The countdown that is!!! aaaaah! In about 6 days I’ll be riding my first century bike ride in Napa, CA and supporting the great cause of the LiveStrong Foundation. I really can’t believe it. honestly. When Chris and I first started getting somewhat serious into cycling, and he started doing century rides, I thought . . nah, I can’t imagine riding 100 miles?! Now, about 4 months of training later, I feel pretty darn strong and 65 miles isn’t all that bad, so there’s no turning back now. This is it!
I honestly believe that I could have trained harder, done more hilly rides, had a little bit more time, but I’m just going to go with positive thoughts, lots of adrenaline, do my best, AND most importantly . . . HAVE FUN! I’m also very excited to meet my new team members of Team Awesome! which include Caitlin and her dad, Jill, Sean, and his wife Kelly. Of course my other half Chris will also be there, which I am suuuper happy about 🙂 Donations will be excepted for teams until May 20th and you can donate here. Anything helps!
We’ve been trying to eat a lot of random leftovers since we are heading out of town soon, so there hasn’t been anything too exciting on the menu. I did make my favorite quinoa chicken and broccoli casserole that we’ve been munching on for awhile.
I am loving my birthday Shun.
super thin mushrooms!
It’s great with kale chips.
The next time, I plopped it on a micro’ed sweet tater which was awesome!
This weekend I wasn’t feeling too up to snuff for some reason, so on Saturday I spent most of the day getting my car a major tune up and doing errands and house chores. Today I decided to do a ride with the Green Valley Cyclist group and it was fairly flat and fast. We had a pretty good head wind coming back that was a doozy. It’s a good thing this one nice guy let me grab onto his wheel and helped to battle the winds!
- 64 miles
- Time: 3:35
- Avg: 17.8 mph Max: 32 mph
Afterwards I whipped up a quick recovery smoothie and iced my knees and hot muscles. It sure is getting harder and harder to ride here after the sun comes out. It was hot by 7:30am this morning! Pretty soon it will be near 100 F still in the wee hours of the morning.
This one contained:
- ~ 1 cup 1% milk
- 1/4 cup plain Wallaby yogurt (now it’s all gone!)
- 1/2 frozen naner
- scant tsp of peanut butter (we’re tragically all out of this too!)
- 1 tbsp blueberry flax
- 1 scoop Strawberry Recoverite
- 1/2 scoop BSN Chocolate Fudge Whey
- 1 cup frozen strawberries
It was refreshing!
Pretty soon after than I was hungry again and made a little munchie plate of salmon salad with grapes, walnuts and bell peppers (love this for recovery), pita chips, carrots, hummus and some dates. Yum!
Then I got to working on this . . . 🙂
I had to take a little power nap this afternoon and have a few more chores to get done before tomorrow. Unfortunately Chris’ grandmother passed away recently, and I am going to meet him and his family for the service next week. I didn’t want to talk too much about it here, but she is in a much better place now. I am very sad though because I never got to meet her since Chris and I have been together 🙁
I spent a little bit of the afternoon making homemade pumpkin spice energy bars for work in hopes of raising a little bit more funds for LiveStrong. I also put some stickers with inspirational phrases on them. A diagnosis of cancer can be such a devastating time for everyone, but I am so inspired by many who face this challenge and I’m so blessed that my grandpa is still here. I am inspired by their strength, undoubting faith, and incredible courage. I sure believe in the efforts of LiveStrong and am honored to be raising money to help in this fight and make a difference in the lives of many. Life is good, yes it is, and I try to remind myself to never forget that and to be thankful for what I have, believe and have faith that things will turn out and be okay 🙂
Sure hope you guys have a nice week. I’m not sure if I’ll get the chance to post again before the century, soooo here goes nothin’!
Your food looks healthy and delicious. I am enjoying your blog.
Comment by Nisrine@Dinners and Dreams — May 16, 2010 @ 6:06 pm
Good luck with the race! We need to have a birthday celebration when you get back!
The quinoa casserole looks delish!
Comment by Kristen (swanky dietitian) — May 16, 2010 @ 7:36 pm
How exciting! You’ll smash it I’m sure x x
Comment by Tamizn — May 17, 2010 @ 3:18 am
You are so close! I’m sure you’re gonna rock it! 🙂
Comment by Jessica @ How Sweet — May 17, 2010 @ 3:41 am
Sorry to hear about Chris’s grandmother.
On another note, you’re so close!!!! I can’t wait to read your bike ride recap. You’re going to do great, and have so much fun. I hope the pumpkin bars are selling well, great idea to use your culinary talents to raise money! Sorry I’m no help. If I wasn’t jobless with a new mortgage to pay, I would donate, but right now I’m holding on to every penny, literally.
Comment by The Candid RD — May 17, 2010 @ 4:48 am
Good luck, though you don’t need luck! What a great experience it will be! Love that quinoa chicken, with both Kale AND sweet tater.
Those baked goods to sell for your cause is SUCH a good idea!!!!
Comment by bhealthier — May 17, 2010 @ 9:10 am
oh you are gonna do so great and what a great cause! i am so humbled by this 🙂
Comment by kalli@fitandfortysomething — May 17, 2010 @ 9:33 am
I am so excited for you! have a great time and I can’t wait to read the recap of your ride 🙂
Comment by Gelareh @ Nutritious Foodie — May 17, 2010 @ 10:21 am
OMG, I can’t even imagine riding a bike for that long. You are amazing!
Comment by She-Fit — May 17, 2010 @ 5:47 pm
That looks sooo good, especially on the sweet potato! Have a great ride!
Comment by runnerforever — May 17, 2010 @ 8:28 pm
That water bottle is awesome!
Comment by Sean — May 17, 2010 @ 9:30 pm
It will be so beautiful to ride in Napa. I hope you will be up there long enough to enjoy some wine.
Comment by Melinda — May 18, 2010 @ 8:38 am
Good luck at the race! You’re going to rock it!
Comment by Heather @ Get Healthy With Heather — May 18, 2010 @ 1:45 pm
a friend of ours lives in Marin Co and has done quite a few century rides up in that hood. And in Napa or Sonoma, too. He bikes a ton so I really cant even keep up with it.
How awesome that you’re!! doing a ride! Wow so awesome.
Just looked at the backlink to that energy bars…yum!
Comment by Averie (LoveVeggiesAndYoga) — May 18, 2010 @ 9:11 pm
I’m so proud of you Kristen! The energy bars you made were SO good! I love the pumpkin flavor! And your new knife is BEAUTIFUL!!!
Comment by Julie — May 18, 2010 @ 10:08 pm
How exciting! I can’t wait to read all about it!
Comment by Shannon — May 19, 2010 @ 5:15 am
Good luck with your century, Kristen! I know it’ll be a great, uplifting experience. I’m imagining eating one of your pumpkin bars… 🙂
Comment by Missi — May 20, 2010 @ 12:32 am
That broccoli casserole looks awesome!
Comment by Erin at The Healthy Apron — May 20, 2010 @ 8:19 am
LOVE the water bottle and it’s so amazing you are doing that bike ride! Can’t wait to hear all the details. And of course I am saving that pumpkin spice bar recipe 🙂
Comment by Megan @ The Oatmeal Diaries — May 20, 2010 @ 10:52 am
So exciting! You must be feeling all sorts of things…I am so proud of you! I hope the weather here is good for you guys. I’ll cross my fingers for you!
Comment by Lara (Thinspired) — May 20, 2010 @ 11:44 am
Good Luck Girl! I am sure you will do awesome!
Comment by Erica — May 20, 2010 @ 4:44 pm
Wow, can’t wait to hear about your ride! You sure picked a good place to do your century ride- Napa, my favorite place in the country! Hope it all went well and that you treat yourself to some great Napa food (and wine after you rehydrate!) while you are there.
Comment by Meal Makeover Mom Janice — May 23, 2010 @ 1:35 pm
Looking forward to your recap of the ride.
Comment by Gelareh @ Nutritious Foodie — May 24, 2010 @ 7:04 am
I can’t wait to scroll up and read about the race, but those energy bars are DARLING!!! 🙂
Comment by Nicole, RD — May 25, 2010 @ 1:34 pm