.
2. I got free sweat pants that say Chilly Cheeks.  The sweat pants are ok, but they'd be even more awesome if the race name was on my ass instead of down my leg.

And the race series did fulfill both of these reasons.  Was it fun? eh.  I suspect it would have been WAY more fun if I knew people who were also racing.  For some reason, most people in my club did the running distance series.  I had no interest in training for 10 mile runs this winter, so I did this instead.  And I have lost all my running base, so perhaps this wasn't the smartest decision.

The premise of the race is that it will be held, snow or shine.  Saturday, we had both.  We had a "suprise!" snowstorm on Thursday.  Weather forecasters said a "dusting" and we had ~8 inches or something ridiculous.  Then Friday was sunny and warm, but not warm enough to melt all of the snow.

Per the pre-race safety meeting, the bike course was clear, except for a tiny (and avoidable) patch of ice at the turn around.  If you were paying attention, the ice should be easy to miss.  The run course was "3 inches of fluff"  and a small frozen "lake" for the trail portion and clear on the road portion.  And the sidewalk going from the bike dismount line to transition was snowy too.


I dismounted on the clear and dry street and walked my bike through this.  No way was I going to ride.

 I set up in transition. It took me a bit to get orientated, as it seemed illogical that the RD would have us bring our bikes along a snowy sidewalk into T1.  I set up where I thought was a good spot (and DRY) for easy racking in T1 only to realize that I was at the Run Out entrance.  Not so convenient.  So I moved next to an aisle spot close to the snowy sidewalk.  Very convenient.  And also very snowpacked.


Buzz isn't so sure about this snow stuff....

 I set up transition like normal.  Small towel as the base, then shoes, gloves, water bottle, etc.  It did not occur to me that it would be above freezing and sunny.... and that nice snowy base would turn to slush.  Making all of my dry gear wet and cold. Awesome.

This race was a 10.8 mile out and back bike and a 4 mile run.  There were ~200 participants, and they started us off in waves of 10 people, 1 minute apart.  As karmic payback for last month's first wave, I was in wave V.  Start time was 10:00... my wave was at 10:21.  Super!

Notice the aero helmet and the mountain bike...... Yeah, I don't know either.

Bike
The bike wasn't anything exciting.  Legs felt ok, although I had to granny gear it up some hills.  (I don't know if that was me being out of shape or what).  It was pretty windy, so that made things a bit interesting.  The race was held at a state park, and there were signs all over the place making it very clear that there was a bike race in progress.  Well, after I went past the east entrance road, some d'bag woman in a pickup truck decided to yell "get in the bike lane" at all of us, individually, as they passed us.  I wonder if she finally figured out what was going on as they drove past a pack of cyclists that were ahead of me.  She had plenty of room and hello, its a state park with tons of runners and cyclists.  Clearly, she had anger managment issues.  I did see where they parked - by an RV.  Not sure who RV camps in February, but the whole thing was very random. 

The park is ok, but the back half of the road has these very annoying asphalt patches that go across the entire road (and bike lane) every 3 feet, essentially creating a tiny speed bump.  Its annoying.  And gets really irritating as you are jarred every 10 seconds or so.

The turn around was a non-event, the ice was easy to spot.  And the whole bike was pretty much a non-event. 

Bike time: 39:34 / 16.2 mph
142/202 OA, 20/29 AG

Transition
I clipped out early (on the street) as there was no way I was riding my bike on the snowy slushy sidewalk.  The girl in front of me (walking her bike) nearly fell, as her bike got caught in a slush-rut and decided to go its own way.

I was pretty cold at the start of the race.  I had on black tri shorts, black running tights, my favorite light, long-sleeved shirt, my Zoot windproof jacket, and my full cycling gloves.  I got warm towards the end of the bike, so I chose to ditch the gloves and jacket for the run.  I didn't want to just chuck my stuff in the slush, so I probably took a bit too much time hanging my jacket up.

T1 time: 3:53

Run
Lucky me, the start of the run was all uphill.  And as an added bonus, the first 2+ miles were on the trail, which had 3 inches of "fluffy" snow.  Funny thing happens when you're in one of the last waves and ~180 people are ahead of you.  Fluffy snow turns into slush.  Lots of it.  The run was a mess.  And I am in a serious run-training hole.  I couldn't even go 1/3 of a mile (uphill) before my HR blew up and I walked.  Sad.  And pathetic.  But I had a feeling this would happen and never had an intent of being competitive in this race, so I just took it easy.  I was crusing along and ran past some non-racing runners and I heard "Hey, is that Erin?!?!"  Turns out it was this girl I had met during the Denver RnR half marathon who is doing IMTX this May.  Random!  She and a friend were doing a 16 mile training run.  Even funnier, she intended on emailing me this week for IMTX advice.  I ran with them for ~1 mile, which helped to pass the time.  I basically gave her the same advice that her friend was giving (friend: SEE, you should listen to us!").  I also told her about the Pacu fish that someone caught in Lake Woodlands about a month before IMTX, likely giving her fodder for nightmares for the next few months.  Whee!  We parted ways and I was by myself in the slush.  Boo.  I came across a girl who was walking and said something encouraging to her.  She was young and didn't seem to be having a great time.  She managed to hang with me while I ran and chatted my ear off.  Turns out she was in 8th grade. Sigh. (I did hear her parents say at the finish line that she sped up, so I'm taking credit for that).  The rest of the run was on pavement.  My feet were wet but the rest of me was hot.  I debated stopping to put a fistful of snow down my shirt but didn't feel like stopping.  The finish was mostly uphill, but I toughed it out and ran the last mile.  Or did something loosely resembling running.  (getting back into running shape is going to suck).  And then the very non-exciting finish line. 

Run time: 49:45 / 12:27 pace (wah-wah)
171/202 OA, 27/29 AG

Post-Race
Nothing too exciting, mainly because I didn't know anyone.  Got some snacks (homemade banana choc chip bread for Will) and got my stuff.  Which was now soggy because all the snow had melted.  Learned a lesson that I need to bring plastic bags with me for snowy races, as my race gear... and also the bottom of my transition bag, including the things inside the bag, were wet and cold.

Turns out towels get wet when the snow melts... and the rest of your stuff gets wet too!

Overall stats:
Time: 1:33:32
162/202 OA
24/29 AG

Team Sun-Rype

I'm sponsored!!  Again!!

Yesterday, I recieved a very happy email about my being accepted to Team Sun-Rype.  Woot!  This marks my third team in 3 years through Active Ambassadors. 2010 was with Team Jamba Juice and 2011 was with Team Sony Walkman.  Sony ended in January.  Normally the Active teams want fairly competitve people.  I am not one of those people.  At least in the traditional sense (I'm not fast).  I always put on my applications something like "I'm not fast, but I like to have fun".  Most of the time, it doesn't work.  Occasionally, it does (or, most likely in the case for Sony, all of the top athletes were already matched with teams, so the pickings were slim).

Sun-Rype was the first ambassadorship that opened up in 2012 and I did not have high hopes, because usually, the early teams go towards podium-type athletes.  I felt that this team was a good match for me, though, as their product is 100% fruit.  Since switching to paleo, I'm really trying to cut out fake food, and thought this sponsorship would be a good one.  I mean, who wants to be promoting a product that you don't like or can't eat?  Not me!  Sun-Rype must have thought I was a good match, as they invited me onto their team.  I looked at the athlete contract - its through Dec 31, 2012.  A full YEAR!  I was going to buy an Altitude Multisport tri kit this year (since I am on the Board of Directors), but it seems like I will be wearing a sponsor kit instead.  Hopefully its nice and colorful (instead of grey... *ahem* sony *cough*)  (and, I do still intend to be on Team Beef for Boise.  Really, I just want a tri top that says "BEEF" on it).

Not quite sure what sort of promo materials I will get.  I'm assuming I'll be getting some tasty fruit snacks to hand out :)  The athlete meeting is next week and I'm super excited to learn about my new team for 2012.

Paleo Diet Update

I started eating Paleo/Primal/Caveman/Clean/[whatever label you want to stick] since the week of Christmas. Not one of my better ideas. But I survived. I started eating this way for a few reasons:

1. My metabolism hates me. Even with meds for my thyroid and insulin sensitivity, I can’t lose weight. I’ve had doctors tell me to workout more (?!?!) and when I tell them my workout schedule their eyebrows go way up. And then they tell me to eat less.  Helpful.  My metabolism is broken. I only lost 5 lbs during my IMTX training (ironically in the last month of training) and my clothes really didn’t fit all that much differently.
2. I already know that soy and beans to not agree with me. Beans = feeling like I have food poisoning. Soy really screwed up my hormones. Do you know how hard it is to stay away from soy? It's in EVERYTHING!
3. I went to a triathlon seminar a while back where the speaker was a dietician talking about nutritional periodization. A lot of what she said really rang true to me. Eat real foods. Limit grains during the build portion of your training. Train your body to burn fat.
4. I’ve had some good friends switch to eating this way with really good results.
5. With my hypoglycemia, I eat fairly low carb already and try to avoid sugars. This really seemed like a natural progression in my eating habits.

For those who don’t know, the paleo diet means no grains (including legumes), no processed food, minimal sugar, no (or some) dairy. Lots of meat, lots of fruit, lots of nuts, lots of veggies. Also: lots of cooking. I’m cooking a lot more than I used to.

So its been nearly 2 months. I really didn’t notice that much of a difference. I had some energy lags during workouts that are pretty common initially. I have maybe lost a bit of weight, but I’m not sure. I really wasn’t sure that eating this way was benefiting me much. Until we were in Idaho last week for my father-in-law’s funeral. Saturday, I had bread/pasta with EVERY meal. Sunday, my gut felt awful. REALLY awful. I had some sort of grain every day for 5 days. And my poor gut felt it. Bloated, cramping, overall feeling icky.

Those 5 days pretty much told me that I really do not need to eat grains.

So, what do I eat in a typical day?

Breakfast – apple with almond butter. Peanuts = legume, and are therefore off the list. I like Justin’s Nut Butter in maple almond, but I could make my own just as easy (and probably cheaper).

Lunch – mixed greens, meat (usually chopped up lunchmeat), hard boiled eggs, olive oil. Vinegar is iffy (depending on which paleo website you read). I didn’t believe it, until I put vinegar on my salad and felt awful 2 hrs later. So, my “salad dressing” is olive oil and maybe a squeeze of lemon. This lunch is easy and I can bring my own from home or hit the salad bar at work.

Snack – 2 clementines (I love Cuties!) and mixed nuts.

Dinner – meat and veggies of some sort.

Dessert – dark chocolate. Right now I have dark choc covered almonds which are way too good and they need to go away. Alternately, I’ll cook a fruit crisp with some sort of fruit, honey, coconut and a crumb topping with coconut flour or almond flour.

What are the challenges?

In the beginning, I struggled most with breakfast. I am NOT a breakfast person. Very few things sound good early in the morning, and still, sometimes I’m almost gagging as I eat. Also, I’m not much for savory foods in the morning. At first, I was eating a few hard boiled eggs, a Clementine, and some sausage for breakfast. But the eggs were hard to get down, were a pain to peel, and got really, really old really, really quick. Then I tried to make mini-egg “muffins” – egg, sausage, veggies, sweet potato. Did not like those at all. Then some blueberry muffins with coconut flower, which were just ok but left me wanting real muffins. Finally settled on the apple/almond butter combo. Its easy to bring to work, I don’t have to make anything, and really, I could eat this about every day. For now, at least. Weekends I’ll play a bit, making paleo pancakes, omelets, etc.

I’m trying to limit my carb sources. Cutting out bread isn’t that hard (as long as it's not in the house. You can’t eat it if its not there!). I miss noodles. I will have rice noodles occasionally (paleo websites say that if you have to eat a grain, rice is the best choice). I did find some crazy-good red yams at the grocery store. I do oven “fries” with them. Slice into wedges, douse in olive oil, sprinkle on some Hawaiian red salt, bake until done. TASTY. Again, I could eat these every day (but really, I shouldn’t). I also try to be creative with food. A good example is fajitas with guac. I’ll buy tortillas and chips for Will, but I forgo the tortilla and use red pepper and carrot sticks instead of tortilla chips as my guac delivery device.

Most paleo says you should give up all dairy in the beginning and introduce it slowly. I can eliminate all dairy except for my half and half in my coffee. I tried the coconut creamer stuff. It was nasty. I really don’t think that my splash of creamer will destroy my efforts. Also: a bit of feta in my salad or in my burger/meatloaf is tasty. And if you wonder, why give up dairy? Just do a bit of reading on modern dairy practices and all the nasties that go into milk. You’ll be giving it up. Really, milk is nasty.

Eating out, eating while traveling, eating with family is HARD. Eating out isn’t so bad as long as I pick the appropriate restaurant (ie Italian = fail) and make smart choices. Eating while on the road is impossible. Qdoba bowls (without rice) are about the closest thing to paleo as I could find. However, good luck finding Qdoba while driving from Denver to Idaho. Also: Qdoba bowls are impossible to eat while driving. So are salads. So, nasty fast food burgers or chicken sandwiches or whatever was at the highway exit was what we ate. Ugh. And finally, explaining my crazy eating habits to Will’s family is impossible. Especially when the person cooking dinner (who is AWESOME and I love) decided to give up any meat which the family did not raise (they’re ranchers), and dinner is a vegetarian stroganoff with pasta and bread. You should have seen the raised eyebrows at breakfast when I turned down toast. Essentially, its “eat what is placed in front of you or go hungry”. Basically, paleo is easy to do when you can plan, but its really hard to do on the fly.

Beer, technically, should be on the “food to avoid” list. But I love beer. So, for now, I drink beer guilt free.

 Tasty dinners I’ve made:

 It helps that I’ve had access to kick-ass meat, thanks to beef from Will’s family and meat from my CSA.

Grass-fed Idaho pot roast. Brown the roast in a pan. Put in a crockpot with onions, shrooms, and carrots. Add in half a can of tomato sauce (no sugar), some wine, and some salt. Cook for 10 hrs on low. Boil up some potatoes and serve as a side dish.

Sausage and sauerkraut. My favorite little grocery store has chicken sausage in all varieties for $2.99/lb. CHEAP. And they’re made with real ingredients, no crappy filler. Back in December, I didn’t know what to do with my 4 heads of CSA cabbage, so I turned them into sauerkraut. It was a bit scary (open air fermentation and the only thing I sterilized were the glass jars). But it turned out TASTY. Just put some sausages in a pan, add in kraut and maybe a little beer, then simmer on the stove for ~30 to 60 min. YUM.

Miscellaneous ground beef stir fry. I got a bunch of gluten-free asian sauces. Basically, sauté your veggies and set them aside. Sauté your grass-fed ground beef (or stew meat). Add veggies. Then add your sauce. Could be salsa, could be a tomato based sauce, or it could be some sort of curry. What you will end up with is something tasty (mainly because grass-fed beef is TASTY) and easy.

Will on a board

This winter, I've asked Will to really, truly, give snowboarding a try.  In years past, we would only have one day per year on the mountain.  He would take a lesson (sometimes) and generally be frustrated by his lack of progress.  Understandable.  So this year, I've asked Will to really give it a chance.  I bought a 4-pack of lessons and have a handful of lift tickets.  We went at Christmas (lesson) and he was placed in the next level up from "clueless" (which was the group I was in).  His instructor said he was ready to move up another level by the end of the day.  Two weeks ago we went with a group of people and he got tips from my friend who boards.  My friend said that Will looked pretty good, he just needed practice to get confidence.

I have 2 Copper pre-paid tickets and 2 more lessons at Winter Park.  Lucky for Will, that means another 4 chances at boarding.  Saturday was looking like a beautiful day, so I kind of twisted his arm and we headed up to Copper.

I felt that, if we got him on some blues that weren't too long, he could get some speed and really have a chance to figure things out. The area off the Timberline Lift was perfect for that.  Nice blues, long enough to practice on, but not so long that you get totally tired at the end and die.

How could you not LOVE skiing with views like this?!?!

We started the day in West Village, took the Union Creek lift up and did a warm-up on a green run.  He was all sorts of fail on that green run.  It really made me nervous for the rest of the day.  I also felt really bad for him, he was struggling and I don't have the slighest idea on how to help.  On the lift back up, I asked him to think back to his lesson in December, to focus on the steps and to not get overwhelmed.  We took a green run that connects over to Timberline.  He looked better, but not great.  I asked Will if he wanted to try a blue or stick with greens.  He said blue.  So we went down Copperfield, which as I remembered from my powder day last month, had potential to be fun.  Suprisingly, Will did much better.  There were still a few wrecks, but he was a bit more relaxed and was turning.  I managed to find a bunch of tree trails and jumps, so I'd go off and play for a bit, and pop out every once in a while to make sure Will was ok.  We did this run another couple of times and realized it was noon.  Time for lunch!  Rather than heading back down to the base, we ate at the cute little grill next to the lift (mid-mountain).  I really love this place, especially when its sunny.  Today it was SUPER sunny and temps were in the mid-30's.  Perfect for eating outside on the deck, soaking up sunshine.  Eating outside on a sunny ski day is about one of my favorite things to do in life.

its documented - he was smiling while on the hill!  (during lunch....)

After lunch, we headed back up the lift and did a different run which had a steeper pitch at the start of the run.  That went really well - he was getting the hang of turning on both edges and was a bit more relaxed.  He also skidded down the steep pitch because it was scary, which meant that we had to do it again.    That time wasn't so good, as Will twisted his knee somehow.  And he was getting tired.  We agreed that this was the last run (besides the one to get to the base).  Will was nice enough to hang out on the deck by the lift while I did a couple of quick bomber runs.  I felt the need for speed!

And I almost manage to jack up my left knee on the first speedy run.  Flying over an unfamiliar hill (which small semi-moguls and crud) may not have been the smartest decision.  Fortunately, the knee is completely ok today.

After two bomber runs (I was so fast, Will thought I had only done one!) we took the green run down to the base.  The cool part was that the green run was the VERY same green run we did at the start of the day.  And Will managed to go down it without wrecking.  Woot!

We wrapped up at 2:30, headed back to Denver by 3.  Traffic is usually very crappy on the way back in, but suprisingly, we made it back home in 1.5 hrs.  Cool.

Will wasn't "I LOVE SNOWBOARDING" this day.  But I was really happy to see improvement and progression.  Next time, we'll hit WP so he can get a lesson.  He needs an intermediate lesson so he can figure out how to be comfortable going faster and when doing steeper stuff.

only good things from here on out

I am tired of my life resembling a sine curve.

what's a sine curve, you ask?

Two weeks ago, we had a Superbowl Weekend Ski Extravaganza.  Will, myself, Will's sister Amy, Will's cousin Chase, and our friend Deanna had planned a weekend get-away.  We rented a house with a hot tub, pool table, and 42-inch tv for the weekend and I had procured cheap lift tickets to Copper Mountain and Winter Park.  FUN.

Mother nature tried to foil our plans with SNOWPOCALYPSE.  Chase's original flight was cancelled due to snow.  Then his late flight was delayed because Micron's CEO crashed is airplane at the airport he was leaving from.  Deanna had a stressful drive down from Boulder with snowy roads and I-25 closing down due to a wreck.  But once we got people in our house, life was good.  Saturday morning, Chase, Deanna and I took off for Copper Mountain.  Will stayed behind to pick Amy up from the airport and then head up to the rental house.

Skiing was EPIC.  The snow wasn't that great, but we had great fun.  We closed the lifts down and headed to Tabernash and the rental house.  Good dinner, fun conversation, a soak in the hot tub, and a roll in the snow.  Although, I managed to cut my big toe open on something in the snow.  Thank goodness I have thick calluses, as it didn't cut too deep. 

Sunday was Winter Park with the whole gang.  Amy hasn't skied in 13 years, Will is still pretty new on his snowboard, and Deanna brought her skis along (this is her first year skiing).  We went as a group, hanging pretty much on a green run.  I got a bit bored and taught myself how to ski backwards.  I got pretty good and was actually skiing backwards faster than some were skiing forwards.  It was a beautiful sunny day and everyone had a blast.  We came home to an amazing beef roast (crock pot) from Chase's family ranch and ate yummy food and watched the Superbowl. Tried to soak in the hot tub, but the breaker tripped overnight (and Will couldn't get it to reset until morning), so it was a bit chilly.  And then the breaker tripped again and wouldn't reset.  So, we decided that was a sign and went inside.  Chase and Deanna started some sort of flirty thing, which was cute and really sweet (and I'd be lying if I didn't say that it wasn't REALLY entertaining, but in a good way). 

Monday, Chase, Deanna, and I went over to Mary Jane to ski some hard stuff for a while.  Will and Amy hung back and we had arranged to meet them for lunch in Idaho Springs.  Again, skiing was EPIC.  Trees and bumps.  And tired legs from 3 days of skiing.  Then it was down to Idaho Springs for a late lunch at Tommyknocker, and then a lot of trying to stretch out the rest of the day.  We all had so much fun, and with Chase leaving that night, I wanted to give Chase and Deanna as much time together as possible.  So we windowshopped and hung out at a dive bar.  Finally, around 4, we split ways.  But before leaving, Amy dared Chase to kiss Deanna.    No hesitation at all.  In fact, he almost slipped on the ice in his excitement.  And now they've been outed.  Fun.  Then back to Denver, hanging out at the Breckenridge tap room to wait out traffic, and then dropping off Chase at the airport.  Really, this weekend was the most fun since I can't even remember.

Then Tuesday, Amy was still at the house, planning on flying up to Idaho to see their dad that night.  (We placed Carl in hospice care a month ago).  Then Will got a phone call from hospice.  Carl's heath was declining and he likely had days to live.  We went from EPIC fun weekend to sadness and heartache.

Carl died on Wednesday afternoon (Feb 8th).  Amy and their aunt (Carl's sister) were with him.  We flew out on Saturday. Funeral was last Monday.  This is our 5th loss in 12 months.  Today marks the anniversary of Grandpa's heart attack, which was the first of the losses.

I think we've paid our dues for sad things.  I want only good things for now on.