Alterra members hit the road for Guatemala

Check out Carlos and Sonia's Holiday adventures through the US, Mexico and Carlos's home town, Guatemala.

Comptom takes Silver at World Cyclo-Cross Championship in Belgium

"one second off the pace of the winner," to top it off, Katie started form the back of the pack!

EASY WEEK

This past week I had a reduction in the hours on the training plan and no resistance training either. This left me with plenty of time for getting my home office organized, having an impromptu dinner party and a relaxing endurance ride in the bitter cold yesterday afternoon. Buckette, and Jo came over last night for dinner and a movie, Little Miss Sunshine. Captain cooked up a great tasty meal, Roasted pork loin and fig sauce. Jo brought a tasty salad with all the fixin's.


For dessert, my favorite, Madelyn cake! A few glasses of wine, dinner and halfway through the movie I was toast. I missed half the movie. I'm a looser!

Train Right Nutrition Newsletter

The skinny on meal replacement drinks.

Shifting Duties

I got home from work early today and jumped on the trainer to get my work out in before Captain Candy gets home. This way, if I get my work out in first I can get dinner started while he trains a bit later. We are having trouble with interference when we ride together side by side on the trainers and it is nerving at times, especially when you are doing specific work outs.

Tonight I decided to make something simple and quick, Frittata with Asparagus, Tomato, and Fontina Cheese. I received this great cookbook from Trail girl for Christimas and I just love all the relatively simple recipe's within. Well by the looks of it, you could say it "looks" burnt, but it tasted pretty good. This is made with eggs, so it is high in protein and good for your muscles.

Tomorrow's menu: Roasted Chicken with Balsamic Vinaigrette. After relaxing a bit, I prepared the marinade. Captain will finish things off by cutting up the chicken and throwing into the marinade to sit over night. Then we can roast the chicken while getting our workouts in on Wednesday night.

The Boy is back!

Captain is back a 100% and ready to go! He took his first Time Trial test yesterday and it felt great to hammer it for once without getting yelled at.

Alone on a Friday night.

I actually left work today and it was light out. This gives me motivation that Spring is just around the corner and I need to behave and stick to the plan. So after work I headed to the gym. Captain Candy was out helping a friend move so I had the night to myself to do what "I" want to do. Well, I guess I always do what I want to do anyway, and NO, I am not selfish. I hit the weights and had no problems with waiting in line tonight. The most difficult exercise I have to do is one legged curls. I really need to work on those hamstrings, I feel I have no brute strength. After weights, I usually jump into Powerflex class, but it is Friday night and no one with a life teaches class at this time. I wanted to do some cardio so I tried the Elliptical thing that Teri recommended years ago. Well I got on and this nice girl Laura showed me how to program it. I set it for "Fat Burn" since that's all I do is cardio. Burning fat sounds like fun! So I am plugging away and trying to get into a rhythm. The computer asks for your weight and age and then gives you a target Heart rate. I felt quite comfortable and could easily hold a conversation with the gal next to me. Might I add, this is the machine that you also use your arms, so you get a full body workout and is not a "wussy" elliptical. All of a sudden the machine flashes in red bold letters, REDUCE YOUR SPEED ! I thought, "what?" I feel like I am floating through air. So I slowed down and continued on. Again the machine said, "SLOW DOWN, REDUCE YOUR SPEED !" I thought to myself, wow, I must be pretty good:) Well at least it was a confidence boost. I could not believe how hard it was to control a lower heart rate, I felt like taking off. So I had fun trying this out and actually burned about 500 calories and a couple miles skating.

After the gym I headed home to make Shrimp scampi. Captain hates seafood, so every opportunity I get to squeeze it in, I indulge. I used Tyler Florence's recipe and it turned out super great! MMMMMMMMM!

Now that's my kind of night alone.

QUESTION

Any of you use Cycling Peaks for downloading Power Data? I would love to hear any comments. They offer a free one month trial and I was considering using it since my SRM computer data is really difficult to comprehend at times.

Priorities

The weekend went by in a flash and it is now Monday night 22:42 and time for bed. The house is still in disarray, and the Christmas tree still stands. Boxes and crap lying around the house in need of picking up. Mold growing in the basement, oh is that the laundry? I never seem to get enough time to get things done except I did manage to get in my rides and the gym. How does that work?

later

ONE LEGGED INTERVALS ON ROLLERS

HOW MANY OF YOU CAN DO THIS WITH NO HANDS!

Recovery

While I was on Holiday this past weekend in sunny Florida, I had a chance to catch up on some reading and came across some interesting articles about training and nutrition. The article was about inflammation and the healing process of muscle fibers. Every time you work out you injure your muscles by making tiny tears in them, "this is part of your body's response to heal those micro tears to build stronger tissue." States Dr DiNubile, orthopedic surgeon. Inflammation is the important part of healing. Dampening that inflammation by using over the counter Tylenol or Ibuprofen like M&M's can also dampen the healing process. Even more interesting is the foods we digest. Poor nutrition can also hinder muscle growth and performance in the long run. This research was published in March of 2002 in the American Journal of Physiology. They concluded bottom line is nutrition and adequate recovery between workouts is key to over all performance.

The food choices you make modulate inflammation and can make it work for or against you. The article states, concentrate on the basics, eating whole grain foods and avoid highly processed and refined grains. Avoiding saturated fat, sugar and highly processed foods is a no brainer. Anti-inflammatory diets consists of increasing your intake of omega-3 fatty acids, like cold water fish such as salmon, walnuts and flaxseeds. Other foods listed that have anti-inflammatory properties include curcumin which is a spice in turmeric. Ginger, green tea, onions and garlic which contain quercetin which is like a antihistamine and anti-inflammatory and even anti-tumor properties. Pineapple which contains an enzyme called bromelain, which controls inflammation in soft tissues and muscles. Tart cherries such as cherry juice may reduce symptoms of muscle damage and enhance recovery after workouts. Other anti-inflammatory fruits include blueberries, apples and red and green grapes. Sounds like diets especially high in fruits is key to reduce inflammation.

I had a lot of time to relax, recover and think about things while lying around on the beach this weekend. I think I do a pretty good job with what I eat on a daily basis. I avoid processed foods most of the time, especially when away from home. At home, we always cook with fresh ingredients and usually spend quite a bit of time and money on preparing meals from scratch. But I still don't think my diet is a 100% geared toward peak performance. How anal can one get with nutrition for endurance sports? Are there any of you who take it serious about fueling your body with the proper nutrients ALL THE TIME? I would really like to learn more about fueling my body with clean nutritients, and see how others do it? Maybe I have gone a bit over the edge with this stuff, but I spend hours training my body for better performance and I should really take my nutrition more serious. I have tried some peformance products that claim they have anti-inflammatory properties, but they are usually loaded with sugar. Anyone spending the time and eating bushels of fruit?

Family photos

Opps! I forgot to introduce you to my aunt and uncle and cousin Matilda.


Meet the Fockers!

Fun in the Sun!

We are still celebrating the holiday season by spending time with my family in sunny Sarasota. Last night we went to dinner at the beach house and sat outside ocean view listening to Jimmy Buffet and a few other tunes. The specialty was seafood so I was in heaven. After dinner we headed out to Bay Street Wine bar and market, and did a little dancing to top off the night. Today, off to the beach to erase the northern anemic look. Tonight, who knows what's in store...Stay tuned.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Nothing but a spectatular time at Sanjay and Anna's for New Year's Eve! Thanks to Trail Girl for the great props!