RR: Conquered the Mountain

So that thing I didn't think would be possible for me to do? Well, I did it. One helluva day on the bike, unlike any I've ever experienced (literally- my longest nonstop bike, and hardest, to date). The best part: Even with all the "good suffering" I felt amazing and had the endurance and energy necessary. I think a large part of that is because I"m finally figuring out what nutrition works best for me.

So I'm talking about the Conquer the Mountain Mountain Bike Race, formerly known as The Traverse. It's  a 45+ mile ride (I clocked 46.33 miles) with 8,500 ft elevation gain up and around Saddleback Mountain in the Santa Ana's -- not to mention 8,300ft of decent -- with a good amount of gnarly terrain. Truly something beyond anything I've ever (seriously) trained for or competed in, with an elevation profile out of my league... so why the hell do it? Well, why the hell not? Perfect for Mother's Day weekend... yup, Mom did it too.

I've gained a lot of confidence on the MTB in rides so far this year, but I have a looong way to go. So that said, I was pretty damn happy with my performance Saturday. Heck, just showing up was a big deal for me. There were only 6 girls who even did this race (including my mom and I)! Overall, it took me 7:04 to get from start to finish, but that's with ~30 minutes of time I spent totally stopped -- stops included a long aid station stop because I dropped a bottle somewhere and needed to refill with their resources, a pretty significant crash onto some rocks during the downhill, numerous times where I almost fell but clipped out instead and had to pause to clip back in and get going, and a couple other brief aid station stops to pound water. My ride time according to the Garmin was 6:35.

Putting that in perspective, the pros completed the entire thing in 4:35ish. And the fastest girl (a pro I believe) did it in that time too. Dang! I heard they even had a sprint to the finish. Rad!

Race morning started with the typical 4:30 AM alarm... oh joy. Surprisingly, I wasn't gunning for brekkie right away -- I was still full from all the food I ate Friday knowing that I needed to load up to avoid bonk town. I still had my typical sweet potato/almond milk mash with a full egg and lotsa coffee. Right before we started, a banana. Race start was 7 AM and it was kinda warm but still chilly and foggy. Instead of a formal "race gun" we had the director saying something casual like, "Ok, annnd, ready, set, go!" Love it.

All 41 of us racers getting ready! See me waving on the left?

Note: There were more than enough port-o-potties for once! And, btw, the girl in white/green in the front won with a 4:30 and change. She rocks!

Guy in white shirt was race director, who casually set us off into the mountains. Love the laid-back races.

The first couple miles are nearly flat leading out to the first hill, so it serves well as a warm up on trail. Pretty much everyone passed me... but I was playing my game not theirs in this race. Then the climbing starts. My bike was in tip-top shape and checked over 1 million times, but it's an old POS (sorry mom) and right off the bat it was skipping gears so I had to adjust the derailuer... thank God I know how to do this now! For the next 4+ hours it was pretty much all CLIMBING -- more than 6k of it, with brief breaks of flats or downhills, which were like heaven to the legs. For the first 4 hours my average HR was 160. And I felt awesome! Endurance is there. I made it to the first check point in 3hr20min, 20+ minutes faster than when I did this in training, and without any real stops like I'd done in training.

SIDE NOTE: My biggest uncertainty in this race was making it to the check points before the cutoff times -- which were 4hrs for the first one (11 AM); 5hr30min for the second (12:30 PM). So to be at #1 at 10:20 AM was AWESOME. Gave me room to take longer to "die" up the next section.

After the first check point we continued to the top of Saddleback, which is some of the more insane riding in the whole race. Imagine traversing up "boulder gravel," as I call it. It's just silly. Several times I had no choice but to walk, and I'm certain I went faster doing that than had I tried riding. During that section, I was really pleased when I passed a couple younger guys, who didn't pass me back until the downhill. Got to the top of Saddleback and was tempted to rest and enjoy the view, but screw that, I was determined to get to the second check point before 12:30.

View from top of saddleback from another training ride before the race.

Just because the bulk of climbing is done after cresting Saddleback, that doesn't mean it gets easy. I'm not the best climber, but I can hang, but with downhill? I'm a weenie unless it's tame terrain, then I'll go fast. In this case, it's insanely tough downhill of lots of loose chunky gravel, sand, crazy turns and it's hard to hold a line. Although, this would all be "cakewalk" compared with the final decent down Trabuco Trail, aka single track of death!

The aftermath of the fall... ouch!

I was caustiously navitgating down, hands throbbing from being on the brakes nonstop, but I was managing it well enough... until... BAM. Bottom of a little hill with a sharp right turn all on loose dirt/sand and tons of rocks... I crashed. And I hit hard. Broke skin and jammed some stuff. It was enough to make me cry even because I was partly scared and partly in pain. But I knew I couldn't go there and I had to toughen up. I was alone except for a couple hikers who asked I was OK. I gained composure as best I could and started riding convincing the tears to stop. And they did. Got my mojo back and hit the #2 check point at 11:40AM, more than enough time even with setbacks! Whew! No more cutoffs to make after that -- relief.

There were about 5-7 more miles until the final turn into the death single track, and I forgot how much climbing that still included... it just feels relentless when you're doing it and the hills don't get any nicer. Later found out that one of the big ones in that section is called "The Wall" because... well... needless to say I walked up 80% of it, maybe it was a half mile, maybe a mile... who knows. I wasn't losing faith, in fact I was still in awe of how strong I felt, but I still couldn't help laughing at myself for choosing to do these crazy things. Good times.

Typical hillage.

While it was a relief to see Trabuco Trail because I knew that meant the climbing was DONE, I was weary of the unknown... this was the only trail I hadn't practiced, and it would highlight my main weakness in MTB. I had to be tough and face the fact that I might have to walk a lot.

Annnnd, I was right. Holy shit. A skinny little trail with a cliff to your left on terrain that's mostly big loose rocks, gravel, boulders, loose dirt, and at times you're fully engulfed in trees and shrub like you're going through a cave. Ridic! I was pissed that I couldn't finish the ride with smooth sailing and hammering downhill, plus I had to say so focused and on top of it that I couldn't even enjoy the fact that it was extremely gorgeous out there and just pure serene beauty (minus the poison oak). It was just me, all alone, run-hiking down for probably 70%. The parts I did ride were just as slow as my climbing pace, ha, and a lot of the time I had one foot clipped out to help balance and be able to put a foot down in a second. I still slammed into some shrub and had lots of mini crashed, probably looking like a drunk descending. A few guys who I'd passed, passed me back during that part. Wah. Finally, about 5 miles later and 55 minutes of that trail, I was almost to the home stretch when a girl passed me! Crap! If only I was... but I stopped myself, and said, "Wait don't be like that, you weren't in this race to be competitive. Your goal was to survive. This is not your specialty." Later found out the girl who passed me at the end is an expert and would have smashed me overall had she not had mechanicals that slowed her up.

I'm that little spec heading in... the race dog, aka good ol' Sydney, was out there too waiting at the finish line! Love that dog!

When I hit the end of Trabuco Trail I was stoked. All that was left was 5 miles on bumpy fire road, easy enough for me to hammer 20+ mph to the finish line. (I was shocked I even had the energy to hammer those last 5 miles at that pace!)

Bringing it in.

Finish line.... ahhh.... that point where you know all the suffering has paid off and you accomplished your goal. Nothing sweeter, especially when this race held a lot of question marks for me. I did what I thought was out of my league. A very satisfying feeling. And I wasn't last either! Got 29th out of 41, I believe haha.

My dad and grandma were at the finish line waiting in the 90 degree heat, and beyond them there were a few race organizers taking times. Looks like I missed the party. But let's be honest, that's because I was a good 2.5 hours later than the fast peeps! 

Happy and showing off the battle wounds. I even contemplated a t-run, I swear! Saved the run till Sunday though.

With grandma. Super special because usually our races are too far away for her to make it out, so this meant a lot to my mom and I!

Speaking of Mom, she unfortunately had a rough day (bonk town and depleted), but fortunately for her she's one tough lady and persevered, getting to the finish line about 45 minutes after me. It's the longest race/ride she's ever done too. I know on a good day she probably would have been maybe 10 minutes, if that, behind me!

Mom bringing it in, with Syd having to run alongside of course. You won't get any officials saying "no family/pets at the finish line" at a race like this haha!

And last but not least, a special picture of three generations together in the name of sport, health, fun and family! :)

Final thought: Funny, I thought after doing this I'd be over it. But as soon as I finished, even during it actually, I decided I want to do it again, probably next year, to see how I can improve. But for now... back to triathlon focus. Bring it!

Never will look at that mountain the same way.

Fanny pack required

I was finally able to get back to some "real" training in April... while it wasn't totally ideal, I was able to build up some good SBR volume, most importantly, the run, which is getting more consistent... and remains pain free. I accumulated about 60 hours of training overall, with one weekend of complete nada (more on that soon). All that doesn't include all the "non-training" activity I do working at the gym or doing active things with clients; that stuff obviously doesn't count as training but it's not being sedentary so.... hmmm.

If I can continue putting in 60+ hour weeks I'll be happy. Maybe even bigger in key months. In the past when I've gotten toward 70+ I seem to struggle a bit given other life demands, but anything under 60 and I don't feel like I'm getting better.

That said, I know it's about quality over quantity, but you still gotta put in the time and I--along with Lucho of course--have been monitoring what kind of time works and doesn't work for me. It's evolving.

My biggest days of the month were surprisingly on the MTB, which is new for me and fun.... well, except for that one day when we got lost and what was supposed to be a 4-5 hour ride turned into an 8+ hour outing in which we ended up in the wrong county at a little joint called Hell's Kitchen.... long story.... but an important day in my life because what doesn't kill you makes you stronger. And for a while I thought I might die that day... fun, right? ;)

That "little" mountain top (Saddleback) has been an interesting new friend of mine.

Recovered from that, and I planned on ending the month with a strong training weekend, but life had other plans. In this case, I didn't mind the detour. I did fit in my Saturday morning swim on Friday night instead, which was a refreshing happy hour ;) Then at 5 a.m. Saturday it was time to get to work....

If you've been reading my blog you know that I've lost my grandparents in the past couple years, my grandma right before IMC last year... well, fast forward and my family's been hard at work organizing an estate sale at their house. For various reasons it got pushed back and just happened this past weekend, Sat & Sun.

We had tons of family members coming out to help, which was completely necessary when the sale is in LA. My sister and I were the official cashiers. The best part of our job was the accessories we sported, i.e. fanny packs! Haha.

Totally legit fanny packin

I'll say, it was a special weekend. In fact, originally I was planning on leaving Saturday night so I could take care of (a sh*tload) business on Sunday, including a bike ride, but in  no way shape or form did I want to leave my family... so I stayed Sunday too :) Even John drove up and helped out too.

My sister's BF, the photog, came out too and put together an AMAZING collage of some of our customers and their unique finds... incredible work (sorry it stretches out so far; can't format it well for blog):

 So I missed my usual Sunday ride. Did I care? No. Did Lucho care? No. A bike ride, or any workout, can happen whenever. But a special family gathering/event is only going to happen once. I'll never be able to repeat a weekend like I just had. It was more memorable and special to me than I ever anticipated. It felt like the ultimate tribute to my grandparents because a) they were all about bringing people together and b) they loved garage sales... we did both in style! 

Heck, I even found us a nice little hole-in-the-wall Latin restaurant for Saturday night that was actually good not ghetto (not easy in that part of LA when you're required to keep it within a small radius). And then I enjoyed a couple drinks with family members... random I must say, but special.

~~~

So, yea, I guess the point of this blog is: It's important to put your head down and get in quality training when you are able but don't be afraid to let go of your routine to do things that are important on another level. I was still able to get in 60 hours of training with a total weekend away from SBR.

Back on Track

So Blogger changed?! Ha!

Time for a little personal update on my training and racing situation for 2012. I had the knee setback that screwed my running mojo for February and most of March. ALthough I never got an official diagnosis I got a lot of experts to look at it and all signs lead us to believe it's a tear/erosion of the articular cartilage. Unfortunately you can't really repair that, once cartilage is torn or injured it doesn't "grow back." So it's an issue I'll have to monitor forever, but I'm ok with that, I know several people well who have similar knee issues that the manage well enough to allow them to do endurance sports.

In my case with a little rest and a lot of proteolytic enzymes, I am now back to my third week of actual running. The enzymes have been key in helping to speed the recovery process by decreasing inflammation and swelling, reduce pain, improving function and "healing" in the affected area, minimizing scar tissue, etc. I thank my PT for turning me on to these gems. But looking at the research, proteolytic enzymes aren't a secret exclusive to us. Looking at sports history, the German Olympic Team first used them at the LA Games with their athletes seeing HUGE benefits, even down to less bruising. Come to think of it -- I used to bruise easily, and now I don't at all! Hm.


Anyways, so I'm back to running (and obviously still lots of biking and swimming) with my sights focused on two races at this point. One that I'll actually race, one that I'll just try to make the cutoffs and survive till the finish. The latter is the first race on the calendar and one that's had me worked up this week especially! It's a 45-mile mountain bike race with ~8,500 ft vertical elevation gain called Conquer The Mountain (formerly known as The Traverse). I told my mom I wouldn't sign up until I experienced the route, so we set out to ride it Wednesday. Holy shit. The hardest, most humbling ride ever. At 22 miles/3:40 ride time into it we'd accumulated in 6,000 ft vertical and were toasted. Add to that a later-than-expected-start, as well as a mechanical that set us back 30 minutes*, and we had to (read: I wanted to) take a detour for a quicker route back home--not the race course--so I could get back to the gym to teach my class in time. We still rode 4:46 all together, but half the race route remains unknown to me, including a gnarly decent.

At when point when I was forced to hike up a steep hill. Decided to take a pic to document the insanity!

The profile. Yummy.

I won't lie, after that ride I felt defeated and as if I had no business signing up for the race, feeling that it was over my head at this point in my MTB'ing. But the more I thought about it, the more I said to myself, "F that attitude." By Wednesday night I craved riding the whole route again, and by Thursday I was ready to challenge myself to still sign up for the race. Lucho was a big help in making me remember that getting in over our heads is exactly what it's all about; why we do this shit. How will you know what you can do unless you try??

So I signed up today... and I still have another 20-something miles of the race course I've yet to experience. I'll face that on Sunday. But even if I couldn't ride it, I'm still willing to put myself out there and do this thing!

Love it out in the mountains even when I'm suffering :)

So that MTB race will go down May 12. Stay tuned.

Next up as the big "A" race of the year is Vineman 70.3. If my running stays on track I think I'll be able to get myself to a level of being competitive in my AG in time. It will be tough with the setbacks I've had this year, but I'm focused and determined. I told John that he should expect me to be a little more antisocial in the coming months and even more of a grandma. Heck, after the MTB ride Wednesday I was lying on the couch  that night zoned out when he came home and asked if I had been crying. I said, "hell no, that's just the freakin fatigue from the day's 'work' taking a toll on my face." Hahaha! Thankfully he gets it and is so supportive. He's got a lot going on too with his race car team, etc., so we know how to put in hard work even if it is "just for fun."

After Vineman? Who knows... another 70.3 and open marathon would be the ideal goals. Since I'm getting a late start on the season I plan on racing later into the year than normal.

That's it for now! The tough training will continue.... and I can't wait!

PS - If you haven't check out my new website, be sure to do so: www.coachtawnee.com. The gallery page was just recently updated too! Feedback/comments are welcome!

Oceanside 70.3 Spectating

What a weekend! I couldn't have asked for a better birthday weekend. It started off Thursday with my actual birthday, which per my request was a mellow day. I needed that because on either end of the week it was chaotic! For b-day dinner we went to a fancy-shmancy place and I made everyone try bone marrow:

Starting Friday, I made my way down to O'side to work at the expo at the Bonk Breaker booth... one of their reps goes to my gym and offered me the gig. I love the bars and was stoked to do it. Even though I wasn't racing this year, I still had to geek out on this race and the expo was a good excuse to spend the day down there mingling with triathletes... and eating lotsa bites of Bonk Breakers ;) Did you know they have like 9-10 different kinds that are all delish? All GF, dairy-free, soy-free, all have flaxseed and some even have chia seed now! Quality!

It was a fun day. We had carpooled down with pro, Chris Kemp, and on our lunch break I saw the typical scenario: skinny guy motoring down multiple plates of food. Awesome.

Before I knew it, it was 4 AM Saturday and my alarm was going off. Ouch. Back in the car and in O'side again by 5ish. It was cold. Maybe it's because I wasn't racing so I didn't have to suck it up and be tough, but it seemed like it was colder than it's been there in the past 4 years. I had race envy up until the swim start ;)

Then I went into ultimate spectator/sherpa mode... with multiple athletes racing and a stellar pro race to watch, let's just say I never got around the run I had planned nor the break for breakfast! It was just go go go!!! Well worth it, I saw everyone I wanted to see out on the course and tried to get in the best spots possible for the pro race in particular.

Some photos of 1st & 2nd males and females: Andy Potts, Mel McQuiad, Heather Jackson, Richie Cunningham:

By the time I got home whenever on Saturday I was tired but very wound up and it was a weird rest of the day. I actually ended up cleaning my house because Sunday we were hosting a big party all afternoon/evening... housewarming/birthday fun. Nothing says "cool" like scrubbing floors and cleaning toilets on a Saturday night ;)

I was a little afraid that I'd be dead for the party given the previous few days, but I'm an endurance athlete and I just saw this as a big endurance challenge. Good times with a lot of good friends and family. I felt the love.

But by Monday I wasn't feeling the love... my body was wrecked and I'd had one too many drinks on Sunday which didn't help. Lucho told me I have to learn how to train with a hangover. Yea, no thanks. I'll stick to my occasional glass of vino.

New Website, O'side Weekend, Pics

I can't believe I'm not racing Oceanside this year. It's a good thing for sure, but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't just a bit jealous of everyone in taper mode in anticipation of Saturday. I'm excited, though, to be on the other end of things this year -- working at the expo on Friday (Bonk Breaker booth, come say hi if you're around), and cheering for everyone on Saturday, including three of my athletes! Woop woop!

In other news, my NEW website is pretty much up & running. We haven't "officially" announced its launch yet, but it's there for all to see. Check it out at www.coachtawnee.com. Let me know your thoughts! Like I said, there are still a few tweaks to be made (i.e. enhancing the gallery page), but the "meat" of the site is there.

I have to say, Sarah has been incredible at designing the Coach Tawnee site by combining everything I do and everything I wanted in a site in a way that makes sense. I especially encourage all of you to sign up to be a member to the site (totally free, no gimmicks), so that way you'll receive notifications of my new newsletter--which will cover a bunch of cool topics in health, fitness, sport, nutrition and more--as well as other exclusive stuff that will be coming in the future.

Other than that, all I can say is life is busy. I love it. Never a dull moment. Been on the bike a lot (planning another epic MTB race), and I'm even back to running a bit!

Rather than more words, I'll leave you with some pics that sum up a little of what's goin on in my world...

Making sure to take time for sunset R&R every now and then...

Good eats (stoked on organic, grass-fed beef these days)...

Doin work...

Some fun work...

Lots of hills on the bike that lead to things like this...

New place...

MTB Race

It's about time for an update on life and training, part 1 haha. There have been a lot of highs and some lows lately. First and foremost, I raced! On my mountain bike! It was awesome!

The race was a 9+mile all uphill time trial with a few thousand+ feet of climbing. Hello pain cave. I'd post the garmin course profile, but it's not that exciting--just one big ass uphill. Apparently not too many people were chompin at the bit to do this. Only nine girls (including myself and my mom) showed up, most were pro, and probably 60-something dudes. I was out of my element to say the least but I didn't give a crap, this was about fun and trying something new. Thankfully I saw some friendly faces there!

Racing MTB is so different, for example, taking in nutrition is tough because, personally, I don't like taking either hand off the handlebars at any time when riding at such an extreme intensity in sketchy terrain. So I carried a camelback, which apparently isn't "cool" but it worked for me. In there I was using Skratch Labs drink mix, which was perfect-o and easy on my tummy with all that jostling around. (Try this stuff if you haven't!)

My goal was to go sub-1:30 based off a slower time I did in a practice ride. End result was a 1:29. Cuttin it close! A lot slower than the pro ladies, but it was right on target to my goal. I'll go faster next time.

As a side note, a few people asked me why I'd pay $60 something to do this race on a trail that I can ride on for free any other day of the week. Well here ya go: Besides just having the urge to jump into a race, I like supporting the smaller races and usually these ones are where you get treated very well. For example, with entry we got a $20 gift certificate to a bike shop (can always use that!), and in the post-race awards/raffle event, I won a $100 gift certificate as well... in fact, I'd say almost half the people who showed up to awards won something.

I won something else too... a very unique award... only one person out of the whole race got this particular award and the trophy was embarrassingly huge, bigger than any other that was given out...

The Sportsmanship Award

I'm still not exactly sure why I got this award--guess I'm a "good sport" even when grimacing in pain? Regardless, it's a nice gesture and cool that a race would want to do something like this.

~~~

OK, that's it for now! Time to go hop on the elliptical. Yes, my friends, no running. It looks like I'm potentially dealing with a torn meniscus. What a blow to the season, at least the first half... but we're optimistic because there's a lot I still can do.

Healthy Shrimp Enchiladas Verde

I was craving enchiladas, which is funny because it's normally not something I eat. Specifically, I wanted shrimp enchiladas with verde sauce instead of red sauce, and surprisingly when I did a google search (including the word "healthy" of course) no recipes with those specifications came up. But enchiladas are relatively easy to make, so I gathered up info from various recipes (one in particular, but now I can't find it haha), and created my own healthy version:

Healthy Shrimp Enchiladas Verde

*Note: I used all organic ingredients (except sauce I think), which I highly recommend!

1 lb raw medium shrimp, peeled/deveined

1 large red bell pepper

1 large zucchini

4 large green onions (the ones with big bulbs)

1/2 cup greek yogurt

1 lime

~1 1/2 cups shredded Monterey Jack cheese

~1/2 bunch fresh cilantro

1/4 tsp cumin

1/2 tsp oregano

salt & pepper (eyeballed)

10 corn tortillas -- splurge on quality/non-GMO/organic for best results

16 oz. green enchilada sauce, here's what I used: Frontera's

olive oil

optional: roasted pasilla chiles, avocado

Directions:

*Scroll down for pic-by-pic process

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and prep a 11 x 7 Pyrex/baking dish with a light amount of olive oil.

Chop all your veggies and shrimp (each shrimp = 3 pieces). Heat pan with olive oil and saute red bell pepper and all the white parts of the onions and only ~1/2 of the green stems. After a minute, add the chopped zucchini. Saute for 4-5 minutes total then add shrimp and juice of 1 lime and saute for another minute only. Remove from heat and add Greek yogurt, seasonings and most of the cilantro (make sure it's coarsely chopped). Let all that sit for ~5 minutes.

Meanwhile, heat another pan with or without a bit of olive oil and heat your tortillas. Pre-heating tortillas prevents them from breaking apart, but if you have quality corn tortillas (i.e. organic, non-GMO which should be a given) then they probably won't break apart anyways.

The next part works best if you have two people: spoon some of the shrimp/veggie mix onto each tortilla, wrap each tortilla and place them seam down on the baking dish. You should be able to fit ~10 tortillas total, and you might have leftover shrimp mix which I saved for another day :)

Once tortillas are all stuffed and in the baking dish then pour on the green enchilada sauce, spread the cheese on (use as little or as much as you want here), and top with the remainder of the chopped greens of the green onions.

Bake in oven for 25 minutes at 350.

Serve with extra fresh cilantro, avocado/guacamole and even a roasted pasilla chile for a little more spice!

Some notes:

*I was going to make homemade corn tortillas but ran out of time so I bought some from Whole Foods. I am not a fan of corn or corn products, but occasionally I like corn tortillas or tortilla chips and I will always look for an organic/non-GMO brand because anything else quite frankly scares me. I also read that the crappier the tortilla is in terms of the corn used, the more likely it is to break apart, which makes sense why so many corn tortillas always break because they're probably from cheap GMO corn. Yuck.

*Be careful with the enchilada sauce you choose. For one, try to avoid canned kinds. There are health risks associated with tomatoes sitting in cans, not to mention you're more likely to have crap ingredients in canned products (i.e. high fructose corn syrup, corn starch, gluten, preservatives). I would have like to have made my own, but no time. Frontera's was delicious and a very decent ingredient list! Only 10 calories for 2 Tbsp too!

*I bought some pasilla chiles at the farmer's market and wanted to put them in the mix, but I had never had them plain and wanted to get a taste for them on their own, so I served them on the side. Next time I'll definitely put them IN the enchiladas because they have a great, no too intense spice that was delicious. I covered mine in olive oil and roasted them in the oven for ~20 on low heat.

*These make excellent leftovers!

Pictures of the enchiladas in the making:

Best Homemade Hummus Recipe Ever

I don't know why I didn't start making my own hummus sooner. I can make five times as much for a fraction of the price of what you'd pay in stores. Plus I don't get any weird additives/preservatives that are icky. It's a no brainer.

This hummus recipe is one I found in a [health] magazine during the holidays and we've been loving it ever since. I slightly modified it based on the ingredients I have (namely more almond butter, less tahini). I'm a pumpkin addict, and I love hummus so this is a match made in heaven.

You have to try it. You're seriously missing out if you don't.

Pumpkin Orange Hummus with Cranberries

1 15 oz. can garbanzo beans (organic preferably)

1 15 oz. can organic pureed pumpkin

1/4 c fresh squeezed orange juice

2 tsp fresh orange zest

1 Tbs. apple cider vinegar

1 Tbs. tahini (or one of those individual packets, which is what I used)

1.5 Tbs. almond butter (2 T. is ok too)*

1 Tbs. seasame seeds*

1 tsp cumin

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp allspice

1/4 c dried cranberries OR 1 tsp sweetener of choice

Directions: Put all ingredients in a food processor EXCEPT cranberries (important). It's best to throw in garbanzo beans and pumpkin first then add the rest. Blend until smooth, scraping sides of food processor periodically. Then gently fold in cranberries and serve or just eat it straight up ;)

*You can use 3 Tbs. of tahini and no almond butter/sesame seeds as well (what the original recipe called for). I didn't have a jar of tahini so got creative with what I had.

Note: I noticed it really starts to taste the best the second or third day once the juices of the cranberries have soaked into the hummus. This most recent time, I omitted cranberries and tried a bit of sweetener and it's very delicious that way too--with a little less sugar.

PS - I'd love to give the magazine credit for the recipe, but I cut it out and don't know. So guess it's my creation now?! ;)

Do you have any awesome hummus recipes to share?

I'm in Love...

...with mountain biking!

Wednesday we conquered the climb up Saddleback Mountain after our failed attempt last Friday. I'm not going to lie, those wind conditions were so gnarly that it left me a tad nervous going into Wednesday's ride. Would I be able to make it to the top without blowing? Well lucky for us there was no (or, at least, very little) wind, and that made a world of a difference. We got in a 2-mile WU ride then hit the trail.

For the next 9 miles it was all uphill climbing, ~3,250 feet ascent, according to the garmin, with only two mini breaks of "downhill" that totaled 160ft of decent over those 9mi. I've never done anything like that in my life. And let me say, I loved every second!

A simple yet beastly ride profile:

Reality of that peak from the car drive there:

Without wind the climb was a gagillion times easier. I mean, it wasn't easy, but it was doable, and enjoyable not scary... not to mention I didn't fall off the bike this time :) It took a whopping 95 minutes to complete the 9-mile climb, and that was at a relatively easy, comfortable pace because for me it was such an "unknown" of what to expect from body and the trail. Now I know. Next time I'll go harder.

Pictures from the top. In the first pic you can just barely see Catalina in the horizon, then mom & me, and in the third pic I believe that's Mt. Baldy where Tour de California goes...

It wasn't just the tough climb that made me fall in love with mountain biking more than ever yesterday... it was the solitude/quietness of the trail, the intense concentration I felt, the lack of ANYONE else around except my mom (who was behind me after the first few miles, so I felt alone for most the ride), the lack or cars and traffic, and the beautiful surroundings. After taking in the sights from the top it was hammer time: a 40+minute decent (a fabulous reward). And gotta give my mom props -- I beat her on the uphill, but she kicked my booty on the decent! She's just got so much more experience and confidence with downhill riding. I'll get there.

Don't get me wrong, I love where I live (see below pic), I love road riding, love being on my tri bike and love the great riding partners I have, but I hate the traffic. So, I think MTB has found a permanent place in my routine again.... it's been a while since I've done it consistently (like years) and now I don't know why I stopped. It's so nice to get away from the hustle and bustle of a highly populated area that's full of red lights and bad drivers.