Back at it (kind of)

Other than some yard work here and there, I've mainly been swimming for my exersize. I went 3 times last week. When I went on Monday, I forgot my goggles. I thought for just a minute about leaving, but I had just deposited the kids in the childcare and they were all happy to be there, and I was happy to be there so I just decided to try swimming without my goggles. I did a few laps with the kick board and fins which was fine, but when I got tired of that (and my feet were starting to hurt), I decided to try swimming with my eyes closed. It was really hard! BUT it was good practice for lake swimming because you pretty much can't tell where you're going in a lake except when you sight. I'd close my eyes and just sight when I breathed on my right side, so every 6 strokes or so, then I'd hurry and close my eyes again. One thing the pool has that a lake doesn't, though, is lane dividers. I would be swimming along, thinking I'm doing pretty good, and BAM I'd hit the lane divider. It was very disorienting, and I hit it pretty hard a couple times. When I was doing my hair afterwards, I noticed this lovely bruise:

The next 2 times I went, I made sure to bring my goggles! I told Pete it was so much easier to swim with goggles and he was like, "Duh!"

Friday I did 2300 yards, Saturday I did a nice easy 1250, and I don't remember what I did on Monday...


Last night I had too much on my mind to sleep very well, and when I woke up my hips and back were really sore. I was so tired, but I didn't want to go back to bed because it just hurts to lay down. For some reason, I did feel like going running, though. So, I made sure Pete was working from home, which he was, then headed out for a little run. It was probably 8:30 by the time I left, and it was already getting too hot so I took it easy and maybe went 2 miles.

Last time I went to the doctor, I asked her about running and she said that since my body is so used to running that it would be totally fine for me to start running again, even though I hadn't been for 2 months. I had gone for a little run that morning for 20 minutes, with a heart rate monitor and tried to keep my heart rate under 140, but it was impossible so I just settled for keeping it under 150. Doing a really easy run, it was at about 145. I told my doctor about this and she said that the 140 is really more of a guideline, the main thing is that I don't overdo it and get overheated. She also said riding my bike would be fine, I needed to be careful not have any sudden starts or stops. The only reason there would be sudden stops would be if I crashed, and that's what I've been worried about and why I haven't been riding my bike (other than my cruiser around town) since St. George Tri.

So today I just went out without a heart rate monitor or a watch or anything with me, and it was so much fun to get out and listen to my music and just run. I took it pretty easy, but I felt really good. My hips and back felt 100% better when I got back! I really think I'm going to start running again, but I need to get out earlier before it starts to get hot so I can go for a little longer and not worry so much about overheating. I do have a marathon planned 5 months after the baby's born, after all. I don't want to be totally starting from scratch then.

Our Exotic Getaway

Last weekend Pete and I dropped the kids off at my Dad's house on Thursday and went on a romantic getaway to Central Utah. That's right, we drove 2 hours south to a little town in the middle of nowhere called Spring City and stayed at a bed and breakfast there.




Quite exotic, I know! We actually booked this trip before I knew I was pregnant, and we were going to do some serious cycling and swimming since I would have been getting ready for BAM and Bear Lake Half. We had wanted to go to California, but decided it would be good to see more of this state and save some money.

Since I am now in a more delicate condition, it was a more of a relaxed retreat than planned, but it was still a really fun weekend.

Spring City is the smallest town I've been in for a long time, maybe ever. There aren't even any restaurants, we had to go to neighboring towns for lunch and dinner, or to find anything to do, but it was kind of nice to be so secluded for a few days.

When we first arrived at our bed and breakfast, the hostess had fresh baked cookies for us that were really good with coconut, cranberries and white chocolate, I think. That night we went to The Sorcerer's Apprentice which was very good. The first night I had a really hard time sleeping. The bed we were on was really high up, and I think, subconsciously, I was afraid to I would fall off. It was also really hard which didn't help my hips from getting sore as they tend to do when I'm pregnant. In the morning I asked if we could trade rooms and she let me sit on the other available beds to choose what one I wanted. That was nice, and the room we moved into had a much more comfortable bed.

Friday, we had lunch at a place in Mt. Pleasant called Sub-Zero where they had ok sandwiches and delicious home made ice cream. They were really smart. When we got done eating, they brought a big spoonful of ice cream out to each of us. Of course we had to order some after that, and we both got the kind that we had sampled.

After lunch we drove up Maple Canyon where there are some really cool rock formations, and it got us excited to get back into rock climbing next year. (yeah, when I have a new baby and I'll be training for Ironman St. George...)

We hiked up this little canyon and it was nice and shaded from the heat of the day. The perfect place to go climbing, even in the hot summer. The conglomerate rock is really interesting, though, not what I'm used to climbing on at all.

That evening we went to the Manti Temple. It is one of the oldest temples in the state, and it is very beautiful. I'm so glad we had the opportunity to see it.

On Saturday, we borrowed some cruiser bikes from the inn and rode them around to take a tour of some of the historic houses in the town. It was fun, but the bikes were really hard to ride and it was hot so we only did about a third of the tour. There were a lot of really cool old houses to look at.

Since it was so hot, we were excited to head down to Palisade Lake. It was about half an hour south of where were were staying. We rented a canoe and paddled across the lake, swam a little, paddled around the lake, then we each took turns swimming across the lake while the other paddled. It was really fun. I loved the little lake! It was very small, maybe 700-800 meters across and there were no motor boats to worry about so it would be a perfect lake for open water swim training. I wish I had one in my back yard!

Later that evening we had dinner at a really good Mexican restaurant in Ephram where they gave us the hugest horchatas, then we drove up Ephram canyon. We just kept driving up until we got to the top of the mountain where we got out and took these pictures.

Just then, though, there was a huge thunder crash that was almost on top of us, and it started pouring! We knew it was time to head back down, and it got pretty scary at times because it was getting pretty muddy and there were some kind of steep spots.


This picture doesn't do it justice, but I my heart was beating pretty fast right here because there were the rocks on one side and a cliff on the other side. But we made it though.

Here we are following another Jeep, and I felt like we were in a Jeep commercial. I love our Jeep!

Just after we got off the muddy roads, and back onto some less scary gravel roads, we saw this beautiful view with a rainbow. It was a lovely drive.

When we got back down to Ephram, we went to Knight and Day and enjoyed it very much. It was fun to be able to just go out and not worry about getting back for the baby-sitter or anything. Of course, we were happy to see our kids when we got back to Heber the next day, though.

So, there you go. Even though I'm not racing this year, I can still have my adventure and share them with you! :)

Some Recipes Popeye Would Love

We've been doing pretty good with our eating (not counting all the BBQs that come along with July, but those don't count, right? And a cinnamon toast every other night or so just helps settle my stomach...), but one thing we've been lacking a little is leafy green veggies. It's just hard to fit them into your day. Probably the best leafy green on the market is spinach, and I don't know about your kids, but my kids hate it. We've come up with an awesome way to get them to eat it though!

We call it a Green Slime Smoothie, and I got the name from this recipe, but we've changed it up a bit. The frozen strawberries were very difficult for our blender since we don't have a Blendtech yet, and it also wasn't very green. It was more brown - not as exciting.

Here's what I did this morning, and it was really good:

1 1/2 cups almond milk

3 oranges (I just cut the peal off, cut them in half and threw them in)

2 big handfuls of baby spinach (pre-washed from Costco, so easy!)

2 bananas

a glassful of ice

It was pretty thin, so next time I'll probably double the ice, and maybe not put quite so much milk. The almond milk was really good. It added to the sweetness I think. The key is the bananas, though. They are pretty much what you taste and they totally cover up the taste of the spinach. You still get a beautifully green drink, though! My kids all come running when I say, "Green slime is up!"

The other recipe that we loved, wasn't actually a hit with the kids, but here it is:

Spinach and Goat Cheese Salad with Beetroot Vinaigrette

1 cup walnuts, coarsely chopped
2 tablespoons white sugar
1/3 (15 ounce) can pickled beets
1/4 cup cider vinegar
1 teaspoon chicken bouillon granules
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon white sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/2 pound baby spinach, rinsed and dried
4 ounces goat cheese, crumbled

Directions:

1. In small saucepan over medium heat, cook and stir the walnuts and sugar until walnuts are lightly browned and sugar is caramelized. Thoroughly coat the walnuts with the sugar.
2. In a blender or food processor, blend the beets with cider vinegar, bouillon granules, garlic powder, sugar, salt, and pepper. Gradually blend in the oil.
3. In a large bowl, toss together the sugar-coated walnuts and spinach. Before serving, drizzle with the blended beat mixture, toss, and sprinkle with goat cheese.

This salad is sooo yummy! I had seconds, and maybe thirds, then I ate what was left when everyone else was finished.

I found this recipe because we had bought some spinach and some beets at the Farmers Market, so I just went to allrecipes.com and searched for a recipe that used both. I ended up using feta cheese instead of goat cheese because I couldn't find any goat cheese at my ghetto grocery store, but it worked great. I also used fresh beets so I boiled them first to make them soft enough to blend. The walnuts were so good, and I'd almost say you don't even need to sugar them because the dressing was so strong and sweet that I don't think you'd notice.

Mmmm, it's making me hungry just thinking about this salad. I hope you try it. I have to make it again. Soon.